Range Finders

[Peter Pallotta]

On caddies: with the possible exceptions of when he had one of his sons on the bag, can anyone remember Jack Nicklaus ever asking Willie Peterson or Angelo Argea even for yardage or a club suggestion, let alone having a single Spieth-Greller type 'discussion' with them? Simpler (and I'd suggest kinder and more generous) times: Jack paid them a weekly salary + a percentage of the winnings, and in return asked of them almost nothing at all.

On range finders: AG is probably right, and I should probably get one soon. But in the meantime: when I'm in the fairway I do pretty well with the 100-150-200 yard markers, and when I'm way off the fairway I use the 2 club rule, ie I estimate what club I need, then realize I need one club more, and then I factor in my unconscious pride and ego and add one more club on top of that -- if I first think it's a 7 I know that I should use a 5 iron instead!

[Dan_Callahan]

I love having a range finder on a course I've never played before. For example, last weekend I played at Lake Sunapee, a Donald Ross course in NH. A number of holes had a creek cutting across the fairway. Using a range finder to know that it was 250 or 270 or 290 to reach the creek made a world of difference in club selection.


Even with a caddy, I would still use my range finder ... or my caddy would use it. Where a GOOD caddy is irreplaceable, in my opinion, is on the greens. On a course like Shinnecock, where the greens are super fast and sloped, I relied on my caddy to give me the read. Same has been true on courses out in Colorado, where the valley effect of a bunch of courses makes it appear (to my eye) like some of the putts break uphill. I learned to just trust what my caddy told me.