Unless you have had your face buried in a screen your entire life – and that may encompass an entire generation – you are familiar with Smokey Bear and his tagline, “Only you can prevent forest fires.”
Times being what they are, the term forest fires has been replaced by wildfires but the message is the same.
Which brings us to Ryan Fox, the newly crowned Champion Golfer of the Year.
Given his don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it pace of play, perhaps Fox can become a public service ambassador for golf with a simple message: “You can prevent slow play.”
Fox needed only 22 seconds from the time playing partner Sam Burns finished his Open Championship to study the 11-foot putt to change his life and knock it in.
It’s a variation on a theme because, sadly, it’s not accurate to say that “Only you can prevent slow play” because all of us – most of us anyway – want to believe we are not part of the problem.
Seeing Fox go about his business with the speed of a man trying to put out a grease fire is a refreshing reminder that golf doesn’t have to move at the speed of most committee meetings.
He didn’t straddle the line back and forth like a croquet player. He didn’t have to adjust and readjust the line on his ball like a NASA technician dialing in launch coordinates. He didn’t have to move his feet like Shakira moves her hips.
Pulling a club is easy, according to Fox. It’s usually one or two choices, make up your mind and go. He is living proof of the value of economy over luxury.
Fox could have Ludvig Åberg and Matt Fitzpatrick as his fellow ambassadors. Left to their own devices, they could play nine holes before a cup of coffee gets cold.
Pace of play is the game’s quiet killer. Colin Montgomerie was railing recently about tournament rounds that once were played in four hours now taking five hours and 40 minutes. Monty on his high horse is always a treat, especially when he’s right about whatever the subject may be.
It’s like the old saying about the weather – everyone talks about it but no one does anything about it. That’s how it feels when a round of golf drags on like a Russian novel.
Ryan Fox showed the world how it can be done. Now it’s up to the rest of us.
Ron Green Jr.
Top: Ryan Fox
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