This new feature on the PGA Tour app is a dream (or a nightmare) for golf punters

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It was right about this time last year that the PGA Tour announced a new and improved PGA Tour app, in addition to a website overhaul, was coming. There were promises of faster loading speeds, more video and imagery and an overall cleaner look. It’s safe to say the tour delivered on all of those fronts, despite what the naysayers will have you believe.

Of course, with this being yet another week without Shot Tracker at the Bermuda Championship, social media complaints will still be rampant (Shot Tracker is not available at non-U.S. tournaments on the PGA Tour). However, there was plenty of positive feedback on X/Twitter for a new feature on the app that people discovered organically overnight, when the real sickos are out. In the Dark Ages, you’d have to unlock your phone, find the PGA Tour app, fire it up and click on the leaderboard to see how your favourite players, or the players you’ve bet on, were doing. Caveman-type stuff.

Now? You don’t even have to unlock your phone to see what’s happening in your “favourites” section. The tour added a “Add To Lock Screen” feature overnight, meaning you’ll be able to follow your player’s round without ever going into the app:

If you’ll notice in Rick Gehman’s tweet, it appears this feature will even give live Shot Tracker updates, though all we’re getting this week is “Shot 1 from tee box”, a.k.a. hell on earth. In the new year, when the tour returns to American shores, we’ll find out if we’ll be able to see “Shot 1: 257 yards to unknown”, which is a dream come true for golf punters. Or a nightmare, depending on how you look at it. I personally lean towards nightmare, as there was something suspenseful about loading up the app to find out how far your players had stumbled down the leaderboard. Then again, the amount of time wasted doing exactly that had to be astronomical.

But now? Just pull your phone out of your pocket and see where your guys are right there. It should help productivity levels for fellow tour app addicts.

The reviews are in and they are good, shockingly. A possible stroke of genius from the tour’s app developers: