R&A survey: 70% happy with pace of play

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A survey by the R&A found that 70% of golfers are "largely happy" with the duration of their rounds while 60% would enjoy the sport more if it took less time to play.

Of those aged 25 to 44 who said they were not happy with the pace of play, 21% said golf would need to take as much as one-and-a-half hours less for them to play more often, and 19% said they would welcome the opportunity to play nine holes more often as an alternative.

Furthermore, the survey revealed the two biggest factors preventing people from playing golf are work commitments (34%) and family commitments (29%), with slow play coming in third (16%).

Behind this came alternative hobbies (12%), cost of play (7%), difficulty of play (1%) and cost of equipment (1%).

The R&A surveyed 56,000 golfers from 122 countries between September 2014 and March 2015.

The R&A is organising a forum later this year to address the issue of slow play.

“There is plenty of anecdotal evidence available but we conducted the survey to obtain accurate data on how much of an issue pace of play is for golfers and to give us an insight into what they see as the main factors contributing to slow rounds,” said Duncan Weir, executive director – Working for Golf at the R&A.

 “We feel that the next step in this process is to engage with our partners throughout the golf industry to look at these findings and invite them to contribute their views to these important discussions.”