Boom in rangefinders promises speedier pace of play

When the USGA and Royal and Ancient Golf Club basically legalized distance-measuring devices last year, you could hear the gears grinding – or more accurately, the lasers buzzing, or whatever they do.

Their ruling, which allowed local rules allowing rangefinders in competition, resulted in a huge boom, which is reflected here at the PGA Show in Orlando.

Bushnell reported sales figures were up 344 percent through the third quarter of 2006. Through the roof.

Rangefinder and GPS booths are all over the show, like mushrooms. Bushnell has a huge exhibit, as does Laser Link, To the Green, Pro Link Solutions, Sky Caddie, GPS Industries and Sure Shot.

This is one of those healthy techno trends, in that – I hope – it will speed up pace of play. There won’t be nearly as much hunting around for sprinkler heads or yardage markers.

My personal favorite: Bushnell’s Medalist. It only weighs nine ounces and you can use it as soon as you take it out of the package, at any course in the world.