[Dean Stokes]

......while playing.

I have wanted to ask this question to many of you since came on GCA.

I just looked at the very impressive photo tour from Frank Pont's trip to the UK. Unbelievable. Many more of you take great photographs of golf courses and post them for us to view.

How on earth do you enjoy your round of golf with your fellow players when you are constantly taking photographs

I have recently taken my camera on golf outings and it invariably does not get used after the 3rd hole. I cannot concentrate on my game, the match or the partaking in conversations with the group.

How do you all manage this and enjoy your day? Thank you.

[Joe Bausch]

Dean, you ask a very good question.  I may be very unusual in that I can walk a course in under 4h and still take about 150+ photos, which I think is enough to make a nice photo album (if you look at the state of Pennsylvania on Frank's site, which I think has more submissions than any other state, you'll notice nearly all originated from my camera).  I found taking photos is about the only way for me to nearly totally remember a course.

I carry a little "point and shoot" Canon IS800 that fits into my pants/shorts pocket no problem.  But as those who have played with me can attest, I do walk a bit faster than most, and don't waste much time over the ball. 

And I know I'm not invisible taking photos when I play in a group, but I've had more than a few people say "gosh, I knew you were taking pics, but I didn't know you took that many.... how did you do it?".  Well, it isn't that hard.  And I hope it doesn't distract my playing partners nor keep me from chatting with them about the course.

[Wayne_Freedman]

Well, Dean...it depends on your level of OCD, and ability to cope with it.

As a friend and professional shooter once said, "You're in trouble when you stop playing, and keep taking pictures."
That has not happened, yet, but it's tempting.

I generally take a photo of the card at the beginning of each hole, for reference.
If the tees shot looks interesting, I take that. If the approach is good, I take that, too.
If the green has interesting angles or features, I take quickies of those, as well.
Basically, when using a point and shoot, I document my round.
Hold the camera high, and give yourself as much elevation as possible.
For casual shots, try Sony's DSC w-150, a point-and-shoot w/ the equivalent of a 28mm lens. Don't worry about zooms on such cameras. Take wide over long focal lengths.
 
For more serious shooting, I carry two lenses with my Nikons. The most versatile is an 18-200 mm zoom. Very crisp.
The second is an 11-16mm wide angle from Tokina. It's the first non-Nikon lens I purchased 55 years, and worth every penny. This is a helluva lens. Have stood on top of carts, looking down with God's Eye Views.


Bottom line...if shooting becomes part of your pre-shot routine, nobody notices. I might add...the photos are better without people, however, so pick your moments. Walk fast, or linger just a touch.

Lightroom works wonders.

Here is a link to some of those casual shots.

http://picasaweb.google.com/wayne.freedman/FavoriteGolfPhotos#

[Frank Pont]

Dean, I find making pictures while playing has become a second nature. There is so much time between your shots that it actually is quite easy to make them without losing concentration. Typical picas are tee shot wide and zoom, pics of green from landing area, pics of relevant or beautiful bunkers, pics of the green from 50 and 25 yards and a pic looking back over the green. At all of these locations you will be standing still, waiting for your co-players.

I use the latest Canon compact camera, the IXUS 980 with 15 MP. It is very small and very reliable and if set on Automatic delivers the goods 99% of the time. I put it without protection in one of my golfbag pockets, and haven't yet had problems doing this (I shoot about 10,000 pics a year, so I replace the IXUS about every year anyways...). I know Paul Turner walks with a full camera, but I find that the quality difference is too small to have the discomfort of a full camera.

Wayne has a point though that you should try to limit the people in the pics, which only is possible if you walk fast or choose your angles.

The toughest times making course pics is when you are playing very poorly and are in the woods all the time. In that case your pictorial will have some weird angles to the greens etc.

[Scott Warren]

As many have said, there are stock shots that you can generally get while waiting to tee off, hit your approach or putt, and I play quickly, so even if I want to get a shot from both sides of the fairway, I usually can without holding anyone up.

The toughest times making course pics is when you are playing very poorly and are in the woods all the time. In that case your pictorial will have some weird angles to the greens etc.

Funny you say that. I wanted to ask Kyle Henderson what he shot at Panmure, becaue a lot of his pics in that thread are like "here's the approach to 6 from the left rough", and there's shoulder-high hay dominating the foreground of the shot!

