Gary Player firmly believes the best way to retain golf’s popularity is to speed up play on the PGA Tour.

Golf’s popularity boomed after Covid, and more and more people are now religiously watching the PGA Tour.

Player absolutely loves golf but he’s not naive to the fact that the game has a serious problem which urgently needs addressing.

• Read also: The PGA Tour must consider banning what Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood do on most holes to solve slow play

Slow play caused all sorts of issues on the PGA Tour in 2025, and the danger is that the younger generation may switch off from the sport if rounds continue to take over five hours.

However, Player has a really simple way of combating the problem.

Gary Player has been pushing for a rule change that would solve slow play

Player himself was very quick in comparison to his rivals during his prime.

So it’s no surprise that he views slow play as one of the key factors that could damage the popularity of the game.

Back in 2018, Player made it very clear that there is one sure-fire way to solve the issue of slow play on the PGA Tour, when writing a column for Worldwide Golf.

He said: “The way to make golf more popular is simply amend the rules and speed up the game. Get rid of the reference booklets some players take an eternity to gaze at and say goodbye to five-hour rounds.

“Alternatively, the pros should be allowed to use rangefinders to speed up proceedings. There’s nothing wrong with the game, it’s just the speed at which it is played. It’s ironic that the players on the Senior Tours play at a much faster rate than their colleagues on the regular tours.“

The PGA Tour trialed the use of rangefinders in six events during the 2025 season.

And their initial findings were of a positive nature, so maybe Player will finally get his wish at some point in the very near future.

Jack Nicklaus has another idea to speed up play on the PGA Tour

Nicklaus went down a different route back in 2023, when asked about slow play.

He explained how ‘rolling back the golf ball’ would improve pace of play, as quoted by Golfweek.

“They do have a problem on the Tour today,” Nicklaus said. “The golf ball is a part of the problem. The longer the golf ball goes, the longer the courses get, the more you have to walk, the longer it’s going to take. I don’t think it’s good for the game. (The USGA and R&A have proposed) bringing the golf ball back (and reducing the distance it can travel). I think it’s a good start. It’s the first time they’ve done that in forever. We’ll see where it goes with that.

“It’s got to be equitable,“ Nicklaus added, “but they need to make an example and stay with it. It’s not very pleasant to watch somebody stand over the ball for half an hour.”

It’s a fair point from Nicklaus but what he’s missing is the fact that slow players will always be slow, regardless of how far they hit the golf ball.

The best way to solve the issue of slow play is to start penalizing players by docking them strokes.

Whether the PGA Tour will actually be prepared to do that remains to be seen, though.