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Rangefinders? Seriously?!?

SuperStroke
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I can play by looking at markers and counting off yardages but I'm a fan of technology. To each their own even if I don't understand it.
 
I don't get the frustration/anger with the rangefinder.... Seems to me there's very few yardage plates out on courses and walking to pace off distances would certainly slow things down. I tend to just visually judge my distance inside 50 yards... But knowing the exact distance gives me confidence in terms of if I can be long or short. But to each their own.
 
dhartmann34 said:
frustration/anger
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You misunderstand, dear fellow. I question the ability to judge five or ten yards a hundred yards away when one can't even do such from where one stands.
 
PetuniaSprinkle said:
You misunderstand, dear fellow. I question the ability to judge five or ten yards a hundred yards away when one can't even do such from where one stands.
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I'm not sure any of us can understand...

i recently got got a gps watch and love it. Simple front/middle/back distances permanently displayed on the wrist, super quick and plenty enough info for my 10 handicap. Saying that I always like to have a course guide and pin sheet in the pocket to help with decisions off the tee and when looking at the safest place to miss the green.
 
PetuniaSprinkle said:
You misunderstand, dear fellow. I question the ability to judge five or ten yards a hundred yards away when one can't even do such from where one stands.
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the only concession I'll make to your bizarre rant is when somebody pulls their range finder from inside 50y. that's a feel shot in my book. other than that, no, I don't have super human distance observation powers. so knowing a 5y difference could very well dictate which club I pull, whether I choke down, or whether I alter my shot shape. if the tech bothers you, play hickory shafts and featheries. otherwise, you're a hypocrite for picking and choosing what aspects of technology advancement you've decided the rest of us are allowed to enjoy.


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I'll stick to my GPS..........
 
I'm a big believer that 99% of us average Joes should go for the middle distance of the middle part of the green 99.9% of the time. I have adopted to this thinking a few times this year and shot my best rounds. No need for a range finder if aiming middle middle. That leaves plenty of margin of error for too long or short or left or right.

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Purchased my first ever rangefinder 3 months ago after walking off yardage for 35 years. Though I rarely use it at my home course due to having played it an average of twice a week for the last 7 years, basically knowing the distances from everywhere and the fact the greens there are relatively small, I find it invaluable when playing any other course.
 
I play cheap courses with minimal yardage markers, and I have no ability to tell distances. A GPS often tells me what club I need to play because I have a good idea what my distances are.




Sent from the magic know everything box in my pocket
 
I use my rangefinder all the time. I use to go by the 100, 150, 200 and 250 marker and step it off, but once I started getting better I wanted to put the ball close to the pin, not just on the green. Unfortunately at many courses I play at, flag color doesn't mean a thing and greens are huge front to back.

I tried GPS but one of my courses is off by about 20 yards on some holes, so I switched to a range finder and have not looked back!
 
Rangefinder + gps watch = faster play, ability to help others in the group. I loke and will continue to use mine to get various distances around the course and not just pin distance
 
Psh, if its under 200, I pace it off.

Seriously though, I played forever with no range finding device and was good at judging distances, but the added precision of a laser changed my scoring dramatically.
 
I find it helps me more than I ever realized. Especially 75 - 150 range and the different pin placements.

An example would be when I would be approx. 75 yards out I use to think I was 40 out . I missed so many greens from short distances because I would severely under club or over club a shot.

By the way I have only been using a gps unit for the last couple of years. I'm 65 and when I leave my watch home now I almost panic!


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Rangefinders/GPS are really beneficial. For instance, I played a course this weekend where the 17th (a par 3) was marked on the card as 158 yards. My friends GPS had 142 to the front, 154 to the middle, 171 to the back. That's 2-3 clubs difference, depending on the player and shot played. That's why you have rangefinders.

I started playing in the early 90s and learned how to pace shots by sprinkler heads. I finally got a rangefinder this year because many courses sprinklers are either wrong, or have had the heads replaced and have not put the yardage back on. It was getting too difficult to get reliable info.
 
Hm. Ok, maybe I'll get one.
 
I don't understand the argument by the op - "I question the ability to judge five or ten yards a hundred yards away when one can't even do such from where one stands". The rangefinder has nothing to do with guessing distances 100 yards away. If I shoot the pin with the rangefinder, and know it's 165, I take the club that's going to get me 165 yards out. There's literally no judging.
 
arydolphin said:
This is a completely honest question: have you been playing golf for a long time, like >30 years or so? I feel like those that learned how to play in the times before rangefinders or other devices were commonplace are pretty good at eyeballing distances and picking clubs. A person like myself, who is newer to the game (started playing in 1998) wants the technological aids to determine distances.
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This point exactly! I grew up playing in the '70s and got along just fine. I have had 6 holes-in-one without the use of a rangefinder. IMHO, rangefinders slow play down even more than it already is. Let's be honest here ... how many of us out here are able to say that they hit their 5 iron 178 yards or know the distances of ANY of their clubs down to the yard?? I can assure you ... not many. I have played with people before that have looked at a hole placement, picked one club, looked at the rangefinder, picked another club and STILL ended up short.
This is why rangefinders are not allowed in tournament play. They will slow the game down EVEN more!

