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However, one area of new technology seems to have escaped scrutiny and that is the use of laser “rangefinders” for measuring distances on the golf course. As of this writing the use of rangefinders remains illegal in competition as defined by the Rules of Golf. This should not be the case.

Since Jack Nicklaus introduced the use of accurate yardages to the club-selection aspect of golf the game has changed. No longer did players just look at a shot and grab a club by feel. They now wanted to know “how far is it?” Each week as one watches tour players on TV much of their efforts center around finding sprinkler heads, bunker edges or other “landmarks” to find a point from which they have an established yardage. From that established point they then “step off” the exact yardage of their ball to the hole, after first consulting their “pin sheets”, ascertaining just where the pin is located on the green from the graphic given them by the PGA Tour. They then “do the math”, deducting or adding yards for pin placement until they finally arrive at the “correct” yardage. 
 

Let’s examine that procedure again, step by step:

1. Find established yardage landmarks
2. Walk to the established yardage landmarks
3. Step off yardage from landmark to player’s ball
4. Subtract or add those yards to get the distance to the green
5. Consult the pin sheet to find depth of pin placement in green.
6. Do the math to ascertain yards to add/subtract from initial distance finding.
7. Add all factors to obtain yardage.

Rather an involved procedure isn’t it?

Then how often do we see this: the wind blows, confusing the issue for a player. He again asks his caddy, “how far is it”? The caddy pulls out the yardage book, they reassess, starting at the beginning landmark and re-do the entire procedure.

This takes time, time that slows down the game. Time that needlessly slows down a game already plagued by slow-play. 

But it need not be this way. 

If the use of yardages is allowed by the USGA, the R & A and the Rules of Golf why limit only yardages obtained “immediately”? Only the “present moment” usage of rangefinders is prohibited. And it would seem, for no good reason.

If a player is allowed to use a rangefinder or any other measuring device to “map out” distances on a course beforehand and transfer that information to paper and if this act of measuring is legal, then the only “illegal” part of the whole thing is doing it “immediately”. That is, the only illegal part is obtaining the yardage at the moment of the shot. If the player does it yesterday and transfers the results to paper he is within the rules. If he does it standing at his shot, seeking more accurate and immediate information he is in violation of the rules?! What could possibly be the difference? 

If yardages are allowed, yardages are allowed. The time of obtaining the yardages should not be an issue because it does not change the issue at hand; having accurate yardages. Nor does the immediate obtaining of the yardage slow down the game. In fact, just the opposite is true. Allowing players to “shoot the pin” with their rangefinder reduces the time for getting the yardage by at least three/fourths.

In making the case for the use of rangefinders the positive benefits resulting from their use might be as follows:

1. Immediate, accurate yardages for all; no guesstimates (due to carries over areas 
where “stepping off” would not be possible). 
2. Pace of play: not having to search for sprinkler heads, fairway plates
not having to “step off” yardages from yardage landmarks
not having to stand in the fairway doing math 
not having to consult pin sheets
3. Brings equality to competition. All players can have accurate yardages, not only
those who have caddies do it in advance or who can themselves get to the course early to obtain their own yardages.
4. Allows technology to facilitate the pace and fairness of the game without 
changing or threatening the integrity of the game (since yardages are already
allowed and within the rules). 

In fact, forcing player to “map out” course ahead of time presents an unfair burden upon some, especially upon lower handicap players for whom a distance difference of 5-10 yards of a “guesstimate” makes a real difference. 

Tour players have caddies whose job it is to measure and map out the courses. The players rely upon those yardages very comprehensively. What if tour players were asked to use only 150 and 200 yard plates in the fairway and “position 1,2,3 pin placements sheets”? Would they settle for that? But better amateur players, who need accurate yardages, seem to be resigned to “guesstimates” because currently their choices are to either map out the courses ahead of time or guess.

Amateurs who play in competitive tournaments also work for a living. Most can only get enough time off work to allow for the events themselves, not an extra day to map out a course with a rangefinder. Often sprinkler heads are marked with yardages but it is difficult to know where the “center of the green” was that they used in making those yardages. Especially is this problem exacerbated with angled, deep greens, having plateaus, “shelves”, etc.. Often modern courses rely upon multiple pin-placement areas, sometimes with greens being as much as 4 clubs different front to back. Using a pin-sheet and stepping off still amounts to only a guesstimate and could be wrong by as much as 10-12 yards.

Many courses today are relying upon GPS devices in carts to give players their yardages so as to speed up play. Players are coming to rely upon having such instantaneous yardages. But if we’re going to have a tournament at the club all the GPS devices must be turned off. Does that seem incongruent? Why hamstring the players only in competitions?

It seems that the time for allowing the use of rangefinder measuring devices has come. What possible leap of logic would indicate that having yardages is OK but having immediate and accurate yardages is not?

Add to this the pace of play considerations. Imagine the PGA Tour. Player and caddy arrive at the ball. The caddy pulls out his rangefinder and “shoots the pin”. No matter where they are the yardage is immediately available. No locating landmarks, no stepping-off, no doing math, no yardage discussions; they have the immediate, accurate yardage. What generally takes a minute or two now takes 5 seconds. Over the course of a round how much time would that save? How much would that speed up the pace of play?

If the USGA and the PGA Tour are interested in the slow-play issue it seems the rangefinder is THE answer.

Please bring equity and immediacy to the game. Allow in all ways what you allow now in a limited and difficult fashion. Allow players to obtain all their yardages immediately at each shot. Please allow the use of rangefinders at all times.