how often do you see this? I see far more people not even putting out, but wasting all kinds of time in the fairway than I do taking too long over short putts.

A few things that could be done to alleviate pace of play issues in non-tournament settings would be mowing the rough low, so people don't waste 5 minutes 3 times per round trying to find a ball in the "rough" that won't ever be found, or may be found after 4 minutes of no one playing ready golf because everyone is doing the gentlemanly thing and helping dig through the rough.

Stop placing pins anywhere near fall lines on the greens, and/or stop mowing the greens to quick speeds on munis. Obviously the average golfer can't control speed or manage a downhill putt with break, so why make those missed putts 15 footers for bogey all the time?

Trimming of trees would solve a lot of the problems the LA munis have. The trees overhang tee boxes and fairways, block half the fairway from hitting an approach, etc. What 15 handicapper is drilling the "right" side of the fairway in response to overhanging trees?

But anyway, I'd start with mowing the rough so it's basically not there. Who cares, really, it's a muni.

EDIT: It's also true that the PGA Tour is just not a compelling product to anyone who isn't already committed to golf. Even watching golf takes forever.

EDIT2: Oh, also, it's my opinion that (1) most teaching pros are terrible and that learning golf is unnecessarily difficult because of just that, and (2) most learning facilities are terrible as well. How do you learn to chip if there's nowhere to chip? How do you learn to pitch if shanking a pitch means you're hitting someone on the tee right next to you?

And then of course, how do you find time to practice this sport? It's completely unforgiving of amateurs and flaws, and is in some ways a nearly impossible sport unless you have infinite time for infinite reps. That's just a bad recipe in today's age.

What I'm saying is it's not the rounds being long that is the death knell, it's that everyone sucks because the game itself demands thousands of hours before you don't suck.

And even when you "don't suck," you're still terrible at it.

Agree about the rough and greens. I play on a local muni that is not short but is otherwise about as easy as it gets. Wide fairways, low rough, big greens. Also lots of open area so difficult to lose a ball in trees or OB. It attracts a lot of seniors and hackers due to its forgiving layout, but most rounds are still 4 hours or less. Less frustrating, less time, more fun.

Huge in tournaments though, at it leads to slow rounds. In my casual rounds I take gimmes but if I have an 18 inch putt in a tournament I mark and re line up the line. Nothing worse than missing a short putt because you rush. That said I practice short putts a lot so taking the gimme in a casual round doesn't hurt my scores when it matters.

If you're playing in tournaments then you've already reached the stage where pace of play hasn't driven you away from the game though. To Hoya's point about the rough and greens I don't find many courses with fast greens and high rough either. That's basically reserved for the country clubs where you know what you're getting into.

I do know that I take less time on the greens in rounds I play because they don't putt that well. If a putt is going to be bumpy or not putt true there isn't really any point in getting a read on it. Get the general break and knock it inside 2 feet and tap it in because you know hitting the line is only a small part of the battle anyways.

I am not on the "make the hole bigger" side, but I will admit that it certainly would speed the game up considerably. How you can say it wouldn't do anything and then say time is one of the biggest issues right after is beyond me. I bet it would take 30 min off the average foursome's round.

Learning golf is insanely difficult. I can't even imagine trying to learn as an adult. The motions are incredibly unnatural.

Golf is different in that practice is nowhere near playing on the course. Therefore time on the range doesn't necessarily translate well to the course. It's something to consider though from a teaching point of view.

Honestly I think making the hole bigger would help good players way way more than bad players.

No one actually thinks this drive chip and putt does anything at all to help the game right? I mean no one that doesnt play golf is going to go oh man now i can go to augusta. They dont even know it exists im sure. You would think by watching the golf channel its the biggest thing to happen to golf.

Hey the 14 year old girl who made the cut in this week won it as an 11 year old. Not sure it helps golf a ton but it doesn't really hurt it so let the kids have fun before they realize they will never get to come back.

No its obviously really cool for the kids that are there im talking about the "growing the game" aspect the golf channel pushes.

Augusta giving an entry to the masters for the Asian Amateur winner on the other hand probably does, at least in Asia.