Would You Own A Rangefinder?

[Jerry Kluger]

With this being the season of giving do you have a rangefinder on your wish list or would you give it as a gift to a golfer or do you feel strongly that it should not be part of the game?  I was told by my host at Sand Hills that any guest of his who brought a rangefinder would be asked to leave.  But then again, how many of us stilll use persimmon drivers?

[cary lichtenstein]

I fought it for a year, gave in, and now I use it on every hole. Speeds up the game and it is interesting to note that at times, you can be 8 to 10 yards off, especially at angles if you walk off from sprinkler heads v the rangefinder.

[Tom Huckaby]

Jerry:

I am so glad you asked.  See, the subject of rangefinders was debated rather strenuously when the USGA announced the rules change allowing for a local rule allowing their use... Many here called it the ruination of the game as we know it.  I countered that it was really much ado about nothing and that some would buy and use them, most wouldn't, and the game would go on as it has.

Which of course is exactly what's happened.  Seriously - how prevalent are the use of these?  And of those who do use them, how much are they slowing down the game or otherwise ruining anything?

I sure don't see much effect at all.

In any case to answer your question, sure I'd buy one these as a gift - for the right person - certainly not for most participants here.  I also don't have any need for one myself, other than it might be nice to have a really really good one so I don't have to rely on others for use in course rating... But no way do I need or want one for my playing of the game.  But some people do... and for them it would be a pretty nice and pretty expensive gift.

TH

[Pete Lavallee]

I fought it for a year, gave in, and now I use it on every hole. Speeds up the game and it is interesting to note that at times, you can be 8 to 10 yards off, especially at angles if you walk off from sprinkler heads v the rangefinder.

Cary,

Has this usage lowered your scores any?

[Jim Franklin]

I have one, but usually don't bring it with me. I use for practice more than anything else so I can "dial in" my short game. When I do bring it, it actually speeds the game up as you don't need to hunt down sprinkler heads.

[JR Potts]

Jerry:

I am so glad you asked.  See, the subject of rangefinders was debated rather strenuously when the USGA announced the rules change allowing for a local rule allowing their use... Many here called it the ruination of the game as we know it.  I countered that it was really much ado about nothing and that some would buy and use them, most wouldn't, and the game would go on as it has.

Which of course is exactly what's happened.  Seriously - how prevalent are the use of these?  And of those who do use them, how much are they slowing down the game or otherwise ruining anything?

I sure don't see much effect at all.

In any case to answer your question, sure I'd buy one these as a gift - for the right person - certainly not for most participants here.  I also don't have any need for one myself, other than it might be nice to have a really really good one so I don't have to rely on others for use in course rating... But no way do I need or want one for my playing of the game.  But some people do... and for them it would be a pretty nice and pretty expensive gift.

TH

I got one late last year.  I don't use it all the time but it sure does help when playing new courses.  It also saves a ton of time as I rarely ever look for a sprinkler head now.

[Mike_Cirba]

I'll own a Rangefinder when they pry it IN to my cold, dead hands.  

[Jerry Kluger]

Do those who have them feel that it eliminates the ground game and other strategies and makes you focus strictly on target golf?

[Tom Huckaby]

Cary/Jim/Ryan - where were you all when I was being shouted down as the Satan of golf for contemplating the exact effect these have proven to have for each of you?  

As I said at the time, I can see SOME people getting over-enamored with them and shooting distances they don't really need, and perhaps that slowing down play.  But even these yahoos would tire of this pretty quickly... and for the vast majority of users it would go as it has for you.

TH

[Jim Franklin]

Huck -

I must have been working like I have been the past week . Not much time to participate right now.

[Andy Troeger]

I've played a couple of rounds with people that had them, it does really speed up play and by the end of the round I found myself thinking they're not a bad gizmo to have.

This was after I figured out which way to point them. My first effort was to point the darn thing at my head and wonder why it wouldn't give me an accurate yardage    Probably shouldn't post that online, but gotta have a little humor about one's self right?

