do pga tour caddies use rangefinders

• Meet the Caddie

Sign up today!

Stay up to date and get the first look at the latest TCN News and Updates from the world of golf.

FAQ: Do PGA Tour caddies ever use rangefinders?

By the caddie network staff · january 12, 2021.

Through our readers and social media followers here at The Caddie Network, we often receive questions related to the caddie profession. We’ve collected the most frequently asked questions from our readers and followers and tasked actual PGA Tour caddies to serve up the answers based on their experiences. Here are the answers — from PGA Tour caddies — to the questions we most often receive from you.

We’ve covered the most important tools of the trade for a caddie in this space before . But we’re often asked if PGA Tour caddies use rangefinders, in particular. For that answer, we turned to a longtime PGA Tour caddie.

Do PGA Tour caddies ever use rangefinders?

Professional caddies absolutely use rangefinders in the thorough preparation for tournaments, along with other items — like a compass — to dial in yardages to areas of the course where we know our player will be most comfortable. We’re using the rangefinder to chart things in the yardage book like distance to trouble areas, lay-up areas and more so that we’re able to provide our player with all the information he needs, and asks for.

That said, you won’t see us pulling the rangefinder out during competition, as that’s currently not allowed.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The PGA of America announced on February 9, 2021, that it would allow the use of distance-measuring devices in its major championships, beginning with the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island in May .

Do you have more caddie questions? We have more caddie answers. From “ What is the biggest difference between an amateur and a professional? ” to “Do caddies ever repair ball marks on the green?,” our pros have you covered with loads of answers to these FAQs – just click here .

The Caddie Network Staff

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Related Articles

Most frequently asked caddie questions

Article by: The Caddie Network Staff

FAQ: How do you become a PGA Tour caddie?

Caddie Confidential: In what ways could widespread golf gambling make things different for you or your player?

FAQ: Are PGA Tour caddies good golfers?

FAQ: How do PGA Tour golfers warm up?

FAQ: When do PGA Tour golfers keep the flag stick in (or take it out)?

Latest Articles

2024 BMW Championship

Article by: Merrill Squires

Reynolds Robinson’s great Olympics adventure

Article by: Steve Catlin

2024 Zurich Classic

2024 RBC Heritage

2024 Valero Texas Open

2024 Valspar Championship

See the game like caddies do.

Signup for our weekly newsletter.

Advertisement

'it's not going to speed up play:' players, caddies react to pga of america's move to allow rangefinders at pga championship, share this article.

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – The PGA of America believes pace of play will improve in this week’s PGA Championship by allowing the use of distance-measuring devices.

Players and caddies say not so fast.

Committed to speed up play, the PGA of America is the first major governing body to allow distance-measuring devices in its foremost professional events, starting with the 103 rd edition of the PGA Championship this week on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.

“We’re always interested in methods that may help improve the flow of play during our championships,” Jim Richerson, president of the PGA of America, said in a media release in February announcing the decision. “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.”

The response from players and caddies? It. Will. Slow. Play. Down.

“I love what the PGA of America is trying to do. The organization has been at the forefront of change,” said Paul Tesori, longtime bag man for Webb Simpson. “The PGA Championship is the only major we’ve played lift, clean and place. The PGA of America was the first to allow shorts.

“But I think they reached into an area where I don’t think we need help.”

His boss agreed.

“This is a fact: it’s not going to speed up play because everybody I know and have talked to, we still want front numbers, and the range finder, you can’t always get the accurate front number,” said Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open champion and current world No. 10. “So you’ll probably have the player shoot the pin, the caddie will walk off the number because I’m going to want what’s front. I haven’t read the reasoning behind it or their desire to test it out that week, but I don’t think it will really make a difference.”

And as Scott Sajtinac, caddie for 2013 PGA champion Jason Dufner, said: “Too much information is needed that is unzappable by a laser. But some will sure try to laser something extra.”

Harry Diamond, caddie for Rory McIlroy, uses a rangefinder during a practice round prior to the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Resort’s Ocean Course on May 17, 2021 in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. (Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

The devices, in accordance with Rule 4.3a (1), can only report on distance and direction. Those that also can calculate other data including elevation changes and wind speeds, are not allowed.

Since 2006, rangefinders and GPS devices have been allowed for recreational golf and tournaments with the rule stating that local rules would allow tournament committees to ban them. While rangefinders have been allowed in the U.S. Amateur since 2014, top professional events, including the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open, do not permit such usage.

As well, the PGA Tour conducted a four-tournament test of distance-measuring devices on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2017 but did not change its view.

“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,” the PGA Tour said in a statement. “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.”

Where one and all do agree concerning the rangefinders – which also will be allowed in the PGA of America’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship – is that time will not be wasted when players hit wayward shots, which could be frequent on the windswept grounds of the Ocean Course.

“I have a hard time seeing it speed things up, unless you get it way offline or you’re out of contention,” Jordan Spieth said. “We’ll plan on using it, but I think it will be more confirmation than anything. It’s not going to be we just step up, shoot it, and go. I mean, these pins get tucked and the wind’s blowing and you got to figure out a few more things than just the number to the hole.”

Added Bryson DeChambeau, the PGA Tour’s longest hitter: “It’s going to help me for when I hit it offline. We’re not going to have to go to a sprinkler head and walk 40, 50 yards away from a place to find a number.”

But here’s where it will slow up play, according to players and caddies. How long will it take to pull the trigger if the player shoots one number and the caddie walks off a different number. They’d likely repeat the process. Then if there still is disagreement, the two would discuss how to go forward.

“I don’t know of one caddie who was consulted by the PGA of America, and that’s frustrating,” Tesori said. “We’d have stressed that normally, I’m getting a lot of info: the yardage to the front number, the carry number, left and right numbers, the distance behind the pin. And we’re talking about the wind and roll out. Of all the info, the last number we get is to the pin.

“If you shoot a rangefinder from 150 it will say 150 one time and 149 another and then 151. If you’re two yards off that can mean difference between 9-iron and pitching wedge. And if our numbers are different, we’ll redo all the numbers and if we’re still split, we’ll figure out what to do and away we go.

“As professionals, we have never done this before. It will be another part of the process and that will take time.”

World No. 2 and 2017 PGA champion Justin Thomas said he doesn’t like the PGA of America’s decision for many reasons but one in particular.

“I think it takes away an advantage of having a good caddie that maybe goes out there and does the work beforehand as opposed to someone, especially now between the yardage books, the greens books and range finders, you technically don’t even really need to see the place or play a practice round,” Thomas said. “You can go out there and know exactly what the green does, you know exactly what certain things are on certain angles because you can just shoot it with the range finder.

“I made my stance on it pretty clear. I don’t really like them.”

Most Popular

2024 solheim cup sunday singles scores: u.s. defeats europe for first time since 2017, take a look at the golf courses owned by donald trump, images from the 2024 solheim cup at robert trent jones golf club, how they fared: 2024 solheim cup individual golfer scores, results for u.s. vs. europe, photos: solheim cup players go glam for the event's d.c. gala, 2024 solheim cup sunday singles pairings, schedule, tee times, here are 12 notable names who missed the cut at the 2024 procore championship.

How far away are professional golfers from accepting rangefinders in competition?

Associate Professor, Kinesiology, Dalhousie University

Masters Student, Kinesiology, Dalhousie University

Full Professor, Health Sciences, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Assistant Professor, Kinesiology, Dalhousie University

Assistant Professor, Sport Biomechanics, Dalhousie University

Disclosure statement

Heather F Neyedli receives funding from National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Department of National Defence (DND) and Thales Group to study human-automation interaction

Ben Rittenberg receives funding via a scholarship from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to study human-automation interaction.

Bradley Young receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to examine self-regulated learning and the psychology of optimal practice.

Lori Dithurbide receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Ryan J Frayne receives funding from Mitacs.

Dalhousie University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA.

University of Ottawa provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA-FR.

Dalhousie University provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA-FR.

University of Ottawa provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA.

View all partners

In May 2021, at age 50, Phil Mickelson became the oldest golfer to win a major professional tournament . He also made history as the first golfer to win a major professional tournament using a rangefinder to estimate shot distance.

