STEPHEN GALLACHER today called on golf to follow cricket's lead and hit the game's slow coaches for six.

Pace of play remains a huge problem for the sport and Rory McIlroy, the world No 1, aired his concerns on the issue earlier this week when he expressed his fears over the impact slow play is having at a grassroots level.

Gallacher, who does plenty to encourage a new generation through his own Foundation, believes that in some cases, a slow approach to pro golf is a form of cheating.

And the Ryder Cup star insists that golf needs to adopt the kind of ruthless approach that cricket does and hammer the culprits with stronger penalties.

Earlier this month, England captain Alastair Cook was a given a one-match suspension for his team's slow over rate in a one-day match against Sri Lanka - his second such offence of the season - and lost 20 per cent of his match fee, while the entire England team were fined 10 per cent of their fees.

Gallacher, 40, said: "I think slow play, in certain forms, is cheating. I think guys who are slow, who know they are slow and get fined all the time, but don't do anything about it are putting people off. They are certainly putting viewers off.

"I think on the pro tour you have to make it ruthless and say that it's a shot penalty. You can't have a monetary thing. In cricket if he doesn't meet his over rate he's out. You could do that. Two, two-shot penalties and you are suspended the next week. And that might be the Open week.

"When I was first came on tour we had what were called Apollo weeks. It was like a boot camp for new recruits where it was all laid out what happens on tour and what was expected of you.

"We should maybe have that again. Get some ex tour pros in to show them what to do. There's not many of the older generation who have many bad times (in terms of pace of play) on the course."

Gallacher, who was speaking at a function in Glasgow where he received honorary membership of the PGA, enjoyed a stellar 2014 and retained his Dubai Desert Classic title while earning a call up to the European team for the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.

The word No.35 added: "I'm definitely ready for a break. It's one that's going to be hard to top. But the key is not to panic and try to do too much.

"I've done a lot this year. You never look back. You know you've had a good year, but all you're trying to do is bottle that formula and keep doing it."