De-Skilling Files: Rangefinders At The Senior PGA

Steve Stricker’s caddie uses a rangefinder from far off line.

The Senior PGA from Southern Hills has been such a joy this week. It’s amazing to see beautiful ground features, creeks and grass instead of shade. The course overhaul is also allowing players are more opportunities for recovery from trouble. And seeing play on a golf course with adjacent fairways reinforced what a mistake it is to allow distance measuring devices into a major championship.

Last week’s PGA at Kiawah did not provide many examples of stuff like this, starting with Retief Goosen who, in round two wedged out from the 13th hole’s trees into the nearby 17th fairway.

Far off line, his caddie is seen here shooting a yardages:

Despite a bad tee shot, Goosen was spared a penalty for his effort. He also gained access to a perfect (rangefinder) yardage to the flag when he played down the next fairway. That made his pitch-out from the trees even easier knowing he could get a number and clean look. His playing partners and the field who drove accurately off the 13th tee lost some of their reward from playing more accurately.

All because rangefinders are allowed at PGA of America championships.

This is noteworthy given that “skill” will be a hot topic when the USGA and R&A make their case for distance regulation. (At least they are allowing the devices at the U.S. Open or The Open, yet.) Situations like the above rangefinder usage chips away at real skill. The same goes for players relying on green books to get around local knowledge study.

Add both to the termination list if we’re genuinely trying to restore more nuanced skills to this great game.

Skill Debate: On Rangefinders, Green Reading Books And Coincidences

I wasn’t just inspired by reading Alistair Tait’s pleasurable rant on green reading books or the positive reaction to Jon Rahm’s comments.

Nor was I that taken by the coincidence in the news yesterday, as documented in today’s Quadrilateral for paying friends of the newsletter.

No, I just sense more golf fans have had enough with pros getting too much assistance that dumbs down the game. Whether this shift is an offshoot of the distance debate, the ugly sight of green reading books, or rangefinders at the upcoming PGA Championship, more folks are getting the whole “skill” debate in golf. Or they at least are open to the topic and the possibility that elite golf could be more interesting with less outside assistance.

Check it out here if you’re a subscriber and if not, well, you’ll have to ask around about that coincidence.

News And Notes: Major Media Move Speculation, Landmark (Watch) Deals

This week’s major notes cover the gamut with a little Ryder Cup news thrown in.

The media items alone are fun to consider—unless your job depends on it—and suggest we’re in for a lively period of change in how and where we consume the big events.

The weekly notes are free for all subscribers so sign up. And here is more on how The Quadrilateral works, now one month and 17 editions in. Thanks to all who’ve signed up.

PGA Tour: No Rangefinders In The Foreseeable Future

Well you can cross one theory off the list: the PGA of America was not doing the PGA Tour a favor by allowing rangefinders at their majors.

In Alex Miceli’s MorningRead.com in-depth story on the use of distance measuring devices at the PGA of America majors, he features a statement from the Tour:

“The PGA Tour conducted a four-tournament test of Distance Measuring Devices on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2017, with varying results,” the Tour said in a statement released Tuesday. “We decided at the time to continue to prohibit their use in official competitions on the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions and Korn Ferry Tour for the foreseeable future. We will evaluate the impact rangefinders have on the competition at the PGA of America's championships in 2021 and will then review the matter with our player directors and the Player Advisory Council.”

Players are welcoming the news but also suggesting they don’t see the devices as a vital tool in competition. Brentley Romine reports for GolfChannel.com.

Caddies are even less excited, reports GolfDigest.com’s Brian Wacker.

Quadrilateral: What Drove The PGA To Allow Rangefinders?

My Quadrilateral take on today’s random news from the PGA of America.

The announcement on rangefinders is here.

This latest newsletter is for my trusty paid subscribers. Thanks again for the support! For more on the Quadrilateral check out the standalone site here.

PGA Of America To Allow Rangefinders At Its Majors, Effective Immediately

A couple of oddities with this PGA of America announcement:

• It was made by the current president, with no quote or comment from the CEO or Chief Championships Officer Kerry Haigh.

• The use of the world “flow” instead of speed of play (perhaps because faster rounds are a myth?).

• No supporting evidence of or evidence how “flow” is improved.

• No mention of demand from players for their use, examples of such use in elite professional competition, or support of other leading organizations.

• No clarification whether the senior-athlete golfers in the KitchenAid will be able to also access their cart GPS systems. Those are common within the game as well.

The full press release is here.

