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USA Today
16 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
PGA Tour gives pace-of-play updates, data to be posted publicly for first time
The PGA Tour has crunched the numbers from its testing of distance measuring devices earlier this year and other policy changes and the results are in: Play sped up! The findings also match up with the returns of a survey of 153 players and another 144 caddies. According to the study, 82 percent of all players and caddies reported using DMDs. 'The majority of players believe that the overall speed of play improved, and we see that the majority of players feel that their individual speed of play improved,' the Tour reported during a Zoom call with members of the media on Wednesday. 'Three-quarters of the players on both tours support the use of DMDs being permitted on a permanent basis on our tours.' While it is hard to nail down how much of a savings of time the use of DMD's will result in – every player is different, courses are different, and weather and other factors all contribute to pace of play – it is safe to say that the use of DMD's won't make play any slower than it already is. 'The noteworthy trends from the analysis of the ShotLink data has shown that approach shots and all par-5s have been trending faster and the period of time in which DMDs were permitted when we also know or have seen in the data that the shot times for those shots within 40 to 60 yards of the green were faster as well,' the Tour said. 'That's actually 4.9 seconds faster for those shots from the fairway and 5.1 seconds faster for those shots from the rough.' The Tour's Video Review Center also is proving to be a timesaver. The study found they've shaved about a minute off the response time of every ruling and helping to slice about five minutes off the average round time. 'You take that 20 times during a tournament, that's five minutes per round, so that's been a big advantage for us,' said Mark Dusbabek, the Tour's lead TV rules and video analyst. None of this should come as a big surprise. But the Tour felt a need to conduct empirical evidence it will bring to the Player Advisory Council for their review. 'Those of us who sit out there each day and watch these players in the field of play, we saw a mixture of the DMD usage, whether it be the player using the DMD himself or a caddie working the numbers as well as working the numbers in the book. But the bottom line is it seemed like the process was going quicker,' said PGA Tour senior vice president of rules and competitions Gary Young, who noted that the number of players using the devices also was largely expected. 'I think it's a recognition of a generational change in the sport where we have younger players now coming up who have just been using these devices day in and day out as they play the game, and it doesn't surprise me that 70 percent plus are saying that they'd really like to see DMDs.' Young also revealed the change to the rules for docking penalty strokes for pace of play, which was implemented on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas but not on the PGA Tour, had its desired effect, too. Under the revised Pace of Play Policy, which is in place for the remainder of the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour season, the first offense of a 'bad time' will now result in a one-stroke penalty. Under the previous policy, a one-stroke penalty was not applied until a player received a second 'bad time.' 'They went from having 10 bad times during that time period on the Korn Ferry Tour to simply one bad time with this change in policy,' he reported. 'There's a sense of urgency that's developed on the player behavior side. They do not want to get on the clock, and if they are on the clock, they want to get off the clock as quick as possible.' The PAC for both the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour will make recommendations to the Board, who ultimately will determine whether any such rule changes go into effect. Young said he would expect approved changes to be implemented for next season, but it's possible they could go into effect sooner. One immediate change that will be a boon to fans is the Tour will begin posting pace of play course and group data in real time on PGA for the first time. 'For the course data itself, this will include average time for the field to play each hole and will include front nine and back nine times and overall times, and this will be located in the course and hole stats page at the round you look at group data itself, this will have turn and finish times,' said Billy Schroder, the Tour's senior vice president of competitions and special projects. 'This will be included on PGA from this point forward, and really what we're looking at here is we know within the ShotLink system there is a lot of data and the trick and the skill is to find a strategic plan to bring this to light for the fans so it enhances their enjoyment of the competition, how do we tell a better story of what's happening on the golf course for the fans' enjoyment.' This is the first visible evidence of the Tour's commitment to be more transparent about pace of play and share with the public what players are guilty of being slow pokes. Andy Weitz, the Tour's chief marketing and communications officer, said the Tour's pace-of-play problem is one of the first areas it is tackling as part its fan-forward initiative. 'It's an area we're committed to addressing on behalf of those fans as well as our players and our partners, and we know there are a lot of things that go into the speed of play equation, but we're committed to finding the right solutions and tackling it from every angle,' he said.
