Rangefinders? Seriously?!?

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I'll also add that the rangefinder can help for something like a sharp dogleg - it's a lot quicker to shoot the distance than to send one through and into the woods because you were guessing on distances. You might make up all 3 of those minutes blugold was talking about right there.
 
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.


I guess it's all what we are used to. BTW ... I played True Blue in Myrtle, in it's inception, before the use of rangefinders and played pretty well.
Maybe people should concentrate on where they are losing strokes ... i.e. 3 putts on huge greens.

Not a Sermon ... Just a Thought
 
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

Probably guarantee? That doesn't sound like you're very certain. I CAN guarantee that I will play better with my GPS/Rangefinder. And the use of neither will slow me down at all. If my foursome is on pace I can get all the needed measurements while the foursome ahead is still on the green.
 
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.

I totally agree Randy. The other thing is, and I found this out at a few courses this year, that many yardage markers are flat out wrong. And I play as fast as anyone you will see, and I use a range finder, so they only slow down play if you let them.
 
I don't see range finders showings down play one bit. Many of our area courses don't have yardage stakes so you have to go hunt down a sprinkler head. That takes waaayyy longer to do than point and shoot a range finder. I use a gps watch myself but am contemplating a range finder to help with things like hazards and doglegs.
 
I learned to play golf without a fancy gadget like a range finder. I would pace off to the mark on a sprinkler head or the 200/150/100 marker.
Now with the laser, it takes less than half the time to figure out exact distances to pins, trouble areas and to layup spots.
 
I guess it's all what we are used to. BTW ... I played True Blue in Myrtle, in it's inception, before the use of rangefinders and played pretty well.
Maybe people should concentrate on where they are losing strokes ... i.e. 3 putts on huge greens.

Not a Sermon ... Just a Thought

Or, I can think of it as being able to give myself more chances at birdie, but whatever. Thanks for letting me know to work on my putting though!
 
My gps watch goes where I go so if I'm still in question and say it's a cart path only day, I take a couple of clubs with me so I'll be ready. I've played some courses where you can't even see the yard markers. They be a block on the ground with the grass growing too high or something or a pvc pipe that got run over or hit . Like I said in my earlier post, I feel panic coming on now that I'm use to having mine with me. I'm not accurate enough to hit a pin with my skills from 160 out however if I give myself a fighting chance if I know what club to swing.
 
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.

It's actually been proven in testing hat it speeds up play. Because while the example used is extreme, the counter point of extreme is watching people walk off from sprinkler heads all over the course, then pick their clubs, etc.

Extremes can be shown on both sides and frankly those people are slow regardless.
 
It's actually been proven in testing hat it speeds up play. Because while the example used is extreme, the counter point of extreme is watching people walk off from sprinkler heads all over the course, then pick their clubs, etc.

Extremes can be shown on both sides and frankly those people are slow regardless.

That matches my anecdotal/single data point the last few weeks while I've been too lazy to get a battery for mine. I've been playing some courses I haven't played in forever and having to look for a sprinkler head or the 100 yard marker takes more time than for me to just shoot either the pin, a bunker, or the front of the green to get an idea of what I need to hit.
 
I certainly agree with this, however that is just one of 100 things some people allow to slow down play

Yeah, my take is that slow players are going to be slow, regardless of what they have at their disposal, and the rangefinder is something you can visibly see them using.
 
It does boggles me people taking shots inside 75 yrds. You should be able to judge that with your eyes.
Edit to add: yes I play courses with huge greens
 
I'd actually like to see the PGA Tour adopt them. Seems like every shot would speed up a good 2 minutes so the player doesn't have to argue with their caddy about who's yardage book is correct and which club to hit.

I use both a GPS and a laser and it definitely speeds up my play. No more wandering around looking for a sprinkler head that likely isn't marked anyway. Not everybody including me plays at well marked courses.
 
I can't imagine not having a rangefinder. The OP mentions judging within 10 yards (or something along those lines). Umm, that's a full club length. I'll use mine down to probably about 30 yards from the pin sometimes. The closer I am, the more exact I want to be.
 
Only thing that bothers me about them is the person who shoots every single shot. Not all shots need a laser and, from the tee, you should be able to tell whether that bunker is 250 or 300 yards away without shooting it.

I always get a kick out of it when I'm playing with someone with a laser. When I go to hit my approach shot I look at my GPS watch, look at my pin sheet, add or subtract from center as appropriate, and hit. It always happen the guy playing, if he has a laser, says "what do you have?" "I have about 155." (Laser comes out.) "No, you have 153."

My response "Man, you're playing with me, do you really think I can hit it within two yards of distance?"
 
In my first 15 months of using a rangefinder coming from a GPS at several different courses, I have been amazed at how far off some of the sprinkler heads and yardage poles can be off beyond just pins being forward or back of center. Now, if that is the case, it is sloppy from the courses perspective, but I know I have hit more greens, and my proximity on the greens has improved by knowing what the total number is versus just front/center/back. Particularly with the Jolt technology, it takes me less than 5-10 seconds to get an accurate number, which then allows me to grab the right club the first time versus trying to do math on the fly. Even better, if I am playing in a scramble or similar, I can give the whole team the number and they can all be ready to play too. I am one that shoots the number between 50-100 yards because I practice those shots and while my shot and club decision is different for 50 vs 60 vs 75 yards, my eyes don't measure that off right by themselves.
 
Only thing that bothers me about them is the person who shoots every single shot. Not all shots need a laser and, from the tee, you should be able to tell whether that bunker is 250 or 300 yards away without shooting it.

I always get a kick out of it when I'm playing with someone with a laser. When I go to hit my approach shot I look at my GPS watch, look at my pin sheet, add or subtract from center as appropriate, and hit. It always happen the guy playing, if he has a laser, says "what do you have?" "I have about 155." (Laser comes out.) "No, you have 153."

My response "Man, you're playing with me, do you really think I can hit it within two yards of distance?"

From the tee I definitely cannot always tell the difference between a 250 carry and a 300 carry. Plus, the bigger issue is whether it's a 250 carry (don't really have to worry about that) a 265 carry (better hit it solid) or 275+ (better have a solid breeze at my back).

Now, one can argue that a yardage book is every bit as effective for those numbers. But a yardage book requires some quick mental math (and walking off yardages) in certain instances when you're taking about layup shots on par 5s or approaches into par 4s. Certain GPS devices are good for this, but are not quite as flexible when you want or need to target a different spot.
 
I bet you yell at kids that step on your lawn too...

I don't have a rangefinder and can play fine either way, but it's nice to have when a playing partner has one.
 
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

Yep. Taking 7 seconds to shoot a target is much slower than finding the yardage marker and walking it off.

You are coming across as a troll.


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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?

Also, if the rangefinder allows you to carry one greenside bunker instead of going in it, it probably comes out ahead.
 
I'd actually like to see the PGA Tour adopt them. Seems like every shot would speed up a good 2 minutes so the player doesn't have to argue with their caddy about who's yardage book is correct and which club to hit.

I use both a GPS and a laser and it definitely speeds up my play. No more wandering around looking for a sprinkler head that likely isn't marked anyway. Not everybody including me plays at well marked courses.

I agree with this. IMO, it's all about execution anyways.
 
Some interesting thoughts in here. Really interesting. Hard to put out a blanket statement on things like this.
 
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