A brand new idea for the Masters Golf Tournament

The country’s most prestigious golf tournament begins on Thursday, April 10, and continues through Sunday, April 13, with the winner crowned sometime in the late afternoon usually bathed in sunny, beautiful Augusta, Ga.

As announcer Jim Nance has traditionally and famously called it, “a tradition like nonother: The Masters.”

All the special ingredients are there: the course, the green jacket, the tradition of exciting finishes, and all the greatest golfers. They are all part of what makes The Masters tournament so special… but what if we could make it even better?

What if we changed a rule so drastically that it would shake up the sometimes starchy underthings of the golf pundits and administrators? What if we gave them a rule change that at first would be met with great criticism (especially from the golf traditionalists), but like the 3-point shot in basketball, or the pitching speed up rules in baseball, would eventually be not only adopted but loved by fans and players alike?

What if we tried this?

I speak specifically of the amount of time the golfers take analyzing, lining up, measuring, aiming, consulting with caddies, going through their practice swing routines—and then finally, actually, making their shot.

It’s brutal for the viewers at home to sit through,  as well as for the other golfers behind them, waiting to hit their shots. It can be laborious to watch—at best.

So here is the suggestion, and it runs under the heading of “Are you ready for this?”

How about putting a shot clock type concept into the game of golf? It has been suggested before, but NOT the kind of shot clock I have in mind. This would be different.

You know how in competition chess (yes, chess), the two players each have only a certain amount of time they can use total in the match? When their personal timer runs out they are done, so it becomes a test of not only mental skill, but also the ability to make the right decision and to do so with some level of quickness. 

For those unfamiliar, it works like this: The chess player makes their move and then immediately punches down on their clock, to stop the time, thus saving his time left in the match. The opponent’s clock then starts to tick until he does the same, and it goes back and forth like this with each player saving their time left on the clock by making their move and then tapping the clock stopper.

OK?  Let’s take that concept, on a quantum leap, into the great game of professional golf. Bizarre, I know, but the more I imagine this, the more I like it. 

So, let’s say golfers over their 18 holes will only have a certain allotted amount of time to use. The “shot clock,” if you want to call it that, starts upon your approach to where the ball lies. Now, keep in mind this is not a basketball shot clock, where your time per possession is limited. This would be like tournament chess, where you are allotted only so much total time to use for the entire 18 holes, and you can use it any way you want.

If you spend too much time lining up and analyzing your shots early in the match, the drama then starts to build when said player is coming down to the final few holes but only has left himself a limited amount of time to analyze and line up his shots.

I can hear the announcer now, whispering into his TV mic, “Jackson with a two-stroke lead with three holes left, but he has only 1:30 seconds of shot clock time.  Can he hold on despite not having proper time to really measure each of his shots?  Meanwhile Rodriguez, and Landry are two strokes back, but both have much more shot clock time left. They may be able to catch Jackson, with the extra time they have saved themselves to properly measure each shot.”

Would that not give the game of tournament golf we watch on TV a huge boost? Would it not add a really cool extra layer of playing strategy? Most importantly, wouldn’t it make it much more fun for the fans viewing at home, because it would be so much quicker?

Golfers, with this new rule, could not overanalyze every single shot from multiple angles, over all 18 holes. They'd now have to play with at least a little bit of sense of urgency, much like the now-popular pitch clock in baseball.

The timer is moving and now, so will the golfers!  And in the end?  A much more enjoyable experience for fans–and I would argue once they get used to it, for the golfers too.

Understood, this would upset the traditionalist in golf to no end and additionally—probably–will never happen. But I remain convinced that if they ever tried it, this would be a huge boost to the great game of golf.

Meanwhile, enjoy this weekend, and my prediction for the green jacket?  How about Victor Hoogland from England? Great golfer, and it just might be his time to try on the famous green jacket.