[Scott Coan]

What is the cognoscenti’s take on distance markers?

Those pictures of Black Mesa made me think about the black & white barber pole in the center of the fairway for what looks to like the 150 yard marker.

I know there are those that don’t want any at all but that to me is too extreme.  My take is that they are a valuable tool, especially for those that have never played a particular course before.  When they can be viewed from the tee they allow the player to evaluate where they need to be with their tee shot in order to have a reasonable chance at par/birdie.  They also speed play in that the distance calculation is going to be made by most players (like it or not) so the quicker this can be accomplished the better.

Of course, there are those that will also say that they are visual pollution if they can be seen from beyond a certain distance.

I play on a links course that currently utilizes a white inlayed stone in the center of the fairway.  In typical linksland style, the terrain is very undulating so these markers are only of use when standing practically on top of them.  So players are constantly wandering around the center of fairways in search of distance.

We are in the process of starting an evaluation of what we should do with our distance markers and I’d like to hear what the consensus is in this regard for links courses, particularly some of the classic UK links.  What do they use?  What do you reckon is the best?  

Thanks!

[Kyle Harris]

THe barber's pole or a white disc at 150 yards from the center of the green. That's about all I need/would like to see.

[Brad Klein]

I'm a big fan of dead or dying spuce trees at about 157 out on one side of the fairway and 148 on the other. Gives nice definition to the fairways.

 

[Jeff_Mingay]

Nice one, Klein  

[Craig Sweet]

The dead spruce...nice!!!

Also like the "dwarf" mugho pine that is now 10'x10'

[Joe Hancock]

I'm not of the "NO YARDAGE MARKERS!" crowd, but I definitely don't like anything poking up out of the ground...trees, barber poles, colored stakes, venetian blinds.....to indicate yardage.

Joe

[George_Bahto]

on a number of the "upscale" courses: I vote for "none" or just yardage book with fairway bunker yardages marked

on the rest, 3 plates: 100 - 150 - 200

...... so do we really need a "231" sprinkler head on courses .....   and who can use half-wedge-79 yardages or 57 yards from the green?

[Jim Thompson]

On a public track, I prefer the 150yd barber pole with a kirby type plate center fairway at 100, 200 and 250.  The 150 pole gives first timers something to hit at and, in my opinion, as my grand dad always said - aim small miss small. If you add a good yardage book -all is well.

Reluctantly, we added lasered yardages on sprinkler heads and provide a tourny style pin sheet daily.

In my perfect world, a course would give its members at the time of their first round a yardage book full of blank "routing drawings" - no center lines, which a player would then fill out on their own, with no marking on the course anywhere.  I doubt that will ever happen though.  You also need to preface my opinion with the fact that I don't think traps should have rakes nor should they be maintained more than once a month.

Cheers!

JT

Afterthought-  I recall actually doing a search on yardage markers as the fist time I found GCA.  One of the old threads is actually how we made our decision on how to go.  GCA does have an impact in the real world.  Thought you'd like to know.

[Nate Golomb]

As a college player, I have practiced and learned to become more precise with my yardages (of course it doesn't always go as planned) but I don't necessarily need to see all the sprinklers marked, just a 100, 150, 200, and 250 on par 5's is fine...but many of us have just grown so accustomed to it that we expect it (how foolish we are)...what did they do 100 years ago? The lost art of the yardage book in this age of lasered yardages and GPS **SIGH**

I cannot count how many times I've paced off a yardage and then look at the hole and think "that does not look that far or it looks farther than the number" Then feel takes over and sometimes it works out and sometimes not, finding that balance is key...But the point is, feel is JUST as important as the yardage because if you're standing at 125 yards with a wedge in your hands and it just feels like you should be standing up a 6 iron and running it on, you're probably not going to hit a very good shot with that wedge...

Jim ~ I also think that the average weekend golfer playing a public track like ours with lasered sprinklers and daily hole location sheets is FAR too concerned with finding himself/herself the exact yardage. Yet another explanation for slow play across the country because these players think they're better than they actually are, finding it necessary to know that they're 138 yrds. to the pin instead of approximating 140...More than 50% of the time they're going to end up short anyway because they don't hit the perfect shot like they expect to...Just something else to think about I guess...

~The New Guy (Nate)

[James Bennett]

my club still has 150 metre candle pines (not long for this world) and distances on sprinkler heads.  We thought about posts in the rough at 100m, 150m and 200m.  Then we thought about those pop-up markers in the middle of the fairway.  Then we saw those pop-up markers.  Then we decided to listen to advice given previously.

The Advice.  If you must have distance markers, make them as unobtrusive as possible.  That probably means distances on the sprinkler heads.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Most of the UK's championship lionks now have fairway watering, so sprinkler heads are usually adorned with distances.  Others tend to rely on a discreet green or blue stick at the side of the fairway indicating 150 yards (usually to the centre of the green, but sometimes to the front edge).  At Wilmslow, an inland course with plenty of trees, a discreet club emblem (a black crow on a yellow background) is hung on the trunk of a tree 150 yards from the green.  When I grew up it was often the practice to have a post alongside the fairway at 200 yards out from the tee.

With so much public and visitor play in the UK it is in the interests of everyone to have some sort of helpful indication of distance, such as a 150 yard post at the side of the fairway.  Too much information just slows play down.  Conwy's new sprinkler heads do not have the distance on them, but the 150 yard posts are retained.

