PGA TOUR to test distance-measuring devices for select events in 2025

The PGA TOUR plans to allow distance-measuring devices for select events in 2025, as the TOUR looks to improve pace of play during competition.

Distance-measuring devices, or rangefinders, allow players and caddies to immediately determine the distance between their ball and the hole, eliminating the need to pace off yardages and consult yardage books.

Players and fans have suggested the inclusion of distance-measuring devices in various conversations, PGA TOUR Senior Vice President Rules & Competitions Gary Young said Wednesday.

“The use of distance-measuring devices has been brought up, and I think that right now this particular rules committee is very accepting of that,” Young said. “It's been tested on the Korn Ferry (Tour) level. It's been tested for a full year at the PGA TOUR Champions level. Why not? We're hearing it from our fans. They use them day-in and day-out; why would we hold a resource back from players that could potentially help them, especially for offline shots, getting a quick reference point? We want to do this test during a period.”

There’s precedent for testing the use of distance-measuring devices in PGA TOUR-sanctioned competition. The Korn Ferry Tour conducted such a test for four events in 2017, and the PGA TOUR Champions has tested distance-measuring devices for a full season. Since 2021, the PGA of America has allowed distance-measuring devices in its three major championships.

The PGA TOUR has tracked the average time to hit a shot for “many, many years,” said PGA TOUR Chief Competitions Officer Tyler Dennis, and the number has stayed around roughly 38 seconds for some time. Hence, finding a yardage is just one component in the pace-of-play discussion. The TOUR has analyzed wide-ranging factors like course flow, field size, cut size and tee-time intervals, Dennis said, adding that inherent unpredictability of weather in an outdoor sport is one constantly-changing variable. Field size has the largest impact on pace of play, but the TOUR is investigating all potential improvements.

“The reality is (pace of play) has a lot of different facets to it,” Dennis said. “You have the time that it takes to play a round, and in that has a lot to do almost exclusively with the number of players that are out there. Then you obviously have the time that players take individually, and that's been over the last couple years something we've really ramped up, studied, are understanding, and we have the ability to track that, and … the average shot time.”

The specific events for testing distance-measuring devices have yet to be determined, Young said, but the TOUR envisions a timespan that covers various types of events and field sizes.

“I think where we will see the biggest benefit to them are in some of our smaller fields where we're in pairs, so we'd like to have a sample possibly of some of our Signature Events … at the same time during a time period where we maybe have some (Additional Events), a different format maybe, like a team event at Zurich (Classic of New Orleans), just so that we get a good sample of it,” Young said.

“Where we really see this paying the biggest benefits, they're not really using them a lot on tee shots on the par 3s, but they will be on approach shots. So we will be able to do a lookback and do a comparison just to see if we are actually gaining time.”