range finders.

are they worth it? played for north west today and most of the juniors had range finders. why does everyone use them? i generally judge distance by my eyes. pro;s seem to use them too, the lad i played against used one and he rarely hit the green (15hcp)

should i be looking into one?

Liam if you are happy without one then thats fine. Ive had one (statnav) for a couple of years now. The best thing I get out of mine is I rarely go through the back of greens. Also when I havnt got my Sureshot I feel a bit "lost" if the course im playing has poor yardage markers. I dont have to pace out shots then work out arcs if im in the rough. I just look on the screen and 133yds to center. ( 9 Iron! ) If I play the shot correct ill be on the green. If I had used my eyes and guessed about 140yds I may have gone for 8 iron and gone through the back. Its also good way of keeping track on your distances from the tee. Drives etc. Its all a personal choice. Try one for around or two and see what you think. I tried a spotting scope type but didnt like using it. Dave CAC handed Geordie

I started using one about a year ago and I wouldn't be without it. I can play without it but it just gives you that extra confidence that you have the right club in your hand so the only thing that can go wrong is your swing!

I find it especially invaluable when playing away matches at new courses. I played Leeds Golf Club last night. It was my first time there so I just looked at my sky caddie for distance to greens, ditches, bunkers etc.

I watched some of the US Open and noticed how wrong the pros got the distance, so many times after spending so much time weighing up the shot knowing the exact distance. If they cannot get it right then what chance has the average amateur.

Learn to judge a distance by eyesight, with a feel for what shot and club is required and your success will most certainly be the equal of the Pro's. Play the game the way it was intended to be played, using your own skill and judgement.

for once i agree with john your eyes are the best tools

your eyes can be very deceiving especially on new courses. I use one but if it's a course i play often I only really use it when i end up in strange places.

i agree with Judy I think this game is about making good golf shots not who is the best at judging distances with the naked eye. The pro's do it so why shouldn't we.

Try one and see if you like it you can download simple ones on your mobile - Freecaddie is a pretty good one and it's free

I use the SkyCaddie SGXw and ever since i've had it my games got better and better.Just a quick look at the screen and you know what club to take. Dont have to workout yardages...

Why the need to work out yardages in the first place, Adam. So you have a club in your bag that can cover every possible yardage that your sky caddie tells you. Wonderful, I would love to see that in action. How many yards are you usually out using this method.

DMDs provide confidence and reassurance plus help you decide on a club quicker but I thoroughly agree you can't just go 148 yards so it's a 6 iron. There are other things to factor in like wind, topography etc

Last night I played a par 3 and looking at the tee yardages, location of flag I estimated at 115 yards. My friend got out his range finder and it was 117 yards. So we are all natural DMDs

Anyway, Owen reviews the Golf Laser Range Finders on the market here:

http://www.golfshake.com/news/view/4157/Feature_Golf_Laser_Range_Finders.html

Plus this was a Nikon range finder review we did a while back:

http://www.golfshake.com/news/view/3212/Nikon_350G_Laser_Range_Finder_Review.html

Range finders are good for knowing how far a hazard is away ot how far it is to carry a fairway bunker etc. You've still got to hit the shot but as Darren says it's adds a bit of reassurance.

John

I think it is very logical that the majority of golfers play shots based on yardages (either estimated or through range finders).

I think virtually all players have a stock swing and if they use this swing then the distance travelled by each of their clubs will go an average distance (based on a neutral environment). Then when a player is a certain distance from a flag it makes sense to choose a club based on these averages and then adjusting their selection based on the non-neutral enviroment variables. i.e. wind, topography, temperature, shot type etc

i.e. player 150 yards from target and his average 7 iron goes 150. target is uphill, they're against the wind, they want to play a fade and it's cold - player opts to hit his 6 iron. The errors then come from evaluating these non neutral environment variables incorrectly.

I think virtually all the pro's use yardages and from watching some footage of golfers from yesteryear some of them used yardages too (through overheard conversations between player and caddie). I am amazed and applaud you for being to play this game purely by feel but the average golfer like myself needs all the help we can get!