PGA OF AMERICA TO ALLOW FOR USE OF DISTANCE-MEASURING DEVICES DURING ITS MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIPS, BEGINNING IN 2021

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (February 9, 2021) – The PGA of America today announced that, beginning in 2021, the use of distance-measuring devices will be allowed during competition rounds at its three annual Major Championships: the PGA Championship, KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.

“We’re always interested in methods that may help improve the flow of play during our Championships,” said Jim Richerson, President of the PGA of America. “The use of distance-measuring devices is already common within the game and is now a part of the Rules of Golf.  Players and caddies have long used them during practice rounds to gather relevant yardages.”

With this announcement, the distance-measuring devices used by players and/or caddies in PGA of America Championships will need to conform to the Rules of Golf regarding their use and performance:

Rule 4.3a (1)

Distance and Directional Information.

●      Allowed: Getting information on distance or direction (such as from a distance-measuring device or compass).

●      Not Allowed: Measuring elevation changes, or, interpreting distance or directional information (such as using a device to get a recommended line of play or club selection based on the location of the player's ball).

This policy will debut with the 2021 PGA Championship, which will be played at The Ocean Course in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, from May 17-23. The PGA Championship perennially features the strongest field in golf based on the Official World Golf Rankings.

Strong field super-human athletes apparently needing the support of a petite and pricey device.

What's More Embarrassing Files: The Rangefinder Usage Penalty, Or That You Were Using It From 40 Yards Out?

At this week's Sage Valley Invitational the world's top junior players are not allowed to use rangefinders to gauge distances. 

As Brentley Romine reports for Golfweek, first round leader Akshay Batia battled winds and a self-imposed mistake to post a first round lead-tying 68.

Cringeworthy that he mistakenly forgot the rules for the week and was penalized two strokes? Naw. 

That he pulled out rangefinder from 40 yards...at least to old fuddy-duddies like me? Yikes!

Then, just like he is accustomed to doing in most of his junior and amateur tournaments, Bhatia reached in his golf bag, pulled out his rangefinder and shot his number.

40 yards.

But Bhatia quickly got a sinking feeling in his stomach. His playing competitor, Michael Sanders, asked Bhatia if he had just used his rangefinder. Knowing that rangefinders aren’t permitted this week at the Junior Invitational, Bhatia replied honestly.

“I knew I couldn’t use a rangefinder, but I decided to take it out for some reason and use it,” Bhatia said of the mental error. “… It’s my fault. I should’ve taken it out of the golf bag (before the round). It sucks, but I’m grateful I’m still in this position and not disqualified.”

Players Try To Explain That (Pricey) Rangefinders Are Only Part Of Their Distance Measuring Process

We should all applaud the PGA Tour for testing out how distance measuring devices look and play at some of their "other tour" events.

But as someone who has followed the issue from the day the USGA mysteriously started advocating for another costly device, I've always been a bit amazed at the lack of statistical backing for these devices as pace enhancers. So again, we must have good players kindly explain how the devices are essentially a backup tool to them in real championship conditions. Or when they blow one into the next fairway.

Will Gray surveyed players at the Shell Houston Open and only Bryson DeChambeau saw a pace of play improvement by introducing rangefinders. The rest, including Jon Rahm, don't see any change coming. There was this from Justin Rose:

“I don’t think it’s going to make any difference to speed of play,” Rose said. “We don’t play ‘one number’ golf. We want to know what it is to the back edge of the green; we want to know the distance over a bunker. We want to know what the distance is to a certain slope.

“So it’s not as basic as, ‘I have 179 to the pin.’ You kind of make decisions out on the golf course based on what’s around the pin.”

Rose’s sentiment was echoed by multiple other players, who added that the utility of rangefinders will hinge on how players choose to use them.

I'm happy to wait out the experiment, but unless the PGA Tour is willing to subsidize the cost for juniors, advocating these devices means they will encourage young and aspiring golfers to believe they need such pricey devices. And just like that, the entry barrier to golf that any sane individual says we must break down, become $300 more expensive.

I mean, that's money they could use to subscribe to PGA Tour Live! For seven years!

But back to the issue of pace, Brad Fritsch added this on Twitter with some fun back and forth after the initial Tweet:

Getting the yardage is maybe the 11th most time-consuming thing that slow players do slowly. IMO this once again focuses on wrong things. https://t.co/cKTvNRBUT5

— Brad Fritsch (@BradFritsch) March 28, 2017

PGA Tour Set To Test Rangefinders On Three Tours

The good news? The PGA Tour is using the Web.com Tour to experiment with something new. The reluctance to do so has always been a surprise at how little this tour, the other satellite tours or the Champions Tour are not used to test formats or rule changes.

