It normally irritates me when Europeans lecture us Americans about anything. But, a Scot named W. Eric Laing has some good things to say about the ridiculously slow pace of play in the U.S.

"Slow play has become a universal curse in American golf and is talked about on every course in the country," Laing writes in his book, "America! What have you done to the Auld Game?"

What's worse, Laing says, is that we are exporting our excruciatingly slow pace to other countries. Among U.S. culprits allowing and even encouraging slow play are televised golf tournaments. The reasoning is that duffers watch the pros on TV and try to copy them.

I agree. Who hasn't seen the guy walking around his putt six times, studying it from every angle, trying to save triple bogey, while you're standing in the hot sun in the fairway waiting to hit your approach?

Amateurs should not try to play like the pros, whose every shot means money won or lost.

"Why won't a major tournament figure explain that to amateur golfers?" Laing decries. "All it would take is for someone important to say it to make it stick."

The USGA should ask Tiger Woods or someone of like stature to do exactly that.

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