What are tournament legal golf rangefinders?

The concept of a tournament-legal golf rangefinder has only been around since the USGA and R&A added an extension to the 14/3b rule in 2006. The 14/3b rule stipulates that a player is prohibited from using any artificial device or unusual equipment for the purpose of to calibrate or measure distances or conditions that may affect their play, and the penalty for breaking this rule is disqualification.

This rule in its own right means that any type of golf rangefinder at the time was considered illegal for use in competitions or tournaments. The rule extension simply states that “The Committee may make a Local Rule allowing players to use devices that measure or calculate distance only.”

This now means that golf course committees and tournament organizers can apply this local rule to allow players to use a rangefinder that provides distance measurements only at their competitions (which most of them do now!). Therefore, the definition of tournament legal golf rangefinder is one that has the ability to provide distance measurements in yards only and is used in tournament or competition conditions where the local rule has been enforced.

If you are looking to buy a golf rangefinder and use it in competition, it is important that you check that it is tournament legal and only provides distance measurements because there are now many rangefinders available that offer additional features including distance measurements adjusted for slope angle. , temperature, and altitude conditions, as well as those that provide tips on club selection.

Although these more advanced types of rangefinders are great training and training tools and may seem more exciting, they are considered illegal for tournament use at this time, so it is only advisable to purchase one of these devices if you are only looking to use it in friendly competition. or for practice purposes.

Tournament legal golf rangefinders also tend to give you a very useful scan mode that allows you to pan across the landscape and receive a continuous display of accurate distance measurements to the targets you scan. This is a great facility to help locate rest spots or judge carry distances from greenside bunkers or lakes.

Some of the new tournament legal golf rangefinders being offered today have become so incredibly fast and accurate in producing results that they can have a maximum distance range of anywhere up to a mile and an accuracy of inches.