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How Critical Is Distance Measuring?

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Canadan

Canadan

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I left my rangefinder at home today. First time in ages I've tried to golf without having either exact yardage to the hole, or exact info to front/mid/back via a GPS unit.

Made me realize two fold;

1- I am seriously invested in distance measuring tools, and
2- My confidence is elevated by having such information

Do you feel the same way, or can you function just the same without confirmed numbers?
 
If I didn’t have my rangefinder I would feel very naked. It doesn’t leave my bag and I always have spare batteries for this exact reason.
 
I agree completely with your points. I too have forgotten my rangefinder the last 2 rounds I played and I felt lost without it so I had to reference the GPS in my phone. If the course is marked will I’m fine but I if its a course I haven’t played I’d be lost.
 
Canadan said:
I left my rangefinder at home today. First time in ages I've tried to golf without having either exact yardage to the hole, or exact info to front/mid/back via a GPS unit.

Made me realize two fold;

1- I am seriously invested in distance measuring tools, and
2- My confidence is elevated by having such information

Do you feel the same way, or can you function just the same without confirmed numbers?
Click to expand...
I can function, but when courses don’t have yardages on sprinkler heads it gets difficult. This is why I wear a watch when I golf. I’ll always have something to get a distance with.
 
I’m not as much. Don’t get me wrong, I use one and my course has GPS on carts, but I’m fine with basic measurements.

I do feel people get in trouble with them if they are not great ball strikers. Measure to a pin, hit at it and end up short sided because they didn’t take into account placement.
 
Yes I need the tools for anything outside of 50 yards. Even cart path only when I only had the cart fixed gps messes with my head. I seem to remember more on course staking “back in the day”.
 
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I am trying to figure out whether it was just winter rust or a real commitment to accurate numbers..

Three times, I made decisions basically during my swing to change the shot based on what my eyes told me the distance should have been haha... It was NOT a good strategy for scoring at all.
 
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JB said:
I’m not as much. Don’t get me wrong, I use one and my course has GPS on carts, but I’m fine with basic measurements.

I do feel people get in trouble with them if they are not great ball strikers. Measure to a pin, hit at it and end up short sided because they didn’t take into account placement.
Click to expand...
I think I could do alright with cart GPS without it, but long greens with no real good numbers, sparse distance info?

It's like a totally different world.
 
My distance judgment is terrible so I need to have a number in my head whether I laser it or step it off from a sprinkler head. Whether I hit it or not is a different story, but it's good to have a starting position other than it's somewhere between 150 and 200.
 
Canadan said:
I think I could do alright with cart GPS without it, but long greens with no real good numbers, sparse distance info?

It's like a totally different world.
Click to expand...

Generational perhaps. Growing up we had a 150 bush and that was about it. The rest you figured out.
 
I keep an extra battery in my bag for my range finder because the last time it died the round on a new course got a lot harder.
 
Canadan said:
I left my rangefinder at home today. First time in ages I've tried to golf without having either exact yardage to the hole, or exact info to front/mid/back via a GPS unit.

Made me realize two fold;

1- I am seriously invested in distance measuring tools, and
2- My confidence is elevated by having such information

Do you feel the same way, or can you function just the same without confirmed numbers?
Click to expand...


I’ve had a laser rangefinder since 1994 and I’m super dependent. I’ve forgotten one or had a dead battery a handful of times and I’m lost without it.
 
Canadan said:
I think I could do alright with cart GPS without it, but long greens with no real good numbers, sparse distance info?

It's like a totally different world.
Click to expand...

I feel the same.. carts are not as accurate as a rangefinder, but I don’t need an exact number as my game isn’t that good..

But just guessing.. no thanks
 
Canadan said:
I left my rangefinder at home today. First time in ages I've tried to golf without having either exact yardage to the hole, or exact info to front/mid/back via a GPS unit.

Made me realize two fold;

1- I am seriously invested in distance measuring tools, and
2- My confidence is elevated by having such information

Do you feel the same way, or can you function just the same without confirmed numbers?
Click to expand...

It’s almost like the rangefinder is the second most important piece of equipment in my bag, after the ball.
 
brianmk24 said:
My distance judgment is terrible so I need to have a number in my head whether I laser it or step it off from a sprinkler head. Whether I hit it or not is a different story, but it's good to have a starting position other than it's somewhere between 150 and 200.
Click to expand...
My distance judgement is also pretty bad. reading this post make me realize I should probably invest in a rangefinder....
 
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JB said:
Generational perhaps. Growing up we had a 150 bush and that was about it. The rest you figured out.
Click to expand...
Funny thing is, It took me a long time to actually incorporate that kind of measuring tool into my game. Started with a GPS (SGXw) and even later to start using a rangefinder. Really only been a couple years with that.

I grew up with three stakes. Red, white, and blue. That was it.
 
i Do like knowing an exact number but if I’ve got a 150 marker or something along those lines it’ll get the job done.
 
It’s very important. Specially for us visually age handicapped folks. I may as well not be able to see once it’s over 100 yards.
 
I don't use a rangefinder under ~80 yards. I like to feel my way there. I can get too mechanical if I am trying to hit a specific shorter distance. But for longer distances, I struggle to estimate them even with 150 and 200 yard markers to middle of green. A rangefinder or GPS is very helpful for me. Following up on jb's post, I can get in trouble with rangefinder numbers to the pin if I can't see or figure out where the pin is on the green.
 
Nate said:
Oh, and I can not do GPS from a phone app. Don't trust it.
Click to expand...

this makes a lot of sense on why you don’t trust my yardages I give you.
 
mikeg_74 said:
this makes a lot of sense on why you don’t trust my yardages I give you.
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