garyinderry
Ryder Cup Winner
couldnt be arsed to use one. im pretty good at working out distances. plus im tight as a ducks arse and wouldnt spend £300 quid on something i couldnt hit a ball with.
GPS; Its just a gimmick!
- Thread starter shivas irons
- Start date
Region3
Ryder Cup Winner
MashieNiblick
Tour Winner
Good question.
As someone who feels that way my thinking is that as the game developed it was about trying to get the ball to a target a certain distance away. Part of the skill in my view is judging is how hard do you hit it to do that.
Imagine a long putt. You are judging how hard to hit the ball so it rolls to the hole. That is part of the skill involved. It might be 40 ft it might be 50ft. But you don't necessarily need to know the exact distance. You just use your eye and judgement to try to hit the ball the correct distance. Now it might be a chip say 20 or 30 yards. Same applies, but now you also choose whethether to loft it or run it.
Now just increase the distances. Instead of 40 or 50 feet its 90 or 100, or 150 yards. In the original game you might only have 2 or 3 clubs so you are not trying to match a particular club to a particular distance. Like the long putt or chip you would have had to use your judgement to hit the ball hard enough to reach the hole. You'd have to factor in the terrain and the wind then execute the shot. The ball flies a bit then and bumps and runs over the humps and hollows to the hole. Have you hit it hard enough? If so it's a good shot. If you could do it every time you'd be a good golfer. If you couldn't you wouldn't be. That's the way the game started and that is why I believe it is one of the original skills of the game.
garyinderry
Ryder Cup Winner
You've laid the groundwork there for someone more evil than I am.
what do you mean? im a little slow here tonight?
Scottjd1
Tour Rookie
Really? How so?
bluewolf
Money List Winner
what do you mean? im a little slow here tonight?
He's probably warning you of the fact that someone with a mind to be cruel will be along soon to tell you that you've already spent over £300 on something that you can't hit the ball with...
On another note, i'm also interested in how laser rangefinders slow play down. I use mine whilst waiting for other players to play, or while approaching my ball. I would guess that it has a neutral effect on the length of time played due to the fact that it speeds up the decision making process. Actually, I don't really care. THis thread is ridiculous in the extreme, and i'm slightly disappointed in myself for posting on it.
garyinderry
Ryder Cup Winner
if you add them all together then yeah £300 :whoo:
chris661
Money List Winner
300 squid wha you buying? There is no way you need to spend that to get a gps or laser.
Val
Ryder Cup Winner
Tiger
Money List Winner
This is probably the best post on the thread. There are quite a few people in my swindle that have a great eye for a yardage. One of them doesn't do yardages he does clubs. He looks at how far it is to a green and will equate the distance to let's say a six iron. He'll then adjust based on factors such as the wind etc. he is normally pretty accurate. There is another guy a play with who has tremendous feel inside 80 yards he's got brilliant touch. Doesn't need to know how far it is just sticks it where he wants it to land. I respect both of them for their skill.
BUT
In all sports advancements are made to help people at the top end and eventually they filter through to us. These advancements might be about developing your body, nutrition, equipment, technique. I guess in football it doesn't matter how light, supple or responsive you make David Beckham's football boot he still needs to use his eye to judge the weight of a 60 yard cross field pass. I'm not Beckham so more often than not I'd look for an easier ten foot pass.
Going back to golf, Luke Donald can hit a perfect 63 yard pitch. I'm not Luke Donald but I still have to make the shot. So I use clockface drills because I have no feel, I carry four wedges so I have more yardages I can cover and I use my GPS so I know it's 63yards. So Mashie whilst I respect the guys with the skill of knowing with their eye how far the ball will travel I don't have that skill. So like Region3 DMDs are a god send.
Golf is hard enough as it is so any small thing that makes it a little easier or more fun I'll take it. I can't hit it where I want consistently but it's nice that when I do I based my assumptions on accurate information and am not stuck in a bunker or over the back of the green.
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Val
Ryder Cup Winner
I understand the post on feeling/guessing the distance and Ive always been pretty good at that, someone was mocked on here for using a gps at 100 yds however for me this is where it came into it's own.
