The PGA Tour will begin testing the use of distance measuring devices during competition this week. The move, which was announced during the Players Championship in March, kicks off a six-tournament trial period over the next month. The tour has two events this week, the signature event RBC Heritage and an alternate competition, the Corales Puntacana Championship. The testing period ends with the Truist Championship and Oneflight Myrtle Beach Classic. The Korn Ferry Tour will also use this period to test the devices, starting at three straight events.

Players utilizing distance-measuring devices during competition must strictly adhere to “distance-only” functionality. Any advanced features—including course mapping, club selection assistance, slope calculation, elevation readings, or wind measurement—must be completely disabled before use. Violations incur severe penalties: a first breach results in an immediate two-stroke penalty, while a second offense triggers automatic disqualification from the tournament.

RELATED: Time is running out on the PGA Tour’s slow play problem

Concerns about slow play have plagued professional golf for years, but reached intensity early this season after several tournaments featured agonizingly protracted rounds. The situation escalated when CBS reporter Dottie Pepper issued an impassioned on-air plea during the Farmers Insurance Open, declaring the problem had an inflection point. Augusta National and Masters chairman Fred Ridley devoted time during his tournament press conference last week to express his concerns for golf’s slow play epidemic, going so far as to suggest it may be monitored during Augusta National’s Drive, Chip and Putt competition.

The use of distance-measuring devices is one of three recommendations from a player-formed committee to address slow play. The committee has also recommended overhauling penalty structures by imposing immediate one-stroke penalties for a player’s first timing violation—a strengthening from the previous system that merely issued warnings for initial infractions. Third, the committee is developing a transparency initiative that will publicly release comprehensive pace-of-play statistics for all PGA Tour professionals, hoping to create accountability through data visibility.

Main image: Kevin C. Cox