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Bubba Watson thinks slow play is a far bigger concern for golf than anchored putters

Golf's governing bodies have made it clear that an anchored putter is a big problem and we have a countdown until they are outlawed on the PGA Tour, but that might not be the biggest problem, according to one former major winner.

Bubba Watson, the 2012 Masters champion, told the organizers of the Asian Tour's Thailand Golf Championship that he thinks that slow play is the biggest problem in golf and needs to be addressed ahead of the anchored putter and the hot golf ball.

"Slow play is a problem on the PGA Tour, and I think that's our biggest concern."

"We are worried about putters and golf balls and all these things, but I think we should be more concerned about slow play and speeding the game up, not just for pros but for amateur golfers, as well," Watson said. "Nobody wants to play a game that takes five and a half hours to play. We want everybody to be able to play and go a lot faster."

I tend to agree with Watson here, especially with the way not just the pros play the game, but collegiate players, mini tour golfers and just about anyone that doesn't have something short of a shot clock in charge of their game.

Golf needs to be faster, plain and simple. The pros need to be better at it, we need to be better at it and it's really hurting the way we play, and view golf as a whole.

I've always said that the two things that random golfers really, really care about is pace of play and conditions of the greens. Think about it, if you play a golf course with beat up greens or the round takes six hours, you're miserable, right? Everything else can be bad and it isn't going to totally ruin your day, but those two really make your golfing experience much worse.

I'm not sure how you can curb the slow play of amateurs paying to play certain golf courses, but the USGA and R&A need to figure out a way to get the pros to move quicker on the golf course because Bubba isn't the only one that sees it as a big problem in the very near future.