Range Finders on Tour ?

[Qwerty]

Knowing the distance is 5% - the rest is picking the club then hitting it well enough.

I don't think you can put a figure on it Phil. I'd say its one of many important elements of the Shot. If you get any of them wrong its a poor shot/Decision.
I agree the skill is in the ball striking but if your a good player and you know your yardages, getting that exact yardage by whatever means is often the difference between a birdie and a par

Is there anything more frustrating in golf than hitting the ball pure, straight at the flag only to walk to the green and find it 15 yards short because you misjudged the pin position and overall yardage.
Its something I did many times pre Rangefinder.

Equally, Theres also many times I've zapped a pin and been very surprised at the yardage, knowing full well I would of chosen the wrong club without the RF.

IMO over 18 holes they give users a big advantage, More so Good consistent Ball Strikers.
Im not overly opposed to them but given the Chance/ Choice I'd ban them

 

[Deleted member 15344]

I think they way it's going they will become more frequent in use

Understand exactly what you are saying in regards the judgement but then there is still the element factors to adjust too when picking the club or how you will play the shot

Lots of advancements have been made to help you play that shot in regards clubs - knowing the distance to the exact yardage just seems to be not as important all the time.

 

[Norrin Radd]

we never had any markers on the course when i first started playing back in the 70`s just the length of the hole,that was your lot.

 

[BubbaP]

Manufacturers would like it, no doubt help them shift more units

 

[Deleted member 15344]

we never had any markers on the course when i first started playing back in the 70`s just the length of the hole,that was your lot.

That's a long time ago now and the game has progressed in so many ways - is it all good ? But as someone has said the sport is still massively enjoyable even with massive changes in equipment etc

All sports progress - especially as technology in the world progresses - golf needs to progress with that and gadgets are a big part of that

 

[Tongo]

Do professionals really need them? Scores most weeks on the PGA and European Tours are in and around 20 under par.

Or they could strike a deal with players: caddie or range finder but not both!

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Do professionals really need them? Scores most weeks on the PGA and European Tours are in and around 20 under par.

Or they could strike a deal with players: caddie or range finder but not both!

They have yardage books with all the yardages mapped out anyway from the pro am and practise days - they spent every shot looking at that book for a minute or so.

 

[Tongo]

They have yardage books with all the yardages mapped out anyway from the pro am and practise days - they spent every shot looking at that book for a minute or so.

Indeed. As someone else said though the range finders didnt make too much difference at the Walker Cup. In fact, if players and caddies have 2 things to refer to it'll only slow things down.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Indeed. As someone else said though the range finders didnt make too much difference at the Walker Cup. In fact, if players and caddies have 2 things to refer to it'll only slow things down.

They would just need the range finder and would half the amount of time judging distance etc once they got used to it.

 

[BTatHome]

Indeed. As someone else said though the range finders didnt make too much difference at the Walker Cup. In fact, if players and caddies have 2 things to refer to it'll only slow things down.

To be honest that sounds more like the players being particularly slow about the whole process .... did you see how slow the solhiem cup was? When they started pacing out 60 yd pitches I stopped watching.

I would imagine Keegan Bradley and the rest would just fill their time with some other part of their elongated preshot routine instead.

 

[BTatHome]

One thing about removing all markings on the course is how much some people rely on do wonder just how much everyone relies on these posts, sprinkler heads and how poorly some people would then play ... add on even more time in the round for people to get used to it again.

 

[SammmeBee]

Won't happen - it would slow them up even more as it would give them something else to use in addition to what they use already.

With the course measurements they have its easy to work out exact distance to pin. Pros are actually more into how to far behind and to side of pin which you still need a book for.

 

[3565]

Well the ET are on a slow play vendetta against the players now. They want to quicken them up, a RFs study in a US College showed that rounds were quicker, by how much I can't really remember but think it was 20 mins. Now for the amateur the main yardage is to the flag and possibly the only one whereas Pro's need to the front edge, to the flag, to clear the bunker, how much room behind the pin........ Will using RFs on the tour speed them up, No. For them to speed up it will have to take something radical n drastic to achieve that.

 

[Oddsocks]

I'm all for it!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Anything that speeds play up has to help. Caddies pacing up and down and then doing the maths to come up with a yardage takes forever. Add in them then having to line players up (especially on the ladies tour) and it's like watching paint dry and no wonder golf is struggling to attract TV viewers. Will there be one brand sanctioned, will they check that it doesn't have slope rating etc (and that a cheeky caddy doesn't turn this on during a round) and more importantly will the ET and PGA actually take the leap of faith involved

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

i dont like any type of range finder,they should be banned from all golf.
we managed without them before so why not now .

I'm liking the cut of this man's jib

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Phil i just think that RF`s have taken away that little bit of what makes a golfer,having everything at your fingertips is just ,to my mind not golf ,where is the challenge of looking at a shot and thinking about the club to be used rather than a device telling you its 150 to the centre and you hit your 7 iron 150 ,so its taking away some of the skill involved in playing the shot.
the thing that makes me laugh with these things ,is when a club member who has played his own course for countless years uses one ,wtf ,dont people learn their own course without the RF to say its a certain distance .
im sure you know every blade of grass on your track but still use the bloody thing.
on an away track then maybe they will prove useful ,but i [maybe im old school]prefer to look at my shot and choose a club ,if im wrong so be it.i dont lose sweat over it ,nor do i when my pp takes out his RF and fires the same club that i just hit .
we could argue the toss about this till the cows come home ,but you will not be swayed as wont i .
just the way it is .you like em ,i dont end of.

You won't be arguing with me - but we will be in a very small minority I fear

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

So yardage markers and course planners and sprinkler heads with yardages on them ?

How can it "not be golf"

The main part of golf is swinging the club and hitting the ball - do you have a problem with all the items that help that ?

The skill is in the execution of the shot and picking the right club and playing the right shot

Knowing the yardage can be gained from many ways - RF , GPS , course planners , yardage markers or pacing out from points on the golf course

Knowing the distance is 5% - the rest is picking the club then hitting it well enough.

There are so many things that have progressed and developed in golf - some massive changes that changed the whole way golf is played - drivers , balls , all clubs - yet there always seems to be an opposition to something that is such a small part of the game.

Yes I use a RF when I'm unsure of the distance - instead of checking a course planner or finding the yardage marker a quick look and I'm done - still have to then do the important part

Well - I cannot get away from the fact that golf is a game played in the head as well as with the club and ball. Anything that changes the way we think about shots and that reduces uncertainty in our minds is changing an important facet of playing the game - remove uncertainly from golf and the game loses a huge amount. But hey - I gave up arguing this a couple of years ago - though I still maintain that devices should not be allowed in closed club competitions where all playing will know the most distances on the course at least reasonably well.

 

[ManinBlack]

i dont like any type of range finder,they should be banned from all golf.
we managed without them before so why not now .

I disagree 110% with this. It used to really pee me off playing a strange course to hit what I thought was a perfect shot only to see it come up short or fly the green. It has increased my enjoyment of new courses hugely & I wouldn't be without mine.

 

[ruff-driver]