The whip will be cracked by Ladies Golf Union officials this week as the campaign to get the game moving continues at the Ricoh Women's British Open.

The last time the championship was held here at St Andrews, in 2007, rounds crept towards an eye-watering six hours and the LGU top brass are keen to see a more sprightly pace for the latest edition of their flagship championship.

Leading figures at the Royal & Ancient, who have been pretty vocal in their desire to see action taken against the slowcoaches, meted out a one-stroke penalty to Japan's Hideki Matsuyama during the Open at Muirfield recently.

Susan Simpson, the head of golf operations at the LGU, is now looking to implement a no-nonsense approach in the women's equivalent.

"2007 was a bit of a watershed for us in slow play," she admitted. "After that we instigated policies in amateur golf, the use of strict times and clocks at points on the course. We don't have a problem with slow play in women's amateur golf now, I believe.

"This week is the only week we deal with the professionals and we've obviously got to deal with two other organising bodies too. But we have full support from the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour for our slow-play policies. The rules officials out there are under instruction to come down hard on any slow play. We've set four hours and 30 minutes and we think that's achievable."

The Old Course lends itself to creeping movements and Simpson believes some lessons have been learned. "In 2007, no women's professional championship golf had been played on the links before and no-one knew what to expect," she said. "The vast majority of players hadn't played it competitively and weren't really accustomed to the double fairways and greens and the protocol involved. There was some confusion, but we're all a little wiser this time."

This week's layout will be a par-72 measuring 6672 yards and the famous Road Hole 17th, played as a par-five in 2007, will be back to a regulation four-shotter. "In 2007, the 17th ended up as the easiest hole on the course," she added. "The one that's supposed to be the hardest in the world of golf. This time it should be the toughest again."