Cell phone policies abound in golf, varying from course to course – but not within PGA Tour competitions.
At the highest level of the game, the rules around cell phones don’t waver. They are arranged.
What do they allow? And what do they stop? The question appeared on X last week as the Valero Texas Open drew to a close, with Robert McIntyre in the mix. Need to tie the bird JJ SpaunMcIntyre was weighing his options on the par-5 18th when his caddy, Mike Burrows, did like a teenager at the dinner table: He pulled out his phone.
This is a breach of etiquette during a meal. But is it a violation of the rules during a PGA Tour event?
Inquiring minds on social media wanted to know.
The short answer is that Burrows didn’t break the rules. The slightly longer answer requires some background.
Tournament rules prohibit golfers and golfers from using a phone to communicate – no calls, texts or emails – or capture content, measure wind or elevation, or support any application that may assist with club selection or swing change. Basically, if your phone is doing sophisticated golf for you, you should ditch it.
What is allowed? Time control. Tracking your heart rate (and other physiological data, but only to be accessed after the round). Pulling up the leaderboard. Oh, and using a phone as a compass, provided it doesn’t have the altitude function attached.
That last one is the key. Burrows used his phone as a compass. Ken Tackett, head umpire at the Valero Texas Open, confirmed as much through a Tour spokesperson. No harm, no foul.
Under the Rules of Golf (Rule 4.3), using a telephone to access prohibited information carries a penalty of two strokes on the first offense and disqualification the second time.
In this case, though, McIntyre’s box didn’t cost him. This is the good news. The bad news for McIntyre is that he birdied the final hole and came up one shot short.
He didn’t need a phone to tell him that.
