Slow play is perfectly within the rules of the game, if the stipulated time limit is maintained. But many golfers believe that it is against the spirit of the game. Golfers like Nelly Korda have been pretty vocal about her opinion on slow play. To stop it, however, tighter rules need to be introduced.

Korda has sort of become the face of the crusade against slow play, but more on that later. To start with, what is slow play? It is making optimum use of the extra time that golfers are allowed by their faster partners. For example, if a golfer takes about a minute-and-a-half to hole out from four feet, then that is slow play.

Nelly Korda pulls no punches

This happens much to the chagrin of the faster players. Nelly Korda is one of the fastest players on the LPGA Tour and when a partner plays slow, it seriously affects her rhythm. Little wonder then that the 25-year-old has repeatedly called out the practice of slow play.

Two years ago, on Apple Podcasts ‘Leave It In The Locker Room’, Korda was asked about the issue. Her sharp response was: “Honestly, slow play is by far the worst. It drives me insane. I’m a very fast player. I get really aggravated when playing with a slow player.”

She added: “My caddie actually has to calm me down usually like, ‘Nelly, it’s okay just talk to me’. We’re a team out here but don’t worry. I think it just honestly (is) slow play. It kind of ruins like the amount of viewers to golf guests.”

She spoke about why golf needs to be faster to become more popular as a sport. “To be honest, like if I didn’t play golf, and I had nothing to do with it, and I was watching golf, I would be like, this is like, not that exciting.”

Read more: Weeks After Reclaiming Her Throne, Nelly Korda Makes a Painful ‘Tough’ Confession About a Major Problem in Golf

From a viewer’s perspective, slow play can be really boring. Korda rightly pointed it out. “I think that is one of the main reasons why maybe golf isn’t as like popular, which is growing, it is growing for kids. But I think if it was more exciting and faster, and there’s just faster pace, I think it’d be more exciting.”

Ambiguity remains

Nelly doubled down on it ahead of the AIG Women’s Open earlier this year, when she supported the decision to issue a two-stroke, slow-play penalty to Carlota Ciganda. “The Rules of Golf are the Rules of Golf and they should be enforced,” Korda told reporters.

Rule 6-7 in the Rules of Golf deals with slow play. But it’s a tad ambiguous, for it directs the players to play without “undue delay” and leaves the pace of play to the respective tournament committees. The standard penalty for breaching the rule is two strokes, but it can be modified. What do you think of slow play?

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