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Zapping Short Game Shots

DataDude

DataDude

I Hate LIV
Albatross 2024 Club
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I have seen several people criticize people for using their range finder on short game shots. I know this is probably in response to slow play or whatever, but the partial game thread made me think about this. The short game is about the only part of the game that I use my zapper. I really don't understand why everyone doesn't do this. Knowing whether a shot is 35 or 45 is a big deal when I am swinging my 54* club that goes 90 yards on a full swing. It's certainly a much bigger deal than hitting into a green that I know is 150 to center away and zapping the pin to find out if it is 155 or 145. In that scenario I am just full swinging a 7 iron on either distance. I can use my GPS for that. I guess what I am saying is if you need the precision of a range finder from 150ish away, why in the world would you not need that kind of precision when your 40 yards out?
 
I'm with you. I absolutely need my range finder more from the closer yardages than I do from 150 & out.

One of the things I really struggle with is judging distance. It was such a revelation when I got my range finder - I realized how crappy I was from 100 yards & in right away. Now that I'm lasering these pitch shots, I'm getting a little better, but it's something I'll never be good at just eyeballing. Way too many times, I've taken a look & thought "40 yards" and lasered 68, for example. There's no other way for me to have a chance to get it close unless I use my range finder.

On the other hand, one of the guys I play with coached football for 35 years, and he is amazingly accurate at judging distances from 100 yards.

I'll gladly accept someone poking fun at me lasering a pin from 40 yards. It helps me know which wedge & which swing to use, and I'm definitely getting the ball closer to the hole on average as a result.
 
for those that complain about short-game lasering, pace off 50 yards accurately and try to tell me that isn't slower than a laser
 
I'm a feel player :alien:

Seriously though this season I started using a single 54* wedge for just about everything inside 100yds and I do laser the pin a lot more than I used to. It does help knowing that distance and I do think I've noticed an improved proximity to the hole on those shots.
 
I zap everything unless I am being pushed from behind.
 
jdtox said:
I'm a feel player :alien:

Seriously though this season I started using a single 54* wedge for just about everything inside 100yds and I do laser the pin a lot more than I used to. It does help knowing that distance and I do think I've noticed an improved proximity to the hole on those shots.
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Like you, I use my 54 for everything 100 and in......i laser most, and i know if i need a half, 3/4 or somewhere less....sometimes i just play the shot depending on the application ie just off the edge, 15 yds or something similar. but i am so much better with my TM high toe anywhere inside 100
 
jdtox said:
I'm a feel player
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This ^^^^^^^^^^^ I am definitely a feel player as well.

I've been playing long enough that I rely on varying distances with my wedges. I know that if I take it back waist height .... it's going to go a certain distance. Take it back 3/4 of the way ... it will go just a bit further. A full swing goes even further. And so on thru all the wedges. I can also vary the shot with different flights, depending on which wedge I'm using.

Not to really pick on anyone in particular, but when I see people lasering a 40 yard pitch shot & then the chunk it or blade it over the green ... that gets old really quick. I have played with very few people that can say that they can hit the ball 40 yards on the number every time. C'mon let's be honest here ... very few players know the distances all of their wedges go and rarely hit to those numbers when called upon. And I mean you can't rely on your eyesight & visualization to tell you that is about 35 - 40 yards?? Do you have to laser everything?

Now if you laser everything & you hit it right next to the flag every time, I will have nothing to say but great shot. But I have yet to see that happen with any person I've played with that lasered every shot.

Just my .02 :act-up:
 
Anything over 30 yards and I usually shoot the pin. Only takes second to do. I am a fairly good at judging distance so that helps, but always nice to know a more accurate distance.
 
At the family cabin we built a driving range (of sorts).

Being lazy, instead of pulling all of the stumps, we measured them, and hung signs.

So, I'll use my laser on shorter shots too. Mostly because I have those (very odd) yardages really dialed in.
 
DataDude said:
The short game is about the only part of the game that I use my zapper. I really don't understand why everyone doesn't do this.
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Most good players play a 35 to 45 yard shot the way they would a lag putt, that is sense/feel the distance.
 
but knowing your 35 yrds instead of say 27 means little when we consider the slope of the greens. The 27 yrdr may take a stronger pitch or chip than a 35 yrdr. if the shorter play is an uphil greens vs the longer being downhill.
 
