Golfers finally are getting answers on why it takes so long to play 18 holes.

Among them: A putting green that allows a golf ball to roll 4.5 percent farther can add as much as 18 minutes to a round, according to a study by the U.S. Golf Association.

The findings are among those revealed during the second annual pace-of-play symposium at the USGA’s Far Hills, New Jersey, headquarters, where the sport’s leaders are discussing ways to improve the game and answer one of its most pressing questions: Why does it take so long to play?

“It needs to be changed,” U.S. PGA Tour player Brendon Todd said in an interview. “It needs to be improved so people can get around the golf course in under four hours and get back to their families. There’s too much dilly-dallying. Just step up and hit it. Play likes it’s a game.”

While the speed of putting surfaces can significantly slow play because faster greens mean more time-delaying putts, another issue can be found at the first tee soon after sunrise, according to data from the USGA, which governs golf in the U.S. and Mexico.

This additional time has a direct impact on players’ enjoyment of the game, according to a USGA survey of 1,000 golfers and 231 golf facilities across the U.S.

Time ‘Critical’

Among those surveyed, 74 percent said the time it takes to play is “critical” to their enjoyment, 6 percentage points more than the cost to play and 21 percentage points above how well they play. The condition of the course remains the top factor when it comes to a golfer’s enjoyment, cited by 82 percent of those surveyed.

For the second consecutive year, more than 10 percent of golfers said they played fewer rounds in 2014 because the time commitment “has become prohibitive.” The biggest increase is among public course golfers who pay less than $25 a round, with 64 percent citing slow play as the top factor determining overall enjoyment, an 8 percentage point increase from 2013.

Golfer, Operators

While slow play continues to plague the sport, golfers and course operators disagree on the issue, according to USGA survey data. The time it takes to play was cited as a “major problem” by 35 percent of golfers in 2014, up from 30 percent a year earlier, while only 7 percent of course operators shared that feeling, down from 12 percent.

“There is actually more that can be done from a facility operations point of view than from the golfer,” Davis said. “They just don’t know because they haven’t seen the data. It’s going to be hard data that will actually convince them.”