Not a Sermon ... Just a Thought
 
golfinnut said:
This point exactly! I grew up playing in the '70s and got along just fine. I have had 6 holes-in-one without the use of a rangefinder. IMHO, rangefinders slow play down even more than it already is. Let's be honest here ... how many of us out here are able to say that they hit their 5 iron 178 yards or know the distances of ANY of their clubs down to the yard?? I can assure you ... not many. I have played with people before that have looked at a hole placement, picked one club, looked at the rangefinder, picked another club and STILL ended up short.
This is why rangefinders are not allowed in tournament play. They will slow the game down EVEN more!

Not a Sermon ... Just a Thought
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I honestly don't see how they slow down play, especially on courses that don't have yardages marked, or mark the 150s from the side of the fairway. What's faster? Roaming around trying to find a sprinkler head, or taking the rangefinder out, shooting it, and swinging the club?
 
I can be at the 150 yard mark but the pin is unlikely to be in the dead center of the green. What if the green is 25 yards deep and it's a back pin? Or a front pin? If I play only a couple of courses and knew the layouts of each green I'd be ok without one. But I play on average 50 different courses a year. My laser and GPS make me so much better on courses I don't know well. Hand held caddys is what they are.
 
mpeterson said:
I honestly don't see how they slow down play, especially on courses that don't have yardages marked, or mark the 150s from the side of the fairway. What's faster? Roaming around trying to find a sprinkler head, or taking the rangefinder out, shooting it, and swinging the club?
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Most people don't keep it in their pocket. So here's the scenario ... (as long as it's not cart path only then forget it! It's even worse!) .... you pull near the ball ... find the rangefinder in your bag or cart ... go stand exactly next to the ball (because YOUR THAT good!) ... laser it .... go back to the cart ... pick a club ... go back to the ball and through your preshot routine ... and finally hit it if you haven't changed your mind ... and still end up short. All the while, I have already hit into the center of the green and have an uphill birdie putt to the back pin.
Those added seconds it takes to do that EVERY time add up by the end of the day.
I challenge everyone to go out and play two rounds ... one lasering every shot ... one hitting to the middle of the green without the use of the laser ... and see which round you play better. I can probably guarantee that it will be the round to the middle of the greens.

Not a Sermon ... Just a Thought
 
PetuniaSprinkle said:
You misunderstand, dear fellow. I question the ability to judge five or ten yards a hundred yards away when one can't even do such from where one stands.
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Pretty sure that the point of a rangefinder is you no longer have to judge distances: point; shoot; get an exact number. Pick the right club for that distance. Done and done.
 
It takes 4 seconds to laser a target. Let's say 50 shots get lasered during a round. And that number is high.

I just added 3 minutes to the round. Not exactly a long time. Also, regardless of how useful they actually are, why not use all of the data available?
 
golfinnut said:
Most people don't keep it in their pocket. So here's the scenario ... (as long as it's not cart path only then forget it! It's even worse!) .... you pull near the ball ... find the rangefinder in your bag or cart ... go stand exactly next to the ball (because YOUR THAT good!) ... laser it .... go back to the cart ... pick a club ... go back to the ball and through your preshot routine ... and finally hit it if you haven't changed your mind ... and still end up short. All the while, I have already hit into the center of the green and have an uphill birdie putt to the back pin.
Those added seconds it takes to do that EVERY time add up by the end of the day.
I challenge everyone to go out and play two rounds ... one lasering every shot ... one hitting to the middle of the green without the use of the laser ... and see which round you play better. I can probably guarantee that it will be the round to the middle of the greens.

Not a Sermon ... Just a Thought
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You can take any event and if you break it up into a large enough number of steps, it looks like it takes forever. Shooting the pin is literally unclipping it from my bag, pointing it at the pin, hitting my shot, and clipping it back on again as I walk to wherever my ball went.

I've played with and without a rangefinder - I play better with the rangefinder, so your guarantee doesn't hold, especially on courses that have large, tiered greens. I would have been dead at True Blue without the rangefinder, or at least local knowledge.
 
They speed up play dramatically. (Range finder is in cup holder, put in hand while pulling to ball, press parking brake while shooting pin, grab club, hit ball) . And if you use them, over time you will dial in your distances, and you will know what clubs do what. Ill shoot the pin from 250yd out to a little less than 100yd, inside that its all feel for me.

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