A nice smooth 56 wedge for me is 85 yards, only last week I had a sub 100 yard shot (knew that from the fairway marker) to the green on a long narrow green on our course, flag was right up the back of the green which is 2 tiered (important to get on the right level) and I was going 3/4 PW on the shot, GPS suggest 90 yards to the back of the green, flag was no more than 5 or 6 in from the back, I hit a nice 56 to 2 feet and canned the putt.
Without the GPS I would never have played it like that, these things help no end from all yardages.
A nice smooth 56 wedge for me is 85 yards, only last week I had a sub 100 yard shot (knew that from the fairway marker) to the green on a long narrow green on our course, flag was right up the back of the green which is 2 tiered (important to get on the right level) and I was going 3/4 PW on the shot, GPS suggest 90 yards to the back of the green, flag was no more than 5 or 6 in from the back, I hit a nice 56 to 2 feet and canned the putt.
Without the GPS I would never have played it like that, these things help no end from all yardages.
One Planer
Global Moderator
My take on this thread is very simple. If you want to use one, please feel free.
Personally I don't. I believe it was Murph who said earlier in the thread about some players doing thing by eye and feel, this is me. I enjoy the challenge of "guestimating" my yardages or using markers and playing the shot I see, I don't always hit the green, but I'm never a far off it.
As an example. I played Wychwood park in Crewe on Monday. Normally when I play a new course I buy the course shot saver, this time I forgot, so played the whole course by "feel" and "gestimations" from markers and sprinklers and played to my handicap.
As I've said. I have no issue with people using GPS. A collegue of mine was a partner when we played Izacc Walton GC ans he had a Golf Buddy and I thought it was fantastic!!! Accurate, quick, simple....... But you still have to play the shot correctly.
What pi$$es me off are the people who GPS themselves to the green, Knob it 20 yards, then GPS it again!!! That's my only "negative" with them though.
Personally I don't. I believe it was Murph who said earlier in the thread about some players doing thing by eye and feel, this is me. I enjoy the challenge of "guestimating" my yardages or using markers and playing the shot I see, I don't always hit the green, but I'm never a far off it.
As an example. I played Wychwood park in Crewe on Monday. Normally when I play a new course I buy the course shot saver, this time I forgot, so played the whole course by "feel" and "gestimations" from markers and sprinklers and played to my handicap.
As I've said. I have no issue with people using GPS. A collegue of mine was a partner when we played Izacc Walton GC ans he had a Golf Buddy and I thought it was fantastic!!! Accurate, quick, simple....... But you still have to play the shot correctly.
What pi$$es me off are the people who GPS themselves to the green, Knob it 20 yards, then GPS it again!!! That's my only "negative" with them though.
Scottjd1
Tour Rookie
Couldnt agree more...
BTatHome
Tour Winner
what was he doing when he GPS'd it again? I never seen anyone GPS'ing anything, certainly mine just sits on my bag. Don't touch it generally until I have to switch it off at the end. Look at it when selecting my club and that's it.
pbrown7582
Money List Winner
isnt life full of gimmicks everything we do for example 3D hd televsion why when its not neccessary as an old black and white protable does the same job, porsche ferrari 4x4 why when you can only do 70 on a motorway if your lucky!! and a beat up old cortina will still handle that.
its all about choices if you want the latest technologies GPS even graphite shafts adjustable drivers etc then why not you pays your money and takes your choice, each to there own.
its all about choices if you want the latest technologies GPS even graphite shafts adjustable drivers etc then why not you pays your money and takes your choice, each to there own.
S
Snelly
Guest
I have some sympathy with the OP's view (however insensitively and clumsily he / she has conveyed it) and certainly support the erudite postings of Mashie on this thread.
I have just got a GPS and it certainly made a difference the first time I used it. I made three changes to club selections during the round and probably improved my score as a result by two strokes.
The second time I used it was last week and it was completely irrelevant.
The difference between the two situations was that I was played well in the first round and dreadfully in the second. My point being that when hitting the ball beautifully, I have a very good idea of how far it will travel with a given club with a full shot. Consequently, the precision of a GPS is very helpful. Conversely, when my timing was miles out last Thursday, I didn't really know if my 3 iron was going to go 75 or 220 yards. Therefore, knowing the precise distance was utterly irrelevant.
