The PGA Tour has a pace of play problem and they know it. Rounds are simply taking too long, leaving both fans and players agitated.
Something needs to be done, and for the first time, it seems as though PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan is taking the matter at hand seriously.
This comes after the pace of play debate has dominated early-season headlines, with players such as Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Lucas Glover, and others suggesting that a change needs to be made for the good of the game moving forward.
Throw in the praise that the TGL has received for its pace during its inaugural season, and the PGA Tour effectively had no choice but to attempt to find a solution.
While there are many approaches that could be taken when it comes to tackling the slow play problem, whether taking a page out of TGL's book and implementing a shot clock or even taking the LIV Golf approach by further reducing field sizes, Monahan announced the first course of action that they hope will make a difference.
Speaking ahead of this week's 51st edition of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, Monahan stated that at the recommendation of a player-led speed-of-play working group, the PGA Tour will experiment with the use of rangefinders in the six events in April and May between The Masters and the PGA Championship.
To save you from looking up the schedule, that's the RBC Heritage (April 17-20), the Corales Puntacana Championship (April 17-20), the Zurich Classic of New Orleans (April 24-27), the CJ Cup Byron Nelson (May 1-4), the Truist Championship (May 8-11), and the Oneflight Myrtle Beach Classic (May 8-11).
So, that's two Signature Events, two alternate-field events, a full-field event, and the team event.
The hope is that using rangefinders in these tournaments will allow players and caddies to obtain the correct distances in a quicker manner, therefore leading to less time being taken before hitting their next shot.
It was also announced that the PGA Tour will begin publishing speed-of-play-related statistics later this year.
PGA Tour stars call for drastic statement to be made regarding pace of play
Two proponents for changes earlier this year, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas, made more strong statements against slow play when both called for even more drastic measures during their respective press conferences ahead of The Players.
"I think (the names and data) should be released. I don't know why you wouldn't want it to be released," Morikawa said. "I see no issue with it. I think what is there to hide, right? If you're slow, you know you're slow. I mean, if you don't know, then there's an issue.
“To me," he continued, "there’s no issue with letting it out, right? It’s only going to make things better because then, you’re either going to have a target on you, put a little more pressure, and hopefully you pick it up, or you get penalized. It’s very simple.”
Justin Thomas was also a fan of having the data released to the public saying, "It's something I've said, if we put it in the locker room or put it out, which would obviously end up getting out, but nobody wants to be known as that.
“I’m on the slow side of players. It bothers me, but I’ve talked to many officials about it. I want to know why I’m slow because obviously the first thing that any slower player thinks are that they’re not slow," he added.
While it's hard to argue with those statements, whether any of these measures being taken to address the issue—including the use of rangefinders—will actually pay dividends remains to be seen. Only time will tell.