No To Rangefinders On The PGA Tour

Technology. There’s a lot of talk about technology.  There’s a lot of talk about technology in sports.

We’ve got instant replays in football and baseball.  We’ve got electronic line judges in tennis.  There’s talk, just this week, after a controversial call in the Chiefs/Bills Conference Championship game, that the NFL is now considering using technology to confirm ball placement on the field.  There were suggestions that the league might consider putting a chip in the football for precise measurements. They’re holding off on that.

I bring all of this up to let you know that the PGA Tour is considering technological options when it comes to speeding up play.  At a gathering last year, former Boston Red Sox GM, and now MLB executive Theo Epstein met with the executives of the PGA Tour to talk about what MLB went through went they decided efforts were needed to speed up their game. We are now all familiar with the “pitch clock”.  On the surface, it seems to be speeding up the games a significant amount.

I don’t know if this was something that was suggested last year, but we learned last week that one of the options the PGA Tour is considering is allowing players in tournaments to use yardage measuring devices.  Rangefinders to you and me. The traditionalist in me hates this idea.  I love caddies and yardage books and walking off yardages. Does it take some time? Yep.  But it’s one of the human elements of the game that we should be cherishing, not looking to abolish.  Besides, we all have rangefinders, and I don’t think I’m getting around the course any faster.  They’re allowed in PGA of America sanctioned events, including the PGA Championship. They’re allowed in college.  If you want to see golf at a snail’s pace, go to a college event.  If you want golf at a glacial pace, go to a college event with rangefinders.

Hey, PGA Tour, let’s look at a couple of other things before getting to rangefinders. There’s a “40 second” rule when it comes to hitting shots.  How about we enforce that rule first, and let’s see if things speed up?  Oh wait, you seem to be “slow playing” that too.