The 2021 PGA Championship was the first major tournament on the PGA tour to allow the use of rangefinders during competition and their use was controversial.

Rangefinders let you measure the distance from your golf ball to the pin or other target area on the golf course. The aim was to increase the pace of play but it was met with mixed emotions from players, caddies and commentators .

The distance information from a range finder is important for club selection and deciding the appropriate shot type. But some professional golfers were hesitant about the use of rangefinders in competition prior to the tournament because most of this work is typically done by the player’s caddie.

Off of the golf course, there has been a lot of work done to understand how humans and technology can work together. This work has mostly been in areas like aviation , transportation and defence and security .

The technology is intended to improve human performance and should not be relied upon to the point that human skills and confidence decrease. This concept also applies to sport and golf.

Our research team studies human-automation interaction in contexts ranging from maritime warfare to sport. Our previous research with recreational golfers showed that psychological factors played an important role in technology use.

Why would a golfer use technology?

Like many relationships, trust plays an important role in a person’s relationship with technology.

Trust starts to develop based on people’s beliefs about the tech, people are more likely to use technology if they trust it . For example, a golfer may see a friend using their rangefinder and develop a belief that the technology will be useful.

Trust also develops through experience with technology. Our research has shown that when we gave rangefinders to golfers who had not used them before , their trust in the technology increased after only one round of golf. Professional golfers, while typically unable to use rangefinders in competition, still use the devices during practice and non-competitive rounds.

We have found that in people who use rangefinders regularly, the trust in technology is stable , even when they can’t use the devices, so it is likely pros feel the same.

A person’s self confidence in performing a skill by themselves also affects whether they use technology. If someone is confident in their ability, they may be less likely to use technology. So, it comes down to a balance of trust in the technology versus self confidence in completing the task alone.

External factors, such as the difficulty of the task or situation, can also play a role. Even though professional golfers probably have more confidence than your co-worker hitting the links, most golfers — or their caddies — at the PGA Championship chose to use a rangefinder. This typically happened when golfers found themselves off the fairway or confirming their own distance estimation.

Professional golfer Webb Simpson spoke about the use of rangefinders after the tournament :

“I was definitely against it coming in, but we have seen how there’s a lot of situations where it helps… I was in the right rough on 10 yesterday, so you know, it’s a funky angle to that back left pin and my rangefinder got about six yards different than what we had come up with”.

So if players and caddies who typically determine distances to targets without technology began to use the rangefinders consistently during this tournament, what does that indicate about their confidence in themselves or in their caddie?

Using rangefinders in training compared to competition

While professional golfers still cannot use rangefinders in most competitions, they do use them during practice. For best performance during competition, training should closely relate so the athletes get the best transfer from training.

One worry is that people will over-rely on technology during training and not be able to perform in competition without it. If a golfer determines yardage using technology during training, then it changes the needs to estimate distances in competition by relying on yardage books and walking off distances. The fact that the player is not having to retrieve information to execute a precision shot in competition using the same cognitive processing as they did in training may hinder performance .

Although the current generation of professional golfers seems to have adapted to not using technology in competition, we may see future improvements in performance as the competitive context becomes more similar to the training context.

Technology will continue to change the way sports are played. When the golf rangefinder was first introduced in 1995 , Mickelson had been playing professionally for three years. Since then, he had successfully estimated shot distances without rangefinders for years on the PGA tour. However, he and his caddie frequently used the device during the 2021 PGA Championship.

The use of rangefinders at this year’s PGA Championship offers a glimpse into the future of professional golf. The implications on not only the pace of play, but also performance, will be fascinating to follow at future events as golfers and caddies weigh the benefits and drawbacks of rangefinder use in competition.

Professor of Indigenous Cultural and Creative Industries (Identified)

Communications Director

Associate Director, Post-Award, RGCF

University Relations Manager

2024 Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellowships

Players Can Use Rangefinders During PGA Championships Thanks to a Recent Rule Change

Published May 22 2023, 11:21 a.m. ET

The rules of golf are, at least at the most basic level, pretty straightforward. When you get up to the highest levels of the game, though, there are plenty of intricacies that any casual player doesn't really need to worry about.

One of those rules focuses on rangefinders, or distance measuring devices (DMDs), which allow players to determine exactly how far away the hole is from their current location. These devices are banned at three of the four majors and throughout the PGA Tour, so many were wondering why they seemed to be so widely used during the recent PGA Championships.

Rangefinders are legal during the PGA Championships.

Even though rangefinders are generally banned at the highest levels of golf, the devices are actually legal during the PGA Championships. The PGA of America changed the rule to allow them in 2021, saying at the time that the change was being made to help with the "flow" of the event.

“We’re always interested in methods that may help improve the flow of play during our championships,” president of PGA of America Jim Richerson said at the time.

“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," he continued.

In the official rules for the Championships, it explicitly states that devices measuring distance or direction are allowed, but that devices measuring elevation changes or providing recommended approaches are prohibited.

PGA allows them at all of its major championships.

The PGA has instituted this rule change for all of its major championships, which speaks to the way the game has evolved.

Of course, just because the devices are now legal doesn't mean that every player or caddie uses them. Some caddies rely on their yard books to determine accurate yardage, but that's only possible if a golfer is in roughly the correct position.

If, instead, a player is out of position, a rangefinder can help them quickly determine where they are in relation to the hole. In that way, then it lessens the amount of time a player needs to size up their shot, and improves the overall flow of play as a result.

Some traditionalists may not approve of this change, and it's not a widespread one as of yet.

While the PGA Championship allows rangefinders, all three other tournaments do not, which means that it's not a change that has completely upended the rules of golf as a sport. Instead, it only affects how players are able to compete during a single tournament.

It's unclear whether access to rangefinders will become more widespread at the Majors in the years to come. For now, though, it seems like the change has remained localized, and is not upsetting anyone. If a player takes out a rangefinder at the PGA Championships, they're not cheating. If they take one out anywhere else, they probably are.

Fred Couples's Yellow Golf Ball Strategy Actually Makes a Lot of Sense

LIV Golf CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman Wasn't Invited to the 2023 Masters

A Number of Players Will Be Cut From the 2023 Masters — What Does That Mean?

Latest Sports News and Updates

• About Distractify
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Connect with Distractify
• Link to Facebook
• Link to Instagram
• Contact us by Email

Opt-out of personalized ads

© Copyright 2024 Engrost, Inc. Distractify is a registered trademark. All Rights Reserved. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

NEW! Find where to watch all of your favorite sports!

'It's a huge mistake in my eyes': Not everyone understands the PGA of America's decision on range finders

• Earned Evans Scholarship to attend Indiana University

The mere mortals among us who slap it around a golf course while looking for some idea as to how far we need to hit a shot to the green have embraced the use of distance-measuring devices for years.

Golf's governing bodies made them legal back in 2014, which meant those who wanted to adhere to the letter of the law could use range finders, post scores for handicaps and play with them in various amateur events.

But a local rule was also attached, allowing any tournament committee to ban their use in that competition. Hence, they've never been allowed on the various professional tours and at the major championships.

The PGA of America last week stepped outside of that box, announcing that it would allow the devices in its three major championships: the PGA Championship, the KPMG Women's PGA and the KitchenAid Senior PGA. President Jim Richerson noted how the organization is hoping to "improve the flow of play" by allowing players easy access to yardages obtained by aiming the device at a flagstick and quickly getting a number.

This came as a surprise to those involved in the highest levels of the game.

"It's so frustrating that they never asked the ones who know the best what we think," said veteran caddie Paul Tesori, who works for Webb Simpson . "I truly don't believe it'll speed up play one minute.

"On a normal hole, I'll still have the front [of the green] number, carry number, how many left or right and how many yards behind the pin. The last number we would get is the pin. What happens then if the range finder is more than 1 yard off? Now we will have to redo all our other numbers to fit what we are trying to do with the shot."

Said one longtime caddie who didn't want to be identified: "I'm 100% against it. I think at the PGA Championship level, the optics are bad. In my opinion, it will enable the caddies that don't prepare as well as some others the ability to catch up.

