Playing at the KPMG Women’s Championship this week, Charley Hull is tied for 15th at 4-over par. It looks fine now, but she had a slow start on the first day, carding 78. Now, that was not the only thing slow. You see, after the first round, information broke out that the last few groups took nearly six hours each to complete their rounds. And this was not the first time. Even last year, at The Annika, and this year at the U.S. Women’s Open, when Hull sent social media into a frenzy, players struggled to stick to the pace of play.

Speaking to the media after her third round, Hull was asked a question on the ongoing debate of slow play. And her response was rather unusual compared to her quick, fiery responses in the past. “I really don’t know. I think it’s hard this week because obviously it’s quite a big field, isn’t it? I don’t know, cut the field sizes, but the golf courses are hard, so it’s a hard one, really,” she expressed. Last year, at The Annika, Hull had a rather brutal suggestion to improve the pace of play, so her trying to explain slowplay really takes the light.

“I’m quite ruthless, but my idea would be if you get three bad ­timings, every time it’s a two-shot penalty. If you have three of them, you lose your tour card instantly,” she expressed, frustratingly, last year. And this suggestion came even before the LPGA announced its new three-tier policy earlier this year, which includes players facing fines and two-stroke penalties for slow play. This year, at Erin Hills, on the first day, Charley’s photograph of waiting at the 9th tee went viral, while her groupmate, Lexi Thompson, finished her 8th hole. Anyways, her softened stance this week probably came from the fact that the course was set up rather poorly for a major event like this week.

This is the first time that the LPGA has hosted an event on Fields Ranch East, and it is a challenging course with difficult conditions. Stacy Lewis, who is a two-time major champion and former world No. 1, had an important role in the making of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, and Lewis hinted at the setup being more of a problem than slow play.

“Today it was just hole locations again, on the sides of hills. Then you throw the wind in there; there was no way to stop it on No. 8 again today. We should be playing the front of that tee, probably 120 yards … can’t hold the green,” Lewis expressed in response to the slow play debate during the first round. Players had to wait nearly 25 minutes on par 3s, especially the 8th. The hole location was placed in such a way on the 157-yard par 3 that less than 20 percent of the field could hit the green in regulation. That’s quite an alarming number, given that this week has some of the world’s best players in the world competing.

While Hull made the headlines for her notoriously bold take on slow play several times, calling for stricter actions and suggesting ruthless measures, her softened stance this week suggests that she, too, understands the difficult course set up affecting everyone’s game. While Charley Hull shot 3-under on the second day, she shot 6-over on the first day, clearly implying that her score was more a result of how difficult the course was playing. And the leading score of 6-under after three rounds is proof of the same.

The course setup is to blame for slow play

Minjee Lee is currently leading the major championship at 6-under par, which is not too low of a score for a major championship. In the first round, the scoring average was 75.58, which was the fifth toughest day at a major in the last 10 seasons. The second day is now being called the toughest day on the LPGA this year because the scoring average went as high as 76.012. Only two holes on the entire course averaged under par, and it was the highest scoring average at a major in a decade. Brutal doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Meanwhile, golf analyst Brandel Chamblee also hinted at LPGA course setups being far too long. According to Chamblee, holes that are reachable par-5s for the men often turn into three-shot marathons for the women. Even the LPGA’s longest bombers are struggling to reach the greens in two. To put it in perspective, there’s about a 40-yard average distance gap off the tee between the PGA and LPGA. So, an average 7,300-yard course on the PGA Tour is like basically asking women to play a 6,000-yard course with the same approach-shot difficulty.

And while majors on the LPGA play it tough because of the courses chosen and the conditions they play in, the length is also increased. While average course lengths for most LPGA events are about 6,400 yards, during the majors, they’re pushed to 6,600 to 6,800 yards. So it’s now only understandable why players are struggling on the course this week, and slow play is not as straightforward a conversation as it appears to be.