[James Boon]

Dean,

I often play golf on my own if I've had to travel a distance or am on holiday with my wife who doesn't play, so that makes it easy to take pictures. If I'm playing with friends then I can easily take shots while waiting for others to play, or just after my own shot if I'm the first to play. However, if I'm playing in a reasonably serious competition, or with guys I dont know too well, I will usually only take a few pictures of the round rather than a full record.

I find that I try to not be too bothered about whether I manage to get a pricture of everything or not. The moment you suddenly try to take photos of everything you will suddenly find that some people notice you doing it more, then it could get on their nerves a bit. However, I still usually manage to get a good record.

I also find it interesting to take pictures of interesting features or old bunkers or stuff like that. God is in the detail, as Mies used to say.

Oh, and playing golf with other slightly crazy people who want to take photos while they play, also helps 

Cheers,

James

[Jason Topp]

Dean:

I have to choose between pictures or golf.  I cannot focus on both.

[Wade Whitehead]

It only works for me if I play twice in a day and take photos during the second round.

WW

[Anthony Gray]

  Very good topic. I don't see how Kyle Henderson does it. It does take you out of your game. I plan to do A hole by hole photo tour of Chambers Bay. I went back to take the pictures.

  Anthony

[Phil McDade]

It hurts my game (which is saying alot, considering how bad my game is...)

But, since I stopped keeping score several years ago, it bothers me less (still bothers me, but less...)

I find golf courses more interesting as examples of how land and features can be used to play the game, than as a test of how I play it.

And I remember courses alot better, having snapped dozens of pictures of them. I also deliberately look for interesting parts of courses -- long views across holes, unusual land forms and such -- that I used to ignore when paying attention to my game and score.

I try, really hard, to not let picture-taking interfere with other's games. But I can imagine in some cases it has, but I try to avoid it and avoid having my camera become the focus on what I do -- but something I do quickly when there is time.

I think taking pictures of courses has deepened my understanding of golf architecture.

[Dean Stokes]

Thank you for your replies. Standing on top of golf carts though...........!!!!! sounds like an injury waiting to happen

I have managed to get some good photos lately but just very sporadic. ie, hole 1 then hole 6 then maybe #14. no consistency like some here.

Then of course you have to get them from the camera to this site - that's a whole different thread!!!!

[Dan Herrmann]

Joe Bausch is the king of this.

He did make some errors in his post, though.  He IS the fastest walker I've ever played along, and he hits the ball a ton so he doesn't need a whole lot of shots.  Gives him time to take great photos.

Oh yeah -when I played with him at French Creek this year, he had an eagle-2 on the 9th hole.  Lots of time for pics when you don't need to bother putting

[Joe Bausch]

Then of course you have to get them from the camera to this site - that's a whole different thread!!!!

Dean, since the overhaul of the site and the fact that pictures wider than 800 pixel don't get displayed 'correctly', a nice benefit of this is that most 800-pixel-wide pictures will be less than 300k and are acceptable to be hosted on GCA.com.  Yeah, there is a limit of photos per post (I can't remember if it is 5 or 10), but that isn't a real big deal.  So, you don't have to mess with photobucket or some equivalent site if you really don't want to.  With that being said, you'll find hosting your photos off-site is really the best option, IMHO (unless you're fortunate to have your own web server). 

[Kyle Henderson]

As many have said, there are stock shots that you can generally get while waiting to tee off, hit your approach or putt, and I play quickly, so even if I want to get a shot from both sides of the fairway, I usually can without holding anyone up.

The toughest times making course pics is when you are playing very poorly and are in the woods all the time. In that case your pictorial will have some weird angles to the greens etc.

Funny you say that. I wanted to ask Kyle Henderson what he shot at Panmure, becaue a lot of his pics in that thread are like "here's the approach to 6 from the left rough", and there's shoulder-high hay dominating the foreground of the shot!

I shot 79 at Panmure, thanks to a very sharp short game ( I was playing 36 holes a day, after all). Really, I find that photography helps keep me in a rhythym during slow rounds. Nothing hurts my game more than waiting 10 minutes between shots. But at Panmure I benefitted from an empty course.