"I also think at that level it won't speed up the game much, if at all. Most guys want multiple numbers."

Using distance-measuring devices makes sense at other levels of play, especially where caddies are not required or utilized. The U.S. Amateur, for example, allows them. But not the U.S. Open. In fact, no major professional tour or major championship is allowing the devices, with the PGA of America breaking from that.

Another longtime caddie, Kip Henley, said the only real benefit would come in rare instances, such as at the 2017 Open, when Jordan Spieth was so off-line after a tee shot at Royal Birkdale's 13th hole that getting an exact yardage was guesswork.

"That was a damn great one [by Spieth's caddie Michael Greller], but 30 caddies would have had 30 different numbers on that shot," Henley said. "I understand it will speed the game up on shots like that, but only minimally. From the fairway, the player will still want the front numbers and the laser won't give you those. ... It's a huge mistake, in my eyes."

The odd thing about the decision is it was hardly a front-burner topic. Nobody was clamoring for it. And while the PGA of America and PGA Tour have improved their relationship in recent years and worked together in many ways, the latter is not planning on eschewing the local rule anytime soon.

In 2017, the tour tested the devices at four Korn Ferry events.

"We decided at the time to continue to prohibit their use in official competitions on the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champions and Korn Ferry Tour for the foreseeable future," the tour said in a statement. "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."

You can bet you will not see the devices at Augusta National for the Masters, either.

The PGA, however, is an example of how there is the potential for differing ways rules are applied at various tournaments. Already, it is the only organization that is seemingly willing to allow "preferred lies" (lift, clean and place) during its championships. It does not invoke the "one-ball" rule seen at all levels of the pro game. (The "one-ball" rule is states players can only use a specific brand and model ball for an entire round.) This is just another example.

One theory: The PGA of America represents more than 28,000 club professionals across the country. In addition to teaching the game, they also run golf shops and sell equipment. Perhaps this is a way to get the distance devices some love with the public. People might be moved to buy the product if they see the best in the world using it.

Since learning in early January that Tiger Woods had a fourth microdiscectomy (on Dec. 23) and finding out that he was already hitting balls, we've received little information about his status. Woods has offered no public updates, and it appears he will not have any media availability this week at the Genesis Invitational, the tournament he hosts and where he might be on site for the weekend.

Woods dropped to 48th in the world this week, meaning he is eligible for next week's WGC at The Concession -- which appears to be too soon for his return. This week marks eight weeks since the surgery. The Arnold Palmer Invitational would also be in question, although it's possible. So it now becomes a waiting game each week to see if he returns. Arnold Palmer? Players? Honda? WGC-Match Play? The latter is 13 weeks past the procedure and a place where at the very least he could get in three rounds -- because of the format -- two weeks prior to the Masters.

Jordan's rebound

Jordan Spieth has again been part of the weekend discussion lately; he's had 54-hole leads in Phoenix and Pebble Beach. While he was unable to add his 12th PGA Tour victory at either place -- he finished T-4 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and T-3 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am -- the fact that he was there with a chance has to be encouraging to a player who has endured so much of golf's wrath over the past three-plus years.

Still, Spieth's inability to get the ball in play off the tee, and some cold stretches with the putter, continue to doom him. The driver is especially troublesome, as we saw on Sunday, when he hit just six fairways at Pebble Beach. A couple of late birdies helped him shoot 2-under-par 70, but he had damaged his chances with bogeys at the par-5 sixth and the par-5 14th. For the weekend, Spieth made a bogey on four par-5s -- and lost by 3 strokes.

As you might expect, Spieth is taking plenty of positives from the past two weeks.

"If I look back at Friday night of San Diego and you tell me I was going to share the 54-hole lead and have the 54-hole lead two weeks in a row and just really fight strong both weeks, I would have said you're crazy, to be honest," Spieth said. "I was not in a great headspace following that missed cut there [at the Farmers Insurance Open] and just did some really phenomenal work from Sunday through Wednesday of last week that was probably the best period of a few days of work that I've put in in a long time. It just got me believing in what I was doing and progressing forward."

Multiple winners, Berger's par streak, etc.

With his victory at Pebble Beach, Daniel Berger became the fifth player to win multiple times since the COVID-19 break. Berger won the first event back, the Charles Schwab Challenge, in June. Dustin Johnson (Travelers, Northern Trust, Tour Championship, Masters) Jon Rahm (Memorial, BMW Championship), Bryson DeChambeau (Rocket Mortgage, U.S. Open) and Collin Morikawa (Workday Charity Open, PGA Championship) are the others. ... Berger has shot 26 consecutive rounds of par or better, the longest streak on the PGA Tour. ... Since Spieth last won at the 2017 Open, Justin Thomas has nine wins, Johnson has eight, Brooks Koepka six, DeChambeau six and Rory McIlroy five. ... Woods, who was not even hitting balls because of injuries at the time of Spieth's Open win, has three victories since. ... Spieth is now 62nd in the world and can still make next week's WGC at The Concession if he can jump into the top 50 by Monday -- although the event will go beyond the top 50 to fill the field to 72 players.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share by Email

Unlock $140 of value for $40

PGA Championship 2021: Why are rangefinders being used at Kiawah Island?

• Follow on Twitter
• Follow on Instagram

For the first time ever at a major, rangefinders are allowed in competition.

Getty Images

It’s not easy to make major championship history. Unless, of course, you’re talking about the 2021 PGA Championship. In that case, merely beginning play was enough to make history.

For the first time in major championship history Thursday, rangefinders were allowed for use in competition.

You might not have noticed them on Thursday morning at Kiawah Island. The tiny pieces of distance-measuring tech found themselves mostly in the hands of caddies, who used the devices to record distances. Hide as they may, the rangefinders mark the first significant piece of history to be made at the Ocean Course this week.

The announcement came from the PGA of America in February — a surprise announcement three months ahead of play at Kaiwah. The goal of the change, according to PGA brass, was to improve pace of play and modernize the game in a way that wouldn’t fundamentally alter the competition.

“We’re always interested in methods that may help improve the flow of play during our Championships,” PGA of America President Jim Richerson said in a release announcing the decision. “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.”

Of course, the change is only in effect for this week’s PGA Championship — one of only two tournaments (including the Ryder Cup) that the PGA of America is responsible for organizing. Still, it marks a dramatic shift in long-standing tournament rules in which caddies and players are responsible for marking off their own distances during practice rounds, then using those distances to determine numbers during the course of play.

The rule change did not come without controversy. Several players have come out against the PGA of America’s decision, most namely 2017 PGA Champ Justin Thomas.

Shop Rangefinders

Bushnell Pro XE

Bushnell Tour V5 Shift Patriot Pack Laser

Bushnell Tour V5 Patriot Pack Laser

“I won’t — I don’t think we’ll use them,” Thomas said. “I think maybe if you hit one on another hole or you have some kind of crazy weird angle you have the opportunity to use it, that’s one thing. But I think I made my stance on it pretty clear. I don’t really like them.”

For Thomas and others, rangefinders take away a key strategic element of tournament play: the relationship between both player and caddie.

‘I don’t really like them’: Why Justin Thomas isn’t thrilled with rangefinders at the PGA Championship

“I think it takes away an advantage of having a good caddie that maybe goes out there and does the work beforehand as opposed to someone, especially now between the yardage books, the greens books and range finders, you technically don’t even really need to see the place or play a practice round,” Thomas said. “You can go out there and know exactly what the green does, you know exactly what certain things are on certain angles because you can just shoot it with the range finder.”

If there was any doubt before, it’s clear the pros will have distances down pat at this week’s PGA. As for how much that will change things in the tournament — well, some things are still left to chance.

Golf Magazine

Subscribe to the magazine, latest in gear, solheim cup 2024: our 6 favorite items to rep the u.s. team, fall golf is coming stock up on our favorite hoodies from fairway jockey, fix your irons with 3 important gear adjustments | fully equipped, these unrl items are on sale for a limited time. shop our favorites, james colgan.

