It is little surprise that the PGA Tour is considering a range of measures as they set their sights on tackling slow play at events – with allowing rangefinders one of the options being looked at.

It seems that the PGA Tour is finally looking to take action after an array of criticism, with The American Express and the Farmers Insurance Open both proving to be painfully slow.

Field sizes will largely be reduced from 2026. Meanwhile, the tour is considering a range of other options, including sharing how long on average each player takes to hit their shots. And there is also a consideration for allowing rangefinders to be used.

Measuring devices are allowed at the PGA Championship, but are currently banned during all other tournaments on the PGA Tour.

Collin Morikawa asked about using rangefinders on the PGA Tour

Obviously, it would be a rangefinder which would be quickest at providing an initial number nine times out of 10. However, that does not tell the full story, with caddies potentially reluctant to only trust what a device is telling them.

Speaking ahead of the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines, Collin Morikawa was asked whether he would be keen to use a rangefinder more frequently.

“[The] PGA Championship allows it and normally, I use it and I just shoot the number just to quicken things up,” he said.

“JJ’s going to hate this, but he’s not like a slower caddie but he likes to take his time sometimes, so that’s part of the whole speed thing, right? I would use it. It wouldn’t really add more time because I would do it first thing, I would be out of it. Then as he’s walking things off, it would be like as if he would normally walk it off in any other tournament that we can’t use it.”

Morikawa drops a hint ahead of the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines

Morikawa would then be asked whether allowing rangefinders would help speed up events. Of course, it is significant that the PGA Tour is back at Torrey Pines this week, with Genesis Invitational being moved away from Riviera following the recent fires in California.

It was Torrey Pines which hosted the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year, where the final groups took nearly three hours to play to complete the front nine.

Morikawa hinted that rangefinders would solve everything, as he also explained why fans may have to be prepared for another slower event in the coming days.

“It helps more from the fact when you’re out of position. Like not really in the fairways I don’t think it’s going to change anything. I don’t think it’s the end solution to changing our pace of play from if you had five hours and 20 minutes to four and a half hours, right? It’s not going to shave 45 minutes off our time for pace of play,” he said.

“I know a lot of people complained when we were or when the Tour was here a few weeks ago how slow it was, but when you have a course in front of you that is that difficult and the winds are up and the conditions are that tough, it’s just going to play slower, like there’s no way around it. I get it, guys are slower than others and sometimes it takes too long, but tough conditions make it play slower no matter what. It’s going to happen that way.”

There are times when slow play adds to the drama of watching on television. Jordan Spieth’s dramatic par on 11 on Sunday at the WM Phoenix Open showed the downside of introducing a shot clock.

However, fans clearly do not want to watch players they are not particularly connected to spend an age over each shot.

The players definitely have a responsibility to speed up, and to help put themselves across in a way – on and off the course – that makes fans care about how they get on during a tournament.

It may be a surprise to the PGA Tour to see how much fans are willing to tolerate slow play when they are invested in all of the characters battling it out for top spot on the leaderboard.