Golf was one of Tim Finchem's greatest pleasures when he was growing up in Norfolk, Virginia. For a dollar a day he could play as often as he wanted - and he wanted to play a lot. In the summer, he and his young friends would play 18 holes, then another 18 and sometimes a third. With tired legs and eyes glinting with enjoyment, they went home thinking that 54 holes was a day well spent.

Now Finchem, the commissioner of the PGA Tour in the United States and the most powerful man in the sport, is confronting the issue of speed again. This time it is slow play and how to deal with it. At the recent meeting of players on the tour, slow play was the first item on the agenda. When Trevor Immelman and Brandt Snedeker took five hours to play their last round in the Masters last month, yells of disapproval could be heard from followers around the world.

The World Golf Foundation, a body incorporating the United States Golf Association, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, the professional tours from around the world, as well as the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), meets here in Jacksonville on Monday and slow play is high on the agenda. Although Finchem differentiates between slow play on the professional tours and slow play by amateurs, he accepts that there is a problem.

“I have a problem concentrating for 18 holes to begin with,” Finchem said. “I can't stand to wait on a golf course. I think we owe it to the sport, to the players who play at this level and to the fans that we are doing everything we can to analyse and take steps on this issue. I have told players that we are going to make them play faster.

“On the golf course side, we are paying more attention to setting up the course in ways that don't create bottlenecks, whether it be pin placements three yards from the edge of a green, tee positions, drivable par-fours, reachable fives in two. One of the things we will be looking at is whether continually offending players should be treated differently.”

It is remarkable that the most recent time a player on the tour in the US was fined for slow play was 15 years ago. Was Finchem surprised? “No, because I can't remember anyone being penalised with a stroke,” he said. “There is a guideline that our officials go through. Rules are rules, but giving a shot is not part of a general repertoire and officials feel strongly that slow play is slow play, but affecting players' liability by giving a shot, the penalty outweighs the negativity.”

Finchem said that the PGA Tour may consider following the lead set by the LPGA to time players without warning them and, if necessary, penalise them. “That would be one of many things on our list to consider,” he said.

The conversation took place in the clubhouse at the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass, a $10million (about about £5.1 million) structure erected in 14 months. It is a testament to the wealth of the body headed by Finchem that runs professional golf in the US, one that controls 600 players and more than 2,200 employees. It is a very American organisation.

When Finchem was asked if he is going to put the world back into the World Golf Championships (WGC), the three annual tournaments held in the US, he said that while plans were afoot for one in Asia, it will not occur until after the next television contracts are drawn up, which will begin in 2011. He explained that it was the size of the TV contracts that have kept the WGC events in the US. “It might rotate from country to country,” he said. “We would like to see China in the mix.”

China - there's a country that is set to experience a huge golf boom. Finchem is content to allow the European Tour to stake a claim in that vast country. Indeed, he applauds the work of George O'Grady, the chief executive of the European Tour, in China and in coming up with the Race to Dubai. “I am delighted for them [the European Tour],” Finchem said. The ET has actually got stronger. That is a good message.”

So, too, is the idea of having golf in the Olympic Games, which could happen in 2016. Finchem is a convert, believing that, although it would pose scheduling problems for the US Tour, the concept is to be encouraged.

Finchem, a lawyer, is said to have driven through the huge television contract worth $270million last year that finances the US Tour, helped no doubt by the feats of Tiger Woods. But he is also an enthusiastic golfer, with a handicap of 5.3 who takes lessons every fortnight. The child who loved to play three rounds in a day is a man who relishes the Ryder Cup. “Watching the Ryder Cup is nirvana,” he said. “It is great theatre.”

Who will win at Valhalla in September? “You would think the Americans, coming off a great Presidents Cup and that most of those players will be a good unit,” he said. “If the Americans come out trying too hard, taking it too seriously, I think it could be Europe again.” And at that he smiled wryly.