PGA Tour Caddie ‘Fooch’ Gives Verdict On Rangefinders

The PGA of America announced in February that it would allow players to use rangefinders in its three Major championships this year.

PGA of America president Jim Richerson suggested that rangefinders would help with the “flow of play” during the events.

However, Justin Rose’s former caddie Mark Fulcher, better known as ‘Fooch’, doesn’t agree that the device will improve the speed of play.

Now Francesco Molinari’s caddie, ‘Fooch’ took to Twitter to share his verdict on rangefinders ahead of the upcoming PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.

Related: Who Is Francesco Molinari’s Caddie?

“I’m going to say it, the use of rangefinders this week will only SLOW the amount of time it will take to play this week,” Fulcher tweeted.

“Poor decision in my opinion.”

An experienced caddie on the PGA and European Tour circuits, ‘Fooch’ caddied for Rose when the Englishman won the US Open in 2013, and fulfilled that role for the majority of Rose’s career.

They parted ways in 2020, with ‘Fooch’ then becoming Italian player Molinari’s caddie that same year.

Two European Tour caddies also agree with ‘Fooch’, responding in February to the use of rangefinders by suggesting they’d “100% slow play down.”

Caddies also seem worried that the rangefinder might create more confusion, with the laser potentially picking up objects behind the pin.

Kenny Harms, Kevin Na’s caddie of 13 years, told The Caddie Network: “Lasers aren’t as accurate as you think they are, if you shoot it three times you might get three different numbers.”

Shay Knight, Viktor Hovland’s caddie, shares the same sentiment.

“It’s going to get us an exact number for the pin but if you’ve got grandstands behind and you laser what you think is a pin and you’re actually hitting the grandstands then you’re going to send your player over the green and you’re going to get chastised for that too,” Knight said.