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Will GPS Speed Up Play?

SuperStroke
I have been using a gps for about 2-3 years and It has speeded up my play and my playing partners. I am more confident about my distances and playing to a number when I need to.
 
I think a good GPS will help you with better club selection hopefully saving you strokes which = time spent on the course. I know when I play with a foursome most of the lag time is spent looking for lost balls in the woods. If I cannot find my ball in approx 2-3 mins then I take a drop...simple. I played behind a group last weekend that had 4 people looking for one guys ball it took about 10 minutes, no joke.
 
I sweat that much when I play golf....

I think it was pretty cool, I guess it depends on your needs in a gps. Some people like the added features of distance to bunkers or trees. I like the simplicity though
 
I use my IPhone, the golfshot app. Sometimes it takes an extra minute or so to load the distance but when your with your group it's ready golf. Also alot of the courses I play have the GPS built in the cart which is great. As more people start playing I think slow play is getting more prevalent. I try to get out at first light but when the after 11am tee times happen, I just deal with it. Everyone has to start somewhere and that may be the group in front of you.
 
I love GPS. Ill look at yardages when im on the teebox waiting just to see how far bunkers are and what not. I can see how it would slow people down but imagine them without a GPS... They'd be walking yardages off. Playing at a good pace doesnt mean sub 4 hr rounds. If you hate slow play then don't go to a course that is notorious for it.
 
Hilarious vid. If it is used just as a distance meter it speeds things up. The score tracking and ancillary features are a time waster though. 5 minutes isn't that much but the 7 strokes sure is.
 
A couple of factors are not explained in the video:

he saved 5 minutes but against what time? did he shorten his time from 30 to 25 minutes (a significant percentage) or from 120 minutes to 115 (not a big deal, and could be due to any number of factors)

he must have played the same course twice but did he play the first round with or without the GPS? and was he familiar with the course anyway? If the first round was without and he was unfamiliar with the course, I think a second round could easily be five minutes faster and with a lower score even without the GPS.

Too many unknowns for me to believe that the GPS contributed to the improvment.
 
Jeanthemachine said:
A couple of factors are not explained in the video:

he saved 5 minutes but against what time? did he shorten his time from 30 to 25 minutes (a significant percentage) or from 120 minutes to 115 (not a big deal, and could be due to any number of factors)

he must have played the same course twice but did he play the first round with or without the GPS? and was he familiar with the course anyway? If the first round was without and he was unfamiliar with the course, I think a second round could easily be five minutes faster and with a lower score even without the GPS.

Too many unknowns for me to believe that the GPS contributed to the improvment.
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Normally I am right with you on this line of thought. In this case, I think this more of a PR move than "scientific test" and am going to cut them some slack.

I play pretty quick when I am on my own, and my normal 4-some plays as fast walking as a double in a cart. That said- expecting Joe Shmo to play a 3 1/2 hour round is just rediculous. If you you only have 3 hours- play 9 holes. 4 1/2 hours is a "reasonable" time to finish 18 holes. I don't like it much longer than that, but I do not pull my hair out over 4 1/2 rounds. If I don't have 5 hours to comit to the round then I generally wont play. I just know that is what it takes to get in 18 at some of my local courses.
 
I love to play with my Gps. I think it is alot faster than someone looking for a marker and counting out steps.
 
For new golfers (including me) GPS and club recommendations helped speed up the process. I've learned my club distances but still use the GPS for yardages if a marker is not nearby.

I feel the GPS units in the cart slow play as I've seen many spend too much time trying to position their cart for the exact distance.
 
tnc200 said:
Hilarious vid. If it is used just as a distance meter it speeds things up. The score tracking and ancillary features are a time waster though. 5 minutes isn't that much but the 7 strokes sure is.
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I agree!

I personally would play faster IMO if I carried a GPS. But as has been mentioned previously, a lot of weekend players are just that and they are out to be outside for the most part. So if they see a yardage on a sprinkler head, or their buddy is looking for a lost ball they want to help them. I'm definitely of the "ready golf, hit then help" mentality and i don't mind playing a round in 4+ hours, but when it creeps near 5 hours then I'm not having fun.

There is a fine line. I want to play with my friends, but they're not overly concerned about playing better golf, just hanging together. So we let players play through, and we're let through by players that are (rarely) slower than us.

All in all, yes, I think GPS can speed the game up.
 
Since I got a GPS device a couple of years ago, I have been able to play slightly quicker on some courses because I'm not looking around for yardage markers all the time. I have the Callaway Upro, and I also like the feature on there that tells me carry distances to bunkers and hazards, it lets me know whether I can try to take on a carry over a bunker instead of trying to guess from the tee, and that can lead to lower scores. I don't use the other features on my Upro much, such as club distances and scoring.

I've seen the argument that it doesn't help higher handicappers as much. I'd say that even if people aren't very consistent in their distances, they know what club they normally hit from 125, 150, etc. My dad is about a 20 handicap, but he knows what his "150 club" is and so on, so when he knows the distance immediately when we arrive at the ball, he's going to pick a club quicker. Think about it: if you play each hole 30 seconds quicker, that's 9 minutes you've picked up at the end of your round.
 
Good video, I think all gps devices speed up the pace of play and are good for the game.
 
I find that the GPS helps most when you are off the fairway. I can yell out to my partner "You are about 180". That is good enough for him and usually for me. the difference between 175 and 180 is pretty minimal for me and most people I play with. It does prevent you from thinking you are 165 and missing by a club length under.

