GPS; Its just a gimmick!

[shivas irons]

I know many golfers use GPS nowdays but I feel it is just a very expensive gimmick and does not help improve your game at all and in fact is proberly detrimental to your game .The whole idea of golf is to works out the distance of each club before you hit the course,then read the distance off the hole on your scorecard and use the appropriate club.If you use a driver deduct that off the distance of the hole and use the relevent club to reach the green.Now if you dont hit a club the distance you know you can you work out from eye and course markers what distance you have left and chose an appropriatte club.Golfs about feel for distance and using the right tools(clubs) to cover the distance.Why would you need GPS to tell you a distance thats left to the hole when you may not cover it with the known distance of your irons? in which turn you have to manufacture a shot,so then theres no need for GPS .I worked briefly in golf retail and selling £300+ GPS gadgets was quite frankly a big laugh between the sales assistants...theres Too many gimmicks nowdays that are making big cash for golf product companys,GPS waste of time and money just get out there and like Mr Hogan said feel the game.

 

[fundy]

yawn

next youll be telling me a pro doesnt need a caddy

 

[shivas irons]

yawn

next youll be telling me a pro doesnt need a caddy

No dont be stupid pro`s need a caddy for various jobs on course...Bet you couldnt play to your 6.8 without the "AID" of your GPS .

 

[chrisd]

Well Shivas, as you explain it so simply I shall advertise my Bushnell and Skycaddie on the "for sale" section straight away!

And there was me thinking that, knowing the distance that I wanted to hit the ball and matching that to a club would help - silly me!

 

[fundy]

No dont be stupid pro`s need a caddy for various jobs on course...Bet you couldnt play to your 6.8 without the "AID" of your GPS .

Can't play at all at the moment lol

Sure I can play without a GPS but it makes it a whole lot easier to have it and have accurate yardages (and quicker than me pacing off 150 yd markers that are invariably inaccurate anyway). If nothing else makes me more confident I know what shot I need to hit and can then hence commit to that shot.

PS paid less than £100 for mine, £300 seems a bit toppy to me

 

[chris661]

 

[shivas irons]

Well Shivas, as you explain it so simply I shall advertise my Bushnell and Skycaddie on the "for sale" section straight away!

And there was me thinking that, knowing the distance that I wanted to hit the ball and matching that to a club would help - silly me!

I explained this in my post you dont always have the perfect distance to the hole for the distances you know you have for your clubs,so you have to read it by eye and compensate with the club.Wheres the need for GPS? does your club not have fairway markers?...Ive seen people get their GPS out on a par 3 :rofl:.

 

[Val]

One does feel someone is fishing and getting bites

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I know many golfers use GPS nowdays but I feel it is just a very expensive gimmick and does not help improve your game at all and in fact is proberly detrimental to your game .The whole idea of golf is to works out the distance of each club before you hit the course,then read the distance off the hole on your scorecard and use the appropriate club.If you use a driver deduct that off the distance of the hole and use the relevent club to reach the green.Now if you dont hit a club the distance you know you can you work out from eye and course markers what distance you have left and chose an appropriatte club.Golfs about feel for distance and using the right tools(clubs) to cover the distance.Why would you need GPS to tell you a distance thats left to the hole when you may not cover it with the known distance of your irons? in which turn you have to manufacture a shot,so then theres no need for GPS .I worked briefly in golf retail and selling £300+ GPS gadgets was quite frankly a big laugh between the sales assistants...theres Too many gimmicks nowdays that are making big cash for golf product companys,GPS waste of time and money just get out there and like Mr Hogan said feel the game.

Total Tosh

I know how far I hit my irons (I measured them on my GPS!). At my level the it takes out any indecision and I can club to reach the centre of all greens more accurately. As most trouble is at the front this means I clear it with ease. More GIR thank you and if I hit the middle everytime no matter where the pin is it isn't the longest putt in the world

However it is the shots from <100 yards that my device has really helped. I can pick the wedge (PW 52 and 58) best suited to the shot and the flag and having worked hard on controlling distance can feel confident on getting it close.

Your attitude as a golf retailer explains a lot about why I only use my pro for the majority of my purchases. Isn't everything a gimmick. Longest driver, most forgiving irons, best spinning and distance ball. Its about choice and I'm happy with the one I made.

Forgot to add they are also a huge help on new courses where in my experience yardage markers aren't always accurate and yardage books don't give an accurate picture without time wating pacing up and down to reference points

 

[fundy]

So you only ever hit it in the fairway, never miss ther fairway and have an angle that cant be easily measured? Never seen a marker thats incorrect? Our club has recently acknowledged that one of our par 3 markers is wrong by 11 yards, you keep using the moveable markers and Ill use my GPS and we'll say no more about it

 

[Wildrover]

Because the markers are invariably not right next to the distance plaque, and on some holes can make quite a bit of difference. I can't take anybody seriously who spells probably "proberly".

