thehole18yards
New member
I used AutoCAD and Illustrator and InDesign. I toyed with the idea of google map images and PhotoShop but you can guarantee good quality images and I prefer the simple look.
Course Planners / Yardage Books: Dead or Alive?
- Thread starter thehole18yards
- Start date
I used AutoCAD and Illustrator and InDesign. I toyed with the idea of google map images and PhotoShop but you can guarantee good quality images and I prefer the simple look.
Orikoru
Tour Winner
I have never bought one and never will. My phone app GPS has all of that information for free, plus the added bonus of giving me the yardage from the point where I'm actually standing, of course. A planner/yardage book is largely obsolete now, probably only bought as a collector's item.
Bdill93
Undisputed King of FOMO
27 years old - for context.
Never brought one, will never buy one unless I visit a course where I want a momento to remember it - EG/ St. Andrews.
Free apps have taken over. I can view any course and its design on Hole19.
Never brought one, will never buy one unless I visit a course where I want a momento to remember it - EG/ St. Andrews.
Free apps have taken over. I can view any course and its design on Hole19.
richbeech
Hacker
My course held a EuroPro event a couple of years ago and I managed to get hold of one of the yardage books that was produced for the players. It is very informative to be fair and I can see why the pros love them so much. It gives you all sorts of yardages and it can really help you plot a way around a course in advance. If all course planners were like that I think there would be a lot more people that would use them but I know financially that probably wouldn't be viable and it certainly wouldn't help the slow play issue.
I still look at it on the odd occasion when I have a comp off the back tees (mainly club champs) to formulate a bit of a plan and remind myself what clubs I should be hitting off tees etc. I think the Pros had to pay £15-20 for it for the comp.
I still look at it on the odd occasion when I have a comp off the back tees (mainly club champs) to formulate a bit of a plan and remind myself what clubs I should be hitting off tees etc. I think the Pros had to pay £15-20 for it for the comp.
MendieGK
Tour Winner
Yeah I didn’t want to come across as ‘elitist’ but it seems as though the people saying they still buy them on here are in general the ‘better’ golfers.... there is no app that gives some of the info I get from course planners
sweaty sock
Hacker
Note sure about Europro, but the ones used on the European and US tours, with the green maps, cost at least £150 each....
Hogieefc
Club Champion
Thanks for everyone's feedback. It's an interesting topic - but I was never planning to quit the day job! (I'm an architect)
As for Hole 1 at Prenton, I'm taking 7 iron and flipping a wedge - I don't want a 6 on the card after the first hole!!!
Surely its a 4 iron to the centre of the green
Liverbirdie
Ryder Cup Winner
Curls
Journeyman Pro
Orikoru
Tour Winner
Like what? Green slopes and things like that? In that sense I think you'd be right about it being more use to good players, that info wouldn't be much use to me as I'm just aiming at the green in general rather than a specific part of it (well, other than middle).
Bdill93
Undisputed King of FOMO
nickjdavis
Head Pro
I'd always buy one if playing a new course for the first time in any sort of semi-serious event (and by that I mean any event where I'm playing for something other than a couple of quid side bet with mates) and wasn't with someone who knew the course. (not that that helps always....had a mate come up and play my place in a guest day/open about 12 years ago. Flag was towards the back and he hit his approach slightly long and left and found a bunker that was hidden from view....he turned to me and asked..."why didnt you tll me that bunker was there"....my response was...."its so long since I've been in it, I'd forgotten all about it....it never comes into play!!! (its pretty well hidden even when stood on the green!!).
Yardage books can give a far clearer indication of hole layout than a tiny GPS screen and often come with useful information and topographical features shown such as hollows/mounds and fairway/green slopes that many electronic apps just don't have.
Yardage books can give a far clearer indication of hole layout than a tiny GPS screen and often come with useful information and topographical features shown such as hollows/mounds and fairway/green slopes that many electronic apps just don't have.