Golf.com Editor

James Colgan is a news and features editor at GOLF, writing stories for the website and magazine. He manages the Hot Mic, GOLF’s media vertical, and utilizes his on-camera experience across the brand’s platforms. Prior to joining GOLF, James graduated from Syracuse University, during which time he was a caddie scholarship recipient (and astute looper) on Long Island, where he is from. He can be reached at [email protected].

• Author Twitter Account
• Author Instagram Account

Related Articles

'change your life': xander schauffele breaks down pga-winning putt, scottie scheffler's group chat was blowing up after pga arrest, major champ says pga tour misses guys like bryson dechambeau, patrick reed, xander schauffele's 'uncommon' goal has jordan spieth buzzing, tiger woods sent 'awesome' text to xander schauffele after pga win, scramble like a pro with pga champ xander schauffele's wedges, scratch amateur plays easiest-ever pga championship site. here's how it went, what's behind rory mcilroy's major drought his former ryder cup captain has 2 reasons, impending golf-ball rollback could have 1 unintended consequence.

What Devices Are Caddies Looking Through At The PGA Championship?

The caddies and players are using rangefinders at this year's PGA Championship.

• Sign up to Golf Monthly Newsletter Newsletter

You may have noticed caddies using small devices in between shots during this year's PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.

If you are wondering what the devices caddies are looking through at this week's PGA Championship, you're not alone.

These devices are called rangefinders and are distance measuring devices (DMDs) that give the players and caddies precise yardages to the pin, sections of the green or carry yardages over hazards when they are preparing to hit a shot.

In normal tournament conditions, these are not allowed and you'll often see players and caddies referring to their green books which they will have made notes in during practice rounds.

Related: Best Golf Laser Rangefinders

However, the PGA of America, who runs the PGA Championship, announced in February they would be permitted during tournament rounds at the men's, women's and senior PGA Championships.

Get the Golf Monthly Newsletter

Subscribe to the Golf Monthly newsletter to stay up to date with all the latest tour news, equipment news, reviews, head-to-heads and buyer’s guides from our team of experienced experts.

The organisation cited that allowing rangefinders to be used in tournament play would help with the flow of play during events by removing the need for caddies and players to relentlessly pour over their pre-prepared green books.

It is yet to be seen whether allowing DMDs at tournaments will actually speed up play.

The reaction on Tour to the announcement was mixed at best, with many players and caddies commenting that the use of rangefinders might be counterintuitive, slowing play down rather than speeding it up.

Related: Justin Thomas: 'Rangefinders Won't Speed Pace Of Play Up'

The use of DMDs is common throughout the amateur game and the pros use them during practice rounds to record the appropriate distances around the course.

The use of DMDs is also now written in to the Rules of Golf and devices that conform to Rule 4.3a (1) will be allowed:

• 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).

It will be interesting to hear player and fan reaction to the use of DMDs at this year's PGA Championship.

Whatever happens, don't expect to see them out again this year at any other Tour events or Majors.

Dan has been with Golf Monthly team since 2021. He graduated with a Masters degree in International Journalism from the University of Sussex and looks after equipment reviews and buying guides, specializing in golf shoe, golf bag, golf cart and apparel reviews. Dan has now tested and reviewed over 30 pairs of golf shoes and is an expert in the field. A left-handed golfer, his handicap index is currently 6.5 and he plays at Fulford Heath Golf Club in the West Midlands. 

Dan's current clubs: 

Driver: TaylorMade Stealth 2  

Fairway: TaylorMade Stealth 2 15°

Hybrid: Ping G425 

Irons: Cobra King Tec Utility , Ping i230 (5-PW) 

Wedges: Ping Glide Forged Pro

Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X

Ball: Titleist AVX

In a thrilling final day at Bolingbrook Golf Club, a number of players were relegated from the LIV Golf League

By Matt Cradock Published 15 September 24

Not only did Rahm scoop the first prize in Chicago, but the Spaniard secured the $18 million individual standings in his debut season on the LIV Golf League

• Contact Future's experts
• Terms and conditions
• Privacy policy
• Accessibility statement
• Cookies policy
• Advertise with us

Golf Monthly is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site . © Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

This PGA Tour caddie once got fired from being a college mascot

L ong before he became a PGA Tour caddie , a hotel reviewer , and a Netflix star , Geno Bonnalie wore a different mask in college. Literally.

RELATED: The hilarious thing Geno and Joel were actually doing at the Waffle House

Joel Dahmen's looper used to loop around at University of Idaho basketball games as a mascot. And not just any mascot, but Joe Vandal.

As far as mascots go, that's a pretty cool one. So how did this come about?

"And I'm goofy and outgoing and the costume fit," Bonnalie explained to Jeff Eisenband on the Eis on Golf podcast . "So I said, I'll do it."

That being said, it didn't turn out to be as fun of a gig as Geno thought. He had to put up with intoxicated fans, a hot costume, and even a fan that would hit him in the mouth and cause him to bleed when he got bumped into by said intoxicated fans. And all those things added up to Geno being relieved of his duties.

Apparently, he let one of those fans switch with him for the second half and that fan started hitting players on the other team in the back of the head. And that got back to the school, which got back to Geno. Here's how he tells the entire story:

Hey, maybe it was for the best. Watching a game in that getup sounds pretty brutal.

RELATED: PGA Tour caddie nearly beats boss in epic birdie fest

Procore Championship

Silverado Resort (North Course)

Golf Digest Logo Features

The PGA Tour vs. LIV: Inside the battle between a giant that won't budge and a startup that won't stop

The songs thundering through the course were indistinguishable, each pop track sounding like the one that came before. The only disruption was a voice. It was unclear to whom the voice belonged or where he was, although judging by the cadence and spirit it was more deejay than public announcer. The voice said a lot of things during the LIV Golf Invitational at Trump Bedminster in mid-July, most of which—like “Get on your feet!” and “Make some noise!” and “Who wants a free shirt?!”—was forgotten as soon as it was said. Yet how the voice ended each message was indelible, for it was both welcoming while serving as a warning.

“Thanks again for joining us at LIV Golf!” crooned the voice. “The future of golf … is here!”

The idea of a fledgling competitor to the PGA Tour has lurked in the shadows for years, discussed as a provocative hypothetical but one whose reality and viability were routinely dismissed. Only LIV Golf has proved in very little time how real and formidable it can be, siphoning talent from the PGA and DP World Tours and threatening a schism that could tear the collective tissue of professional golf into pieces.

The emergence of the Saudi-backed circuit has resulted in break-ups and alliances, and caused suspensions and lawsuits. It has made a game known for its civility become uncivil and brought politics and human-rights issues into a space supposedly reserved for sport. It has spurred reactions that span the emotional spectrum, from intrigue and excitement to existential angst and dread and everything in between.

While all that is true, they are mostly trappings of the present. What really matters is where this is going. Is the voice correct, that the novelty of LIV Golf is not just a curiosity but indeed the future? Or does the new venture share the destiny of so many other rogue professional leagues that similarly proposed disruption only to end in a graveyard? How secure is the PGA Tour and how does an entity shackled by finite resources do battle against not a company but a country with seemingly unlimited assets at its disposal? Is there room for cooperation? Coexistence? And if not, what are the ramifications the longer this war wages?

In pursuit of an answer Golf Digest spoke to more than 30 sources entrenched on both sides, along with a number of authorities outside the walls of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf who provided insight on how this could shake out. A look into LIV’s origins and its master plans, and the tour’s response to the threat, suggests professional golf is in the early stages of a dramatic overhaul.

Provided it doesn't implode first.

A Saudi long game

THE MAN BEHIND PROFESSIONAL GOLF’S RECKONING is not a golfer. He doesn’t care for sports, period. To understand where the schism is going you need to understand how it started, and with who.

Mohammed bin Salman, 36, is the crown prince, deputy prime minister, and minister of defense of Saudi Arabia. His father, Salman bin Abdulaziz, is the country’s king, but bin Salman is considered the de facto ruler. His rise to power over the past decade has transformed social and commercial life in the kingdom while strengthening the country’s position on the international stage as a geopolitical force.