USA Today
10-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Meet Mark Dusbabek, the Gene Steratore of the PGA Tour
Meet Mark Dusbabek, the Gene Steratore of the PGA Tour PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Mark Dusbabek had finished a long day of working as a rules official at the old World Golf Championship Match-Play in Arizona and when he got back to his room, he kicked up his feet on his bed and turned on the replay of the telecast. Not long after, he sat up in disgust when he heard one of the TV commentators describe a ruling improperly. The mistake stuck in his craw so much so that the next morning he went to discuss it with Mark Russell, who at the time was his boss and headed up rules and competition for the Tour. 'Why don't we have one of our people in the TV truck?' he suggested. Russell replied, 'Who'd want to do that?' Dusbabek raised his hand and that's how he eventually ended up becoming professional golf's version of Gene Steratore, who began serving as a rules analyst for CBS's NFL coverage in 2018. For 22 of the 28 weeks this season that the Tour's telecast will involve a rules official, Dusbabek's job will be to watch a series of monitors in a tiny trailer in the TV compound and communicate with producers and talent for CBS and NBC, joining the telecast when warranted to speak about weather delays, pace of play and rulings. Dusbabek, 60, was an NFL linebacker for three years until his career was cut short by a knee injury. He played linebacker at the University of Minnesota, was drafted in the fourth round by the Houston Oilers and later played with the Minnesota Vikings. After a short stint in finance and several jobs in golf, including with the Southern California Golf Association and Met Golf Association, he joined the Tour in 2006. After selling Russell on being the Tour's liaison to the broadcast crew, he started out doing video review and TV in the video tower on 18 at three events per year (during a Presidents Cup year), shifted to watching the telecast from the Rules office, where he dealt with a 10-15 second delay, and eventually using a DVR. 'So it was live and at least we could rewind it and play around with the one feed we were watching,' he said. But that was just scratching the surface of his vision. When Dusbabek first met with Terry Gregson, a longtime NHL referee who officiated in eight Stanley Cups, he learned that hockey had been using video review since 1996. 'And I was like, oh my goodness, we're that far behind,' he said. The technology capabilities have expanded ever since the Tour started using Hawk-Eye technology, which is used in other sports including tennis. In 2023, he handled the video review and TV role simultaneously. But at the suggestion of NBC's Mike Tirico, he took trips to the NBA and NFL's 'war rooms' and Steratore and others shared some best practices. 'When I saw the NBA have one guy working the controls while the other official did the TV side, it was a light that went off,' said Dusbabek, who added longtime rules official Orlando Pope handled the video replay role last year. 'We had to get to that point. We had to take baby steps.' The video review and TV rules roles developed in earnest three years ago with the support from CBS's executive producer of the PGA Tour, Sellers Shy, who took notice of the value Steratore had added during NFL broadcasts. 'Within our golf sphere, we knew that players and announcers many times needed a little rules kickstart,' Shy said. 'Mark has effortlessly filled that void, facilitated the decision making, and frankly, exceeded all of our high expectations.' Dusbabek said he works with a media coach in an effort to get better with his delivery on TV. As a measure of his acceptance as a full-fledged member of the CBS golf team, Shy said it was only natural to introduce him on camera within the opening of the network's first event at the Farmers Insurance Open two weeks ago alongside commentators Ian Baker-Finch and Frank Nobilo. 'He is as respected as anyone else on our compound,' Shy said. 'The Rules of Golf can be quite complicated but Dus has a way of cutting through the numerous pages and overall uncertainty. His style is convincing yet not overly harsh or complicated. He is so good at reaching the peak of trust with the viewer.' Dusbabek does more than just weigh in on split-second rules decisions; Shy called him the epitome of a utility man. 'He is the Jim Cantore of our telecast, giving us up-to-the-minute weather reports. He is our pace-of-play companion when we need to know what time the final group is finishing,' said Shy, who noted his experience on the gridiron may prove beneficial too. 'As a former NFL linebacker, he may even explain why the Chiefs will win their third Super Bowl in a row by the end of this week's telecast.'
