More than half of golfers would enjoy golf more if they played their rounds in less time. This is one of the data obtained in a macro survey on the pace of play that the Royal and Ancient (R&A) has conducted among more than 56,000 golf players from 122 countries.
The R&A, world golf’s highest governing authority along with the USGA, has conducted the survey as part of its efforts to investigate the issues affecting golf and how they impact its development.
The study, done between September 2014 and March 2015, reveals that while 70% of golfers are satisfied with the length of their rounds, 60% of players felt they would enjoy golf more if they played in less time. Importantly, of the 25-44 year old players who said they were never happy with the pace of play, 21% said golf would have to last up to an hour and a half less in order to play more often. Of the 8,468 players in this age range who responded, 19% said they would positively value having the opportunity to play nine holes more often in an alternative format.
The survey found that the two main factors preventing the practice of golf were professional commitments (34%) and family commitments (29%), with the time needed to play (16%) coming in third place. Other factors mentioned were alternative hobbies (12%), cost of the activity (7%), difficulty of play (1%) and cost of equipment (1%); although there was some regional variation on these percentages.
The Royal & Ancient is organizing a forum to be held later this year where a number of golf organizations will be invited to address the pace of play issue and explore key areas of player behavior, management approaches and golf course issues.
Duncan Weir, Chief Executive of The R&A, said: “This survey is our first step in examining, in detail, the wide range of issues currently affecting participation in golf. There is a lot of evidence available, and the survey to obtain accurate data on pace of play is an important aspect of getting an idea of what the main factors are that players themselves say contribute to slowing rounds. We believe the next step in this process is to engage our partners across the golf industry to look at these results and invite them to contribute their views to these important discussions. Our forum later this year will provide the opportunity for this input to take place.”
For the purposes of this report, countries are grouped into regions: Africa, Asia, Australasia, Continental Europe, Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I), Latin America and the Caribbean, and North America. The survey was conducted in different languages (Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, French, German and English) to facilitate the greatest number of responses. The number of rounds played each year by respondents would indicate that they are enthusiastic and active golfers (an average of two rounds per week). The sample also reveals the persistence of the sport among the respondents, with an average of twenty years playing golf; with the exception of continental Europe, where this was reduced to eleven years.
While there were differences between age and sex groups, these were not as marked as previously thought. For this reason, responses are generally broken down by region rather than by gender and age ranges.
The survey results indicate that playing in groups of four is most common, except in Continental Europe, where playing in groups of three is most common. As for the predominant mode of play, this varies from region to region. In Australia, Stableford is the most common (63%) and the amount of competitive play (81%) is particularly notable.
It was asked how much time they spent playing 18 holes and the most common answer was between four and four and a half hours, except in GB & I where it was reduced to between three and a half and four hours. They were also asked how long their round was when they first started playing golf, and in general the duration was comparable to today. The weighted averages indicate that the average time in GB&I is around 3.44 hours, while in other regions it increases to 3.54 (Continental Europe) and 4.09 (Australasia and Latin America & Caribbean).
Frequency of play
As to what factors prevented them from playing golf more. Globally the most common responses were work and family commitments, although there was some variation in responses by age group and region. The time required to play was the next most common factor globally.
The cost of playing golf was cited as a reason for no longer playing golf by 28.5% of respondents in Asia, but in GB&I by just 2.2%. Cost of equipment and difficulty of the game were not mentioned as reasons very often, although within golfers over 75 years of age the proportion citing difficulty of the game increased to 7.4%. Women cited alternative hobbies (17.7%) in greater proportion than men (11.4%) as a factor influencing them not to play golf more often.
Pace of play attitudes
The survey asked whether they were generally happy with the time they spent playing golf. The majority responded positively by saying they were always (4.3%) or most of the time (64.6%). The remaining respondents were happy sometimes (27.1%) or never (4.0%). As expected, those who were never happy with the time spent on their rounds generally spent more than four and a half hours.
Despite this positive result, the majority of respondents said that playing in less time would make them enjoy golf more (60.1%). They were also asked to quantify the reduction in time per round that would increase their frequency of play. Just over half of the respondents said it would not make a difference, but about a quarter said that to play more frequently they would need a drop from 21 to 39 minutes per round (i.e., approximately two minutes per hole). This factor increased to between 40 and 59 minutes per round (three minutes per hole) among those who said their average time per round was five to five and a half hours.
It is interesting to focus on those who were less or never happy with their pace of play. As expected, the picture is different. The never satisfied group said that, for them to play more golf, the round should be reduced by between 21 and 59 minutes. This reduction increases much more for golfers aged 25 to 44, some of whom felt that, to play more often, the time per round should be improved by 60 to 90 minutes. Realistically, such reductions in time per round would be very difficult to achieve by improving pace of play alone.
Causes of problems with rhythm of play
At this early stage, the R&A report purports to describe the survey results rather than provide solutions. In general, respondents blame other golfers for problems in pace of play, most frequently citing failure to follow course etiquette, poor play and players’ pre-shot routines. In the United States, the most frequently cited cause is players teeing off tees that are too difficult for them, indicating that the USGA’s “Tee It Forward” campaign is of particular relevance in that country, or at least that the campaign’s message has caught on with American players.
30,000 suggestions
There are questions that requested open answers and one of the next steps is to review these comments. There are around 30,000 suggestions for what could improve the pace of play and many other comments. A summary of some of the key points is included in this report, but this will be further elaborated on at the aforementioned R&A meeting later in the year.
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