[A.G._Crockett]

Brad, that's a crock of sh*t.

There's no way your handicap went down because of the lazer.  It went down probably because you're putting better, or your swing got better or some other reason.

I don't know any halfway decent player who has a problem getting yardages.  Thus, for the better player, the lazer is a solution in search of a problem.  

...and let's make it a scotch game.  I get Kennedy.

Shivas,
You're looking at it from the wrong angle.  It isn't that I so much need to know the EXACT yardage that I have left.  But when I hit my gap wedge with a 3/4 swing and it goes +/- 90 yds., vs. 105 when I swing full vs. 83 or so with a 1/2 swing, then I just might get better over time.  All that stuff is a little easier to figure out when I knew that I was hitting the shot from 87 yds. and I am 10 feet past the pin...

I know you understand this, so don't get all dogmatic on me.

[Bill_McBride]

My experience is that any foresome that uses range finders saves fifteen minutes a round. We have carefully timed this.

To clarify, I assume you mean a foursome with FOUR  range finders saves 15 minutes a round.

A foursome with 1 range finder will not save 15 minutes a round.

Boy are you right about that.

Player without range finder:  "How far is this, anyway?"
Player with range finder: "I'll be right there, as soon I hit this shot."
Player #2 without range finder: "Hey, check mine too, will ya?"
Player with range finder: "You bet, as soon as I........."

Wash, rinse, repeat.  

[George Pazin]

I'm betting Brad's handicap went down simply because he increased his play from once a year to maybe 3 or 5 times.

Or maybe he switched out those butter knife blades he plays with.

 

Bill, I was under the impression the USGA said it was okay to use rangefinders on reported rounds as well.

[Brad Swanson]

Brad, that's a crock of sh*t.

There's no way your handicap went down because of the lazer.  It went down probably because you're putting better, or your swing got better or some other reason.

I don't know any halfway decent player who has a problem getting yardages.  Thus, for the better player, the lazer is a solution in search of a problem.  

...and let's make it a scotch game.  I get Kennedy.

Sorry bud, mano y mano, for pride and beverages after the round.  

A.G.'s last point of his last point is precisely how I shaved probably one to 2 strokes off of my index (the last time I had one).  It wasn't getting the yardages on the course, it was actually finding out during practice precisely how far I hit my wedges with a bag of shags that were the same balls I played with on the course. Inside {edit} Outside 120 yards +/- 5 yards isn't going to make a huge difference to my game.  I guess this point is a bit of a technicality, but you being a lawyer and all, you should appreciate that.  

Cheers,
Brad

[Dan Herrmann]

here's a huge SkyCaddie advantage - you can tell how far you hit your previous shot.  You can get yardages for each club pretty quickly, which will help your score.

You can also get carry yardages if you keep your eye on where your ball came down.

There's a sad flip side, though.  That 300 yard drive almost always turns out to be a shade under 250

[Sean_A]

This thread is balspheeeemus to golf played properly.  You lot will next ask designers to not bother with eye tricks because it means you will have to buy the biggest and best of these contraptions.  There should at the very minimum be a few club penalty for carrying one of these things.  Say a guy with a cheater device can only use 10 clubs.  The same should apply for a stinkin caddy as well.  Pretty soon, we can have players down to a few sticks and a free hand to carry a beer.  

I will never for the life of me understand why people want all this information.  You may as well be playing on a computer.  This is a continuing aspect of dumbing down the game - a slippery slope indeed.  

Ciao

[Bill_McBride]

This thread is balspheeeemus to golf played properly.  You lot will next ask designers to not bother with eye tricks because it means you will have to buy the biggest and best of these contraptions.  There should at the very minimum be a few club penalty for carrying one of these things.  Say a guy with a cheater device can only use 10 clubs.  The same should apply for a stinkin caddy as well.  Pretty soon, we can have players down to a few sticks and a free hand to carry a beer.  

I will never for the life of me understand why people want all this information.  You may as well be playing on a computer.  This is a continuing aspect of dumbing down the game - a slippery slope indeed.  

Ciao

Sean, I have been called a Luddite for expressing the same opinion.  

[Kalen Braley]

Shivas,

You've hit on a really important point here.. a 3-4% variance with a wedge is a heck of alot less than it is with a 4 iron in hand...

[Brad Swanson]

Dan Moore and Dick Daley:

the Langford Moreau thing is your shindig.  Will you please do the right thing and utterly cry downe:

1.  cheater lines

and

2.  range finders

and

3.  all other affronts to the game besides beer drinking

from this event?  

...including broomstick and belly putters

[Brad Swanson]

Dan Moore and Dick Daley:

the Langford Moreau thing is your shindig.  Will you please do the right thing and utterly cry downe:

1.  cheater lines

and

2.  range finders

and

3.  all other affronts to the game besides beer drinking

from this event?  