Finally, you ask the question how far out is Adam using this method; I would turn that round and say how much further out would he be if he didn�t use this method?

Interesting last point John D, hypothetical questions never have the answer either.

One of my friends to whom I offer advice to, plays off 5 handicap and recently I managed to get him away from his Bushnell and got him thinking more about feeling the distance, especially the shorter distances up to 150 yards, for the simple reason that shots of that distance can be played with almost any club from a wedge to a five iron by the powerful striker that he is.

He has now finally realised that to get into category one he needs to be a lot more accurate with his shots into the green, especially from the shorter distances up to 150 yards and learning to play the many different kinds of shot, trajectories and shape are beginning to have the affect required.

If you were on the boundary of a cricket pitch fielding a ball you would instinctively know how much weight to apply to your throw to get it to the wicket keeper. All the shots that I try and play are based on this principle, which should tell you that I don't have a stock speed of swing, every shot requires just that something a little bit different. Once trajectory and other factors are taken into account then I select club and weight the impact and follow through accordingly. I am surprised that this method is not that universal these days.

Everyone putts with a feel for distance, so why not extend this to the other clubs

John

Thanks for your reply.

I agree with putting with feel as yourself. However there is a difference with putting in that it's such a short stroke that trying to manipulate this stroke for different distances would involve miniscule variations between swings that I believe would be impossible to implement and we have only one club for putting.

For the full swing I think it's good to have a basis from which to start your shot selection. For short shots, chips and short pitches, I believe they fall into the feel category because the length of swing. Regarding the cricketer I think this differs because he only uses one arm. I know that sounds silly but consider his left arm with a full throw could reach the far stumps and his right arm the near stumps-would he not be better switching arms depending on his target?

Obviously your experience and skill is far superior to my own but I believe the majority of players (pros and amateurs) play this way. Perhaps that alone is not evidence to suggest it's a better way to play but it can only be supportive of it's merit.

i wonder how many of people manage to loose thease range finders or even worse have them stolen off the bags, i would not like to use my phone as taking it in and out all the time is no fun, as for the pro's dont the caddies walk the course and take notes on how far things are

Are we not missing the bigger picture on this post???.

Karl Needham "for once I agree with John"

;-)

I watched the play-off of the European BMW tournament this evening and of the four times the 18th was played, it was noticeable that Willett came up short twice by at least a club length and was through the green on one occasion. Only once did he hit it pin high. a 25% success rate with all the information at his fingertips is not that impressive.

Fraser on the other hand was pin high all the time but off to the right of the green bar the one occasion he hit the green.

I didnt get to watch the golf but I assume both used the yardage method to begin their shot selections. In which case did fraser not prove that this method can be used successfully but he got the wrong direction ?

Nevertheless a players inability to choose the correct shot given all the information does not dismiss the method as useless. I could give as many examples the other way which would show a player hitting within a foot of the pin using this method but again this would prove nothing.

To prove it's effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) you would need to get a player who uses one method and let him try the other method and see which yields the better results (over time).

Simply giving examples of bad or good outcomes using one method is not sufficient unless you can tell me you've never hit a shot long or short of your intended target?

Fraser did not get the direction wrong because at 230 yards to go and water all up the left guarding the green, the sensible shot was anywhere right, which he did.

One cannot compare the two methods because no one, apart from me, plays the old method. It has become a mechanical swing and a mechanical approach in playing every shot.

Going through a green has not been one of my foibles at all. Been short many times, but then I play conservatively, always considering where best to be to get up and down. Being short is perfect usually.

I have today spent six hours giving help to my 5 handicap friend, as he said he was having trouble with his alignment. Easy to correct, but, more than that I then showed him how to forget completely the worries of whether or not one is aligned correctly.

How, you might ask, just revert to the old style of playing this game, where it did not matter if one stood with an open stance because I could still the draw the ball from that position.

All short range shots were played with an open stance in those days, everyone just looked at the hole, but swung the club on the line of the target.He dropped into this method very quickly and by the end of that particular session he was hitting shots with a club of a far greater range than the distance we were working on working the ball both ways, high and low with excellent control.