Should Electronic equipment be regulated in golf?

[Titleist99]

One of the biggest culprits in maxing out equipment such as golf balls and clubs are launch monitors, trackman, rangefinder, etc....should we think about eliminating them or regulating them?

Todays Pros have the luxury of playing courses on simulators long before setting foot on the property...this is a big advantage.

 

I know it would be extremely difficult but the pros of the past had none of this equipment.....first launch monitor coincided with the first big head drivers.

[Arn]

no.

[Cwing]

Not possible.

[Hawkeye77]

Silliness. 

[Titleist99]

9 minutes ago, Hawkeye77 said:

Silliness. 

About as silly as your usual comment......grow up before you reach 100.

[ScottF]

1 hour ago, Titleist99 said:

I know it would be extremely difficult but the pros of the past had none of this equipment.....

Good thing the pros of the past aren’t playing the pros of today.  It’s not like only a few of today’s players have access to launch monitors. Everyone still has to go out and hit the ball and make putts. No point in outlawing  training devices.

[GolfTurkey]

Should pacemakers be allowed on the course?

[Titleist99]

31 minutes ago, ScottF said:

Good thing the pros of the past aren’t playing the pros of today.  It’s not like only a few of today’s players have access to launch monitors. Everyone still has to go out and hit the ball and make putts. No point in outlawing  training devices.

You don't have to outlaw them but you can stop them from being used on the driving range of every tour event along with a caravan of coaches.

[Titleist99]

The optimization of the equipment is the problem. Todays pros would have the means to dial in a persimmon driver.

[wildcatden]

No, the PGA Tour needs to get rid of green reading books at all events.  Having topography maps of the greens and their  breaks mapped out down to the smallest detail is not a test of golf.  I think they should outright ban all of the yardage books. I'd be OK with players having a non-slope rangefinder as their only "yardage tool" just to keep pace of play up.

[Titleist99]

2 minutes ago, wildcatden said:

No, the PGA Tour needs to get rid of green reading books at all events.  Having topography maps of the greens and their  breaks mapped out down to the smallest detail is not a test of golf.  I think they should outright ban all of the yardage books. I'd be OK with players having a non-slope rangefinder as their only "yardage tool" just to keep pace of play up.

I totally agree....it would speed up pro play for sure.

Do they allow range finders in college tournaments?

[wildcatden]

17 minutes ago, Titleist99 said:

I totally agree....it would speed up pro play for sure.

Do they allow range finders in college tournaments?

 

Yes, but the device can not measure slope or wind speed. Only yardage. If I remember correctly, even rangefinders that can turn off slope or wind speed features are still illegal.  

 

[PureStrikes54]

How would you even regulate something like this? We going to have tour officials tossing people's houses and training facilities like a jail cell and if a trackman is found issuing a ban? Curbing innovation and putting thousands of people that work for these companies out of a job. Lock this up. 

[Soloman1]

And let's get rid of speedometers in cars while we're at it. We don't need no measurin' 'round here.

[Titleist99]

7 minutes ago, PureStrikes54 said:

How would you even regulate something like this? We going to have tour officials tossing people's houses and training facilities like a jail cell and if a trackman is found issuing a ban? Curbing innovation and putting thousands of people that work for these companies out of a job. Lock this up. 

I know that it can not be regulated or outlawed like clubs and balls but we can have a conversation about the use of it.

The genie was out of the bottle in 1996.

[Bubbtubbs]

6 hours ago, Arn said:

no.

Easiest no I've seen on this site so far.

[grm24]

6 hours ago, Hawkeye77 said:

Silliness. 

Yep. It's like asking WRX management to regulate dumb subjects, like this topic from the OP, being made here. No way to regulate/enforce it. 🤣

[MattyO1984]

Ban then from using anything they can’t make themselves - clubs, balls, bags, shoes. Let’s get some artisan spirit onto the PGA Tour.

[Ferguson]

11 hours ago, Titleist99 said:

One of the biggest culprits in maxing out equipment such as golf balls and clubs are launch monitors, trackman, rangefinder, etc....should we think about eliminating them or regulating them?

Todays Pros have the luxury of playing courses on simulators long before setting foot on the property...this is a big advantage.

 

I know it would be extremely difficult but the pros of the past had none of this equipment.....first launch monitor coincided with the first big head drivers.

 

 

You are proposing that electronic training equipment for golf should be regulated?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pinhigh27]

11 hours ago, Titleist99 said:

One of the biggest culprits in maxing out equipment such as golf balls and clubs are launch monitors, trackman, rangefinder, etc....should we think about eliminating them or regulating them?

Todays Pros have the luxury of playing courses on simulators long before setting foot on the property...this is a big advantage.

 

I know it would be extremely difficult but the pros of the past had none of this equipment.....first launch monitor coincided with the first big head drivers.

There is no simulator that comes even close to the similarity to real golf a tour pro would need to benefit from “playing “ the course beforehand 

[pinhigh27]

9 hours ago, Titleist99 said:

The optimization of the equipment is the problem. Todays pros would have the means to dial in a persimmon driver.

