The Big Lead

Could rangefinders become the new norm on the PGA Tour?

With pro golf at a crossroads, the PGA is looking for ways to enhance the sport's appeal.

By Matt Reed

Ty Smock, 15, checks the range finder of his dad, Brian Smock, while caddying for him during the first round of The Galleri Classic at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., Friday, March 29, 2024.
Ty Smock, 15, checks the range finder of his dad, Brian Smock, while caddying for him during the first round of The Galleri Classic at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., Friday, March 29, 2024. / Andy Abeyta/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK
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Golf has always been a slow-paced sport, but now that fact is becoming a detriment to the game as it tries to evolve and spark more interest in the future. That's why the PGA Tour is looking to take matters into its own hands and potentilally make some game-changing decisions.

According to golf insider Daniel Rapaport, the PGA is starting testing ways to speed up tour events and one of its most notable ways would be implementing the use of rangefinders to determine distances.

This certainly wouldn't be an easy aspect of the game to implement, especially with many golfers against the idea because of the purity of golf. Players have always been forced to use caddie books in order to figure out club lengths, distances to pins and greens slopes.

However, golf is in a tough spot right now as the PGA Tour and LIV Golf continue to battle it out for the attention of viewers. Even though that's a completely separate battle that pro golf is facing, pace of play is something that golfers can at least try to address to shorten the length of rounds.

It's something baseball has done in recent seasons with MLB instituting its pitch clock, which has been a major success in terms of keeping interest on the games and getting fans in and out mostly under three hours.

Again, there will be lots of critics that won't like the idea of golf changing its ways and implementing new concepts that might be seen as moving too far into the age of technology, but that's where sports are going.

RELATED: Rory McIlroy might have the solution to golf fans' fatigue

TGL, the technology-backed indoor league founded by Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, has shown in a short span of time just how well events can run with a shot clock and other cool features that speed up a round and apply extra pressure to players.

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