We live in rapid fire, instantaneous times when things are done so quickly even the blink of an eye is deemed too cluncking and laboured for this breakneck era.

It seems the only thing that isn't done in a furious haste these days is golf. Even a survey on pace of play took seven months to complete. Flippancy aside, though, the gauging of widespread opinion by the game's governing body, the Royal & Ancient, on the length of time it takes to play golf has been an interesting endeavour. There has been a lot of talk in recent years about what to do with an issue that is seen as a "cancer of the game" but not a lot has been done about it. At all levels of the game, from the upper echelons of the professional stage to the murderous thrashings at club level, pace of play remains a sizeable concern. The results of the survey are hardly earth shattering revelations but they remain notable particularly as the sport tries to attract new participants while striving to maintain existing club members.

"This survey is the first step for us in examining, in detail, the wide range of issues currently affecting participation in golf," said Duncan Weir, the executive director of 'Working for Golf' at the R&A. "There is plenty of anecdotal evidence available but we conducted the survey to obtain accurate data on how much of an issue pace of play is for golfers and to give us an insight into what they see as the main factors contributing to slow rounds.

"We feel that the next step in this process is to engage with our partners throughout the golf industry to look at these findings and invite them to contribute their views to these important discussions. Our forum later this year will provide the opportunity for these discussions to take place."

The R&A's survey received 56248 responses from golfers in 122 different countries. While 70% of respondents said that they were largely happy with the duration of a round (in GB&I, an average round was between three to four-and-a-half hours), 60% stated that they would enjoy it more if it was played in less time. Of the 25-44-year-olds who said they were never happy with pace of play, an age group which can become increasingly nomadic or even lost to the game completely, 21% said the game would need to take as much as one-and-a-half hours less for them to play more often. In that sense, it was not surprising to see that of almost 8,500 respondents in that same age range, 19% expressed an enthusiasm for playing more nine-hole golf as an alternative format. Work commitments (34%) and family ties (29%) were the two biggest factors preventing people from playing golf with the time a round takes (16%) ranked third. On the whole, it was the delays caused by bad etiquette, bad golf, lengthy pre-shot routines and a general lack of awareness and understanding that were seen as the major issues involved with slow play.

Playing a course that is far too long for the average player's abilities also adds to the pace of play palaver. Many golfers, bombarded with messages from manufacturers about equipment innovations drastically increasing their distance, still insist on biting off far more than they can chew by playing off the back tees.

Getting club golfers to hand in their egos at the starter's box may take more than an R&A survey and forum, mind you.

"Unfortunately, golfers are masochists," said the great Jack Nicklaus. Presumably, he was stuck behind a plootering four-ball at the time.