“Saudi Arabia for the past 30 years was like watching a silent movie: one elderly king after another flickered across the screen saying nothing and doing nothing,” says Karen House, a Pulitzer Prize winner and former Wall Street Journal publisher who has covered Saudi Arabia extensively for four decades. “Saudi Arabia since 2016 is an IMAX movie on fast forward. Everything MBS does is big, bold, fast, loud, riveting.”

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Oct. 23, 2018.

FAYEZ NURELDINE

Bin Salman introduced Vision 2030, a blueprint to diminish Saudi Arabia’s reliance on oil by diversifying the economy and modernizing its public services. Some of its initiatives are not dissimilar from efforts of other countries, like combating unemployment and expanding e-commerce and technology. Others are high-profile projects like the development of ultra-luxury resorts and the construction of a megaproject city called Neom, which recently made news for its proposal of erecting two buildings each as tall as 1,600 feet that run parallel for 75 miles across coastal, mountain and desert terrain.

One of Vision 2030’s tenets is a “vibrant society,” and a means to reach this ambition is sports. It’s been a relatively successful venture, bringing in boxing, wrestling and tennis exhibitions, along with Formula 1 races to the kingdom. The country recently announced its bid to host the soccer AFC Women's Asian Cup, and in 2021 the Public Investment Fund—which is the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund—purchased an 80-percent stake in Newcastle United, a professional football club in the English Premier League.

"He doubles down. He is not accustomed to losing," House said of bin Salman. "When he fails at something, his inclination is to try harder."

Part of the sports campaign is Golf Saudi, led by Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who is part of bin Salman’s inner circle and serves as governor of the PIF. Al-Rumayyan is considered a passionate golfer, and his imagination for what the sport could do for Saudi Arabia is fertile. There are aspects that begin at the grassroots level, such as growing golf participation in Saudi Arabia and developing a national team and elite players, along with big-picture items, such as developing courses to aid tourism and hosting professional competitions. It is this last point that sparked the Saudi International into existence in 2019, a tournament that was initially sanctioned by the European Tour.

From an investment standpoint, LIV Golf is a small enterprise compared to other Vision 2030 projects. LIV Golf has somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 billion in funding; for context, Neom has a starting budget of $500 billion and the aforementioned 75-mile buildings are expected to cost $1 trillion and take 50 years to construct. However, the golf endeavor has heightened importance in the kingdom’s push for what it sees as a better tomorrow, multiple sources say. For one, Al-Rumayyan views LIV as his darling, and his voice carries particular weight in bin Salman’s circle. Another benefit is the conduit it can be to business and government leaders; it is not an accident LIV Golf has teamed with former U.S. President Donald Trump amid expectation Trump will begin his third campaign for the presidency this fall.

But a point that cannot be stressed enough, and arguably fuels the desire to make LIV Golf ultimately succeed, is bin Salman’s quest for total and absolute power, House says. They are sentiments at the heart of bin Salman’s reign.

“Despite sweeping social and economic changes that have liberated society, political life has moved in reverse,” House explains.

Bin Salman has continually and sometimes ruthlessly silenced dissidents. Human rights are oppressed. The Saudis have led a military invention in Yemen—out of fear that Yemen could be a satellite for Iran—and the resulting civil war has become a humanitarian crisis. A 2017 purge of nearly 400 princes, businessmen and religious leaders consolidated authority over every branch of the government. Saudis began calling bin Salman “Mr. Everything.” He does what he wants; the only person bin Salman answers to is his father, and House says bin Salman has his father’s total support.

Saudi Golf and, as an extension, Vision 2030 and bin Salman were rebuffed in their attempts to become part of golf’s political matrix with the PGA Tour and European Tour. The PGA Tour has been adamant it never held dialogue with LIV Golf or Golf Saudi, while the European Tour did listen to overtures before eventually coming to a “strategic alliance” with the PGA Tour . Theoretically, getting rejected from golf’s ecosystem should have scrapped the Golf Saudi project. That is not what bin Salman does.

“He doubles down. He is not accustomed to losing,” House explains. “When he fails at something, his inclination is to try harder.”

If golf’s current framework wouldn’t let the Saudis in, they would create their own. It sounds ambitious, and it is. But to those who dispute the formidable nature of LIV Golf, Golf Saudi and bin Salman, who hear grand ambitions of megacities in the desert and 75-mile buildings and laugh, it’s worth noting bin Salman’s true passion: video games. According to House, it explains both bin Salman’s fantastical aspirations and serves as a warning to his doubters.

“The reason he believes he can do anything is that, in the world of video games, anything is possible,” House says. “He’s in love with video games where all things are possible and believes that if you put your mind to it, that's what real life is like too.”

A startup unlike any other

THE QUESTION BORDERS ON OFFENSIVE: Are you, a Northwestern MBA, former chief operating officer of an MLS franchise and chief corporate development and brand officer for an NFL team, running a glorified PR exercise that will continue to hemorrhage money?

Atul Khosla, 43, left his job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to become the COO of LIV Golf in January 2022. Khosla is a sports-business veteran, and he wants to make one thing clear: This, too, is a business. A business that fully plans to turn a profit.

“If you look at the investment portfolio of our primary investor, PIF, they have invested all over the world in incredibly large businesses that they believe will be profitable,” Khosla says. “Their view of this is no different. That’s the expectation that we have from our board.

“Like any other startup, do we have upfront costs to get the product off the ground? Yes, we do. And it is no different than a burn rate that an Uber may have or any other startup tech might have to get the product off the ground with a vision of disrupting the space. We are fortunate, of course, to have an institution that has the patience to be able to go through this methodically and in the right fashion.”

Greg Norman, commissioner/CEO of LIV Golf, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, and Majed Al Sorour, CEO of the Golf Saudi, stand on the first tee of the third round of the LIV Golf Invitational Bedminster in July.

Icon Sportswire

LIV executives constantly refer to their enterprise as a startup. It’s a touch humorous, given they’re going toe-to-toe with an established American sports institution; this is hardly four guys in a garage with a dream. Still, they will tell you that this entire inaugural year is essentially a beta test of their product, that they’ll make changes on the fly and react to what’s working and what isn’t. The vast majority of startups lose money before they make money—burn rate, to use one of Khosla’s MBA terms—and LIV certainly qualifies. It’s not just the hundreds of millions going to the likes of Phil Mickelson , Dustin Johnson , Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka . It’s the rumored $40 million going to the Ian Poulter types. LIV is spending so much money to launch a professional sports league. It’s paying players guaranteed money; the PGA Tour does not. It’s paying for players’ travel and accommodations; the PGA Tour does not. It’s paying for caddies’ travel and accommodations; the PGA Tour does not. The same is true for agents, coaches and player families. It’s paying each host venue a healthy fee to take over the property for a week. It’s paying a full staff of executives. It’s paying musicians to play concerts. It’s paying for the grandstands, the hospitality tents, the signage. It’s paying for the production of the broadcast.

"The value is driven purely by demand," one top agent says. "This is like a real-life fantasy league."

And LIV is doing all this with virtually no revenue to offset the costs. Tickets for the two U.S. events could be had for a few bucks. The broadcast airs free on YouTube, with no commercials. There was not a single corporate logo (other than LIV’s) present at either Pumpkin Ridge or Trump Bedminster. When asked about their surely warped balance sheet, LIV executives begin talking about the future. The vision. LIV Golf, they say, hasn’t even properly started.

That’ll happen next year, when LIV transitions from a series of invitational tournaments to a 14-event “league schedule.” The three events this year, with five more to come, have been a bit scrambled—different fields, different teams. That will not be the case in 2023; the plan is for 48 contracted players to play in all 14 events, and for 12 four-man teams to be set at the beginning of the year and stay consistent throughout the season.

“The way I would look at it,” says Ron Cross, who worked at both Augusta National and the PGA Tour before becoming LIV’s chief events officer, “we’ve compared ourselves to, and others have compared ourselves to, the Formula 1 model. When you go to an F1 race, it’s a consistent look and feel. But Austin has some uniqueness. And Monaco is a little different from Spain, and other markets. You’ll find us doing the same thing.”

