On Understanding Golfing Illusion

[HomerJSimpson]

So you either can't afford a dmd (£100 odd), or don't want one.

What if some one can't afford £1000 worth of good kit, or the latest driver, or an electric trolley, or prov1s.

What we need is a budget cap. No one on comp day can spend more than £500 on their gear, to level the field.

Ah, but I'm almost blind in one eye which makes distance perception difficult. Great idea, we can level the playing field, by every one else wearing an eye patch. But I'm also tall, so I have an advantage in having a bigger swing arc. I can also see over some hazards. How do we level this out? What about age? Is there no advantage for being younger and fitter? Or a better golfer? Or left handed? Or natural drawer of the ball? What about those who can't chip?

Golf is not a level playing field. Never has been.

Look at tiger. The poor dear has to play with rubbish made by a sneaker manufacturer.

Totally agree. We get the same old argumemnts about DMD's from those that choose not to use them. They are there and to be fair are becoming cheaper and therefore even more accessible. As Murph says, there are a whole host of things in golf that aren't equitable so we just need to peg it up, hit it and get on with it.

 

[Foxholer]

at our place we have a white stick for 165 yards and a red stone embeded in the fairway for 110yards.

dont get me started on clubs that use meters instead of yards. PETHATE!

Your club will be one of them - with 150 and 100 meter markers!

BTW. DMDs are here to stay - replacing Strokesavers, pacing and know distance reference points, which I certainly used to do - quickly. GCAs need to realise this too and adjust what challenges they set golfrs.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Totally agree. We get the same old argumemnts about DMD's from those that choose not to use them. They are there and to be fair are becoming cheaper and therefore even more accessible. As Murph says, there are a whole host of things in golf that aren't equitable so we just need to peg it up, hit it and get on with it.

Which is why I refer back to a basic definition of golf (as I put it) and why I totally accept and take advantage (when i can) of advances in technology for clubs and balls (and what you wear and what you cart your clubs about in or on). But Rule 14-3 rules against DMDs. So why can't we have that rule enforced for club competitions. Do and use what you will any other time. And itmay well be the case that I can't afford a DMD - regardless how 'inexpensive' they are. Even £100 is 2x weekly Job Seekers Allowance. Some might buy the most expensive clubs and use the most expensive balls. But that doesn't make them a better golfer unless they practice - and then - in time their handicap will reflect their ability to play using these clubs and balls. Absolutely fine. But in a competition I'd just like to see every player applying that ability. And part of a player's ability is his understanding of playing in variable conditions and understanding what the GCA is doing. To be honest - I haven't heard any argument that explains tome why DMDs are a good thing in their own right.

Arguments that talk about the speeding up play miss the point as reasonable speed of play does not depend upon DMDs. In any case - you are only as fast as the slowest player - and he or she may not have a DMD. So in comps. It should be the player against the course - unaided. Please can someone tell me why not?

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Your club will be one of them - with 150 and 100 meter markers!

BTW. DMDs are here to stay - replacing Strokesavers, pacing and know distance reference points, which I certainly used to do - quickly. GCAs need to realise this too and adjust what challenges they set golfrs.

Absolutely agree - but not in comps.

 

[JustOne]

So in comps. It should be the player against the course - unaided. Please can someone tell me why not?

If the rules allow it then what should you do? Not have one and moan about it, ....or buy one?

Wouldn't the arguement be the same for someone who moans about not being able to hit their driver and subsequently leaving it out of their bag? Or someone who carries their bag whilst the other guy is as fresh as a daisy with his remote controlled lekky trolley that has 15ltrs of water and snacks on board?

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

If the rules allow it then what should you do? Not have one and moan about it, ....or buy one?

Wouldn't the arguement be the same for someone who moans about not being able to hit their driver and subsequently leaving it out of their bag? Or someone who carries their bag whilst the other guy is as fresh as a daisy with his remote controlled lekky trolley that has 15ltrs of water and snacks on board?

Sorry - IMO - No it wouldn't.

The DMD is an external aid to playing the game. Besides - as ever - other 'kit' is brought into the argument. Why can't DMDs be considered in their own right. DMDs still breach the rules of the game (notwithstanding an LR can be in place to allow them) - nothing else that you - or indeed anyone - refer to does. And again - ban em for comps why not? Just for comps.

Use them to improve you game if you will - then see how you get on without one against the course - and players who for whatever reason - don't have one. Because if the thing doesn't help you when you are uncertain of a distance - why do you use it? And if it does help - unless you are happy if a playing partner pacing out every shot - then you have an advantage.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Ach b***er it - I give up. I shall desist.

 

[Ethan]

Ach b***er it - I give up.

Giving up already? You haven't really said very much yet ........

 

[JustOne]

Whilst I understand your point of trying to keep the arguement solely focused on DMD's you're blankly refusing to accept comparissons to other 'devices'... take the trolley away from someone who isn't physically capable of carrying their bag and what will their score be like?

DMD's give the distance to a target for those that want it - simples. There are other ways (fairway markers, yardage books, even pin position charts) and we can choose to use those if we wish - your arguement is only sound if you are argueing that we should remove ALL measurement aids and not just battery powered ones.

