Many of you play Golf. I don't. i decided playing golf gave people (including in-laws) the right to grab 4 hours of my time was not something I had interest in. Maybe if golf was 1 1/2 hrs I would play.
Watching Kevin Na play golf is painful, and few would follow his example. Although all players have been frustrated by a slow group in front of them. Almost all amateurs pick up some habit of the pros.
WSJ has a post on this problem.
But the Tour's pace of play is a problem for the rest of golf, since the pros serve as amateurs' primary role model for how the game should be played. We buy the clubs, balls and golf fashions that we do largely based on the pros' example, and the same goes for how everyday players line up putts, take practice swings, throw grass in the air and dither around the course like they're being paid by the hour. Survey after survey show that slow play is a major factor in creating ex-golfers.
Now, as much as you may think this is wrong. Keep in mind who the tour serves. The players.
The reasons why the Tour is unlikely to change its current pace-of-play system anytime soon are many and interconnected, but here's a good one to start with: meaningfully speeding up play would, in effect, penalize the Tour's slowest members where it hurts them the most, in their wallets. And the Tour, lest we forget, exists primarily for the benefit of its members.
Think about it. Just because you are watching someone present at a data center conference should you follow their habits? Many data center conferences, the #1 customer is the vendor and their needs. A pro golf player's # 1 revenue is his sponsor money, not the winnings.
Consider Charles Barkley's controversial statement that he is not a role model. Who is your role model for data centers? The guys who have vendors sponsoring their performance should have you questioning whether it is best for you.
