![\"Rory](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2176124248-1-1024x682.jpg\")
Rory McIlroy and David Howell at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2024 | Source: David Cannon\/Getty Images<\/p>\nJustin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood were given \u2018bad times\u2019 for playing too slowly at the BMW PGA Championship.<\/p>\n
The English pair were judged to have taken longer than the permitted time for a stroke at Wentworth, according to European Tour Group committee member David Howell.<\/p>\n
A bad time is administered when a player takes longer than 40 seconds to play a shot while being monitored, or 50 seconds if they are first to play in the group.<\/p>\n
Another bad time would have led to a penalty, and despite these instances involving two of golf\u2019s most popular players, fans will no doubt welcome a crackdown on what is one of the sport\u2019s most incendiary crimes.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo people got bad times, two that I know of, and they were Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood,\u201d Howell told NCG, who is a tournament committee director on the DP World Tour (DPWT).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only two people were two of our highest profile players. That\u2019s just to make sure that people are aware we\u2019re not mollycoddling the superstars. Our officials are amazing \u2013 whether you\u2019re Joe Blow or Rory McIlroy, if you\u2019re over time, you\u2019re over time. It\u2019s just the way it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Howell, a two-time Ryder Cup winner with Team Europe, believes slow play is discussed more than any subject at board-level on tour. After all, it\u2019s a debate as old as time at every level of the game.<\/p>\n
The tour hasn\u2019t been shy in dishing out punishment in 2026. In May, Gregorio de Leo was penalised when contending in the final round of the Turkish Airlines Open \u2013 he ended up tied for seventh.<\/p>\n
While Howell believes there is a limit to how fast a round can go with big fields such as at the BMW PGA Championship, the Englishman outlined the DPWT has identified the main perpetrators and the issue is dealt with more strictly than people might realise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe certainly did have the most stringent sanctions of all the tours,\u201d Howell added. \u201cThe PGA Tour might be catching up, so I don\u2019t want to dismiss what they\u2019re doing. They\u2019re blessed with amazing data from their ShotLink system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been giving shot penalties out to people for a number of years now. I think at least two people have had one- or two-shot penalties this year for slow play for exceeding their times. We\u2019re strong on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tour has been very strong on acknowledging that round times can\u2019t come down a lot. They just can\u2019t. But there are some players who are much slower than the others and are always the problem. Those players have been targeted and the regulations make their world quite uncomfortable, so we do way more than most people think.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one likes playing slowly on tour,\u201d he added. \u201cThat being said, there are limits to how fast we can play by the way we set the tournaments up, big fields.<\/p>\n
\u201cThursday and Friday (at Wentworth) were just under five hours, having already signed their cards,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t go around much quicker. That doesn\u2019t sound quick, but it\u2019s a two-tee start. You can\u2019t do it in any less than four and a half hours. It\u2019s an impossibility because we put so many people on the course.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy and David Howell at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2024 | Source: David Cannon\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
What is the DP World Tour\u2019s pace of play policy?<\/p>\n
According to the DP World Tour\u2019s pace of play policy (DPWT), a player can take 40 seconds to play a stroke, and 50 seconds if they are first in the group to hit.<\/p>\n
If a referee observes a player to be taking longer than the above times to hit a shot while they are initially being monitored or timed, they incur a bad time. Bad times are carried forward for the remainder of the tournament, and a second bad time leads to a stroke penalty.<\/p>\n
A third one adds a two-stroke penalty, and a fourth is disqualification. Timing sessions are accumulated throughout the season, and players can receive fines and be added to the tour\u2019s Watch List.<\/p>\n
As well as the example of de Leo on the DPWT, the LPGA Tour also made a significant crackdown in the same month, when Arpichaya Yubol was docked a shot for taking too long on the 13th hole in the second round of the LPGA ShopRite. She finished one shot behind winner Celine Boutier.<\/p>\n