I would say that my DMD probably does improved my scores but only on the basis that ordinarily I wouldn't be arsed to pace out a yardage..... I guess I would if I had to and if that meant 6hr rounds then so be it. I've stood watching someone walk 140yds up the the front of a green to see where they want to land the ball and exactly where the flag is.... and then shank it OOB,.... it ain't pretty

 

[6inchcup]

Whilst I understand your point of trying to keep the argument solely focused on DMD's you're blankly refusing to accept comparisons to other 'devices'... take the trolley away from someone who isn't physically capable of carrying their bag and what will their score be like?

DMD's give the distance to a target for those that want it - simples. There are other ways (fairway markers, yardage books, even pin position charts) and we can choose to use those if we wish - your argument is only sound if you are arguing that we should remove ALL measurement aids and not just battery powered ones.

I would say that my DMD probably does improved my scores but only on the basis that ordinarily I wouldn't be arsed to pace out a yardage..... I guess I would if I had to and if that meant 6hr rounds then so be it. I've stood watching someone walk 140 yds up the the front of a green to see where they want to land the ball and exactly where the flag is.... and then shank it OOB,.... it ain't pretty

i love the sight of the HAS IT ALL GOLFER stood majestically in the rough after a smoking!!!! 150yd drive surveying the horizon like a german u-bout commander with the latest distance gizmo clamped to his eye,you here the muted tones"mmmm says i still have over 300 yds to go"" club selected and swish the 3w does its job gizmo again goes to the eye "bloody hell its still 250 yds away!!!!!!!" the moral is what is the point of knowing to the last centimetre how far something is if 90% of the people using them have no idea how far THEY can hit a club,me i just look how far it is and adjust accordingly and yes i could afford one but have no desire to look like a prat.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

i love the sight of the HAS IT ALL GOLFER stood majestically in the rough after a smoking!!!! 150yd drive surveying the horizon like a german u-bout commander with the latest distance gizmo clamped to his eye,you here the muted tones"mmmm says i still have over 300 yds to go"" club selected and swish the 3w does its job gizmo again goes to the eye "bloody hell its still 250 yds away!!!!!!!" the moral is what is the point of knowing to the last centimetre how far something is if 90% of the people using them have no idea how far THEY can hit a club,me i just look how far it is and adjust accordingly and yes i could afford one but have no desire to look like a prat.

Actually @6inchcup - you may have a point. Maybe I just think that all those folk with their fancy gizmo's - may be they are just all deluded prat's. In which case...

I pause and think...and no - I still believe that there is no place for them in a club competition - all they do is provide some players with additional information not available to all. And that is clearly not fair. Handicap does not and cannot take conditions 'on the day' of a competition into account.

Anyone who thinks we'd otherwise all be pacing out yardages is - well - wrong. Never was the case - why should it be now? - never would be the case. Folk just didn't pace out yardages in the way the DMD apologists make out. And I still don't hear anyone telling me why they shouldn't be allowed in club competitions??

 

[ScienceBoy]

Playing at a tight par 3 course where greens are near tees and the card distances is never right the DMD is often essential for safety of others!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Playing at a tight par 3 course where greens are near tees and the card distances is never right the DMD is often essential for safety of others!

Any golf course where a DMD is 'essential' ...well... nope

 

[JustOne]

Anyone who thinks we'd otherwise all be pacing out yardages is - well - wrong. Never was the case - why should it be now? - never would be the case. Folk just didn't pace out yardages in the way the DMD apologists make out. And I still don't hear anyone telling me why they shouldn't be allowed in club competitions??

I don't know what your h/cap is but I would say that the better player would tend to pace out a shot more readily... even more so if a good round is in the offering. I can definitely say I've walked to the top of a slope or to the front of a green 100's of times. Those DMD's that show you a map are brilliant! (not that I have one but then I'm a crap golfer now so yardage is enough).

I can't give an arguement why they shouldn't be in comps as I think they SHOULD be allowed in comps - for BOTH sexes.

 

[upsidedown]

Regarding handicaps of the 20 of us 4 and below 15 of us have DMD.

 

[need_my_wedge]

So you either can't afford a dmd (£100 odd), or don't want one.

What if some one can't afford £1000 worth of good kit, or the latest driver, or an electric trolley, or prov1s.

What we need is a budget cap. No one on comp day can spend more than £500 on their gear, to level the field.

Ah, but I'm almost blind in one eye which makes distance perception difficult. Great idea, we can level the playing field, by every one else wearing an eye patch. But I'm also tall, so I have an advantage in having a bigger swing arc. I can also see over some hazards. How do we level this out? What about age? Is there no advantage for being younger and fitter? Or a better golfer? Or left handed? Or natural drawer of the ball? What about those who can't chip?

Golf is not a level playing field. Never has been.

Look at tiger. The poor dear has to play with rubbish made by a sneaker manufacturer.

Not to mention the fact that you have a smoother swing than me, can hit it longer and straighter than me, and get down in less shots, how do we equate that out.........? I want parity with that..

I do have a laser rangefinder, and I do use it on a lot of shots - not every, but a lot. I find it very useful and a great help, takes a second to use and then I can select a club based on what lies in front of me. A couple of weeks ago, I left it in my other bag for a couple of rounds and had to play without it, I grossly mis-judged a number of shots whilst trying to assess the distance from the 150yd stakes. Didn't enjoy those rounds so much.......and that's the crux for me.