...including broomstick and belly putters

The above bold text are your words, not mine.

[A.G._Crockett]

Sean A.
"All that information" is yardage.  That's all.  What I originally posted was my admission that rangefinders are not only not a slower way to get yardage, but faster if used correctly, which most owners of the devices seem to do.

I used a demo in a round walking with three people riding.  I knew my yardage before they did every single time, and was ready to play when it was my turn every single time.  No pacing, no math, no checking the scorecard or pin sheet.  Point, shoot, hit.  Faster.  That's all, which is what Huckaby said all along.

Are you saying that you play without knowing and checking yardages?  That is the ONLY information that the rangefinder provides.  

[A.G._Crockett]

Sean A.
"All that information" is yardage.  That's all.  What I originally posted was my admission that rangefinders are not only not a slower way to get yardage, but faster if used correctly, which most owners of the devices seem to do.

I used a demo in a round walking with three people riding.  I knew my yardage before they did every single time, and was ready to play when it was my turn every single time.  No pacing, no math, no checking the scorecard or pin sheet.  Point, shoot, hit.  Faster.  That's all, which is what Huckaby said all along.

Are you saying that you play without knowing and checking yardages?  That is the ONLY information that the rangefinder provides.  

AGC

It would be a lie to say I don't use yardages - they can be hard to avoid on some courses.  More accurately, I don't go out of my way to find the info.  I would prefer if the info wasn't available because golf is more interesting that way.

Ciao  

Sean,
Then you would probably prefer that the golfers with whom you play who DO use yardages (which would be most, I think) get those yardages as quickly as possible so as not to slow you up and diminish your enjoyment.  I have come to believe that rangefinders serve that purpose better than pacing, and provide no additional information in the meantime.  That's all.

[Sean Leary]

For me the laser helps because I play a course with large greens where it is important to know how far up or back the hole location is. There were some holes with some pins we had been miscalculating for years how far back or up a certain pin was.

If you have the right bag, you keep it on the outside and it takes 15 seconds tops. It definitely speeds up play in my opinion, and like AG, I didn't like the idea at first.

Everyone I know that has a skycaddie wishes they had a laser. It seems sometimes it takes a while to lock in, and it only gives certain distances.

[John Kavanaugh]

Sean,

Does your course have the reflectors on the pins?  That does speed things up.

[Sean Leary]

JK,

It does. I also think after you use it for a bit you get quite adept with it, so that speeds it up as well. It took me a while, having the shakes and all

You are a good player, do you walk off exact yardages or ballpark? It seems like the better the player, the more he would use it effectively.

[John Kavanaugh]

I only ballpark yardages.  I grew up at a course that only had 150 yd bushes and exact yardages confused me for years.  Even now I ask caddies for only the yardage to the center of the green as I can not stand information overload.  I have a betting and tournament partner wit a rangefinder who know that I NEVER WANT TO HEAR HIM SAY HIS YARDAGE.

[Brent Hutto]

In support of my contention that even a mediocre golfer can benefit from knowing the distance to the hole, I sat down after each of my rounds this weekend and made a list of the distances of wedge shots I faced and the length of the resulting putt (or in one case not a putt, alas). I used a SkyCaddie GPS in my customary manner, strapped to the handle of my push-cart where I can glance at it as I pull the club. Keep in mind that I just looked at front/center/back distances and had to eyeball where the hole was located relative to those references.

Saturday

37 yards in Fairway to 4 feet (left), 1-putt
69 yards in Rough to 1 foot (short), 1-putt
104 yards in Rough to 48 feet (long right, above the hole), 2-putt
83 yards in Fairway to 8 feet (left), 2-putt
39 yards in Rough to 14 feet (long, above the hole), 3-putt
66 yards in Rough to 32 feet (short, below the hole), 2-putt
88 yards in Fairway to 16 feet (short left, above the hole), 3-putt


Sunday

50 yards in Rough to 18 feet (long left, above the hole), 2-putt
59 yards in Fairway to 5 feet (short, below the hole), 1-putt
80 yards in Fairway to 7 feet (short, below the hole), 2-putt
40 yards in Rough to 9 feet (short right, below the hole), 2-putt
15 yards in Rough to 4 feet (short, above the hole), 1-putt
110 yards in Rough to 22 feet (pin high right), 2-putt
93 yards in Fairway resulted in chunked shot missed green
36 yards in Fairway to 14 feet (long, below the hole), 2-putt
91 yards in Fairway to 10 feet (long left, above the hole), 2-putt

Now this was a weekend of hitting good wedge shots by my standards. But I'm now more convinced than ever that it makes a difference knowing the distance plus or minus a couple yards by using some sort of yardage reference. At those distances if I relied on just eyeballing the total distance, I doubt I'd be within give or take even five yards more than a couple times by accident. But an awful lot of those shots (nearly half) ended up within four yards of the hole.