While there is never-ending clamour for the book to be thrown at players for taking too long, slow-play penalties aren\u2019t entirely uncommon.<\/p>\n
Slow play at the highest level has many moving parts, such as field size, weather conditions and crowd movement at the biggest events. Even so, the loudest detractors don\u2019t let those variables excuse players from their responsibility to keep things moving.<\/p>\n
The tour has its policy, as do the PGA Tour and the R&A, but Howell, a five-time DPWT winner, believes slow play could also be tackled by looking more closely at what players are allowed to do before hitting a shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes golf take too long? What\u2019s making golf take a long time? I personally hate the line on the ball when they\u2019re putting,\u201d Howell added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like that. I don\u2019t think pros should be able to do that. I think it\u2019s a bit weird that we can do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can always line the manufacturer\u2019s name up, but the way they\u2019re doing it \u2013 it doesn\u2019t look very athletic. It\u2019s not very skilful. I don\u2019t like that. I think AimPoint feeds into that. People say that AimPoint is quicker; I\u2019m not sure I concur with that. I think it also looks awful.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe you can only put it down once \u2013 you certainly can\u2019t readjust it.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Howell: Slow play is talked about on tour, but what about club level?<\/p>\n
The issue isn\u2019t limited to tour players; it exists at club level, too. In a recent survey from Golfshake<\/a>, 74% of respondents said \u2018slow play was their biggest frustration, narrowly ahead of handicap manipulation\u2019. Given the growing antipathy towards WHS, even just on these very channels, that is quite the finding.<\/p>\n In 2024, England Golf trialled checkpoints at their championships, which saw groups timed at various points during their round, and no slow play penalties were given. This system has been adopted full-time as a result of its success.<\/p>\n At club level, there is a balance to be struck. Players do not enjoy waiting, but equally enjoy spending their weekends in the outdoors without feeling rushed.<\/p>\n Although Howell sits on a committee headstrong on tackling slow play, he pondered if players have an incentive to play fast, and whether grassroots hackers appreciate the factors exclusive to professional golf that inevitably make rounds longer. <\/p>\n \u201cThe amateur game has got to look at itself and stop blaming the pros. It\u2019s a different thing than pro golf. There are 20,000 people on the course, for goodness sake,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you hit up against an advertising hoarding, there are cameras everywhere. You can\u2019t afford to break a rule or get a ruling wrong. You have to wait. That\u2019s 10 minutes. By the nature of the beast, you can\u2019t run around, added to the fact that you\u2019ve flown all the way to China (for example) and you\u2019ve got nowhere to go in the evening \u2013 there often isn\u2019t an incentive for the pros.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not rushing back to anyone or anything. You\u2019re there for the purpose only, so you\u2019ve got to play within a sensible time frame, which is what we\u2019ve regulated for.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t worry about the pros. Club golf needs to be quicker, and ways to do that are as important as anything,\u201d Howell added.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t play a lot of club golf anymore. But I also think it\u2019s overplayed a little bit. It\u2019s waiting to play golf that\u2019s the problem. That often just comes about because people are not very good. <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not their fault. We want them out there. If you\u2019re a better player than the people in front, you\u2019re going to be waiting because they\u2019re looking for their balls and they\u2019re having more shots. It\u2019s human nature, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n \u201cHow quickly do you want to play? If you want to play in three hours, you better go off at 7 in the morning. That can be just as annoying as well, the people that don\u2019t want to be out there long.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re always going to debate it, aren\u2019t we?\u201d<\/p>\n Now have your say<\/p>\n What do you make of these David Howell slow play views? Tell us on Facebook<\/a>!<\/p>\n DS Automobiles has launched the DS N\u00b08 Challenge to give golfers the chance to win a brand-new N\u00b08 worth over \u00a350,000, in partnership with TopTracer. Head to dsautomobiles.co.uk\/golf<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nationalclubgolfer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/David-Howell-was-speaking-at-the-launch-of-the-DS-Automobiles-N%C3%82%C2%B08-Challenge-in-partnership-with-Toptracer-5-1-1024x683.jpg\")
David Howell | Source: DS Automobiles<\/p>\n