[SL_Solow]

I was given a sky caddie last summer.  I don't use it all the time.  If you are on a listed course, there is no need to shoot distances as it is a GPS system which is always on.  Accordingly, no delay and no need to pace anything off.  No real impact on my game as far as strategy, I know how I play and no machine is going to change my thinking.  It makes it a little easier to figure out a new course but al in all I much prefer a good caddie.

[Paul Perrella]

Rangefinders for me are in the same category as mulligans, lift, clean and cheat and "winter rules".

[Bob_Huntley]

I am somewhat perplexed by the aura of sanctimonious comment made by some of our purists here. They put down the use of a Rangefinder but extol the virtues of using a caddie...what the (expletive deleted) is a caddie if not a rangegiver?

Bob

[Jim Franklin]

I bet Bobby Jones would have used one if the rules allowed it. That is all I am going to say about that.

[George Pazin]

Can't say that I care much if anyone else uses them - I don't see a difference between a caddy, a sprinkler head, or a laser finder - but I personally like eye-balling yardages.

Then again, I'm not very good....

[Andy Troeger]

I am somewhat perplexed by the aura of sanctimonious comment made by some of our purists here. They put down the use of a Rangefinder but extol the virtues of using a caddie...what the (expletive deleted) is a caddie if not a rangegiver?

Bob

Bob,
That makes two of us; they're just a better way of finding out a yardage. I'd much rather people use one of them than stand there pacing off sprinkler heads with a pin sheet. I'm sure there are the purists who would prefer not to have a yardage at all, but I'm not that good as it is!

[Dan_Callahan]

I would love to have one. The problem is convincing my wife that I need to spend still MORE money on golf. As far as she's concerned, it's a bottomless pit. Probably right . . .

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

I have one but rarely use it. I really like steppng off distances as part of the pre shot routine. I will only use it when in the middle of nowhere with no clue as to distance on a strange course.

[John Foley]

The GPS units clipped to your bag are ridiculously easy to use and definetly better than the laser point & shoots. It's fine in my mind.

I really don't understand the animosity people perceive w/ these.

[Paul Jones]

I bought the Laser Link since at the club I play has the flag poles with the reflexors and the yardages are marked to the front of the green. However, I leave it in my locker and only use it there.

[Craig Disher]

Non-serious answer: Only if it came with a GCA logo.

Serious answer: No

[wsmorrison]

I have no desire to get one.  Not because I am a purist or traditionalist, I just don't like them and don't feel like taking them out and putting them back in the bag.  Empirically, I find I play better without any yardage indicators or yardage provided by a caddie and just go by feel.  I also find I will play different kinds of shots without knowing yardage...ground and different aerial trajectories.  If I'm given yardage, I find my tendency is to play a narrower range of shot types.

One of my home courses has no yardage indicators of any kind.  When I walk and carry I play by feel with some knowledge of yardage from landmark trees.  It is a lot of fun that way.  Our other course has 150yd birdhouses on most holes and the sprinkler heads have yardages to the middle of the green.  These are spaced about 20 yards apart.

In reality, amateurs of my ilk do not hit their shots so precisely that the exact yardage is all that important anyway.  I can hit a full 9 iron 145 yards or I can chunk it 90 yards and ocassionally rocket it 170.  I can really stink and not having exact yardage gives me less to think about and something else to blame after I foozle    

[Geoffrey Childs]

I've been looking into a skycaddie.  I don't like the idea of taking out a rangefinder for a shot and then putting it back into a case and then repeating the process 40 more times in a round.

I pace off yardages and/or ask a caddie the yardage anyway so I don't see the harm in knowing a yardage to a hazard or green by glancing down at a device clipped to my bag.  Tons of courses are currently mapped.

Mike Cirba - don't ask me for a yardage when we get together next year if I get one  

[Jerry Kluger]

If you received a pin sheet before the round telling you the location of the flag would you still use the rangefinder?