From like 50 yards in I want to feel it. I don't know my distances well enough to say hitting a 35% 56* will get me 2 feet short of the pin to roll out close
 
rollin said:
but knowing your 35 yrds instead of say 27 means little when we consider the slope of the greens. The 27 yrdr may take a stronger pitch or chip than a 35 yrdr. if the shorter play is an uphil greens vs the longer being downhill.
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I often look at a shot and think 20ish, then zap it and it's 40. Perception of distance is tough especially when green sizes are extremely small or extremely large.
 
No offense to anyone here but using a laser inside 100 yds would get a few eye rolls with the groups I play with, it's a bit much, that's why a GPS is nice, just a quick glance and give or take a few yards for the hole location is all it takes.

Know your wedge distances and how they roll, practice them visually at the range, see the target and hit the target, that's the way to learn the short ones IMO. And that way if your laser craps out during a round you won't be lost.
 
I zap all my putts too. not really.
 
DataDude said:
I often look at a shot and think 20ish, then zap it and it's 40. Perception of distance is tough especially when green sizes are extremely small or extremely large.
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Being 20 yrds off when only 30ish yrds out I would think is pretty uncommon to be that far off. I mean 20 urds off when being 80 out I can see but not 20 vs 40 on most occasions. But even still so your 40 yrds out. that isnt going to be the same pitch shot at all every time. Where is the pin, what are the slopes involved, etc,.... you can be 40 out on 5 different greens and require 5 different strengths and types of shots and maybe even different clubs a couple of those times.
 
I think that if your 40 yards from the green I don't need a specific distance. I use Arccos and it gives front center and back. Do I need to know that its 46 yards exactly NO but them I am not good enough to try to hit a exact # But lasering a shot when your 10 yards off the green is SILLY in my opinion.

How did All of you play golf before you Had these devices??????
 
I cut off shooting the pin at about 50 yards out. Rely on feel with my 58 for those from 50 and in. My full 58 is 95 yards and shooting the 60 and 70 yard ranges gives me a good idea of what kind of swing I need to put on the 58 to produce about the right distnce.
 
DataDude said:
I have seen several people criticize people for using their range finder on short game shots. I know this is probably in response to slow play or whatever, but the partial game thread made me think about this. The short game is about the only part of the game that I use my zapper. I really don't understand why everyone doesn't do this. Knowing whether a shot is 35 or 45 is a big deal when I am swinging my 54* club that goes 90 yards on a full swing. It's certainly a much bigger deal than hitting into a green that I know is 150 to center away and zapping the pin to find out if it is 155 or 145. In that scenario I am just full swinging a 7 iron on either distance. I can use my GPS for that. I guess what I am saying is if you need the precision of a range finder from 150ish away, why in the world would you not need that kind of precision when your 40 yards out?
Click to expand...

I worked with a guy a decade ago who didn't play much but, back in the day, had been a plus handicap. I think he was playing off a 3.something index when we played together a few times.

He either lasered or paced off any shot where he wasn't using a putter. If it was within 10-12 yards he'd just pace it off but he'd pull out the Leupold every single time on a 25 yard chip shot. The first round I thought he was being a bit mental about it.

But after 8-10 rounds I realized he was capable of hitting the ball close just about every time. I mean he was uncanny. I saw him hole out a couple of 40-50 yarders, chip in a few time but from anywhere inside 40 yards he was within plus or minus a very small margin of being hole high.

So for his game, why the heck not? Why eyeball it when your stroke is going to be accurate within three or four yards and your eyeball might be off by five or ten?
 
i'm not always shooting the pin from 50y and out, but i don't think i ever shoot it inside 50y. i don't practice enough to know what my 40y or 30y shot is supposed to feel like, so i wouldn't shoot it and be like, "this is 32y therefore i need to make this specific swing." it's just a feel thing at those yardages.
 
This close of a range I’m looking at the greens and where the pin is versus yardage. I’ll get a good guess, but I don’t need a precise number to execute whatever shot I’m trying.
 
For all you laser fanatics! :act-up:




3putt.jpg
 
I will look at my watch, but still go by feel for the shot. The watch just give me confirmation that I grabbed the right club for what I want the ball to try to do.
 
I am more likely to laser shorter shots as I can control the exact yardage compared to trying to control a 120 yard shot compared to a 116 yard shot.

If I am riding a lot of the time I just go to the green and pace it back to the ball instead of dragging the laser. Walking takes like 2 seconds longer.
 
I don't laser inside 50 yards and probably not even close to there. Depending on the shot I might look at my watch to get a rough idea but that's about it.
 
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