Allowing the use of rangefinders on such a stage will, once and for all, allow us to see if they speed up play on the professional level and how they "look" to a television audience. I suspect, as we've seen with other elite golf where players use rangefinders as a way to double check what they learn via traditional yardage books, that play will not speed up.

There will also be the dreadful optics of watching someone looking through a device, which is about as fun as watching people test virtual reality devices. Perhaps the rule will allow caddies to use them but not players?

But now we'll have data and visuals so that we can remember how rangefinders really only help when a player hits their tee shot into the other fairway.

For Immediate Release: 

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (March 28, 2017) – The PGA TOUR has announced that it will begin testing the use of distance measuring devices during competition at select tournaments this year on the Web.com Tour, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR Latinoamérica.

Each of the three Tours will allow use of the devices by players and caddies at four consecutive tournaments, including Monday qualifiers. For these events, the PGA TOUR will temporarily enact a Local Rule in accordance with Decision 14-3/0.5 of The R&A/USGA Rules of Golf, which stipulates the device can be used to measure distance only (use of functions to measure slope, elevation or wind will not be allowed).

The Web.com Tour tournaments are: the BMW Charity Pro Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation, May 15-21 in Greenville, S.C.; the Rex Hospital Open, May 29-June 4 in Raleigh, N.C.; the Rust-Oleum Championship, June 5-11 in Ivanhoe, Ill.; and the Air Capital Classic, June 12-18 in Wichita, Kan.

PGA TOUR Latinoamérica will do its testing at the last four tournaments of the schedule’s first segment: the Essential Costa Rica Classic, April 20-23; the Quito Open, June 1-4 in Ecuador; the Puerto Plata DR Open, June 8-11 in the Dominican Republic; and the Jamaica Classic, June 15-18.

The Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada will test at: the GolfBC Championship, June 15-18 in Kelowna, British Columbia; the Players Cup, July 6 - 9 in Winnipeg, Manitoba; the Staal Foundation Open presented by Tbaytel, July 13 - 16 in Thunder Bay, Ontario; and the Mackenzie Investments Open presented by Jaguar Laval, July 20 - 23 in Mirabel, Quebec.

“For years there has been significant discussion and debate about whether distance measuring devices would have a positive or negative impact on competition at the highest levels of professional golf,” said Andy Pazder, Chief Tournaments and Competitions Officer of the PGA TOUR. “The only way we can accurately assess their impact is to conduct an actual test during official competition on one or more of our Tours. We look forward to seeing how these tests go and carefully evaluating the use of the devices over those weeks. Our evaluation will consider the impact on pace of play, optics and any other effects they might have on the competition."

Once the test and comprehensive evaluation is completed, the PGA TOUR will share the results with its Player Advisory Council on all of its Tours for additional review and discussion.

GB&I Captain: Rangefinders Having Detrimental Effect On Players

Martin Dempster empties his very full notebook from the R&A's pace of play conference with more interesting notes. He added this from the discussion about playing ready golf and the use of rangefinders to speed things up:

“We are always fearful of eroding player skill. We never want to diminish that because it is at the heart of the game,” added Rickman. “But we will look at what the rules can do to contribute to speeding the game up for ordinary golfers.”

He reckoned the “jury is out” on whether or not distance measuring devices have helped in that respect. Nigel Edwards, a two-time winning Walker Cup captain, agreed, claiming he felt they were having a detrimental effect on the development of young players. “They have decreased the course management skills of elite amateurs,” said the Welshman, another of the speakers. “They just zap the distance and fire at the flag. I’d rather see them not used as players are not managing their golf balls around a course.”

State Of The Game Podcast 33: Avery, DMD's & More

We at State of the Game don't want to overextend ourselves with the new wraparound schedule, so after a not so short holiday hiatus we are back with episode 33.

Rod Morri, Mike Clayton and yours truly talk to Golf World contributing writer Brett Avery about the new Golf World 100 Best Modern Players ranking. I think when you hear Brett and also see the package in Golf World, you'll come away realizing how incredible Tiger has been over the last fifteen years. To see someone quantify it puts things in perspective.

We also cover the upcoming decision on distance measuring devices, and feed off of Brandel Chamblee's recent articles on the best and worst developments in the game.

As always, you can listen below, download the MP3 or listen/subscribe via iTunes.