You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me….Make The Golf Hole Bigger?

I saw an article recently about widening the golf hole. The concept, if I understood it correctly is that it would speed up play. I know a lot of us golfers absolutely hate having to wait on the fairway when it seems to take forever to play a round of golf. But I really don’t think that this is the answer.

I also read some comments on this article as well. One of them described the USGA as elitist and said that it was driving people away from the game of golf. That topic could take another entire post so I won’t get started on that right now. But seriously folks, are we saying that golf is being ruined by the size of the golf hole?
There are a lot of reasons for slow play, but I, for one, am not convinced that is because of the size of the hole. I’ll talk more about that in just a moment. But one of the things that I love most about the game is that it always remains challenging. It also frustrates me at times, but I keep coming back. If we make putting so easy that it’s almost automatic, we take so much out of the game.
Now to slow play. Granted I see foursomes all the time who take way to much time on the putting green. But most of the time, in my humble opinion, a larger hole wouldn’t fix their problem. They take way too long to line up, and wait way to long to start looking at their putt. I could go on, but you get the idea.
Now your course may be different, but where I play most of the time, the slow play problem is more on the fairways than on the green anyway. I mean when I see 18-20 handicappers stepping off distance, then throwing grass to check the wind, then take 5-8 practice swings only to hit it into the pond, I get a little crazy.
Now don’t get me wrong. I was an 18-20 (or higher) handicap golfer for longer than I care to remember. But I didn’t try to act like I hit every approach shot to within 6 inches on every shot. I knew that I was a high handicapper and didn’t waste time on all that other stuff. And I don’t now either.
So I don’t see the merit in making the golf hole larger, especially in regards to slow play. I’m not cruel either. I know putting can make us all crazy. But we keep coming back don’t we? And call me old fashioned, but I don’t want every putt to be a gimme!
Thanks for listening, Golf Nuts