Can Rangefinders On The PGA Tour Solve The Big Slow Play Problem?

The PGA Tour looks set to allow the use of rangefinders in its tournaments in an effort to cure the curse of slow play and improve the fan experience.

The pace of play has been the major source of complaint from fans, players and media covering the PGA Tour for some time - with CBS' Dottie Pepper calling it out at the Farmers Insurance Open

Ahead of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, an executive group from the PGA Tour gave a briefing on how the organisation will try and improve the product after studying the results of a recent survey of golf fans.

Along with improvements to the broadcast and increased player content - speeding up the pace of play was a major issue, and allowing rangefinders could be one way of solving the problem.

“Everything’s on the table,” said PGA Tour chief marketing and communications officer Andy Weitz. “So it’s in that spirit that we look at creating the best version of PGA Tour golf.

“We want to better understand how being out of position, how the ability to better understand the distance can not only increase the pace of play potentially but also send a signal to our fans that we are evolving and use of these modern devices could be a fit for the PGA Tour on a permanent basis in the future.”

Changes to field sizes have already been made to aid the pace of play, while there's a plan to use ShotLink data such as the Average Shot metric to judge who is taking too long out on the course.

“There are players out there whose routines are longer than they need to be,” said the PGA Tour's senior vice president of rules & competition Gary Young. “We’re at a point in time where guys are admitting that.”

But what could come sooner is a trial of distance measuring devices at PGA Tour events - which have been used on the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Champions and even in the PGA Championship.

“The use of distance-measuring devices has been brought up and this particular rules committee is very accepting of that," said Young.

"It’s been tested on the Korn Ferry Tour level and for a full year on PGA Tour Champions. Why not?”

“We’re hearing it from our fans. They use it day in and day out, why would we hold a resource back from the players that potentially could help them, especially for off-line shots, getting a quick reference point?”

Slow play has been a problem for some time now, with rounds stretching well beyond the five-hour mark on a regular basis, and fans turning away from PGA Tour broadcasts as a result.

The shot clock in the new TGL has gone down well with viewers and while that's seemingly impractical across an entire golf course during a tournament - most players acknowledge something has to be done.

Cutting the time down to get distances may help, and it'll be interesting to see when and where the rangefinder trials take place - and if they have any impact.