A major Portuguese golf club has said it will battle against slow play in 2019 by, among other things, running a golf event that should be completed in 90 minutes.
Palmares Beach & Golf Resort says the event will see one-shot penalties handed out for searching for lost balls, practice swings, hitting provisional balls or reading greens from both sides.
“We’re hitting the accelerator in the war against slow golf,” said a spokesman. “The time has come to make a stand and attempt to ‘save the golf planet’.”
The club has also introduced the new R&A rules and recommendations, which are designed to speed up play, and this month launches its new tournament: Eradicate Slow Play.
“The Texas Scramble format and a nine-hole dash is expected to be completed in just 90 minutes, with members and guests set to put the new event through its paces,” added the spokesman.
“One-shot penalties will be handed out for searching for lost balls, practice swings, hitting provisional balls or reading greens from both sides.
“But as an added incentive, Palmares will replace any lost balls with new balls to ensure no extra time is lost.”
The resort’s operations director, António Pinto Coelho, added: “So many of us think that slow play is the number one enemy to an enjoyable golf experience.
“Slow play is killing golf so we felt obliged to do something. It’s not acceptable for a round of golf to take five hours so we need to change the mentality of some golfers. We also need to do what we can to encourage this so we wanted to do something more extreme and show that it can be a lot of fun at the same time.”
The event is expected to become a monthly fixture at Palmares “with more radical local rules set to be introduced for future tournaments”, added the spokesman.
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