Are DMD'S really worth a few strokes a round to you...

Andy808 said:
I've got Freecaddie Pro and love it. It's also on a phone that conforms to the rules for use in comps and I wouldn't be without it on away courses or when I'm out of position (most of the time!)
We checked it against the marker posts and it was spot on with all of them.
Go for the clubs, you know you want to, get a conforming phone when you upgrade and go Pro.
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Please let me know what the model of your phone is- I'd love to switch to a conforming phone is one exists

Pin-seeker said:
Like you I use a app on my phone,It definitely helps me. The compass on my phone comes in handy aswell when playing in comps at away courses.
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Your phone model would be welcome too
 
HawkeyeMS said:
The way I used to do it, pace the yardage to the middle and look at the course planner to see how deep the green is. It's just a bit slow. The only way a DMD is saving anyone 3 or 4 shots a round is if they are good enough to hit exact yardages and are making 3 or 4 birdies a round. If you aren't doing that (which lets face it, most of us aren't) then you're hitting the green and two putting which you should be able to do only knowing the yardage to the middle that you paced from the on course markers.
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I don't make the birdies because I don't hit my approaches close enough (no skycaddy or laser at the moment).

I played recently and was stood inside the 150 marker.... I guessed I had 145 to the middle (where the pin appeared to be) and went with a soft 9-iron

My mate laser'd the flag after I hit and it was 164yds as it was more back of the green than it looked. I don't think there's a course planner in existence that would have told me where that flag was... and there was NO pin sheet supplied by the course. I was standing INSIDE the 150 post!!



FWIW I hit my 9-iron 143yds and had a 21yrd putt.... which I 3-putted :angry:

If you don't think that knowing that pin was important then so be it.
 
JustOne said:
I don't make the birdies because I don't hit my approaches close enough (no skycaddy or laser at the moment).

I played recently and was stood inside the 150 marker.... I guessed I had 145 to the middle (where the pin appeared to be) and went with a soft 9-iron

My mate laser'd the flag after I hit and it was 164yds as it was more back of the green than it looked. I don't think there's a course planner in existence that would have told me where that flag was... and there was NO pin sheet supplied by the course. I was standing INSIDE the 150 post!!



FWIW I hit my 9-iron 143yds and had a 21yrd putt.... which I 3-putted :angry:

If you don't think that knowing that pin was important then so be it.
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Maybe that course needs colour coded flags then :D
 
HawkeyeMS said:
Maybe that course needs colour coded flags then :D
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I think todays round has summed it up for me..... I think maybe that the Laser will be the one to get..... Our course has a few trees that when you look at them dont seem to be an issue... Then you hit your tee shot and realise that you've just about got away with not landing behind one....

Also when approaching some of our greens they are very shallow front to back..... It would held know what club to choose to stay short of the cabbage and be enough to clear the bunkers....

My round this morning wasn't even on the cusp of average..... More like hacker..... I couldnt get anything at all going...Just one of them days....
Anyway knowing i couldnt make a score or even get back inside my buffer after 13 holes i decided to just work on a few things....

I hit a great drive up 16...Its a Par 5 reachable in 2 with a good drive but the 2nd shot has to be pin point accurate to hold an elevated green protected by 2 bunkers....

Anyway.... I estimated i had about 160mtrs to the middle....Flag was front right probably around 156mtrs protected by the bunker but i couldn't go for the middle of the green as the putt back was treacherous.....
A slight breeze into me (About 1 club)....
I pulled a 5 iron to purposely come down short of the green..... I hit it pure right at the pin but pushed it slightly and the bunker swallowed it.....When i got to the ball paced 5 yards roughly to the Pin.....
Had i known an exact distance to the pin then i could have taken the bunker as well out of play.....
Looking back a 4 iron would have been too big..... The 6 iron was the club to hit....
 
HawkeyeMS said:
TThe only way a DMD is saving anyone 3 or 4 shots a round is if they are good enough to hit exact yardages and are making 3 or 4 birdies a round. If you aren't doing that (which lets face it, most of us aren't) then you're hitting the green and two putting which you should be able to do only knowing the yardage to the middle that you paced from the on course markers.
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can we change this to "making 3 or 4" single putts and making par when it looked unlikely?

Not everybody can hit every green in two. Knowing whether you are 80 or 100 to the portion of the green where the flag is kind of important. I'm not going to know this on a course with 150 markers.

Just saying....

:)
 
RGDave said:
can we change this to "making 3 or 4" single putts and making par when it looked unlikely?

Not everybody can hit every green in two. Knowing whether you are 80 or 100 to the portion of the green where the flag is kind of important. I'm not going to know this on a course with 150 markers.

Just saying....

:)
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I guess the point is most golfers can't hit exact yardages consistently. I would say anyone outside of low Cat 1 can't do that, I know I can't, that's why I dumped the laser. It's all very well saying having exact distances means more one putts but it doesn't unless you're very very good.

Knowing the distance is important, I'm not doubting that, but to say a DMD is saving 3 or 4 shots a round is just daft for most people IMHO. Centre of the green is good enough.

P.S. I've never in my life played on a course that doesn't have 100yd markers.
 
kid2 said:
I think todays round has summed it up for me..... I think maybe that the Laser will be the one to get..... Our course has a few trees that when you look at them dont seem to be an issue... Then you hit your tee shot and realise that you've just about got away with not landing behind one....

Also when approaching some of our greens they are very shallow front to back..... It would held know what club to choose to stay short of the cabbage and be enough to clear the bunkers....

My round this morning wasn't even on the cusp of average..... More like hacker..... I couldnt get anything at all going...Just one of them days....
Anyway knowing i couldnt make a score or even get back inside my buffer after 13 holes i decided to just work on a few things....

