Stephen Gallacher has backed Rory McIlroy’s call to speed up golf but wants repeat offenders suspended from tournaments.
The 40-year-old Ryder Cup player thinks a system like that of cricket England captain Alastair Cook was recently banned for a one-day international in Sri Lanka after two breaches of slow play regulations is the way to solve golf’s slow play problem.
Gallacher was being given honorary membership of the PGA in Scotland at their annual lunch in Glasgow yesterday and agreed with McIlroy’s call that golf had to be speeded up to make it more attractive to young people, something he has noticed in the Foundation he runs in his native West Lothian.
“We are on at the kids all the time to speed up,” he said, while admitting that the real key to the problem was at the top end of the game.
“Apparently all the committee guys (on the European Tour) say every week that’s what they talk about, but nothing happens,” he continued.
“I think on the pro tour you have to make it ruthless and say it’s a shot penalty. You can’t have a monetary thing.
“In cricket if the captain doesn’t meet his over rate he can be out of the next game. In golf, two two-shot penalties and you are suspended the next week, and that week might even be the Open.”
Gallacher thinks slow play is even cheating in some aspects, particularly when players slow up when put “on the clock” and then slow down again later.
“Certain forms of slow play are actually cheating, I think the two paces (of play) is cheating. Those guys who are slow, who know they are slow and get fined all the time but don’t do anything about it are putting people off, they’re certainly putting spectators off.”
Players not being ready to play, even at the highest level, was unacceptable, he added.
“I go out with my mates and go round in two and a half hours,” he said. “We are always ready, with the glove out and club chosen.
“Guys on tour still have to get the glove on and get the yardage book out and you think ‘are you kidding?’ Or the third guy to putt doesn’t look until it’s his turn and ends up looking at it from four different sides.
“When I started on tour we had the Apollo Week, when they showed the new guys on tour the ropes, got some ex-tour pros in to show them what to do. They should do that again. Not many of us have bad times, the older generation.”
Gallacher has completed his best ever season as he enters his forties jumping from 66th to 35th on the world rankings, winnings of £1.35 million, being the first man to retain the Dubai Desert Classic, winning a place in the Ryder Cup but knows he still has to get better.
“It’s one that’s going to be hard to top, for sure, I’m going to have to work even harder and really be on the ball, but the key is not to panic and try to do too much,” he continued.
“I think I had a first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth place this year. But you never look back. You have to bottle that formula and improve on it.
“I’m getting more consistent, my bad shots are now better and I found just improving one shot a round is enough to take you from 100th in the world to 35th.
“I just want to improve slightly in places, that wee bit here and there and who knows, you could be in the top ten as quick as that. It’s such a fine margin.”
Gallacher will be more ready next year as he won’t be chasing his tail so much as he did in the epic chase for Ryder Cup qualifying points the eventually took him to Gleneagles.
“In the end I needed to play eight out of nine weeks, I won’t have to do that again,” he said. “I’ll be able to target and try to peak at key times, and be fresh for the start of the next Ryder Cup points.
“But I’ve got a lot of confidence from Gleneagles, especially from Paul (McGinley). The stuff he’s said about me has been brilliant, and I got a really nice letter from him, it’s a really personal one and I’ll probably not show it to many people.
“Just spending a week with the best players in the world and seeing them up close, when you get into that environment, you realise you belong there and you are not far away.
“I wouldn’t take back any of it now. I have absolutely no negativity about the Ryder Cup. I only had positives, I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
He accepted that McGinley needed him to sit down on Saturday’s play and knew it was for the good of the team, he added.
“You check your ego at the team room door,” he continued. “Yes, I would have liked to have played a bit more.
“But would I swap that and get beat? No, I wouldn’t and against Mickelson (in the singles) was probably as good as I’ve played all year. And if he doesn’t win that match he can’t have a go at Tom Watson the way he did, so he was pretty motivated.
“I held my head up high and I enjoyed it. I desperately want to play it again.”