Here's how it works. The LPGA Tour assumed each player needs 30 seconds per stroke. That 30 seconds is timed from the point at which it becomes your turn to play until you make your stroke.
So, for example, on a hole on which a player takes 4 strokes, that player has 120 seconds total. Now, figure in a "grace period." The LPGA's old grace period was 25 seconds; under the new rules, the grace period is 10 seconds.
So in reality, a player taking 4 strokes on a hole can go 10 seconds over the 120-second total (based on 30 seconds per stroke, remember) without being in violation of the rules.
However, once a player tops that grace period - using 131 or more seconds on a 4-stroke hole, for example - that player is in violation of the pace of play rules.
If a player scores 3 on a hole, they should have taken 90 seconds total to play those three strokes; a total of 101 seconds results in a violation. With a 4, 120 seconds, 131 seconds results in a violation; with a 5, 150 seconds, 161 seconds results in a violation; and so on.
And those severe penalties? The first violation does not result in a warning or in being placed "on the clock" as happens on the PGA Tour. The first violation results in a 2-stroke penalty. The second violation results in disqualification.
In addition, after an LPGA Tour player accumulates five "plus times," or violations, they are fined $2,500. Each violation after that is another $1,000 fine.
When it comes to slow play, the LPGA Tour ain't messin' around! And its strict pace-of-play policy is working. The final twosomes on the final day of the LPGA Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic were completing their rounds in about 3 hours, 45 minutes.
A comparison of tournaments played on the same sites in both 2003 and 2004 - under the old rules in 2003 and the new rules in 2004 - makes clear how successful the LPGA Tour has been in combating slow play.
At the 2003 Sybase Classic, the average threesome before the cut played in 4 hours, 55 minutes - a 5-hour round. In 2004, it was 4 hours, 34 minutes. At the McDonald's Championship - a major, no less - the 2003 average was 4 hours, 56 minutes, while the 2004 average was 4 hours, 22 minutes.
That 20- to 30-minute improvement per round was not unusual for the LPGA in 2004.
