My Club says no to GPS

[SammmeBee]

If I was playing you in match play and I had my GPs and you obviously didn't - what would your thoughts be?

If we were playing stroke play in the same group and I had my GPS if we were on a tee of a Par 3 would you want me to tell you how far if was to the pin or would you rather I kept schtum?

GPS is available to everyone - some people just seem to want to choose not to use it.....Pro's are beginning to rent them out now for the round so that makes them hardly any more expensive than an electric trolley....

 

[Herbie]

If I was playing you in match play and I had my GPs and you obviously didn't - what would your thoughts be?

If we were playing stroke play in the same group and I had my GPS if we were on a tee of a Par 3 would you want me to tell you how far if was to the pin or would you rather I kept schtum?

GPS is available to everyone - some people just seem to want to choose not to use it.....Pro's are beginning to rent them out now for the round so that makes them hardly any more expensive than an electric trolley....

You miss my point sammebee, the potential for you to play better than you would without gps is always there and its that potential that makes it unfair in such a circumstance.
If it was a friendly I wouldnt give a stuff, if it was a comp where gps was allowed I would just have to live with it, though I would feel better about my score than perhaps you would about yours as I wouldnt have gps to thank or blame. You get two players who can hit EXACT distances all the time, take them to a course neither have played and let one have gps, the guy with gps would have an instant advantage.

 

[Dodger]

End of the day guys if I know the distance but play like a total c##t it aint gonna matter a jot that I have it in my hand,the biggest skill in golf is hitting it close the GPS just help you a wee bit but if I hit the ball like a *** I'm stil gonna shoot 78plus.

 

[theeaglehunter]

If I was playing you in match play and I had my GPs and you obviously didn't - what would your thoughts be?

If we were playing stroke play in the same group and I had my GPS if we were on a tee of a Par 3 would you want me to tell you how far if was to the pin or would you rather I kept schtum?

GPS is available to everyone - some people just seem to want to choose not to use it.....Pro's are beginning to rent them out now for the round so that makes them hardly any more expensive than an electric trolley....

You miss my point sammebee, the potential for you to play better than you would without gps is always there and its that potential that makes it unfair in such a circumstance.
If it was a friendly I wouldnt give a stuff, if it was a comp where gps was allowed I would just have to live with it, though I would feel better about my score than perhaps you would about yours as I wouldnt have gps to thank or blame. You get two players who can hit EXACT distances all the time, take them to a course neither have played and let one have gps, the guy with gps would have an instant advantage.

Surely after a few comps though if the GPS really was saving shots the players handicap would tumble and all the device would do is help them play to a lower handicap, not give them an unfair advantage?

 

[SammmeBee]

You get two players who can hit EXACT distances all the time, take them to a course neither have played and let one have gps, the guy with gps would have an instant advantage.

OK - you get 2 players of the same age, weight, fitness, handicap playing 36 holes - one has an electric trolley, the other is carrying......the one with the elctric trolley would have an advantage....

 

[DCB]

Surely info from GPS could be shared after all it is info in the public domain isn't it?

I'll still buy a strokesaver as well as I need these to while away the winter nights with dreams of the perfect score on a nice course.

 

[Doh]

I sit on my clubs council i dont use a GPS but that is personal choice i may do one day when i have the spare cash. Several of the other council memebers have them and we can use them in comps as well.please dont put this down to an age thing it's not it's about attitude towards progress. most clubs will allow them sooner or later.i agree afordability is a lame excuse.

Beaker it would be good if you could ask the county selector you have at your club whats the county unions view on them do they allow them at county level?

 

[Imurg]

You get two players who can hit EXACT distances all the time, take them to a course neither have played and let one have gps, the guy with gps would have an instant advantage.

OK - you get 2 players of the same age, weight, fitness, handicap playing 36 holes - one has an electric trolley, the other is carrying......the one with the elctric trolley would have an advantage....

At the end of the day, the whole thing comes down to technology. The rapid increases in equipment of all sorts makes the game easier - I don't think anyone will disagree with that.

If you are not going to embrace the new technology of GPS that is your choice. Most of us, if not all, have got a 460cc Titanium driver, a low-profile fairway wood or 2, hybrids instead of 2,3 or 4 irons, cavity-back irons, sand wedges, heel'n'toe putters, soft feel multi-layer balls, waterproof clothing and shoes, trolleys - electric and pull.

These are all advances in technology that help us enjoy the game, make the game easier and maybe help us play better. If you are able to use any of these advances would you? Well for the most part we all have - we have made the choice. If you are still using a persimmon wood and 1 irons then you are making the game more difficult than it already is - again its your choice.

The fact that GPS is available and mostly legal (R&A will make the rule soon for sure) then if you choose to use it then good luck to you. If you want to rely on judgement and feel then good luck to you too. The arguement Sammebee makes about electric trolleys giving an advantage is correct. Someone mentioned balls - again its correct. if I've got all the new kit that means i can hit the ball straight, I've got an advantage on you with your ill-fitting extra stiff shaft and 5 degrees of loft. If I know the course we are playing and you don't then again I've got the advantage. Sport is full of the opposition having an advantage - I intend to make sure that I always have it if I possibly can.

 

[Leftie]

Imurg.. You beat me to it but put it far more eloquently than I could.

Coming up to Christmas, HID asked if I wanted new clubs as she knew that the ones I use are at least 15 years old and the varnish on my driver has peeled off. She was also worried about my bad back so asked if I wanted an electric trolly. A charity shop had about 30 course planners from different course in the Kent and Surrey area - did I want them.

