GPS system in action
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The latest edition of 'Decisions on the Rules of Golf' could make distance measuring devices legal during competition play from January.
The R&A, the governing body of the game, which draws up the Rules, together with the USGA, has placed the decision in the hands of individual clubs and courses to adopt as a local Rule (New Decision 14-3/0.5).
Without any such stipulation and if a club's committee can't agree, devices, including rangefinders and the latest hand-held Caddy and vehicle-mounted satellite navigation systems, will remain illegal in competition play.
However, many clubs who have systems set up specifically for their own courses, are likely to adopt new local rules as long as the devices measure distance only and not any other conditions that might affect a golfer's game, like wind or slopes.
New interpretations also committees the power to accept, as an "administrative error", cards where the correct score has been entered on the wrong card.