And, according to multiple agents from across different agencies, the vast majority of those league spots are spoken for—so much so that LIV has turned away multiple players in the top 50 of the World Ranking who have expressed interest in negotiating a contract.

“One of my players sort of nudged me toward seeing if there might be an offer on the table,” says one agent, “and we were told, basically, 'Sorry. We’re full for next year.’”

More From Golf Digest

Formula 1 does seem to be the guiding light for LIV’s future vision—particularly as it pertains to the team component. There are 10 teams in Formula 1, each owned by a corporation: Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Alpine, McLaren, Alfa Romeo, Haas F1, AlphaTauri, Aston Martin, Williams. Each team has two drivers under contract. The driver’s deals are with each specific team, not with Formula 1. That, eventually, seems to be the vision for LIV Golf: to have 12 distinct teams, each with its own ownership group, each with the power to sign its own players, cut them and trade them. In an ideal scenario, and this is far down the line, each team would function more like a traditional sports franchise with its own merchandise, C-level suites and corporate sponsorships.

All 12 teams are owned by LIV now, and some players—think the more high-profile names: Mickelson, DeChambeau, Koepka—have an equity stake in the teams they captain. LIV’s goal is to develop these franchises into brands with identities and fans, and then sell them either to corporations or wealthy individuals who essentially want the latest and greatest plaything. There is no shortage of billionaires who love golf and, theoretically, would be willing to cut a check to be closer to the action. To play in the pro-am with Bryson. To host Brooks for dinner. Who knows—maybe even join Dustin and Paulina on the boat.

“Sports ownership is a high-demand space, where much of the value is derived from scarcity,” says one agent for a top-20 player. “Obviously you have to build a league with real revenues, but these are sellable commodities even without that. It’s just supply and demand. The value is driven purely by demand. This is like a real-life fantasy league.”

'If you can't see it, you can't sell it'

THEY ARE BILLED AS FANCY NEW TOYS for the mega-rich. But to achieve their full brightness, LIV Golf’s franchises need a place to shine.

To players and potential sponsors and owners, the number LIV Golf has pitched has stayed consistent, sources tell Golf Digest: a $1 billion potential valuation for a four-man club. If that sounds fantastical it’s because it’s based on something that hasn’t happened yet.

“Until significant media deals are done to cover LIV Golf,” says Patrick Rishe, the founding director of the sports business program at Washington University, “LIV team values will be stunted.”

The first three LIV Golf events have been broadcast free on YouTube, Facebook and LIV Golf’s website, and the audience numbers have been modest. The LIV Golf Invitational at Bedminster drew an average of 74,000 viewers to its Sunday final round YouTube broadcast while the PGA Tour’s simultaneous broadcast of the Rocket Mortgage Classic on CBS drew an average of 2.5 million. To a person, those around LIV Golf assert a larger broadcast agreement is near, and even its detractors acknowledge some sort of distribution deal will likely be in place before 2023. Where it is distributed, or more specifically on what platform, may have a bigger impact on LIV Golf’s sustainability than any mega-star player it signs.

The 4 Aces Team of Pat Perez, Talor Gooch, Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson spray champagne after winning the team competition at the LIV Golf Invitational Series at Trump Bedminster.

To this point, all of the major television subsidiaries in the U.S. have shown little to no interest in LIV Golf, sources tell Golf Digest. NBC, CBS and ESPN just began a $7 billion, nine-year deal with the PGA Tour. The wild card is the FOX Corporation, which has multiple ties with LIV Golf. FOX founder and media tycoon Rubert Murdoch has a personal relationship with LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman; the two attempted to create a “World Golf Tour” in the mid-1990s, with Murdoch’s FOX Sports securing the rights. In January 2022, LIV Golf hired former FOX Sports President David Hill to help with production, and the right-leaning FOX News had a heavy presence at LIV Golf’s third event held at former President Trump’s Bedminster property. However, FOX abandoned its USGA agreement halfway through a 12-year deal, and even with the Trump connection sources say FOX Sports has not held serious discussions.

Sources say LIV Golf officials are aware immediate victory may not be had on the traditional television front in the United States and have pivoted to a streaming option. Some around LIV Golf insist streaming was the plan from the start, although multiple sources combat this notion. Nevertheless, be it orchestrated messaging or conviction that the league truly is close to a media deal, the importance of streaming was at the forefront of conversations at Trump Bedminster, with Mickelson making a case for why this is the best route to go.

“We, as a game and sport, the viewership has gone up five years to the average age, I believe, of 64, and we have to target the younger generation,” the six-time major winner said after Friday’s round at Bedminster. “I think that the way that's going to happen is two things. One, it's not a 12-hour day, having to watch golf all day. You've got a four-and-a-half-hour window. Second, when I think a streaming partner comes about, I think it's going to revolutionize the way golf is viewed, because you'll have no commercials and you'll have shot after shot after shot, and it will capture that younger generation's attention span. We'll open up a lot of opportunities to get the younger generation, which for 30 years we've tried to do and it's gone the other way.”

Streaming destinations are limited. Netflix has yet to dive into live sports. Hulu’s Disney/ESPN ties to the tour likely knock it out. Same with HBO Max and Discovery+ (Warner Bros. Discovery, which also owns Golf Digest) and Paramount Plus (CBS). Amazon Prime is getting into the sports space, but founder Jeff Bezos’ strained relationship with Saudi Arabia diminishes the prospect of a deal. Essentially, there is one home that has any subscription base to speak of, industry insiders tell Golf Digest: AppleTV.

The Apple, Inc. OTT service has not made the splash it hoped since launching in 2019, boasting only a little more than 33 million customers. (For context, Disney+ launched a week after AppleTV and claims 138 million subscribers.) To build its humble numbers, Apple has turned to live sports, signing deals with Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer in 2022, and LIV Golf could fit into that portfolio, sources say. Unlike the MLS, which signed a 10-year agreement, any LIV deal would likely be in the two- to three-year range, according to one source—enough time for LIV to prove it is a viable commodity. The buy-in would be relatively economical compared to other live sporting-event rights, both sources said, and nowhere near the neighborhood of the tour’s $7 billion, nine-year deal with NBC, ESPN and CBS. But LIV Golf isn’t necessarily looking for an infusion of cash in the same vein that other sporting leagues do with media rights. LIV is merely looking for publicity on a platform that adds validity to what it’s trying to do. (AppleTV has not responded to a request for comment.)

“Sponsor value for any team or league is driven by eyeballs, because one main purpose of any sponsor deal is generating awareness and exposure for your product. If you can't see it, you can't sell it,” Rishe says. “[It’s] incredibly hard to achieve awareness and exposure without a solid TV or streaming deal.”

But Rishe adds a caveat: “Until LIV attains a solid media-rights deal with a legacy network, this will place a de facto ceiling on the value of sponsor deals.”

Other experts agree that though media consumption is drastically evolving with more platforms and choices than ever before, a streaming-only deal will hamper LIV Golf. Most sports and especially golf are still watched in traditional, linear fashion. It’s one of the reasons sports rights are so expensive: They are one of the few programs watched as scheduled. Moreover, while LIV’s focus may be on a younger crowd, the type of companies that are involved in the golf business tend to target the older, affluent audience. Even with bringing in new sponsors that haven’t been in the space before, LIV Golf will need to tap into those existing advertisers.

“You need the high-earner male in his mid-50s. People don’t want to hear that, but that’s who buys the expensive products that are advertised on professional golf,” says Neal Pilson, former president of CBS Sports. “That’s what drives the golf ship. That’s the important sponsor support golf brings and makes it a commodity.”

LIV Golf has positioned itself as a global entity, to grab regions that the game has historically ignored. But that creates an issue in establishing a TV deal that Pilson and others in tour circles assert about the LIV Golf model.

“This won’t be the World Cup. This won’t be the British Open. People aren’t going to get up at 3 a.m. to watch in a different country,” Pilson says. “[This] could explain why [none of the traditional channels] want it. So it goes to streaming so customers can watch it on their time. Well, millennials will check their phones or computers to see the results of something that happened 12 hours ago, and once you see the results there’s a good chance you won’t watch. There are a lot of drawbacks with the streaming idea.”