As much as I would have liked all these wonderful things that might have improved my game, I politely declined saying that I had got my handicap using the equipment I had and new custom fitted clubs, electric trolley and course planners might give me an unfair advantage over other players who hadn't got such modern things and my pride just wouldn't let me do it.

At her insistance however I did agree to a Skycaddie as, although it gave me exactly the same information I could get for myself by pacing out yardages, it saved my poor aching bones a little and helped to speed up my game.

 

[Marko77]

Can't believe it has all kicked off again with GPS.

I am sure the R&A will universally allow them in the next revision of the rules. Though they will never admit it, they have cocked up by leaving it to each clubs discretion.

Unfair advantage? - thats possibly true but as others have eluded to, the same can be said for those who can afford and have bought electric trolleys, the more expensive golf balls, shoes, clubs.

I would appeal this clubs committee decision and also ask if there is a price limit on drivers/irons that are allowed in competition play?

 

[Smiffy]

If I went in a comp and didnt have a yardage chart and wasnt allowed to know where 150 was on each hole yet others were allowed this information, would this be fair?...NO!

If that were the case Herb, I would agree with you 100%. Without question. Totally unfair.
But this isn't the case. Nobody is saying (or would ever say) "you aren't allowed to use one, but others are".
As with every other piece of kit it's about choices.
As somebody else mentioned above with electric trolleys.
I have recently purchased one because after many years of football my knees and ankles have been suffering lately by carrying my bag. Towards the end of a round I was getting physically knackered and this was affecting my concentration and swing. I could almost guarantee finishing a round with a couple of blobs. After three or four rounds with the trolley I can feel the difference. My aches and pains are all but gone, and I feel more confident about finishing the round strongly. Does this give me an "unfair advantage?"...well I certainly feel it gives me an advanatage, but is it unfair? Could the guy who was two up against me with four to play call "foul" if my new found energy enabled me to play the last four holes as if they were my first and beat him 2&1? I don't think so.
The technology is there for everybody, nobody is being denied the right to use it whether you agree with it or not. It's up to you if you wish to subscribe.
Rob

 

[Robobum]

No, no, no..Smiffy, Herb etc, it's not an unfair advantage. Every single yardage from every single place on the golf course and every single place around the course (if you're a bit crooked!) has an exact figure to the pin or any other point. This info is FACT and is readily available to everyone if they so choose to obtain it. If you want to be labelled as a slow golfer and incurr the wrath of comps committees then you can quite legally pace out the yardage every time without the aid of GPS, 150yd markers, strokesavers and sprinkler tags.

At least there are plenty of replies when it's a GPS thread!!

 

[Smiffy]

Just to add...
Many years ago (1991 to be exact) a party of us visited St Andrews to play the Old Course. One of our group hired a caddy for the round. Despite the guy telling Dave that he had about 150/180 to go and where to hit it, it didn't stop him oinking the ball into a gorse bush or fatting the ball 50 yards! We were chuckling to ourselves.
I'm sure if they built in a "laughometer" to my SG it would giggle at my attempts every so often

 

[USER1999]

I can't afford lessons (spend too much on kit), therefore, anyone who has the money to have lessons is getting an advantage over me, and is cheating. You can buy a better swing, and I can't afford it, so no one should have one.

 

[viscount17]

Surely info from GPS could be shared after all it is info in the public domain isn't it?

If my understanding of the rules is correct not if your opponent asks or if you offer 'advice'.

However, if my electric trolley with my GPS hanging from it is parked on a line with your ball there is, so far as I am aware, no rule that says you can't look at it. No more so than looking at a shared Strokesaver - and I don't think that's against any rule, provided you look for yourself?

I'll still buy a strokesaver as well as I need these to while away the winter nights with dreams of the perfect score on a nice course.

as will I, though more because my GPS at least, does not give you a plan of the course and of the hole - and you still need to find a way to the next hole.

 

[Parmo]

Well since the English Golf union is making the legal this year I rest my case.

 

[SammmeBee]

Surely info from GPS could be shared after all it is info in the public domain isn't it?

If my understanding of the rules is correct not if your opponent asks or if you offer 'advice'.

My understanding is that if you tell someone how far it is from a fixed point that is generally available - ie bunker, yardage post, sprinkler whether you have a GPS or not that is not 'advice'.

If you ask someone though 'how far have I got to the pin' then that is asking for 'advice'.

You can tell them the facts but they have to put 2 and 2 togther to come up with 5 themselves....

 

[USER1999]

Page 30, definitions of advice states that 'Information on the rules, distance, or matters of public information, such as the position of hazards or the flag stick on the putting green, is not advice'.

Hence someone can ask for a yardage, and you can give it. It does not breach the rules.

However, if they ask what the temperature is, that is against the rules.

Weird.

 

[CarpeDiem]

Sometimes I do wonder

 

[TonyN]

This reminds me of an arguement I had with my pal about smoking.

I am an ex smoker so can see both sides of the arguement, him being a smoker was obviously Bias.

He thinks that the smoking ban is outragous and a breach on his human rights. I tried explaining that he is breaching the rights of non smokers who he intoxicates unwillingly whilst he puffs away.

If the government had banned smoking altogether then maybe he would have a point but they have left the option available to all to do so if they want just not involve those who dont.

And I who dont, dont have to put up with it although if I don ever feel like going back to it can.

Point is, its all about choice. If you choose not too, fine, but don't expect everyone else to have to go without.