Pros aren’t using trackman on the range to optimize their equipment , they’re using it for yardages. The dialing in specs happens long before the event. 
 

jon rahm isn’t bending his irons a degree weak based on Thursday’s range data 

[davep043]

9 hours ago, wildcatden said:

 

Yes, but the device can not measure slope or wind speed. Only yardage. If I remember correctly, even rangefinders that can turn off slope or wind speed features are still illegal. 

 

This isn't what the rules say, 4.3a(1) simply says you are not allowed to measure elevation change (measuring slope accomplishes this).  The Model Local Rule functions to disallow the use of any electronic distance device.  I suppose its possible that some competitions disallow the use of a slope-enabled device, even if that feature is not turned on, but its not in accordance with the rule or the model local rule.

[SirFuego]

9 hours ago, PureStrikes54 said:

How would you even regulate something like this? We going to have tour officials tossing people's houses and training facilities like a jail cell and if a trackman is found issuing a ban? Curbing innovation and putting thousands of people that work for these companies out of a job. Lock this up. 

PGA Tour Rookie Receives Lifetime Ban for PEE in Bathroom

Oct 23, 2025

Courtesy: AP (Dallas, TX)

 

Last year's U.S. Amateur, NCAA Champion, and former PGA Tour rookie, Frank Nicholas Stein received a lifetime ban from the PGA Tour yesterday for the discovery of PEE (Performance Enhancing Electronics) during a routine inspection of his house performed by tour officials.  The PEE was discovered when a tour official needed to relieve himself in the rookie's bathroom, which contained a water saving toilet with two flush buttons.  The environmentally conscious official pressed the "liquid waste" button on the toilet, which to his surprise caused a wall to start sliding, revealing a secret room equipped with a golf simulator using the newest Trackman 5 launch monitor, which was banned last year by the PGA Tour.  "We simply cannot tolerate such an egregious violation of the tour's new policy on PEE.", said the tour official.  Tour regulations only give a player a warning for their first offense, but this was Stein's second offense, resulting in a permanent lifetime ban.  Stein's first offense occurred when a previous inspection of his Apple account revealed that he downloaded the Rhapsodo  3.0 launch monitor app earlier in the year.  When reached for comment, Stein said, "I was not aware of the hidden room in his house, which was purchased last year from Bryson Dechambeau.  Besides, who actually uses liquid button on a dual flush toilet?".  Bryson Dechambeau won all four majors last year, but later had those titles stripped from him when PEE was found in his training facility and later received a lifetime ban from the PGA Tour for another violation.

Edited October 30, 2020 by SirFuego

[Creedo77]

10 hours ago, Titleist99 said:

I totally agree....it would speed up pro play for sure.

Do they allow range finders in college tournaments?

They’ve used rangefinders in years past on the Canadian tour for a couple events, they didn’t speed up play 

 

Depending on how firm/fast the course is pros need a front number as well as the hole.

[davep043]

2 minutes ago, Creedo77 said:

They’ve used rangefinders in years past on the Canadian tour for a couple events, they didn’t speed up play 

 

Depending on how firm/fast the course is pros need a front number as well as the hole.

I have always thought that a tour pro will gather as much information as he possible can.  So he has a pin sheet, he has a laser distance to the flag, he CAN calculate a front or back distance, but he's not going to say "Don't pace anything off, I don't want more data".  So the laser is just one additional step in preparing for a shot, its not replacing any of the other steps.

[caniac6]

I really think the only thing the Trackman type things do is speed up the dialing in process. In the past, plenty of guys got dialed in, but it took time, and trial and error, but they did it. Now, the numbers just back up what they are seeing. These guys are so good, they would figure it out without the electronics, and the results would be very similar.

[Creedo77]

3 minutes ago, davep043 said:

I have always thought that a tour pro will gather as much information as he possible can.  So he has a pin sheet, he has a laser distance to the flag, he CAN calculate a front or back distance, but he's not going to say "Don't pace anything off, I don't want more data".  So the laser is just one additional step in preparing for a shot, its not replacing any of the other steps.

I follow that, yet there are discrepancies with lasers and a yard or two can make a difference. If lasers were helpful with pace of play in pro golf they’d be using them during tournament rounds. Yet, in 2017 when they did use them for a couple events on some smaller tours they were deemed to not help pace of play

[Sean2]

No. The game is evolving. No need to keep the game in a 1970 status quo. 

[isaacbm]

My question to the OP would be: to what end? 
what could possibly be the point of any of this. The tour is selling one thing. Entertainment. They are not selling a comparison between now and years gone by. They are selling entertainment.

 

It would be the equivalent of having today’s race car drivers only be allowed to operate similar vehicles to 75 years ago. It wouldn’t be as entertaining. 
 

We can have a conversation about how much rangefinders or launch monitors help a player in modern days but the idea that they should be banned? Its so far from a majority opinion that it’s a bit of a lost cause.

Edited October 30, 2020 by isaacbm

[m d g]

16 hours ago, Titleist99 said:

Todays Pros have the luxury of playing courses on simulators long before setting foot on the property...this is a big advantage.

They all have the same opportunity...there is no advantage. Rangefinders should be allowed (slope/no slope, don't care) to speed play.