Range Finders

I have only been playing golf since March, although now I am totally obsessed and looking forward to significantly reducing my handicap in 2012. One of my gripes is these bl**dy range finders - I am often held up by groups in front faffing about with range finders for 5 minutes only then to hit their balls into the trees! I look at the course markers and then my ball and make a decision on what club to use - I'm sure they may make a difference to decent players, but too many people are now using them and they are holding up play. Am I wrong?

Hi Darren, 

I would disagree with you and say that they speed up play...no pacing out yardages or searching for a 150 post...walk up, look at the yardage,,select club and hit.........people will always faff though!

I would most emphatically agree with you, Darren, an innovation that has done nothing for the game at all, apart from slow it down.

I can remember watching a little of the Welsh Open at 2010 and on the first hole McDowell stood over his second shot talking with his caddie about yardages etc.etc and once the final decision was made he promptly hit it 30 yards through the green.So much for all; that information at his fingertips.

I can see both sides.

I have been waiting behind a group where one guy was waving his around in the air trying to get his yardage for a minute or so.

On the other hand I played with a group a few weeks ago where one chap had his hung off the side of his bags and as quick as I could look round for a marker he had checked got his yardage and selected his club.

The other issue is that if your playing a course that us new to you they can come in very handy. Some places I have played also have really poor markers with some holes not even having any at all.

I have never been held up by people using them but I think they take something away from the game. Working out yardages is part of the fun when deciding which club to hit. I might be slightly (negatively) bias as I work with GPS systems as part of my job every day!

John I'm not sure if I understand your post, was McDowell using a GPS device at the Welsh Open?Thanks,Mark

Mark, suggest you re-read it again and you will see that I said they were talking between themselves, as caddies and players do on every shot. The caddie will have his notebook out as a starting point.

In a nutshell, even with the knowledge of the exact yardage the shot is usually not that successful., for many other different reasons.

One only has to play on a very windy day and the gps is just a uselessbit of kit.

I really find it amazing that I was able to play to scratch with wooden clubs, blades, no 150 yard marker posts and hard and fast greens where pitching at the stick would mean a salvage shot from the rough over the green.

Agh I see what you were getting at now. Yes I totally agree there are many other factors that affect the outcome of a shot. However having some idea the yardage ( + / - 5 yards) is useful.I like you would much prefer to work it out for myself rather than rely on a piece of technology.Thank you for clarifying. Mark

We have to accept that the current way the game is played and promoted in conjunction with modern design to cater for the professional players and those that can hit the ball into orbit. is completely different to the way the game was intended to be played. Hazards were placed to catch wayward shots, but now of course straight shots can get into just as much trouble, what with the mania for water hazards to attempt to make the course look good as well as placing bunkers immediately in front of greens, which, I, being an old fart, cannot carry.

There is very little requirement on modern courses for the need to shape a shot to get to a tight pin.

Once upon a time, shotmaking was the essence of the game and the best shotmakers were the usual winners, Now of course the game has become mechanical with exact yaradges being the way the professionals play now and unfortunately for the good shotmakers, their skills are no longer an advantage. as almost everyone on the tour hits the ball a mile and gets on most of the greens in regulation, The winner being the one who can putt.

Yes modern equipment is designed so people can hit the ball further etc and some course layouts may favour the longer hitters. But put a long player (who usually plays woodland / parkland courses) on one of the Scottish links courses with the wind blowing (The Glen in North Berwick springs to mind). The shot makers will eat long hitters for breakfast! I loose so many balls when venturing over the border .

I've been held up by people using a laser range finder/GPS device.

I've got the SkyCaddie SG5 and as I walk down the hole towards my ball (careful not to mention 'walking down the fairway!' I'm already assessing the situation for my next shot.

When I get to my ball I look at the lie.

Once I've done this I will look at my SkyCaddie to find out the yardage to the hole.  I've already adjusted the flag marker so I know it's correct.

Then I take into account all the other factors, like wind, etc, before I select my club.

All this takes me no longer than a minute, normally by the time I'm ready to play my shot my playing partner has taken his shot.

Russ

No matter how much you wish to dress it up, Russ, golf is now played at a snails pace compared to years gone by, and gps and electric trollies have contributed to this, not forgetting the three practice swings and the adoption of all the mannerisms one can see when watching the professionals play. We used to play 36 holes on Sat and Sun with usually another nine holes in the evening.

