Golfers can measure up at the Air Capital Classic

In this era of golf in which potential rules infractions are occasionally brought forth by television viewers, gallery observers and any other well-meaning stickler, one item should be known before the 28th Air Capital Classic begins Thursday at Crestview Country Club.

The rangefinders that Web.com Tour golfers and caddies will use to measure distances to flagsticks and other points are allowed this week.

The PGA Tour announced in March it was permitting players to use the devices during competition for an experimental trial period on the Web.com, PGA Tour Latinoamerica and Mackenzie PGA Tour Canada. Golfers are using them this weekend at the Web.com’s Rust-Oleum Championship in Ivanhoe, Ill.

The Air Capital Classic will be the last of a four-tournament trial with rangefinders on the Web.com as the tour gathers information and analyzes how the devices effect play.

Considering the distance-measuring devices are widely used by caddies and players during practice rounds, the change has been subtle. Players and officials like it that way.

“To be honest, it’s gone a lot smoother than I thought it might,” 2015 Air Capital Classic champion Rob Oppenheim said in a phone interview after Friday’s second round of the Rust-Oleum Championship. “We’re very used to doing it in practice rounds and when we’re playing at home, but initially I was thinking it would be different.

“I haven’t heard of anyone not liking it.”

It’s a natural transition for many of the sport’s younger players, who have been permitted by the rules of golf to use the devices in several local and state tournaments, collegiate golf and many USGA events.

The PGA Tour has stuck to a more traditional method of players and caddies stepping off yardages to determine their strategy. Air Capital Classic competitors can only determine yardage with their devices, not elevation, slope or wind.

“It’s been relatively benign,” Jim Duncan, Web.com Tour vice president of rules, competition and administration, said of the impact rangefinders have had at the BMW Charity Pro-Am, Rex Hospital Open and this weekend’s event in suburban Chicago. “As far as the pace of play, there’s certainly not any indication that it’s made pace of play any faster.

“There’s always been a lot of speculation as to what it might or might not do if we used rangefinders at this level. It’s important to note we didn’t have any preconceived agenda for doing this other than (PGA Tour) commissioner (Jay) Monahan maybe wanting to put some of the speculation to rest.”

For Oppenheim, the rangefinder has produced a minor adjustment in his routine, but not one that concerns him.

“You still have to do a little work,” said Oppenheim, who plans to use former Kapaun Mount Carmel golfer and Kansas State student Eric Ewers as his caddie this week, just like when he won at Crestview two years ago. “The yardage books we use are so good these days. But you’re doing things a little backward.

“Now, you start out with your distance to the flag, but you still have to figure out the distance to the front, the distance to the back and have that pinsheet tell you what part of the green it’s on.”

Duncan, who is on site at the Rust-Oleum Championship, prepares reports for the tour after each of the rangefinder tournaments with the duration of rounds, observations and opinions. The data is being compared to statistics from last year’s tournaments.

“Wichita is going to be a really good place for us to test because the fairways are narrow and the yardage books are really accurate. It’s pretty flat, too. The courses we’ve tested at prior to this have pretty good movement in the land.”

Duncan said through two tournaments and the first round of the Rust-Oleum Championship, only one infraction had been committed with a rangefinder. A player was penalized two strokes after he noticed the slope setting had been activated when he looked through the eyepiece.

While Duncan said he has seen players forego the opportunity to use the devices, Oppenheim has liked using them in competition.

“Even though we’re professionals, we still play more rounds using it than not using it,” Oppenheim said. “It’s kind of a normal thing.

“The college guys who are coming in have all used them and when I think of it that way, it seems like the natural progression.”

This story was originally published June 10, 2017 at 2:32 PM with the headline "Golfers can measure up at the Air Capital Classic."