Why no lasers allowed on tour during competition days?

[BillMurrayGolfing]

They can use the lasers to get their yardage correct during practice round. So why not stay classy from Thursday on?

[ssurrygpro]

We are allowed lasers on euro pro tour,deffinatly slows up play as guys wait till pin is in to get yardage then re check

[Barfolomew]

So most the posts in here are sarcastic and done by many members that have been here the longest...nice example fellas. Guy asks a question and he gets bombarded by all the usual GOLFWRx BS...youre not even funny and I'm sure the simple mindless jokes on the first tee must be an amazing experience.

 

Just answer the questions...nobody comes here for the comedy

 

This is hilarious!

[BarronDDS]

So most the posts in here are sarcastic and done by many members that have been here the longest...nice example fellas. Guy asks a question and he gets bombarded by all the usual GOLFWRx BS...youre not even funny and I'm sure the simple mindless jokes on the first tee must be an amazing experience.

 

Just answer the questions...nobody comes here for the comedy

Lighten up Francis

well said, Sgt. Hulka (big toe)

[JustTheTips]

We are allowed lasers on euro pro tour,deffinatly slows up play as guys wait till pin is in to get yardage then re check

 

I would be worried about some OCD guy start using the laser to try and aim the club and then rounds get even slower.:)

[sui generis]

We are allowed lasers on euro pro tour,deffinatly slows up play as guys wait till pin is in to get yardage then re check

 

I would be worried about some OCD guy start using the laser to try and aim the club and then rounds get even slower. :)

 

R14-3 would prevent that.

[JustTheTips]

We are allowed lasers on euro pro tour,deffinatly slows up play as guys wait till pin is in to get yardage then re check

 

I would be worried about some OCD guy start using the laser to try and aim the club and then rounds get even slower. :)

 

R14-3 would prevent that.

 

The traditional use for laser pointers is to aim at something so they are covered by the same exception that covers plumb bobbing:)

[kmac3]

The biggest complaint on tour the last couple of years has been pace of play. In my opinion they should definitely be allowed.

[2putttom]

The biggest complaint on tour the last couple of years has been pace of play. In my opinion they should definitely be allowed.

I dunno, I watched the USGA Amateur today . They are allowed to use laser range finders and it didn't speed up pace.

[Frankensteins Monster]

Their yardage book tells them much more than shooting distance to the pin.

 

Not as fast though. I'd think there would be 10 minutes saved per round. The know the exact location of pin on green. Simple math from there. No need to ever pace anything off ever.

[cehb]

I don't think there would be any appreciable time saving, in fact I think more often than not you'd see a negative affect on round speeds.

 

At most, a rangefinder would be useful on 18 shots per round and you could argue that on the par 3's that a laser would be of no use so that leaves 14 shots. Lasers are of no value for the pros on tee shots on the 4's and 5's, it's next to impossible to laser exact carries and precise spots on the fairways and that info is available with literally a glance at their yardage books. So, 14 shots a round, give or take.

 

Of those 14 shots, the vast majority of them are going to be within spitting distance of a distance marker. Often you don't even have to pace it out and even if you do, the caddie has their book out long before they get to the ball and by the time they reach the ball they have the yardage anyway by virtue of pacing it on the way. I know it's popular on here to blast the pros for their 5 hour rounds but they are definitely not inefficient. They head off down the fairway before the last player has even finished their follow through, they walk to their balls like a greyhound chasing a rabbit, they head straight to their ball even if it's 150 yards in front of their playing partners and in the majority of cases, they have their yardage before the caddie even puts the bag down next to their ball. Even if the yardage is paced out after arriving at the ball it's not a big deal because the player is assessing their lie, the wind etc. which are all essential parts of their routine and can be done while their caddie is obtaining yardage information without making any difference whatsoever to their speed of play.

 

I played in the Australasian Q School where DMD's are allowed and can remember maybe half a dozen shots where a laser was used in my group, and this was with the aid of very rudimentary yardage books, nothing like you see on the big tours. They just aren't as useful as you might imagine.

 

Where lasers may actually slow play down is (also mentioned above) where they group in front hasn't finished out and you have to wait for them to replace the pin before lasering. You will get OCD types who will laser literally everything and will slow the entire field down and there are times, particularly with back pins, where the gallery/signs/grandstands are all within a few yards of the pin and can give you a false reading and make you double check all of your numbers.

 

Even if you were extremely generous and say that lasers saved 10 seconds per shot, over the course of a round that's less than 2 and a half minutes, and we are talking about a totally unrealistic best case scenario. I imagine that lasers will be allowed within the next couple of years but they simply aren't going to speed up play and may well even slow it down.