The PGA Tour wants its players to speed up. Actually, the Ponte Vedra-HQ Tour has wanted that since the Tim Finchem era. Just that, there has been some lack of progress. Recently, the PGA Tour has come up with a litany of changes, running from the pace of play to offering Tour cards. To focus on the first part, fans are disillusioned about the Tour’s seriousness in addressing slow play. There are actually a few things that the Tour could’ve avoided or done better. 

The PGA Tour is REDUCING fines

As per a Michael Kim tweet (this was back in June), the PGA Tour fines players only if they are put on the clock ten times or more. The amount was $50,000 after the first ten and $5,000 for each violation subsequently. The new rule changes that.

Firstly, from 2026, Average Stroke Time Infraction will be introduced. If a player is more than 12 seconds behind the field’s average time to complete a round, it will be considered an AST violation. On the 3rd AST, players will be fined $5,000, then $10,000 for each subsequent violation. Now, all this applies only when the player has competed in all four rounds. 

An average PGA Tour pro tees off in 23-24 tournaments of which three to four are majors. Given a pro makes 70% cuts, they are going to play four full rounds in around 11-13 tournaments. So, the current policy will likely fail to recognize and penalize players who slow down a round but miss the cut. Moreover, the Tour has somehow managed to NOT impose a slow-play penalty on anyone in three years. Yes, three years.

Why reducing the field is not the answer

The PAC has also advised reducing the field size to improve the pace of play. 12 tournaments from 2026 will have a reduced field. Of these 11 will be reduced from 156 to 144. And the Zozo Championship will have a 72-player roster instead of 78. 

There is little chance that it will increase the pace of play unless the PGA Tour decides to take stern action against players on a round-by-round basis. The limited Signature events were not exactly shining examples of fast play and quick rounds. The new rule has a chance to make rounds slower as fewer players will play for the same total duration. It also puts the onus on rules officials, who have to be on their toes to warn golfers. But then the tour’s top brass has so far avoided penalizing players for a reason best known to them.

Where the PGA Tour could’ve done better

Brooks Koepka suggested a small tweak to the tour’s pace of play policy. Dock strokes. We are yet to see a serious implementation of that in the top tier of men’s professional golf. Famed broadcaster Ian Baker-Finch, in the Subpar podcast, also shared a similar take. Fix a time to finish a round in threesomes. And make them adhere to that. 

Also, why not add a shot clock like TGL (MLB introduced a pitch timer last year, just saying)? A shot clock will hopefully hold PGA Tour pros from becoming oblivious to the fact that on their shoulder rests the Tour’s (and the game’s) popularity.

The problem of slow play goes beyond the PGA Tour. Golf, in general, has been besieged by a snail-like pace and it has been normalized. The good thing is the PGA Tour recognizes this is a problem. But their solutions fall short of fixing the issue.