Range Finders & obsession with a #.....

[Section ThirtyOne]

Wouldn't pacing off the distance take just as much time as lasering the yardage? Perhaps it just comes down to preference.

More time. I can pull my range finder, laser the distance and put it away in less than 10 seconds.

[petvan]

How often do people who have no idea how far they hit the ball or are all over the place need to be "dialed in" to the yard?

I'm a range finder guy. Walk to ball, click on range finder, know yardage to pin in 10 seconds or less. MUCH faster than running around looking for sprinkler heads, wondering where pin is, pacing off yardage etc etc. It's honestly the fastest way to gauge your distance in my books.

Also use GameGolf and know my yardages pretty well. Many times at 150, see pin is 135. This is a club for most. It matters.

P

[Marty Canuck]

Wouldn't pacing off the distance take just as much time as lasering the yardage? Perhaps it just comes down to preference.

Been said a few times already but I'll agree. I already have my finder in hand as I approach my ball. Sight. Click, 2 seconds yardage is known. Club selected. hit it.

[gotogolf]

As said if you want one then all the power to you. I didn't even say it slowed down the game. I just get a little grin thinking about all the players who think they can hit it within a 2 yard window that they thus need the exact yardage.

[Ignatius Reilly]

When I used to run, I bought a heart rate monitor and seriously looked at a GPS watch to track my runs.

A friend, with much much more discretionary income didn't consider either - he asked "how much faster do you think those will make you? You should save your money and train more".

In a similar vein, can anyone say their HC has dropped because they bought a rangefinder? If so, by how much?

Note: This in no way takes away the joy of buying new toys.

[petvan]

As said if you want one then all the power to you. I didn't even say it slowed down the game. I just get a little grin thinking about all the players who think they can hit it within a 2 yard window that they thus need the exact yardage.

How precise is enough though? If you can have it close to exact (you can still dork up a range finder yardage) why would you not do that? For me, it takes less time to get a good yardage than it does to get a "close enough" one, so the RF is a time saver for me. Anyway, seems a bit of a troll at this point.

[Bellyhungry]

Late to the game...

I don't have a range finder but my playing partners generally do. They are more than happy to help get my distance for me.

I am not good enough to so-called dial in my distance, but it certainly help with my decision.

[Fore Warned]

When I used to run, I bought a heart rate monitor and seriously looked at a GPS watch to track my runs.

A friend, with much much more discretionary income didn't consider either - he asked "how much faster do you think those will make you? You should save your money and train more".

In a similar vein, can anyone say their HC has dropped because they bought a rangefinder? If so, by how much?

Note: This in no way takes away the joy of buying new toys.

I used a Garmin S2 to get a handle on the distances I could achieve with my irons. I carry a card in my back pocket with measures of wedge distances for pitches of varying backswing length, as recommended by Dave Petlz in his book on the short game. I don't pull out the chart as often as I used to, as I am getting better at using the measure from the S2 without reference.

Has it improved my HC? I don't know for sure, but I am getting better at club selection from 160 yards in. I have only been at this game for about 6 years, so I have found this helpful. Perhaps someone who has been playing longer is better at just eyeballing things.

[Giller31]

Well I found one way that using a range finder increases the pace of play...

Playing Indian Wells today with a friend. By the end of #1 we already catch up to the group in front of us. As I was on the green, I was kind of wondering why they hadn't teed off yet on #2 (tee deck is in close proximity to #1 green). They finally hit and we drive up to the tee and stand there waiting and watching them. One, (in classic style) they were playing from the blues and sprayed their balls all over. Two, which was a head scratcher, there were 4 guys....in 3 carts. So yes, 2 singles in their own carts which you would think would help speed things up and gawd only knows how they were let out this way by the proshop and/or starter. We see one of the singles who has his ball in the fairway, has his cart parked on the cart path proceeds to walk to his ball which is a good 15 yards away. Laser his target, walks back to his cart and grabs his club and then walks back to his ball to hit.