Curls
Journeyman Pro
Yep, I’m sure Mendie knows his carry yardages very well and plans his tee shots accordingly. When you only have a few shots to play with you can’t afford doubles, if you go offline you need to plan a recovery strategy that eliminates the big numbers so a planner really comes in handy if you don’t know the course. My regular PP is off 21 and he doesn’t carry it very far so wouldn’t be that concerned with what he can’t see ahead of him, if you see what I mean. That said I’ve played with a guy off 24 who carries it farther than me! Too often that carry is sideways ?
As for slopes, if there’s a two tier green I’m defo planning on the right tier but as for getting below the hole, I’ll leave that to the really good guys! Happy to be in reasonable putting range from 100 out really.
Orikoru
Tour Winner
Yeah, on a two-tier green I'm aiming for the correct tier, but you can see that without a book.
Boomy
Well-known member
I really hope companies keep designing/producing yardage books, and that golf courses keep stocking them. For me it’s part of the experience at a new course, navigating round using the yardage book (and it’s a memento to take away)
The whole GPS handheld device thing for me is just like using a kindle versus reading an actual book.. if I want to read a specific book then I buy the actually book, not download it onto the iPad - I’ve tried it and I much prefer holding the actual book to read. Same with the yardage books, I’ve played a course and used a friends GPS handheld and it just wasn’t the same for me. I do use wrist based GPS for yardages to the green but use the book for hazards, slopes, OOB etc! Long live the yardage books (just for context I’m a tech savvy 40 something, not a tech averse senior, so it’s not due to a fear of using tech)
The whole GPS handheld device thing for me is just like using a kindle versus reading an actual book.. if I want to read a specific book then I buy the actually book, not download it onto the iPad - I’ve tried it and I much prefer holding the actual book to read. Same with the yardage books, I’ve played a course and used a friends GPS handheld and it just wasn’t the same for me. I do use wrist based GPS for yardages to the green but use the book for hazards, slopes, OOB etc! Long live the yardage books (just for context I’m a tech savvy 40 something, not a tech averse senior, so it’s not due to a fear of using tech)
Liverbirdie
Ryder Cup Winner
I think this is one of the things that shows what type of player you are, or how you try and improve.
Some people think that technology is the answer to everything, buy clubs on a monthly basis, are obsessed with length and hope that every kink in their game will be salved by a new "draw" driver.
The old fashioned way of learning how to play a certain shot, practice and good course management using course planners are deemed old fashioned.
Some people think that technology is the answer to everything, buy clubs on a monthly basis, are obsessed with length and hope that every kink in their game will be salved by a new "draw" driver.
The old fashioned way of learning how to play a certain shot, practice and good course management using course planners are deemed old fashioned.
Orikoru
Tour Winner
I don't think that applies here. Most are saying that they do use course management, just with a GPS instead of a book.
Ser Shankalot
Active member
I like them because because I don't play golf regularly as much as most forum members, but when I do, I like to try new courses, and they enhance the "specialness" of the experience. If one was available for the H4H days or other mass forum outings, I would probably get one as well, no matter the course. I use an app to plan my way around a new course ahead of time (not that it makes much difference) as I'm paranoid about slowing up playing partners through indecision, and a book with notes (even if it's quite basic) would be quicker and easier to reference than my phone.
I'm interested in how many courses you end up doing.
I'm interested in how many courses you end up doing.
MendieGK
Tour Winner
I think your giving me too much credit but I thank you for your sentiment.
for me it’s often carries off the tees, but then what the run out is on that line across the dog leg etc
One of the main things would be looking at the pin sheet (for example 6L 18 on) and realising where that pin actually is on the green etc
whether I pull the appropriate shot off is a completely different story!
D
Deleted member 21258
Guest
Dead!
Use to quite often buy a book at a new course I went to play, still get the odd one included in the green fee. TBH chucked them all away in last years lockdown.
Sat nav replaced the need for them.
Use to quite often buy a book at a new course I went to play, still get the odd one included in the green fee. TBH chucked them all away in last years lockdown.
Sat nav replaced the need for them.