[Adam Clayman]

What a pity you'all play'in on such soft canvas, and with no wind.

Are you sure what you are doing is golfing?

 

[Mike_Cirba]

Sorry, Huck...Sorry Dr. Childs...Sorry A.G.  (A.G...come away from the dark side)

Rangefinders do NOT speed up play, but do just the opposite.

A few weeks back I played with a rangeofile who insisted on measuring shots inside of 70 yards.

I had to resist the uncivilized urge to swipe it out of his hands with a defly swung sand wedge, and then blast it into 5000 pieces with a three wood.

[Phil McDade]

Brent:

I've only been on the verge of being a mediocre golfer, and I don't doubt that a rangefinder would help my game.

They still should be banned. Judging distances, and executing proper club selection and a swing based on that judgement, is -- in my view -- an essential skill in the game of golf. It shouldn't be augmented by exactitude in measurements derived from better and newer technology.

[Brad Swanson]

Guys,
   GCAers and rangefinders are like republican congressmen and hookers.  I think you get the picture, and don't ask me to spill the contents of my little black book.

Cheers,
Brad

[Mike_Cirba]

Brad,

Actually, super HUMUNGOUS headed drivers and GCAers are like Republican Congressmen and hookers.

They may rail against them, but each has one for personal use.  

Except me...but, I'm in the market.  

Someday, I'll get a new driver, as well.  

[jeffwarne]

Brent,
Any chance of you reporting on a weekend where you used no yardages on all shots inside 100 yards?
Obviously you'd have some reference (from knowing you were inside 100) as well as course familiarity-but the results might be interesting.
Although it would be hard to argue with the excellent results you posted ( given I have  rough idea of your game) I would like to see what happens if you used your eyes and senses to determine the swing needing to be made.(on the same course in similar conditions)

I do think marked sprinklers have SLOWED the game as players search for them----and that 150 posts or something vertical and visible allow a quick eyeball reference for those who want the best of both worlds.
So if yardage dependant players play faster with rangefinders, I'm all for them.

I really don't know how to hit a 167 yard shot but evidently I often do by letting my  eyes tell the body what to do.
I will usually reference the 150 post (when available)or a sprinkler I walk by  just to be sure there's no visual illusion.

I get a headache when I hear a front, middle,pin,uphill,wind, etc. yardage.
Maybe the NBA players would shoot better with lasers.

[Brad Swanson]

Guys,
   GCAers and rangefinders are like republican congressmen and hookers.  I think you get the picture, and don't ask me to spill the contents of my little black book.

Cheers,
Brad

Oh, what a crock of crap!  Rangefinders and super-serious, scorecard-and-pencil players, maybe.  But not GCAers in general.  The only use I can fathom for a rangefinder is as a gutted-out flask.

Crock-o-crap right back at you Dave.  Alas, loose lips sink ships, so the offending can rest easy.

Cheers,
Brad

[Brent Hutto]

Any chance of you reporting on a weekend where you used no yardages on all shots inside 100 yards?
Obviously you'd have some reference (from knowing you were inside 100) as well as course familiarity-but the results might be interesting.

Although it would be hard to argue with the excellent results you posted ( given I have  rough idea of your game) I would like to see what happens if you used your eyes and senses to determine the swing needing to be made.(on the same course in similar conditions)

Yes, I think that should be the next step. I'll try to get it done next weekend. Might just be one round, not sure I can make myself do it when I'm playing in the Sunday dogfight.

Maybe I'll also try making notes after a couple of my rounds in England next month. I obviously won't be carrying the GPS and I doubt I'll be playing with much yardage information at all at most of the courses.

I do think marked sprinklers have SLOWED the game as players search for them----and that 150 posts or something vertical and visible allow a quick eyeball reference for those who want the best of both worlds.
So if yardage dependant players play faster with rangefinders, I'm all for them.

I tend to agree. My teaching pro strongly suggested I get a rangefinder. I think he meant it more for practice (especially practicing wedges) than for use during a round. But I'm not patient enough to shoot laser distances when I'm playing so I got the SkyCaddie instead. If I couldn't keep it in view and just glance at it I would seldom if ever use it but it sure is nice to have the number right there next to my clubs when I go to choose one.

I really don't know how to hit a 167 yard shot but evidently I often do by letting my  eyes tell the body what to do. I will usually reference the 150 post (when available)or a sprinkler I walk by  just to be sure there's no visual illusion.

I get a headache when I hear a front, middle,pin,uphill,wind, etc. yardage.

If it's longer than about a full 7-iron range (which for me is 130-odd yards) knowing where the 150 is pretty much does it for me. The exception is when I have to lay up short of a water hazard or something where I like knowing for sure how close I can hit it.

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