In a wider sense, I think this view can be applied to golfers generally. If you are a good, consistent ball striker and know how far you are roughly going to hit the ball with a given club for the majority of the time then yes, I can understand why precise yardages are useful and helpful. However, if you are not one of the few that this description applies to, then I think that a GPS device, whilst it may give you a sense of confidence, won't make you hit the ball better and will have a negligible effect on your score. You will still be hitting the ball inconsistent distances so the precision of the yardage isn't so important. You roughly hit a 7 iron a given distance so make a rough guess and get on with the game. Amateur golf from cat 2 and upwards is not about exact yardages, it is about trying to make a half decent connection with the ball in roughly the right direction. A game of approximations and percentages, not exact precision.
Similar arguments can be applied to high handicappers with all the latest kit. Doesn't really make any difference.
All that said, I do not in any way think that people shouldn't have GPS devices for golf. It's up to you - free country and all that.....
I have just got a GPS and it certainly made a difference the first time I used it. I made three changes to club selections during the round and probably improved my score as a result by two strokes.
The second time I used it was last week and it was completely irrelevant.
The difference between the two situations was that I was played well in the first round and dreadfully in the second. My point being that when hitting the ball beautifully, I have a very good idea of how far it will travel with a given club with a full shot. Consequently, the precision of a GPS is very helpful. Conversely, when my timing was miles out last Thursday, I didn't really know if my 3 iron was going to go 75 or 220 yards. Therefore, knowing the precise distance was utterly irrelevant.
In a wider sense, I think this view can be applied to golfers generally. If you are a good, consistent ball striker and know how far you are roughly going to hit the ball with a given club for the majority of the time then yes, I can understand why precise yardages are useful and helpful. However, if you are not one of the few that this description applies to, then I think that a GPS device, whilst it may give you a sense of confidence, won't make you hit the ball better and will have a negligible effect on your score. You will still be hitting the ball inconsistent distances so the precision of the yardage isn't so important. You roughly hit a 7 iron a given distance so make a rough guess and get on with the game. Amateur golf from cat 2 and upwards is not about exact yardages, it is about trying to make a half decent connection with the ball in roughly the right direction. A game of approximations and percentages, not exact precision.
Similar arguments can be applied to high handicappers with all the latest kit. Doesn't really make any difference.
All that said, I do not in any way think that people shouldn't have GPS devices for golf. It's up to you - free country and all that.....
GreiginFife
Money List Winner
Similar to what I was thinking. How many of the bits of kit we use have what once was a gimmick in them, Graphite shafts, cavity irons, corded grips, weighted drivers, soft insert putters, 2/3/4/5 piece balls, contour heads... the list is quite long.
Point is, technology is used in every aspect of life to attempt to improve or make life easier. Sports of all sorts harness and utilize this technology so why should golf be any different?
chrisd
Major Champion
One question Snelly. Should a higher handicapper who's keen to improve, act on the course as the handicapper he is, or, should he carry himself in the manner a good golfer would and hope, as a result that he will get better.
When I was a 24 h/cap hacker I still had good clubs, balls and ancilliary equipment because I knew that the only blame for a bad round was squarely down to my swing - if I had high handicapper cheap and nasty gear I would always have had something else to blame and even in the early days I had to have a yardage (measured with pacing and strokesaver) as I always harboured the expectation of hitting some shots properly.
I found that when I first got a measuring device, which was before the R & A allowed them, so a while ago, my shots improved rapidly. No they don't help you hit the ball better, and God knows I hit many a duff, but I always stood over a shot confident that I was weilding the correct bat for the job and that helped no end and often stopped me trying to force the shot. It also stopped the frustration of the times when I guessed the club wrong, nailed it and saw it come up 30 yards short when if I got the club right with knowing the precise distance when, on the odd occasion I happened to nail it, I wanted the reward of being close
We all have those games Snelly, some more than others
but we still need to choose a club, and by having the correct distance helps us with that decision.
Thing is Homer some members didnt want to debate at all,I was just slagged off and by one "moderator" in particular,ok say what you think but the initial abuse was unnecessary.Let me put it this another way then, if you GPS is such an asset to your game surely your handicaps cant be correct as you already have the advantage over somebody who does not have or cant afford GPS but would find it beneficial.Basically as far as i`m concerned if you have the advantage on somebody else shots should be "added" to your handicaps because you are making the game easier for yourself.If you guys with GPS are gaining so much I would love to see your scorecards over a period of time without using GPS,and I bet you you scores will increase,and if they dont well whats the point in having it?. Constructive replies only please.......
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