I never seem to take enough club uphill though, and the GPS doesn't help me a lick with that. I have to break my habit of taking my 7i because the GPS says the distance is 155.
 
I don't think GPS slows play at all, if anything it speeds it up considerably. There is no more stepping off yardage or searching for sprinkler head yardage markers to figure out what to hit.
 
I used my uPro this weekend for the first time and it definitely speeded up our play. I gave my playing partners their yardages as well. They're all pretty slow players - my FIL and my two teenage sons (who play 1-2x/year), but we ended putting the slow group behind us about two holes back by the end of the round.
 
Someday I really need to get a GPS. I still mostly eyeball range and select a club based on what I see during range sessions. It usually leaves me pretty close but it would be nice to really dial in distances. Probably partly why I am still a higher handicap since I just guesstimate distances and play to it.
 
JB said:
I actually think it helps even more there. Most high cappers still want their correct distance and walk off distances or look for distances. Because there are more shots taken, you would assume that this is more time taken. I think it could really speed up play a lot there.
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Exactly. Add to that you don't have to aim at anything, just look down at the GPS and there is your yardage. Of course if you are that good that you need to know to the exact YARD, then perhaps a GPS isn't for you. The Tour is waiting for you, hahaha.

And why didn't they get YOU to do this JB? You were the first person I thought of when I saw Speed Golfer! haha



RonInThornton said:
I don't know, I guess I just don't get it. His round was only 5 minutes shorter. Is 5 minutes really that big a deal? An Avid Speed Golfer? Seems to me like the whole idea of golf, being outside, enjoying a beautiful course, spending quality time with friends and family is all being flushed down the tubes for the sake of speed. Why is everyone is such a damn rush these days?
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He obviously didn't play a 4 hour round in 3:55. I don't know what he played it in (they really should have said) but I'm reasonably sure it was well under an hour, or he really wouldn't be a speed golfer.



Thainer said:
I play faster and better with my lasergun, and I know that
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How do you know how far it is to that hazard on the other side of the dogleg (or over that hill) on a course you've never played before?



tnc200 said:
Hilarious vid. If it is used just as a distance meter it speeds things up. The score tracking and ancillary features are a time waster though. 5 minutes isn't that much but the 7 strokes sure is.
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Again, they didn't say how long it took him to play. If it's 5 minutes over a half hour, then it's 40 minutes over 4 hours (in his case). Whatever it is, knowing your distance can never be a bad thing. I do think people are correct when they say if you are using all the other features of the GPS instead of just getting your yardages, it can eat up all the time you are saving, if not make it worse.



It would be hard to make a huge difference unless you are playing with no one in front of you. If you are waiting on every shot or at every tee box, then the only time you'll really save is on the very last hole, after the group ahead has left the course. SO maybe only for your final approach shot on 18.
 
GPS units are a huge advantage. Out here I'ld say about 75% of the courses have them in the carts. I trust technology over what my eyes say. Coureses that don't have them I use the GPS App on my Iphone. MY playing partners definitly play a lot quicker when they have a GPS unit. If not I have to give everyone a yardage.
 
Definitely speeds up play. I just keep thinking of all of the time wasted looking for yardage markers. Multiply that time by the number of people you're playing with.
 
mariusvt said:
Someday I really need to get a GPS. I still mostly eyeball range and select a club based on what I see during range sessions. It usually leaves me pretty close but it would be nice to really dial in distances. Probably partly why I am still a higher handicap since I just guesstimate distances and play to it.
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I agree with mariusvt. Also, I play with friends just to get out and enjoy the day! We generally play a round in about 3 1/2-4 hrs. If it is crowded, I don't mind 4 1/2 hrs. After that, it just gets to be a little tedious, but still, it's a day out with friends.
 
Snap Hook said:
GPS units are a huge advantage. Out here I'ld say about 75% of the courses have them in the carts. I trust technology over what my eyes say. Coureses that don't have them I use the GPS App on my Iphone. MY playing partners definitly play a lot quicker when they have a GPS unit. If not I have to give everyone a yardage.
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My question is, do you think having them in carts make the slow play issue better? I played at a course Sunday with GPS carts and the pace was a crawl at times.
 
HoosierGolfer said:
My question is, do you think having them in carts make the slow play issue better? I played at a course Sunday with GPS carts and the pace was a crawl at times.
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GPS can't help those who insist on not playing ready golf with speeding up the round.
 
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Logic seems to make you think that knowing your distance immediatly would help you to speed up play but I don't think this is always the case. In the study he shot significantly lower with the gps than with out, but only saved 5min? It seems like he shoul dhave saved more time than that doesn't it? The longest round I ever played was 6.5hrs and that was as a 6 person group 9joined up with 3 ahead of us because of how slow the play was), it was terrible, and that was on a course with GPS in the carts. I know it is easier for me when I play with a rangefinder or GPS but it doesn't help the group of 4 in front of me who all just 3 putted, or when someone is in the woods. It is definitly a useful tool for those who know their distances but beginners are out on the course every day too, and it is not going to have the same effect on them as it does on someone with a single digit handicap.
 
It speeds up for me, that way I don't have to find all the sprinkler heads or yardage markers. As long as people don't mess around too much with them, it will ultimately speed up play.
 
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