ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Pace of play – or the lack of it – was a hot topic of conversation earlier this season and apparently the PGA Tour has heard the backlash and made some subtle changes to the way players are penalized for taking too long.
On Tuesday, the Tour informed players of changes to Tour regulations that will go into effect for the 2024 season after being approved during the Tour’s Policy Board meeting a day earlier in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
For starters, the Tour is replacing its “Observation List,” which was instituted in 2021 with a primary focus on changing the individual habits of the slowest players.
“The Observation List has been very successful, and furthermore has been a tool which has allowed the Rules Committee to effectively work with individuals to improve their person pace habits,” the Tour reported to its players. “However, as we look to evolve the list and improve it, it has become apparent that there was an inequitable disparity in weekly field averages due to factors such as course difficulty and weather. Depending on the player’s chosen schedule, this had the potential to artificially skew their 10-tournament stroke average and therefore result in an unfair assessment.”
As a result, the PAC supported the concept of the Average Stroke Time Infraction in place of the Observation List as detailed below:
- Average Stroke Time (AST) Infraction – At the conclusion of a tournament a player’s average stroke time is compared against the field average. For a given tournament, if a player has an average stroke time of 7.0 seconds or more above the field average, he has recorded an AST infraction. AST infractions are accumulated during the season before monetary fines are applied – $20,000 when you reach your 10th AST; $5,000 for each additional AST from 11-14th; and $10,000 for each infraction from 15 and over. Players accumulating less than 10 AST infractions but have a ratio of AST infractions/tournaments played of 50 percent or above, will be fined $2,000 per infraction at the end of the season (with a minimum of five tournaments played). AST infractions on the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, and PGA Tour Champions will be counted together for the purposes of determining the cumulative number of AST infractions during a season. Fines will be pro-rated based on the number of occurrences on each respective tour.
According to the Tour’s update on changes to the rules and regulations, the PAC supported…
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