Though it’s far from the affluent and older consumer that makes golf advertising so valuable despite its niche reach, the 18- to 35-year-old demo has value to marketers because if they capture that demo’s business early they can make a lifetime customer to maximize their return on marketing investment. And younger audiences do tend to gravitate towards streamers and cord-cutting services over legacy networks.

There’s the chance LIV Golf buys airtime with a channel. Or maybe LIV buys an entire channel.

But, as Rishe points out, the young audiences pose their own problem—specifically towards LIV. “Studies have shown that Gen Z and Alpha Gen consumers are more socially aware and care more about what the companies they buy from stand for,” Rishe says. “So as long as the ‘sportswashing’ undercurrent dogging LIV exists, LIV may have very little success courting corporate America.”

Of course, there’s a way around the TV issues in the U.S., Pilson explains, and it’s a thought that a number of tour officials mention as a worst-case scenario. Given the resources behind it, there’s the chance LIV Golf buys airtime with a channel, especially with many struggling to find new revenue streams in the cord-cutting era. Or maybe LIV buys an entire channel.

“I think if they do get it, it'll probably be on a cable channel that is comfortable with some negative responses [being associated with LIV Golf],” Pilson says. “That could use the money because LIV could buy its way onto a cable channel, just the way it buys the golfers to go play.”

With its own channel, LIV Golf wouldn’t have to worry about alternating its condensed, shotgun-start format and could keep it commercial-free. One person associated with LIV’s franchise efforts made the case that ad-free presentations bring value to the sponsors of each club. “Golf fans have made it known they hate the growing amount of dead time in golf broadcasts,” the source said. “By showing them more golf, our sponsors get more direct time with a consumer that is more native and agreeable to the viewing experience instead of banging them over the head with a commercial.”

It’s far from what LIV Golf wants to do. But it is a card they could play if realizing the streaming reach is not enough.

Nevertheless, in a scenario where LIV Golf has both streaming and traditional distribution behind it, the operation can start wooing legitimate sponsors, knowing their endorsements will be seen by far more than 74,000 viewers. In that scenario, the $1 billion franchise valuation, while still fantastical, doesn’t seem quite as outrageous. In that scenario, LIV Golf goes from tour nuisance to a full-on competitor.

'We're not interested in exhibition golf'

THE PGA TOUR HAS TAKEN THE HARDEST OF HARD-LINE stances against LIV Golf. The message from Ponte Vedra headquarters has been clear since rumors of the “Saudi Golf League”—the name that Monahan and the tour insist on using—began percolating in early 2020, and it underlined the unwillingness to listen to LIV’s initial proposal. The tour’s stance, to put it simply, was: This is not good for golf, and you’re either with us or you’re with them.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has thus far taken a hard-line stance against LIV Golf, including the ban of players who have moved to the Saudi Arabia-backed circuit.

Richard Heathcote

The PGA Tour wasted little time this year drawing its line in the sand by informing its membership on May 10 that no releases would be granted for the first LIV event in London, and that players who participated anyway would be in violation of the PGA Tour handbook and subject to discipline. Once the first tee shots were hit at Centurion Golf Club at the same time on June 8—shotgun start and all—the PGA Tour announced immediate suspensions for all its members in the LIV field. This stance was immediately and very publicly lambasted by Norman, who called the move “anti-golfer, anti-fan and anti-competitive.” Norman and his associates have lobbed insults and taunts at the PGA Tour throughout the past couple months; the PGA Tour has been more careful in its communications and word choice, but Monahan has not wavered in his opposition to LIV’s existence.

"We want to be additive to the ecosystem," LIV's Khosla says. "We are very willing and want to continue to work with all the tours."

Despite the combativeness, LIV officials insist they’d love a meeting with PGA Tour executives.

“That has been our desire from the get-go,” Khosla says. “We want to be, and we believe we are, additive to the ecosystem. We are very willing and want to continue to work with all the tours. … I would love to [talk to the PGA Tour]. I would absolutely love to. And even if it’s just to build the relationship, I very much welcome the opportunity to do that.”

Some PGA Tour players want peace accords to take place. At the Open Championship, Jon Rahm responded to a question about the future of the Ryder Cup by expressing a desire for the bickering parties to come to the negotiation table. There was also Rory McIlroy, the de facto spokesman for the PGA Tour throughout this schism, saying at the J.P. McManus Pro-Am in July that he believed it was time for both sides to talk.

“If these people are serious about investing billions of dollars into golf, I think ultimately that’s a good thing,” McIlroy said. “But it has to be done the right way and I think if they were to invest, having it be invested inside the existing structures.”

Tour executives, however, seem to have no interest in such discussions or any parceling of the calendar. The PGA Tour declined to speak with Golf Digest for this story, but a spokesman did convey their ultimate position: “What exactly would we be discussing? The tour isn’t for sale, and we’re not interested in exhibition golf.”

Rory McIlroy has been among the most vocal supporters of the PGA Tour and has said it's worth listening to LIV Golf if it's interested in investing in a proven commodity.

Stuart Franklin/R&A

Which, of course, makes sense. The PGA Tour’s rigid stance is no doubt a strategic play, but one drawback of that approach is that it makes later cooperation that much less feasible. Instead, Monahan has vowed both privately and publicly to focus on improving his own tour. It started well before the first LIV event, when the tour devised the Player Impact Program as a way to reward its most famous players for something not directly related to their on-course performance. Despite the tour’s insistence that such a program was in the works long before, the PIP is widely seen on tour as a preemptive response to LIV—ironic, then, that five of the initial 10 winners have since left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf—though the inaugural PIP winner, Tiger Woods, reportedly turned down a $700 million to $800 million offer from LIV. And in a June press conference, Monahan outlined a number of rather significant changes to the PGA Tour’s structure, which again seemed heavily influenced by the existential challenge he faces. The general theme: more money going to the best players, a return to a calendar-year schedule and doubling down on its signature heritage events.

Starting for the 2023 FedEx Cup Playoffs, only 70 PGA Tour players—down from 125—will make it to the postseason and keep full status for the next season. The top 50 in the final FedEx Cup standings also will qualify for lucrative, no-cut “international series” events that will be held outside the U.S. in the fall. And purses for eight invitational events throughout the season are increasing to an average of $20 million per event. Rather than negotiate with LIV, the PGA Tour is banking that its proven business model, continued added investment in its own product, and the willingness to adapt—including veering away from its 72-hole format more often—will continue to make the circuit the best place to play professional golf. And that talented new prospects will fill the void left by others who might have left for LIV.

New and current stars will be paid handsomely. The PGA Tour has begun circulating a document to players that projects how much money they would’ve earned had their careers begun during the upcoming 2022-23 season based on a four percent year-over-year growth in the tour’s total comprehensive earnings. The projected figures are staggering: If Jim Furyk, who is now 52 years old, began his rookie season in 2022-23 and had the same 28-year career—including 17 wins—his total compensation from the PGA Tour would exceed $620 million. (Furyk’s current actual earnings are $71.5 million.) To sample a few others: Rory McIlroy would be at $373 million; Jordan Spieth at $240 million; Brandt Snedeker at $180 million; Ryan Palmer at $100 million; Keegan Bradley at $97 million; Jason Gore at $21 million.

But those projections do not include any guaranteed money—instead, they are calculated by applying future payment structures to past earnings.

“All of this money we’re projecting will be earned on a competitive basis,” the PGA Tour executive said, “and that’s a hallmark of the PGA Tour. Even with the PIP program, there are different components, but you’ve earned those based on how you’ve competed.”

Of course, this is a projection of a tomorrow that is under tour control. It also must reckon with a future it doesn’t fully control.

The next battlefront

ON AUG. 3, MICKELSON, DECHAMBEAU AND NINE OTHER LIV GOLF MEMBERS filed a lawsuit against the tour, believing the suspensions they received for defecting constituted antitrust actions . It is a lawsuit the PGA Tour has expected and feels confident about being in the right. History is on the tour’s side. It has successfully defended itself against antitrust claims from Morris Communications Corporation regarding the tour’s limitations on real-time scoring, and it prevailed in former tour player Harry Toscano’s Clayton Act antitrust lawsuit against the Senior PGA Tour. It also won a class-action lawsuit brought by caddies against the tour using antitrust and intellectual property claims.