For comparison, I shot an ugly 89 two days ago while taking no pictures on a very easy course (rated 68.9 from the tips, par 72) over the course of 5.5 hours.

[Scott Warren]

Kyle - the slow play point is a good one. I played a 4.5hr game yesterday at a public track and it felt much shorter because I was able to use some of the time that would have been spent waiting on tees taking pics of the last green or the fairway.

[Michael Dugger]

A. You have the camera conveniently located in your golf bag for quick and easy access.
B. You make sure all shudder noises and clicks are silenced.
C. Generally, when your playing companion is across the fairway waiting for a green to clear, you have plenty of time to slip in a few pictures.
D. The key is preparation.  There are numerous moments when snapping a picture does not disturb the blow of golf one iota.

[Cristian]

As mentioned: tee-shots (photo's), approach and greensite are great places to click. Really anywhere where your ball is (or should be).

Also the photo's looking back to the tee from behind the green tend to be very good. The best time to shoot a picture is right after your golf shot; take out a small quality camera, determine the photo you want to take and press, right after your partner has hit his ball; this way you won't hold up anyone, bother anyone, or interfere with your own concentration.

Having said that I find that if I check my pics and there is a hole missing, it is usally on, or after a hole where I made triple... ;-)

[Ulrich Mayring]

I try to end up with about 30 or 40 pictures on a good course, less on a mediocre one. That is after deleting about 10-15 that didn't come out or were duplicates.

At Yelverton I played with a member and we were storming through a tournament, must have played through 5 or 6 groups. The guy was well known and simply waved to the members and they were letting us through all day long. I did hit a few bad shots when playing through and my playing partner at one point said that we were hurrying too much.

We took 3:15 hours for the round. I ended up with 37 usable pictures. I shot my handicap (which admittedly isn't much, but under the circumstances I thought it was extraordinary ;-)

So it can be done. After a while it becomes second nature.

Ulrich

[Bill Brightly]

I stop using the cheater line on days I bring my camera 

[Jed Peters]

I stop using the cheater line on days I bring my camera 

Pft. 5 iron with a draw, 20'er, 2 putts.

[Bill Brightly]

Pft. 5 iron with a draw, 20'er, 2 putts.
[/quote]

Jed,

You have a great memory! Care to walk us all through this hole?

[Jed Peters]

Jed,

You have a great memory! Care to walk us all through this hole?

Easy.

Pushed driver into trees on right, punch-cut 4 iron short left of green (pin on right front).

lob wedge over bunker.

2 putts.

[Bill Brightly]

Easy.

Pushed driver into trees on right, punch-cut 4 iron short left of green (pin on right front).

lob wedge over bunker.

2 putts.
[/quote]


Ah Jed, you disappoint me! As I explained, each of the three courses at Saucon Valley has one hole with NO greenside bunkers! And this is the one at Weyhill!

[Christoph Meister]

Dean, I find making pictures while playing has become a second nature. There is so much time between your shots that it actually is quite easy to make them without losing concentration. Typical picas are tee shot wide and zoom, pics of green from landing area, pics of relevant or beautiful bunkers, pics of the green from 50 and 25 yards and a pic looking back over the green. At all of these locations you will be standing still, waiting for your co-players.

I use the latest Canon compact camera, the IXUS 980 with 15 MP. It is very small and very reliable and if set on Automatic delivers the goods 99% of the time. I put it without protection in one of my golfbag pockets, and haven't yet had problems doing this (I shoot about 10,000 pics a year, so I replace the IXUS about every year anyways...). I know Paul Turner walks with a full camera, but I find that the quality difference is too small to have the discomfort of a full camera.

Wayne has a point though that you should try to limit the people in the pics, which only is possible if you walk fast or choose your angles.

The toughest times making course pics is when you are playing very poorly and are in the woods all the time. In that case your pictorial will have some weird angles to the greens etc.

My wife allways claims that only women can do more than one thing at a time...but Frank is right (and for once my wife's wrong) he actually manages to play golf, talk golf and make photos at the same time - some weeks ago we played some 27 holes together in Germany and I can only confirm Franks "second nature". For myself I still find it difficult to sytematically take several photos of each hole of a golf course and playing golf at the same time - but then I am not a woman!

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