PGA to Allow Distance Measuring Devices (Lasers) in 2021!

[iacas]

17 minutes ago, billchao said:

Not at all. Caddies do plenty of other things besides determining exact yardage at odd angles. It’s but one small part of their body of work and I don’t see introducing a rangefinder as having an impact on it - mainly because contrary to what you seem to think, I actually have a very high opinion of tour caddies and I don’t believe the difference in level of this particular skill from caddie to caddie is significant enough that a rangefinder would make a difference.

It's like better equipment helping the lesser Tour players than it helps Tiger Woods.

[Double Mocha Man]

7 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

Right. But most of us see a laser read of 135yd and a marker, book or whatever reads 137yd we don’t care. Many Pros will say, ‘ ok ok now wait a minute.’😃

Wish I could flight my approaches + or - 2 yards.

[Vinsk]

4 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Wish I could flight my approaches + or - 2 yards.

I can’t flight my putts +/- 2yds.

[Double Mocha Man]

Just now, Vinsk said:

I can’t flight my putts +/- 2yds.

😄  But I've heard you can flight your vinsks +/- 2 yards.

[dennyjones]

6 hours ago, saevel25 said:

It will speed it up. It's much easier to get an exact number, quicker, than pacing off. Imagine if you are Spieth who hit his ball way right at the British Open. His caddie walks to the top of the hill, he shoots the pin, and then he shoots Spieth. He goes back and tells him the yardage. 

As someone who use to find markers, pace it back. Rangefinders speed up play a lot. 

@saevel25

I was quoting @turtleback who stated "Although it would be fascinating to set things up like they were back in the day without any yardage assistance of any kind, where it all has to by eye and judgement.  Not as a general practice, but maybe an exhibition".

I agree the range finders would speed up the game, again except for a few.

[Zeph]

Removing all aids would just make them spend even more time looking and wondering, picking clubs and second guessing the pick. I’m all for giving them the tools to aquire a distance in as short a time as possible. They are still going to discuss club selection, check books for layout details and all that, but the fewer steps a caddy takes to walk off a distance, the quicker they can be done with a round.

I agree with Dave that it’s not clear cut how this will impact pace of play, at least initially, but after using them for some time I hope that it will help. They are still playing for millions of dollars, so the players that don’t care about pace of play and want to spend their allotted time will probably still do so. The best way to really make lasting changes to pace of play across the field is enforcing the rules and maybe even making them stricter.

There will of course be shots where the rangefinder is of limited use and they have to walk off something. When your useful aiming points are blocked by a hill, tree or something.

[TourSpoon]

14 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

I'm not a believer yet.  I can't imagine a player saying "I don't really need THAT bit of information".  My guess is that they'll use a laser to get a pin distance, but they'll still use paced distances to get the front of the green, the yardage over a ridge, etc.  I'm guessing that the laser will be one MORE bit of information they'll want to have, and want to digest and analyze, not a replacement for the information they currently get.

Agreed. Plus a laser will not eliminate the walking up to the green and "feeling" the shot. Its just another piece of information to digest while you are looking at your yardage book and studying the topography, contours, wind, grain, etc. The jury is out for me so lets see how they do in these events with rangefinders. 

I am sure the pros will be limited to non-sloped lasers. Could you imagine some of our players with sinister reputations saying they had the slope function turned off and then everyone in the locker room just rolling their eyes? I don't even want to go there. 

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, TourSpoon said:

I am sure the pros will be limited to non-sloped lasers. Could you imagine some of our players with sinister reputations saying they had the slope function turned off and then everyone in the locker room just rolling their eyes? I don't even want to go there.

Three things:

1. Of course non slope. Slope is against the Rules.
2. Kessler should use a version that doesn’t even have a slope switch.
3. Remember they also magnify 6x or 7x. You can watch someone else from farther away, watch putts from the fairway, etc.

[Nagah]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

Three things:

1. Of course non slope. Slope is against the Rules.
2. Kessler should use a version that doesn’t even have a slope switch.
3. Remember, they also magnify 6x or 7x. You can watch someone else from farther away, watch putts from the fairway, etc.

Is that gaining an unfair advantage if you watch a putt or chip, break by other players while watching this through your range finder? 

[iacas]

25 minutes ago, Nagah said:

Is that gaining an unfair advantage if you watch a putt or chip, break by other players while watching this through your range finder? 

How could it be unfair if everyone can do it?

[Braivo]

Anecdotally, I've found that range finders slow the pace of play in my regular casual games. I wear a GPS watch that I simple glance down at and it gives me center of green yardage. I look, grab a club, and hit. My playing partners will use range finders but after a few holes they'll just ask me "What's your watch say?" and not even bother with the laser. 

Could be a different story with pros, but we will see. My guess is it won't change much. Slow players will still be slow, and finding yardages wasn't why they were slow. 

[ncates00]

2 minutes ago, Braivo said:

Anecdotally,

Correct.

The opposite is true when I play--I have friends with gps and they ask what my laser says.

[iacas]

32 minutes ago, Braivo said:

Anecdotally, I've found that range finders slow the pace of play in my regular casual games.

Yeah, that's the opposite of my experience, too.

And lasers are MUCH faster than the old ways of finding a sprinkler head and pacing it off, or even finding a sprinkler head and estimating.

[Rulesman]

47 minutes ago, Braivo said:

Anecdotally, I've found that range finders slow the pace of play in my regular casual games. I wear a GPS watch that I simple glance down at and it gives me center of green yardage. I look, grab a club, and hit. My playing partners will use range finders but after a few holes they'll just ask me "What's your watch say?" and not even bother with the laser. 

Lasers, phone apps etc and GPS watches are both electronic Distance Measuring Devices. The players will soon sort out which device helps them most.

 

Edited February 10, 2021 by Rulesman

[DeadMan]

I’m not 100% sure these are true, but this is interesting:

I also thought this tweet by Jon Wood was interesting, although I think @iacas already posted it:

But, just spitballing, maybe penalize players who are slow? That could fix this problem. 

[Rulesman]

40 minutes ago, iacas said:

And lasers are MUCH faster than the old ways of finding a sprinkler head and pacing it off, or even finding a sprinkler head and estimating.

In my experience of officiating at elite (national) level amateur golf, pop has improved since DMDs were permitted. Not a lot but noticeably. I and other refs have commented that now we rarely have to think about timing a player when it is his turn to play.

Edited February 10, 2021 by Rulesman

[TourSpoon]

2 hours ago, DeadMan said:

I’m not 100% sure these are true, but this is interesting:

I don't think that this will change all that much unless the player is the one actively shooting the yardages. I can see some pros giving that duty to their caddy to tell them the "number" as they always have done.  

[boogielicious]

I’ve noticed when the PGA Tour did those matches prior to a match, the players used laser rangefinders. Caddies can use it as a bit of info then make their call. Great caddies excel at adjusting linear yardage for wind, terrain, slope, etc. siting the flag and/or a hazard is only one part.