 

[kid2]

Well i havent bought a GPS simply because they are a little low on my list of priorities at the moment......But what i did do was download free caddie onto my android and i have to admit only for it last weekend i would definitely have picked a club less than what i should have.....So for me i have a cheap alternative to a proper GPS but it works....I get the distance to within a metre of the front middle and back of the green.....
Its all i need really.

 

[eltub1]

No dont be stupid pro`s need a caddy for various jobs on course...Bet you couldnt play to your 6.8 without the "AID" of your GPS .

Well if he cant play to his h/cap without it all the more reason to use it!!!!!!

Iv used one and mine only tells you front,middle and back, i find it very useful on courses your not used to playing and even on mine. Its good to know what your regularly hitting your irons and as i play on a links course with wind its useful when in the wind to gauge the extra club you need into the wind etc...but luckily enough i can play without it too.. but its like a mobile phone now if i aint got it on me it feels weird.

 

[shivas irons]

Total Tosh

I know how far I hit my irons (I measured them on my GPS!). At my level the it takes out any indecision and I can club to reach the centre of all greens more accurately. As most trouble is at the front this means I clear it with ease. More GIR thank you and if I hit the middle everytime no matter where the pin is it isn't the longest putt in the world

However it is the shots from <100 yards that my device has really helped. I can pick the wedge (PW 52 and 58) best suited to the shot and the flag and having worked hard on controlling distance can feel confident on getting it close.

Your attitude as a golf retailer explains a lot about why I only use my pro for the majority of my purchases. Isn't everything a gimmick. Longest driver, most forgiving irons, best spinning and distance ball. Its about choice and I'm happy with the one I made.

Forgot to add they are also a huge help on new courses where in my experience yardage markers aren't always accurate and yardage books don't give an accurate picture without time wating pacing up and down to reference points

I cant understand why you would want to use GPS for 100yds in? this is a complete puzzle to me as the shorter the distance the more "Feel" is needed...You hit the nail on the head Homer theres too many gimmicks in golf and punters are well happy to spend their hard earned cash on.As for me in golf retail this was one of the reasons why I quit it as we would get people coming in and talked into the latest new club/gadget knowing they didnt need it.I would prefer to be more honest as a person than treat people like this and to be quite honest I went against the grain and told people if they didnt need something.

 

[USER1999]

There are two ways of approaching sub 100 yard shots. Clockface drills, where you have 3 swings for each wedge, and go by the distance, or, you can just grab any club and have a swish at it by feel.

Some players have this feel, others don't. If you don't, you will never get it. However much you practice. At this point a definite number will equate to one of your swings. So you need a yardage.

Any way, if I think I need a DMD, and I can afford one (two in my case), then who are you to tell me I don't need one?

I might think you don't need a car, but you might disagree.

 

[shivas irons]

MY WORD HOW PROTECTIVE YOU GUYS ARE OVER YOUR GPS!! God knows what golfers did for the last 200 years before they were invented,its must have been terrible playing golf back then .

 

[Slab]

Is it true that the latest generation of GPS are out and come with a free belly putter, chipper & lipstick holder

 

[kev_off_the_tee]

I believe that like everything i golf, distance is something you learn. I agree that once you know the distance its all about club choice, a good swing and good contact but without learning to read distances your lost as an improving golfer.

I for one struggle with reading distances and genuinely believe that using such a GPS device will teach me to read the yardage, which in turn could lead to me using a GPS less and less.

As for comments on caddys, they do alot of the work for a pro and almost always giving the yardages to the greens and obstacles. they also know their pro inside and out and in many cases make the club and swing choices. Unfortunately I'm neither good enough nor rich enough to warrant such a companion.

 

[chrisd]

MY WORD HOW PROTECTIVE YOU GUYS ARE OVER YOUR GPS!! God knows what golfers did for the last 200 years before they were invented,its must have been terrible playing golf back then .

As they were only the wealthy idle rich they had more time to pace distances or use someone to do it for them!

I get the feeling that your on some sort of Papyt wind up!

 

[Tiger]

MY WORD HOW PROTECTIVE YOU GUYS ARE OVER YOUR GPS!! God knows what golfers did for the last 200 years before they were invented,its must have been terrible playing golf back then .

In the really old days didn't you get a caddy who knew the course like the back of his hand? And in the not quite so old but still pretty old days didn't every course have a decent course planner?

PS I think your argument would carry more weight if you had Persimmon Woods in your bag...