I don't like the idea of aiming posts except on blind holes or where there may be confusion, such as two different fairways sharing a common teeing ground.  But it is the player's responsibility to have the post taken out of the ground before playing the shot, or if the post is hit and the ball bounces off into perdition or is prevented from running a further 50 yards it is simply rub of the green.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Generally I'm happy with the posts at the side and they should be there at 200, 150 and 100. Each to have a small ammount of colour to speed things up.

If that causes you some heartache then avoid West Berkshire GC (nothing to do with the famous Berkshire). This course which makes it into the Peugeot guide, for being long and best enjoyed from a cart, has helpfully planted all their new trees at 3m centres to help players count off distances from the markers!

[Brent Hutto]

Something I can see from a distance (post, etc.) set 150 yards from the center of the green is a big help--preferably in the rough to one side or another of the fairway rather than out in the middle. A nice printed and bound yardage guide with distance to the bunkers and hazards is nice. Any distance information much beyond that is overkill for my inconsistent golf game. Maybe on certain Par 5's where the 150 post won't be visible from certain angles or something you could add another post at 250.

[John Kirk]

I like sprinkler heads with exact yardages to the center of the green.  Not only are barber poles prominent and unnatural looking, but more time is required to step off the distance to the green when the yardage marks are 50 yards apart.  Usually only 10-15 steps are required to find a marked sprinkler head.

I like having exact distance.  I can control my short irons enough so it matters.

[Kyle Harris]

Slightly off-topic, but has anyone every seen sprinkler heads from outside say... 230 yards that read things like:
"No shot"
"Lay up"
"It's a 2-iron, Mr. Woods"
etc.

[Jason Topp]

I disagree with the viewpoint that yardage markers should not exist or should be sparingly used.  I also disagree with the viewpoint that judging distance is an integral part of the game.  If it was at one time, that died 40 years ago.

I want yardage on every sprinkler head all the way to the green or some other means to be able to quickly figure out my yardage.  I am by no means a precise player, but I know within 5 yards how far I generally fly each iron.  Similarly, I have a pretty good idea how far my 1/2 wedges go when I hit them properly.  

Diagonal hazards or fairways become a guess without yardages.  Its a little tough to make a "strategic" decision when one does not know the challenge one faces.

[Bob_Huntley]

Kyle Harris,

The best one, "Forget about it."

Bob

[mike_malone]

 Kyle,
    The other day I played with a guest at Rolling Green who hit  a very good drive on our long par five #9. He walked over to the nearest sprinkler head which had a plate on it. He looked at it with a "I wonder how far it is ; I think I can get there " look. Then he smiled , because it said "dreamer".

   His host and I both expected this response.

[Mike_Golden]

Kyle, Bob:

The best two I've seen- Pinehurst #1, 18 hole, uphill long par 4-Bill Vostinak and I looked at a sprinkler head probably 260 from the greeen which said, 'You da man'

I've also seen one, although I can't remember where, that said, 'No Way, Jose'

I'm all in favor of distance markers on the ground, the easiest ones I've seen that work for me are the Kirby markers at 100, 125, 150, 175, and 200.  They don't get in the way and help me make up for my total inability to understand yardage books in real time.

[Kyle Harris]

Mayday,

Ahh, the ninth... Driver-Driver-7iron for me last time: What a hole! Next I'm there I'll look for those plates... that still had to be at least 300 yards out, no?

Did he actually think he had a shot? With that sloping fairway? The only flat spot, if I remember correctly is on the right side... in the rough.

My local muni added 50 and 250 yard markers to the course a few years back while I was in High School. The running joke on the golf team became, "I need my 50 yard club." Since we couldn't figure out at the time why in the world they were needed.

I guess I don't see the point, from a teaching perspective, of the shorter or longer distance markers. I guess with the advent of the full swing lob-wedge fromt he fairway, you need to know if you're 75 yards out.... but come on, the average bogey golfer hits a tee shot about 210 yards... does he really need to know if he's 240 from the green, and then 30?

[Pete Lavallee]

I'll go with Kirby markers as the best also. You're always within 12.5 paces of one, their on the side of the fairway like 90% of the players who use them and their pyramid shape makes them visable to the 10% of players lucky enough to be in the middle. Very unobtrusive and with one every 25 yards from 250 to 75 yards they cover almost every possiblity.

[Tim McManus]

I think Kirbys on the sides combined with a 150 pole in the middle of the fairway speeds up play and gives all the information any club player should ever need.  take out the poles if you must, but I would much prefer people take 2 seconds to look at a pole than god knows how long to study a yardage book before hitting a tee shot.

[mike_malone]

 Kyle,

   The marker is on the right side of the fairway. My guess is 280 ish. I guess it could be updated to " A good 3 wood-Tiger".

[Kirk Gill]

In a best-case-scenario, I like the idea of golf with no carts or yardage markers, where repeated play would yield the knowledge of where to hit it, and what club to use, etc. I like the idea of a golf course design that might trick me - the lay of the land convincing me that a bunker is right next to the green when it's 50 yards short, or that a fairway landing area is narrow when it's really wide...........

So much for fantasy land. As ludicrous as it is to watch a 23 handicapper pace of his distance from a marked sprinkler head, it's part of the game now. I like sprinkler markers because they're unobtrusive, and the old fashioned 150-yard stick sitting calmly 10 yards outside the fairway. A course I play uses a dwarf pine (gasp !) for 150 yard markers, and I haven't managed to hit behind one of them yet.........

[Steve Curry]

I'm a big fan of dead or dying spuce trees at about 157 out on one side of the fairway and 148 on the other. Gives nice definition to the fairways.

 

Brad,

I prefer a stump at those dimensions..

Steve

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()