[Pete Buczkowski]

I would personally love to have no yardage markers anywhere through the green, only a simple marker at each tee giving overall distance.  However, the cat's been out of the bag far too long, which is too bad because those with good distance perception have no advantage.  Pity.

Yet, while it may be nigh impossible for a public course to go markerless, as has already been discussed here, there are still those few private courses, such as Friar's Head and The Institute here in northern California (completed in 1999) that rely on member knowledge, and in the case of The Institute, caddies, one of which accompanies each and every player.

Neal:

I believe this distinction only exists when you are playing in a competition.  When you are playing by yourself or in a single group, there is no reason that you *have* to view the yardages on the sprinkler head.  If some players don't want to know the exact distances, so be it - just don't peek.  

Of course, in competition, you can't set those rules since they are impossible to enforce.

BTW, what is the difference if you simply rely on your caddie, or just look at the yardages yourself?  How does that add any skill to the game?

Pete

[blasbe1]

I'm a feel player with a strong appreciation for minimalism and/or the natural in golf and golf courses.  But mark the damn sprinkler heads, there going to be there anyway.  Take the 150 stakes and burn them, tear out the 200, 150 and 100 yd plates, but mark the sprinkler heads.  

There is a definite skill in visually determing distances and I often practice shots inside of a 100 yds without looking for the yardage just to develop feel.  Plus on a hilly course you've always got the elevation change factor, and then there is always wind to consider.  My pt. is that there is still enough art left in the game for the USGA to require that all sprinkler heads be marked.  Call it the one constant in the playing field.  There is nothing more frustrating than playing a new course, where there are no caddies and your stuck on cart paths only, walking across the fairway with half your bag in your hand and not being able to find a marked sprinkler.  

The game is difficult enough with exact yardage!!
 

[Bill_McBride]

Neal, "The Institute?"  Where, what, why?  Please brief me on "The Insitute."  That doesn't sound like a golf course, sounds like a mental hospital!

[Mark_Fine]

Guys,
In my opinion, every course ever built had yardage markers of some kind.  Who are we kidding?  You don't think the golfers playing in the 1800's for example knew how far they were hitting the golf ball?  They might not have had yardages "officially marked on the course" but the players who routinely played those courses, had their own markers and knew how far they were hitting the golf ball.  

Frankly, I think the only players that courses without "yardage markers" would hinder are the players who don't know the golf course.  But then they will have a caddy so what is the difference?
Mark

[Doug Wright]

Modern Courses Without Yardage Markers?

How about the Sheep Ranch?

Best,

[Mike_Cirba]

Forrest;

The stone "yardage marks" on The Old Course preceeded golf by a few millenia.

Essentially, they are mileage markers laid by the ancient Romans for navigational purposes.

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