I look at my friend and say "is this guy for real? They know it's not cart path only right?"

We finish hole #2 and they are still on #3 tee when we drive up. They don't acknowledge that we're a twosome and offer to let us play through. Fine, no problem. Finish off their drives and drive away. Only hit their drives about 170-180 yds, which again begs the question as to why you're playing from the blues, but whatever.

We proceed to see a similar thing as hole #2. Buddy with his range finder parks his cart a good 10 yds away from his ball and walks over with his range finder, goes back to get his club, walks back and hits.

My friend and I look at each other and decide "eff this!" we are not sitting behind these clowns all day. We drive by them and move on to the next hole. As we approached them, we slowed down being mindful that someone may be hitting and didn't want to create lots of cart noise and one guy sitting in his cart looks over and says "coming up to get a peek of the hole?" Me: "uh, no we're getting ahead of you guys".

Clearly it's not the tools, it's the operators. But for the love of humanity people, have a little awareness of your surroundings.

OK, rant over. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[hoganapexplus]

The one I use is an older one that I made the file myself so I know that it is correct front, middle, back. I have practiced enough that it does make a difference. Jeffc makes a great point, off by 5 yds you are putting outside of reasonable make distance.

[Benz]

Well I found one way that using a range finder increases the pace of play...

Clearly it's not the tools, it's the operators. But for the love of humanity people, have a little awareness of your surroundings.

OK, rant over. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

As you said, the rangefinder and its operator really didn't have much to do with these guys being slow. It could have been worse. He could have driven his cart around looking for a marked sprinkler head, then paced it to his ball, then went to his cart to get a club, then walked back to his ball, hit his shot and walked back to the cart. Maybe the rangefinder actually saved some time.....

[Giller31]

As you said, the rangefinder and its operator really didn't have much to do with these guys being slow. It could have been worse. He could have driven his cart around looking for a marked sprinkler head, then paced it to his ball, then went to his cart to get a club, then walked back to his ball, hit his shot and walked back to the cart. Maybe the rangefinder actually saved some time.....

No he had everything to do with these guys being slow.....

[WestendStew]

In a similar vein, can anyone say their HC has dropped because they bought a rangefinder? If so, by how much?

Lowered my handicap? Perhaps, but since I'm a new golfer occasionally taking lessons, still working on my swing it's difficult to attribute any one change to any given improvement.

What I will say, however; there are a lot of people out there with absolutely no comprehension of their actual distances. A co-worker of mine has been playing for 25 ish years and I'm convinced he has no idea how many actual yards he can hit any of his clubs. When we've played, several times he's asked me for front/middle/back, I've given it to him and he usually comes up way short. So he told me he doesn't want distances anymore.

Seems he over estimates the distance to the pin in any given situation, pulls the club he thinks goes that distance and lands it. He's gotten good enough at compensating for the lack of actual distances it just works for him.

But he still thinks his 6 iron goes 160 when in reality it's more like 145. But it's ok, because when he's just inside 150 he thinks he's 160 out, pulls the 6 and sticks the green. Who am I to argue?

[Bern]

When I used to run, I bought a heart rate monitor and seriously looked at a GPS watch to track my runs.

A friend, with much much more discretionary income didn't consider either - he asked "how much faster do you think those will make you? You should save your money and train more".

In a similar vein, can anyone say their HC has dropped because they bought a rangefinder? If so, by how much?

Note: This in no way takes away the joy of buying new toys.

Love me some toys!! I definitely think they help, but if you are not striking the ball consistently then the odds of them doing you any good get smaller fast. If your dispersion is all over the place then it's kind of pointless until such a time you dial in that 1 shot. Then, at least in your mind, it's totally worth that $400 device.

[Cdntac]

I believe that my Golfshot app has helped lower my score and allows me to play faster. I quickly glance at it as I arrive at my ball, usually only noting the centre of the green distance, and select my club. I have about a ten yard gap between clubs so it doesn't take me long to look at the pin position or green (all carry, elevated green, etc) and hit away.