[Michael Moore]

Billy Horschel said his wristwatch indicated a lower-than-usual heart rate at Colonial without fans. Is wearing this within the rules of golf?

[Peter Flory]

Here is a discussion from a few years ago:
https://thesandtrap.com/forums/topic/91194-heartrate-monitors-against-rules-of-golf/


Not sure if anything changed since then.

[Kyle Harris]

The USGA, in barely exercising their mandate to preserve the sport, does not have the right, privilege, or ability to tell me what I do with my biometric data.


I'll throw the first official that asks me about my Whoop in a penalty area.

[Mark Pearce]

The USGA, in barely exercising their mandate to preserve the sport, does not have the right, privilege, or ability to tell me what I do with my biometric data.


I'll throw the first official that asks me about my Whoop in a penalty area.

Indeed.  Who cares how far the ball goes if there are people out there monitoring their heart rates.....

[Kalen Braley]

If a guy is coming down the stretch, and he looks at his watch to learn his blood is pumping hard and he's jacked up.  Maybe he uses that knowledge to hit a soft 7/hard 8 instead of a full 7 that the yardage would normally indicate.

Seems like a plausible reason for such a rule...

[Mark Pearce]

If a guy is coming down the stretch, and he looks at his watch to learn his blood is pumping hard and he's jacked up.  Maybe he uses that knowledge to hit a soft 7/hard 8 instead of a full 7 that the yardage would normally indicate.

Seems like a plausible reason for such a rule...

If he needs a heart monitor to know he's jacked up, he probably doesn't have a pulse.

[John_Cullum]

I never heard of anyone going to jail for it, so, no; it's not illegal. It is however directly addressed in the rules. See Rule 4-3(a) of the Rules of Golf. (Not The Players Version)

[Kalen Braley]

If a guy is coming down the stretch, and he looks at his watch to learn his blood is pumping hard and he's jacked up.  Maybe he uses that knowledge to hit a soft 7/hard 8 instead of a full 7 that the yardage would normally indicate.

Seems like a plausible reason for such a rule...

If he needs a heart monitor to know he's jacked up, he probably doesn't have a pulse.

Possibly, but in this use case it would be a matter of "by how much".  A little bit or a lot could be the difference between middle of the green of flying the green.

No different than banning wind gauges, sure you can feel the wind, but knowing how much without an accurate measurement requires more guesswork/estimation.

[Jon Wiggett]

And we wonder why the modern game is slow and boring 

[Kyle Harris]

There is a fundamental difference between knowing the status of your body and measuring it v. measuring the status of anything other than you body and measuring it.


This doesn't pass any sort of "eye test" for responsible oversight of the game.

[JohnVDB]

It's only appropriate that my first post back here after 9+ years on the other side of the Rule book should be on a Rules topic.
Rule 4.3a says, in part:

A player may use equipment to help his or her play during a round, except that a player must not create a potential advantage by:

Using equipment (other than a club or a ball) that artificially eliminates or reduces the need for a skill or judgment that is essential to the challenge of the game,

In order to be in breach of the Rule, you must be using the watch in a way that breaches this.  Two examples:
1) I walk up a steep hill and wonder how that affected my heart rate so I look at it out of curiosity.
2) i walk up a steep hill and want to make sure my heart rate has come back down before I play my next stroke.
#1 is not a breach, #2 is. In the first example I'm not using it to reduce the need for judgment, but in the second I am. This is like other examples in the Rule such as listening to music just to pass the time vs. listening to help my tempo.
It's nice to be back.

[Kalen Braley]

John,


A big Welcome back!  Great to see you again and thanks for the clarification on the ruling!


Kalen

[SL_Solow]

Welcome back Big John

[Kyle Harris]

It's only appropriate that my first post back here after 9+ years on the other side of the Rule book should be on a Rules topic.
Rule 4.3a says, in part:

A player may use equipment to help his or her play during a round, except that a player must not create a potential advantage by:

Using equipment (other than a club or a ball) that artificially eliminates or reduces the need for a skill or judgment that is essential to the challenge of the game,

In order to be in breach of the Rule, you must be using the watch in a way that breaches this.  Two examples:
1) I walk up a steep hill and wonder how that affected my heart rate so I look at it out of curiosity.
2) i walk up a steep hill and want to make sure my heart rate has come back down before I play my next stroke.
#1 is not a breach, #2 is. In the first example I'm not using it to reduce the need for judgment, but in the second I am. This is like other examples in the Rule such as listening to music just to pass the time vs. listening to help my tempo.
It's nice to be back.

If I use the heart rate monitor to pace my walk while walking (not while waiting to play a stroke) is this implied acknowledgement that walking and pace of walking are both inherent challenges?

[Mark Pearce]

It's only appropriate that my first post back here after 9+ years on the other side of the Rule book should be on a Rules topic.
Rule 4.3a says, in part:

A player may use equipment to help his or her play during a round, except that a player must not create a potential advantage by:

Using equipment (other than a club or a ball) that artificially eliminates or reduces the need for a skill or judgment that is essential to the challenge of the game,

In order to be in breach of the Rule, you must be using the watch in a way that breaches this.  Two examples:
1) I walk up a steep hill and wonder how that affected my heart rate so I look at it out of curiosity.
2) i walk up a steep hill and want to make sure my heart rate has come back down before I play my next stroke.
#1 is not a breach, #2 is. In the first example I'm not using it to reduce the need for judgment, but in the second I am. This is like other examples in the Rule such as listening to music just to pass the time vs. listening to help my tempo.
It's nice to be back.

Welcome back!  Whilst there are many here with good rules knowledge, your insight was always of particular value.


The fact that you have been away from here for over 9 years though makes me feel really old.......

[James Reader]

Nick Watney’s Whoop alerted him to the fact that he had Covid-19 on Friday

[JohnVDB]

Nick Watney’s Whoop alerted him to the fact that he had Covid-19 on Friday

One of the big arguments for not banning them was how they can identify when a player may be have a heart attack.

[Ed Brzezowski]

i have an implanted one, yikes.

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