The PGA Tour, which advances with measuring devices, originally appeared at Athlon Sports.
The measuring device appears to be destined to be a permanent location on the PGA tour in the near future.
The first results using the DMD device were provided on Wednesday in a conference call with PGA Tour officials and Select Media.
After a four-week pilot period to test distance measurement devices (DMDS) on the PGA tour launched at RBC Heritage in April, the data supported a full program implementation that advances. This could begin next season when the Player Advisory Council and the PGA Tour Policy Board review the test results and vote to add DMD to the competition.
“We’ll take that through the usual governance process,” said Tyler Dennis, chief competition officer of the PGA Tour. “If they see this in a positive way, we will get it as soon as possible, so that it can be seen from the research and things we see.
This tour reviewed Shotlink data related to the use of DMD using feedback from 297 players and caddies.
The trends in the study showed that approach shots and all PAR-5s trended faster during the period when DMD was allowed.
The data also showed that shot times for 40-60 yards from green were faster, saving 4.9 seconds from fairway and 5.1 seconds from rough.
The limited time savings were discussed in the PAR-5S and close-to-green shots, but on the tour, it was difficult to know the total amount of time saved in the round using DMD.
The explanation for the lack of overall time savings is that every player, every round, and every golf course is different, so there are so many different facets.
“I think it’s probably hard to put a certain number,” said PGA Tour’s vice president of Bilieshroder. “But I think what you started looking at in this conversation here is the breadth of approach.
All aspects of it to manage it and how we present it, maximize the fun of the fans and remove those obstacles as much as possible. ”
The time required for both the Front Nine and Back Nine will be part of the PGA Tour.com player scorecard page, heading towards the pace goals of Play Transplans, which will begin with Rocket Classic this week.
However, knowledge about how much time it will be saved is unknown.
“It has a lot to do with it,” Dennis said of offering certain time savings with tour initiatives. “I think it’s important to say you don’t have a target number or anything. That’s not the focus. We’re trying to hit every aspect of this. This was one of the things that was very important to the fans, so it’s worth the effort.”
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on June 25, 2025, and first appeared there.
