Your distance measuring device

[patricks148]

Range finder for me.

no blind shots and very large greens to a godsend at my club . not just for pin placement but also bunker carry and slopes on or near landing area's

 

[USER1999]

Both. That said, the GPS is often flat as, and therefore useless.

 

[hovis]

I have the new bushnell hybrid. Best of both worlds

 

[IanM]

GPS on watch... quick look, distance to front or back and suss it out for myself.... learning to play pre DMDs helps! I am waiting for the day when a junior "lasers" a putt!

 

[need_my_wedge]

I used to use Swing x Swing free app, very useful for courses you don't know, but found I was forgetting to check it on my home course, so binned it a couple of years back. I was given a GPS watch for my birthday last year. Find that really useful for general yardage if I'm on the wrong fairway or not got line of site to the pin. the downside is that I don't like wearing a watch in the summer and I keep forgetting to charge it. Consequently I mostly use a laser, easy to tag the flag or lip of the bunker, top of the trees etc.

 

[Bxm Foxy]

Don't use GPS or laser, think I should!!!

 

[Crazyface]

Freecaddie app....coz it's free. And apparently if you pay a nominal fee everyone on it can link up and you can have a comp and enter live scores. dunno if this works, but it sounds good.

 

[Orikoru]

Freecaddie app....coz it's free. And apparently if you pay a nominal fee everyone on it can link up and you can have a comp and enter live scores. dunno if this works, but it sounds good.

I think you can do that on VPAR for free. Not tried it though.

 

[r0wly86]

For those with rangefinder, how good are you at hitting the exact distances. I am intrigued by them but a bit pricey for me, but if GPS gives front, middle and back what is the advantage of knowing it is exactly 112 yards to the pin rather than knowing the pin is inbetween front and middle and so between 110 and 117 or whatever.

On a side note, one of my problems is I go pin chasing and I'm thinking if I just aimed for the middle of the green each time I would score better

 

[Dan2501]

Bushnell V3 rangefinder for me. Got a Garmin GPS as well that I've had for years but rarely use it now, handy on courses I don't know but normally just stick with the Bushnell.

 

[Robster59]

I just use a GPS watch. It's got Front, Middle and Back of the green and up to four hazards a hole. As long as I know where the flag is on the green (which I can walk up to see) then I can work that out from the numbers on my GPS watch. Also our club now provide a daily pin position guide for each hole. I'm not sure really my distance control is good enough for any more than that.
A laser isn't good for a number of holes on our course as you can't always see them till the approach shot. And sometimes not even that on our 5th, 6th, 8th, 12th and 15th.

 

[welshjim22]

Unless your a very good player then surely a gps is quicker. Why a high handicapper would need to have exact yardage to flag rather than green front/back/centre is beyond me. The modern GPS apps with shot saver style plans are equally as useful before green shots.

The problem with range finders as I see it is they are only good for line of sight, what if the green is above the fairway you may see flag but not green boundary.

Both have pros and cons. Ability has a big part to play.

 

[jamielaing]

For those with rangefinder, how good are you at hitting the exact distances. I am intrigued by them but a bit pricey for me, but if GPS gives front, middle and back what is the advantage of knowing it is exactly 112 yards to the pin rather than knowing the pin is inbetween front and middle and so between 110 and 117 or whatever.

On a side note, one of my problems is I go pin chasing and I'm thinking if I just aimed for the middle of the green each time I would score better

It's not so much about being able to hit exact distances, more knowing your target.

Think of it this way, you are playing a new course with a member. It's a blind par 4. He tells you it doglegs down there but you'll be fine hitting straight. Wouldn't you rather know it doglegs at 230? Then you know what club to hit and what you can't.

In your example- 110 and 117 is nearly a club difference. You could have a 110 club that would leave you 2 yards short but would be poor for 117. There you would choke back your 120 club.

Add in bigger greens and you have an issue. Plus, a lot of places don't do front middle back. Now you actually know.

No one ever asked for less information when making a decision.

 

[r0wly86]

It's not so much about being able to hit exact distances, more knowing your target.

Think of it this way, you are playing a new course with a member. It's a blind par 4. He tells you it doglegs down there but you'll be fine hitting straight. Wouldn't you rather know it doglegs at 230? Then you know what club to hit and what you can't.

In your example- 110 and 117 is nearly a club difference. You could have a 110 club that would leave you 2 yards short but would be poor for 117. There you would choke back your 120 club.

Add in bigger greens and you have an issue. Plus, a lot of places don't do front middle back. Now you actually know.

No one ever asked for less information when making a decision.

