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How Critical Is Distance Measuring?

SuperStroke
We go through so many check points prior to our swing,that if we can take 1 equation out of it would be to our advantage. Very important tool.

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I don’t care if I have a rangefinder or not, but I’m just weird that way. I never had one until I got back into golf again 3-4 years ago. I really only want to know the distances to the front and back of the green. The pin is great, but I’m fine with walking it off from a sprinkler head or stake and determining pin position by eyeball.
 
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.
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Yes, you have seen me play.
 
100% must for me to have my laser. GPS prior to that.

My buddy who played college golf can watch me shoot a pin and right before I tell him what it is he shouts out a number and is usually within 5 yds or less. Sometimes he’ll get within 2 yds on his guess. I could probably guess within maybe 10-15 yds at best.
 
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.
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Mines more like, measure to the pin, pick the perfect club.... chunk. Short of the green ?
 
I can’t play without having accurate distances available to me, which is daft because my game is nowhere near good enough to constantly hit accurate distances.


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It’s pretty important.
 
If the course is well marked its easy to get by in my mind..... but I really do like knowing front, middle, back so GPS or rangefinder is really good to have for me.... aim for the middle
 
Walked 9 today and paced off all approaches, it makes you think a lot different, without having to worry about the perfect #. Free and easy swing, much better for me today (y)
 
Stemmy66 said:
If the course is well marked its easy to get by in my mind..... but I really do like knowing front, middle, back so GPS or rangefinder is really good to have for me.... aim for the middle
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Same here middle works for me most of the time. Some days i am on point and take some chances.

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Snooksman said:
Same here middle works for me most of the time. Some days i am on point and take some chances.

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Same here but more than not I feel like I need to play the distance to the middle
 
I played a ton of events that would not allow distance measuring devices and still feel pretty comfortable with my eye. The biggest key is an accurate marker system in the fairways and some sort of color coded flag or a front/back/middle pin sheet for that day. All that being said, I haven’t played in an event that didn’t allow a rangefinder in many years, so I have grown very used to having a rangefinder to measure distance to various things throughout the round and do feel a little less confident without it.
 
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?
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Absolutely. I'm a high handicap and can't hit a number (distance wise) as well as some of you single and + hcp players but knowing AT LEAST distance to the center of the green is vital to me making a confident swing. I'm not good enough at guessing distances to even be confident in selecting the right club let alone making a confident swing at the target. Some measure of distance is a must for me.
 
I didn't think it would be a big deal till I thought I lost my range finder yesterday :rolleyes:
 
Yea, playing without a measuring device or GPS feels very odd when playing. It’s like I left my house without my phone. I am pretty reliant on knowing my distances at this point.
 
Having a GPS or a rangefinder in the bag has become so common place when golfing I really don't think about it much anymore. I've added a Precision Pro NX9 to my arsenal for this coming year and am really looking forward to using it. Of course, on that rare occasion when I forget it I'm lost. :LOL:
 
I find myself trying to pull of more difficult shots when using the range finder and not going by distance markers on the course. It's strange but I hit more greens using yardage markers on the course. I find more fairways using the range finders for targets off the tee.
 
I have GPS on my watch and have been using a rangefinder since Christmas, although it’s gone back for warranty this week. I love having distances to play at but still need to know if the number is for a well hit club and the pin is at the front that I’m going up a club. The exact opposite for when flag is at the back and it’s helped to cut back on the occasional flier that I hit.
 
Growing up, I got pretty good at looking at a distance and guessing how far it was. Mainly because my grandpa yelled at me to just hit the dam ball when I went to pace off a distance.

I’m still ok at it, but more often than not I am off by a decent enough margin that I would much rather have something from the course at minimum giving me a distance (even if it is only a 150 marker somewhere).

I don’t live and die off my rangefinder, but it is nice to have and to be able to get an exact distance to know just how much room I actually have to play with.
 
the GPS i keep on my push cart improves my golf and speeds play. my normal course has a 8 zone green system and reading that card vs the gps center of green measure is critical to getting to the right level. I think a range finder with elevation inclusion would help me more because my course has many greens on 40ft rises but I can do the math in my head pretty well.

about 4 weeks ago we were out playing on a 39 degree morning. In the first fairway, I hit an 8i at least 10 yards farther then normal (what- in cold weather). I go to hole 2 par 3 and pull one less club then normal. Put the ball within 3ft for birdie. So on hole 1 I learned something about my swing that day that was very strange as normally I'd be a club short on a very cold day. but confidence in my distance told me to make a change on the very next iron swing. Played that way all day and had great results
 
Approach shots are generally problematic for me without a rangefinder. On the tee box, it’s pretty straightforward with markings on the tee box for par 3s.

Sometimes it’s fun to measure the old way by finding the 100, 150 and 200 markers and count the yardage but it takes way too long haha
 
I’m way behind the tech curve and don’t have one, k still use the Kirby markers or sprinkler heads and walk off my yardages.

Last week I played a course in Phoenix that had terrible course markings and wished I’d had one, for some reason I couldn’t get used to the visuals I was looking at and I put up a big number because of it.
 
I have a small bushnell phantom gps which i enjoy for its simplicity. Unfortunately left it behind on a golf trip last year and didnt get it back till the season ended. I didnt play bad after i lost it, just made sure i walked off my yardages (fortunately play courses that have decent markings) then generally took a conservative approach into the green. Usually taking slightly less to make sure I wasnt flying greens. It seemed to work quite well actually.

I will gladly use the gps again this year, but it wasnt a deal breaker.
 
I function either way. Without, it’s just center of the green and a lot more thought into a deliberate club and shot selection, which often benefits me.
 
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