Hi Darren

I use an ipod gps system called golfshot.  Best bit of equipment I have come accross.  I help run a golf society which often means playing courses around the midlands.  More often than not there are no course planners & in some cases no yardage markers.  On top of this some use 150 to the front some 150 to the centre without saying on the score card!

While I can see & understand Johns points, I also know when you're playing blind they just help so much.  I look at it this way, if the professionals can get help, why shouldnt the everyday golfer like me get the same.

I appreciate I am no where near as good as them, but Im pretty sure if I could borrow one of their caddies for a round I would play better, making better decisions!

I used to hit it a long way, not so much in my older age with a bad back.  They can help you play a little more within your self if you know what's in front of you.

Thank you

David

I fail to see where the satisfaction comes from with all these aids.

How long do you think it takes to look at a GPS? Mine hangs off the side of my bag and takes less than 10 secs per shot X 40 shots = 6.30mins per round. It doesn't get used for every shot and, potentially, it saves the odd shot because my shot into the green hits the green. Bearing in mind there are times that a player will look at the GPS whilst another player is deciding what shot to hit, that's now taken the time down to significantly less than 5 mins per round.

Does the use of them de-skill a golfer? Yes, without a shadow of a doubt. Does it slow the game down? Yes, but not by the amount people think it does.

John, without a doubt golf is now much slower than it ever used to be.

Big business has now convinced everyone that they need a power trolley with a cart bag and the latest range finder/GPS device before they can play.

Some of the slow play isn't caused by these devices, and some of it is.

If people could just walk a bit faster to their golf ball the game would be played faster.

Concentrate on your shot, and be ready to play it if it's your turn!  Play out of turn if you're ready!

There are far more people on the golf courses these days and most of the people on a golf course are not golfers, they are just people who fancy a game of golf.

Russ

The Sunday morning 4 ball I sub in usually tees off about 7:45am, light permitting, and the youngest by far is me aged 53. All have electric trolleys, and two of us have a GPS. We don't sprint because none of us are in perfect health yet we get round in about 3.5 hours.

I don't think either GPS's or electric trolleys are to blame for slow play. Watch some relatively new to golf players manage their round, and watch some long established golfers manage their round. Everything from the tee, inc ball spotting your fellow players ball, thro' to where they position their bag/trolley at the green gives you an idea of far more examples of slow play.

Until last Spring I didn't like the GPS or other rangefinder devices I had seen - I tried one at a corporate event and gave up after three holes as I didn't like the spurious data and micro-maps. I had accumulated a great collection of Strokesaver books, mostly at courses I would never play again! Then I hosted three guys at my course and one was glancing down at his bag as he selected his club - he was using the golf-plus "caddylite" device which just shows distances (to and over hazards, to run out of fairway, to front/centre/rear of green), all in large readable numbers, for under £100. I bought one and have used it ever since, it's ideal whether on my home course or an away game.

Previously yardages were a matter of pacing out from the 150 marker (notoriously inaccurate) or, on some courses, from sprinkler heads, or from a tree marked in the Strokesaver (if you can identify the right tree!). Now, I walk to the ball, judging the conditions and yardage to add or subtract, glance at the device on my bag and pull out the right club. It certainly saves time for the majority of strokes, it's legal for every competition I play in, including county events, and is ideal for new courses where you don't know if you can carry that bunker on the corner of the dogleg.

It also helps you learn your genuine distances with each club in the prevailing conditions. For example, if you use a 5-iron from 160 in the summer you soon learn that, at the moment, you always seem to be repairing huge pitchmarks by your ball 15 yards short of the flag! So, it gives you an accurate check on how far you really hit the ball in the air, even if you don't enjoy the result.

Regarding the general issue of slower play, it can be frustrating when players ahead are behaving thoughtlessly by failing to walk briskly to their own ball (the major factor), chatting in a group, taking forever over their shots (a minor but very visible factor). But, unless they are a hole behind, it's not making any difference to you even if you are desperate to get your wife to M&S a quarter of an hour earlier. Where would you rather be?

When I started my company society 24 years ago we were anxious to be accepted by good golf clubs so set a target for the threeball groups of 3h30m, and even the last groups out took 3h45m. Now many of us are better golfers but 24 years older and under four hours in the middle of the pack is a real achievement!

My Club is currently allowing a few groups off the 10th in the early morning to relieve congestion, and the pro gives you a booking on the first tee which can be as little as 1h40m later. Our back nine is tough, but with an incentive like that no-one has ever missed their slot even playing in fourballs. I think I'll suggest 1h50m this Saturday!