Phil Mickelson is among the LIV players who brought an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour for not allowing them to play.

Jonathan Ferrey/LIV Golf

This is a different battle, and the tour is also staring down an antitrust probe from the Department of Justice. It’s worth noting the Federal Trade Commision concluded after a four-year investigation in the early 1990s that the tour had violated antitrust laws—partially due to the rule stipulating permission for a conflicting-event release—and recommended federal action. But no action was ultimately taken, a circumstance credited to the work of then-PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem (a lawyer himself who worked in President Jimmy Carter’s administration) and the tour’s lobbying mastery. Coincidentally, this clashed with Norman’s first try to challenge the PGA Tour through his attempt to launch the World Tour. This time, the tour is facing an entity that can match, if not usurp, its lobbying efforts. This time, the tour could lose.

The battle will be fought on multiple fronts. There are players who have not jumped but will, both after the FedEx Cup and Presidents Cup, along with those who defect after 2023 or 2024. While the first wave of LIV members mostly constituted injury-prone players, rank-and-file names, those past 40 and maligned personalities, LIV likely will sign those who are young, transcendent and marketable.

There are multiple sponsors, sources tell Golf Digest, that aren’t exactly thrilled with the tour’s handling of the LIV situation. Though the new media-rights deal accounts for most of the added money in bonuses and purses, the tour has gone to companies looking to aid its new fall series, and the reception has thus far been cold, sources say. Existing partners, upset at sponsoring tournaments with depleted fields, are not crazy about giving the tour more money. There is a fear in tour circles that if the circuit pushes too hard, these companies could eventually go to the other side.

Then there is the tour’s own media rights. Its new agreement started in 2022 and runs to 2030. Concerns that CBS, NBC or ESPN would want to renegotiate or invalidate its deal if the tour continues to lose a number of its marquee attractions are fair, although multiple sources with these stakeholders say, at this point, they are not worried about a diluted product and are in lockstep with the tour. Of greater worry for the tour are potential deals down the road. These media agreements are worked out years in advance, and sources tell Golf Digest the current deal was mostly finished by the middle of 2019. A LIV Golf circuit that is fully operational in 2025—and one that has a defined future—could wreak havoc on anything the tour hopes for in its new media framework.

The tour’s position against LIV is not just public posturing; those around the tour insist Monahan and his staff believe what he says to be true. But players, agents and others in the industry see how the tour is under siege and envision that peace—or at least a detente—will have to be struck to stave off a watered-down tour. So what would cooperation between LIV and the PGA Tour look like?

Make no mistake, there are reasons why cooperation might work for both sides. LIV Golf, which seemingly holds momentum, gets what it initially wanted: acceptance into the current framework. Saudi Arabia and Vision 2030 receive a blessing from a globally recognized institution that pushes them closer to the perception of a modernized culture. LIV Golf members get to keep the enormous sums they made and get the freedom they once had on the tour to pick their schedules. Not for nothing, it keeps the door open to play in major championships and Ryder Cup—a path that seemingly is starting to close and one that could be shut completely if LIV doesn’t receive OWGR accreditation. (As one Augusta National source relayed after the filing of the Mickelson lawsuit: “Know a good way to get curbed by ANGC? Bring ANGC into a lawsuit.”)

For the tour, things are messier. Yes, the LIV Golf financial resources would help subsidize the tour and its purses, the membership would be made whole again and a potential PGA Tour-LIV agreement would be perceived less of a merger and more of an acquisition. But there is the reality of weakening a previously strong stance and the optics that come with it. Would player suspensions—assuming the tour hasn’t lost the lawsuit—be dropped? How would it handle blowback from its existing members, who watched LIV members cash huge paydays and ultimately be allowed back while they missed out on similar opportunities out of loyalty? Even in a treaty there will be casualties.

In the days after the LIV golfers filed their suit, the tone from PGA Tour players toward their peers who jumped to LIV changed. While once respectful of the decision made to move on, there was more venom toward them as they went ahead with a legal challenge. 

“Their vision is cherry-picking what events they want to play on the PGA Tour," Billy Horschel, a former PGA Tour Policy Board member, said. "Obviously, that would be the higher World Ranking events and bigger purses. It’s frustrating. They made a decision to leave, and they should go follow their employer. I know there are guys a lot more angry and frustrated about it than me.”

Another victim in this fight could be the postseason race on the DP World Tour (formerly European Tour). While LIV Golf’s 2023 season will be spread across the calendar, multiple sources lay out a scenario in which the PGA Tour ultimately allows space for LIV Golf to operate during the fall, effectively taking the place of the yet-to-be-announced international series. LIV has already telegraphed it’s not opposed to this time frame: Five of its eight events this year occur after the FedEx Cup Playoffs have concluded. The tour would still use autumn to provide for those outside the top 50 to wrestle for following-year status, conceding its stars would play elsewhere in September, October and November. It’s a tough swallow for the tour, yet better to lose them during the football portion of the sports calendar than for the entire year. Unfortunately, the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai takes place in November, and while it could survive the PGA Tour’s three-event international series, a LIV Golf fall itinerary likely involves a minimum of five to six events. Moving the Race to Dubai to the end of summer would coincide with the tour playoffs. The DP World Tour already faces the knock of being a feeder circuit; a potential retrofitting would compound that stigma.

Although it’s a bit more far-fetched, there’s also the chance for LIV Golf competitions to be held during the tour’s season. There are a handful of tournaments that have struggled with sponsorship for years that could be vulnerable, and the fact that the WGCs having gone from four to one raises the question if LIV could take over the Match Play. There would be matters to sort out—who qualifies for the LIV events, how TV/streaming deals would work, and would the events be co-sanctioned.

The alternative is this: A professional golf landscape that looks a lot like professional boxing—a realm with multiple organizations and almost zero unification that has turned a once-popular sport into a niche entertainment. The game’s attention could be divided between a league that has popular figures but tournaments that border on exhibition, up against a traditional power that has real competition but has lost some of its most high-profile competitors. As one major championship official opined, “The PGA Tour could become what the Euro Tour is now, and LIV Golf would be like the Pro Bowl—big names, horrible watch.”

In regards to majors, there’s the theory that the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and Open Championship could be strengthened in a divided game, the already heightened weeks gaining importance if they’re the only four occasions when the entire sport gathers. But if the majors back the PGA Tour and restrict LIV Golf members from participating, they too will lose weight.

Should the DP World Tour and PGA of America stay true to their LIV threats, the Ryder Cup could be lost. Fair or not, the onus is on the PGA Tour to keep it together. Most of LIV’s members have already shown they don’t care about consequences, at least enough to prevent them from padding their bank accounts. The tour didn’t start the schism, yet it may be the only thing standing in the way of preventing the sport from ripping in two.

After the beta test

THEY SEE WHAT YOU SEE. The misspellings of player names, getting their members’ nationalities wrong, the press-conference disasters. For an organization trying its best to rid itself of sportswashing accusations, LIV Golf has been unable to put its best foot forward without tripping over the other through its first three events.

But it’s worth remembering this inaugural season is a trial run of sorts, and not just for those inside the ropes. Prior to the weekend at Trump Bedminster, one LIV liaison said the summer had been “revealing.” This person put the LIV workers into two groups: the adults and the children. The children are the ones making mistake after mistake, or they took a LIV offer as an early retirement package thinking little would be involved. The adults … they see what LIV has already done and what it could be once the children are sent packing. “If everyone would stop ragging on [LIV], you could see how good it can be,” the consultant said. Eventually, this person maintained, LIV would get things right.

The event at Bedminster was eventually won by Henrik Stenson. To grab the millions at LIV, the Swede had to surrender the Ryder Cup captaincy, a role and responsibility that was once viewed as priceless. For him to win millions, Europe had to lose its Ryder Cup captain. His decision to join was a zero-sum game. You didn’t have to squint to see the symmetry.