Cellphone policies abound in golf, varying from course to course — but not in PGA Tour competitions.
At the game’s highest level, rules around cellphones don’t fluctuate. They’re fixed.
What do they allow? And what do they forbid? The question surfaced on X last week as the Valero Texas Open drew to a close, with Robert McIntyre in the mix. Needing birdie to tie J.J. Spaun, McIntyre was weighing his options on the par-5 18th when his caddie, Mike Burrows, did like a teenager at the dinner table: He pulled out his phone.
That’s an etiquette violation during a meal. But is it a rules violation during a PGA Tour event?
Inquiring minds on social media wanted to know.
Hi @BobHarig, would you be able to shed some light on a question. Did I miss a local rule, or something? Why did Bobby Mac’s caddy pull out a cell phone on 18 to check the wind direction??
— PenaDura (@PenaDura117) April 5, 2026
The short answer is that Burrows didn’t break the rules. The slightly longer answer requires some background.
The Tour’s rules forbid players and caddies from using a phone to communicate — no calls, texts or emails — or to capture content, measure wind or elevation, or lean on any app that might help with club selection or swing tempo. Basically, if the phone is doing sophisticated golf thinking for you, you should put it away.
What’s allowed? Checking the time. 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 there’s no elevation feature attached.
That last one is the key. Burrows used his phone as a compass. Ken Tackett, the chief referee at the Valero Texas Open, confirmed as much through a Tour spokesman. No harm, no foul.
Under the Rules of Golf (Rule 4.3), using a phone to access prohibited info comes with a two-stroke penalty on first violation, and disqualification the second time around.
In this case, though, McIntyre’s caddie didn’t cost him. That’s the good news. The bad news for McIntyre is that he parred the final hole and came up one shot short.
He didn’t need a phone to tell him that.