But if you know it is 112 exactly, you are still in between 2 clubs and face exactly the same issue. The only thing that has changed is you know it is 112 rather than between 110 and 117.

For the most part you can see where the pin is in generally i.e. front middle or back, maybe not for raised greens or where you are hitting a very long approach shots. I can see the advantage of knowing where hazards are, but a lot of GPS devices including apps will give that info.

The question I was getting at, is do we really need all the exact information. Depending on your control and dispersion, knowing a yardage to the exact compared to an error of a few yards is not necessary

 

[jamielaing]

But if you know it is 112 exactly, you are still in between 2 clubs and face exactly the same issue. The only thing that has changed is you know it is 112 rather than between 110 and 117.

For the most part you can see where the pin is in generally i.e. front middle or back, maybe not for raised greens or where you are hitting a very long approach shots. I can see the advantage of knowing where hazards are, but a lot of GPS devices including apps will give that info.

The question I was getting at, is do we really need all the exact information. Depending on your control and dispersion, knowing a yardage to the exact compared to an error of a few yards is not necessary

When you go bowling do you try and get a strike or just knock over a pin on the end?

If you are aiming for the flag surely knowing exactly where it is is a benefit. Yes you'd still be between 2 clubs but I would know that my 110 club would get me to 6 feet short. If I gave it extra I could make that up. If I played my 120 club the best I could do would be 20 feet away.

You shouldn't be thinking of your inconsistencies here. Yes you could hit it a little short but you've given yourself the best chance.

 

[slowhand]

I use a rangefinder most of the time, as I find it a lot quicker than the GPS apps on my phone. Each shot I have to get it out of my golf bag, then unlock the screen, then go back into the app, then get onto the correct hole (if it doesn't advance automatically), and that all takes time and contributes to slow play. Much quicker to just grab the laser and zap the flag.

 

[r0wly86]

When you go bowling do you try and get a strike or just knock over a pin on the end?

If you are aiming for the flag surely knowing exactly where it is is a benefit. Yes you'd still be between 2 clubs but I would know that my 110 club would get me to 6 feet short. If I gave it extra I could make that up. If I played my 120 club the best I could do would be 20 feet away.

You shouldn't be thinking of your inconsistencies here. Yes you could hit it a little short but you've given yourself the best chance.

Your bowling analogy is not quite working for me, because you already know the distance to the pins.

It's the equivalent of going bowling, knowing that you need to hit the slight edge of the king pin to get a strike, then using a funky electronic device to tell you to nearest cm where on the king pin to hit.

I'm not trying to dismiss I'm sure it has many helpful uses. In my example I wasn't saying you know it is either 110 or 117, but that you have a GPS and it tells you that the front is 110 and middle is 117. You know from looking that the pin is between the front and the middle, so will be longer than 110 but shorter than 117. If I have a club that is 110 then I know that is the club I will be hitting, knowing it is exactly 112 doesn't change that.

They will work fine, and will have pros, I guess I was just musing that as someone who often goes pin chasing which doesn't often pay off, that maybe having exact distances may encourage that. Whereas, as long as the greens aren't huge, I would be better off just sticking it into the middle of the green, always giving myself a chance of birdie and if not an almost guaranteed par.

That is just me though, and for someone else a laser could be very beneficial

 

[trevor]

I have GPS and laser but the strap on the watch is broken and is of the type that can’t be replaced so it doesn’t come out very often now. Not too worried about the distance until I’ve passed the 150 marker but it’s normally only used to see which wedge to hit.

 

[Orikoru]

I use a rangefinder most of the time, as I find it a lot quicker than the GPS apps on my phone. Each shot I have to get it out of my golf bag, then unlock the screen, then go back into the app, then get onto the correct hole (if it doesn't advance automatically), and that all takes time and contributes to slow play. Much quicker to just grab the laser and zap the flag.

Are you joking? You can get your phone open and onto the GPS app while you're walking, so as soon as you get to your ball the yardage is there on screen. The rangefinder you have to get your ball first and then use it, so if anything that is the one slowing up play.

 

[slowhand]

Are you joking? You can get your phone open and onto the GPS app while you're walking, so as soon as you get to your ball the yardage is there on screen. The rangefinder you have to get your ball first and then use it, so if anything that is the one slowing up play.

Not joking, no. Phone is in the bag on my cart so awkward to get out whilst walking, so would have to stop in any case. Laser is in a case that is kept unzipped during play, and kept closed by a small elastic strap, so it's arrive at ball, get laser out, power it up as I'm bringing it up to my eye, zap flag and read yardage, back in case and closed. I would say less than 10 seconds in all.