No time like the present.
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In an effort to hurry along tardy golfers and call a halt to five hour rounds, hundreds of British courses are introducing a speed penalty.
Golfers at courses which are part of the scheme will hand over an extra £2 when they register for their round and be given a receipt with their tee time stamped on it.
If they complete their 18 holes within the stipulated time – 3hrs and 50 minutes for flat courses, four hours for hilly ones - money will be re-imbursed.
The British Golf Course Owners Society, meeting at Brighton yesterday – and which represents more than half of the private and pay and play courses in the British Isles and Ireland – said its members were ‘sick and tired’ of the loss of revenue due to slow rounds.
"We are determined to stamp it out. It’s costing our members huge sums every summer when golf gets popular after the US Masters," said Society secretary Walter H Smith. " With Augusta looming next week our members thought there’s no time like the present."
If golfers fail to complete their rounds and lose their cash it will be used to install a sophisticated ‘clocking in’ system beside each first tee at the courses which are part of the scheme.
The R & A and the English Golf Union have already given their blessing to the scheme and have even agreed to consider further measures including penalty strokes for late finishers. Persistent offenders will be black-listed at courses around the country.
A special website is to be set up so golfers can identify the culprits.
However, while the new measures are expected to generate an extra £1,000 during a six month period for participating clubs, it hasn’t met with approval in some quarters.
"It’s an absolute disgrace," said a spokesman for one party of golfers queuing at dawn at a municipal club in Cambridgeshire today.
"We get here early to avoid being rushed round by golfers in a hurry and now we’re being penalised. They will have us raking bunkers and repairing pitchmarks next!"