I hit a great drive up 16...Its a Par 5 reachable in 2 with a good drive but the 2nd shot has to be pin point accurate to hold an elevated green protected by 2 bunkers....

Anyway.... I estimated i had about 160mtrs to the middle....Flag was front right probably around 156mtrs protected by the bunker but i couldn't go for the middle of the green as the putt back was treacherous.....
A slight breeze into me (About 1 club)....
I pulled a 5 iron to purposely come down short of the green..... I hit it pure right at the pin but pushed it slightly and the bunker swallowed it.....When i got to the ball paced 5 yards roughly to the Pin.....
Had i known an exact distance to the pin then i could have taken the bunker as well out of play.....
Looking back a 4 iron would have been too big..... The 6 iron was the club to hit....
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You'r e assuming of course you would have flushed the 6i :D
 
HawkeyeMS said:
I guess the point is most golfers can't hit exact yardages consistently. I would say anyone outside of low Cat 1 can't do that, I know I can't, that's why I dumped the laser. It's all very well saying having exact distances means more one putts but it doesn't unless you're very very good.

Knowing the distance is important, I'm not doubting that, but to say a DMD is saving 3 or 4 shots a round is just daft for most people IMHO. Centre of the green is good enough.

P.S. I've never in my life played on a course that doesn't have 100yd markers.
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Sorry mate but if we are all that bad, then we may as well give up, and certainly wouldn't need to carry a set of clubs because the different lofts would be irrelevant, even the Pro's mis-hit it - that's the beauty of the game. Surely you must have some holes on your course, say one of the par 3's where you hit the shot well 8 out of 10? As Foxholer pointed out, a DMD also gives yardage to hazards, my course is full of them. Many greens and landing areas have water front, back and to the side, not to mention fairway and greenside bunkers. In the case of these hazards course markers are irrelevant and if you go into a water hazard you tend to drop a shot. :)
 
HawkeyeMS said:
A DMD won't save you a couple of shots a round. All they do is give you yardages more quickly, you still have to hit the shots.
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But isn't uncertainty one of the main causes of poor or misjudged shots and one thing that golf course architects try hard to introduce into the players mind?

So if you can reduce or remove one aspect that causes uncertainty - viz distance to flag - then use of a DMD will - must increase the probability of the player hitting the correct shot. Albeit possibly not that much on a shot by shot basis - but over a round the DMD using player must have an advantage over any player not using one and having to depend upon those notoriously inaccurate distance markets - for shots that they are relevant which for some approach shots won't be ther case.

So yes - def worth a few shots a round.
 
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JustOne said:
How would you find the yardage to the back edge of a green without a DMD Hawkeye? Course planner? because if you're having to use one of those every time you play then you might as well use a DMD

Personally I reckon my skycaddy saves me 3-4 shots, maybe more on a course I don't know..... but I still need to get a laser as I want to know the exact yardage to some pins...
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Absolutely.
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
But isn't uncertainty one of the main causes of poor or misjudged shots and one thing that golf course architects try hard to introduce into the players mind?

So if you can reduce or remove one aspect that causes uncertainty - viz distance to flag - then use of a DMD will - must increase the probability of the player hitting the correct shot. Albeit possibly not that much on a shot by shot basis - but over a round the DMD using player must have an advantage over any player not using one and having to depend upon those notoriously inaccurate distance markets - for shots that they are relevant which for some approach shots won't be ther case.

So yes - def worth a few shots a round.
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Agree with this man, yardages are a must therefore worth their weight in gold.
 
Foxholer said:
:whoo:

Casual games only?

Or 'seen the light' and joined the Dark Side! :D
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...then again I might not have bought one...

But rather than go down that paticular cul-de-sac - my view on the OP question remains that by removing this source (or indeed any source) of uncertainty in golf then by definition you MUST increase the probability of a successful shot or two.
 
I'm officially confused. Swingsitlikehogan has been arguing that DMDs give the player an advantage and has been rounded upon by the rest of us telling him they don't, they just give information that is already available.

Now they save 4 shots per round - isn't that an advantage?
 
Yosser said:
Sorry mate but if we are all that bad, then we may as well give up, and certainly wouldn't need to carry a set of clubs because the different lofts would be irrelevant, even the Pro's mis-hit it - that's the beauty of the game. Surely you must have some holes on your course, say one of the par 3's where you hit the shot well 8 out of 10? As Foxholer pointed out, a DMD also gives yardage to hazards, my course is full of them. Many greens and landing areas have water front, back and to the side, not to mention fairway and greenside bunkers. In the case of these hazards course markers are irrelevant and if you go into a water hazard you tend to drop a shot. :)
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I'm talking exact yardages, like to the yard on a consistent basis. If you can do that good luck to you, I can't, if I could, then armed with my GPS I'd never miss a green or go in a bunker or hazard.

I'm not saying yardage isn't important, I'm just saying that having the exact yardage doesn't save 3 or 4 shots a round.
 
HawkeyeMS said:
I'm officially confused. Swingsitlikehogan has been arguing that DMDs give the player an advantage and has been rounded upon by the rest of us telling him they don't, they just give information that is already available.

Now they save 4 shots per round - isn't that an advantage?
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I presume you are talking about other DMD threads - as there's certainly no 'rounding on' going on in this one.

WRT to your 'confusion'.

They do (only) give information available elsewhere, but it's unlikely that, without them, that information would be sought every shot. It's much more likely the distance would be estimated/guessed - especially the 'distance to the pin' that a Rangefinder provides.

It was a different set of posters and for a different reason (his opinion was that they shouldn't be allowed) that SiLH was 'rounded on' in the other threads. That simply shows that different folk have differing opinions on different issues. Nothing surprising there!
 
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