Shot Clock in Golf – Ratings Boost or Sport Killer?

Golf Falling Through The TV Cracks

It is no secret that in the world of televised sports, Golf has never been the darling of the ratings. With the exception of the most major tournaments like the Masters, PGA Championship and the U.S. Open, it is a sad reality that most of the golf tournaments that populate our television’s lineup on a weekly basis simply fall through the ratings cracks. Too many of all of us tune into baseball, football, basketball, or most recently, the Olympics to watch golf. The question is, why?

The Pace Of The Game

There are many arguments, on many different levels as to why people find televised golf, well, boring, for lack of a better term. One of the most interesting I have heard in recent memory, however, is that it is the pace, more than any other thing, that ends up pushing our finger down on the Channel Up button. Is golf too slow for you? Is it the multiple warm-up swings, the constant walking around the ball, the checking, re-checking, and testing of the wind? Is it just too slow?

Install Shot-Clocks?

So what do you do? What about a shot-clock? What if each and every player only have 35 or 45 seconds upon reaching their ball to check yardage, test the wind, practice swing, address and hit? What if there were penalties for any player that exceeded the shot clock…a stroke per infraction? I know this sounds ridiculous, that it sounds like spoiling the sport, ruining the precision and pace that set it aside from the other fast-paced sports like basketball and hockey, but once again, there are arguments on both sides of the coin.

It Could Work

The question is, would this boost ratings? Would the added pressure, speed and excitement of having to hurry up and golf bring more people in, or would it cause the golfer’s score to go up, and up, and up and cause the overall quality of golf to go down, and down, and down? I personally worry most for the scores that we’d see posted if and when a shot clock ever did go into effect. In all honesty, a shot clock is probably the last thing we’d see introduced to the PGA Tour, but still, it begs the question as to what golf needs to get over the ratings hump, and start being as popular as we all know it should be.

We Want To Hear Your Opinions

One thing I think we can all agree on, golf without Tiger means an automatic loss of A LOT of viewers around the world. Whatever the case may be, sound off, we want to hear your opinions. Want the shot clock? Hate the idea? What are your ideas on the pro’s and con’s of adding something like this to the golf we all know and love? Better ideas? Sound off, who knows, the best idea might win a prize!