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Are you dependent on your (laser) rangefinder?

I love my rangefinder, but it's my GPS watch that I depend on more. There's just something so simple about glancing at my watch and having front/middle/back numbers immediately. That's not saying I don't utilize both, but days I forget the watch (or forget to charge it) are more difficult than leaving my rangefinder in the house (or car, or whatever).
 
I also depend on my gps watch. I have it attached to my bag so a quick glance before grabbing a club and I'm good to go.
 
No. I could easily go old-school and walk off yardage, no problem. As long as I know that the markers in the fairway are to middle or front, I'm good to go.
 
It wouldn't be too bad. I have a gps watch and its usually not charged. So I end up doing it manually.


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mski said:
My izzo died today on the second hole because I forgot to charge it. I definitely rely on it. I felt lost!
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Where did you play?

I was at Glen Mills and have played it only twice, last time a year ago. I kind of knew the course but I felt somewhat lost too. Played with 3 guys in their late 60's playing the golds, they knew the course but not from the blues so I was really on my own. I can easily see a dozen shots where it would have helped. No disasters just more long/short variance than I am used to.
 
Of course. I'm not a pro, so I'm not good enough not to be dependent on something to give me an actual yardage. Trying to guess based on something on the course only invites more to go wrong.
 
Don't have one, so nope, not at the moment.
 
I use my laser about 7 times per 9 holes. Only in the 125- 180 yard range.

If I played a course other than my home course, I would feel lost without my rangefinder.

Jack
 
Unfortunately I am. Too much so to be honest. I envy my old man and one of my non THP buddies that I play with. They have a very good sense of yardage just by looking. I can figured it out but looking at where the pin is and where I am based on the yardage marker, but I feel so much more comfortable knowing the exact distance.
 
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growing up on the course without one I have a lot of experience with find my range, I use one but not a lot.
 
Does breaking out in a cold sweat on the 1st tee or suddenly feeling like you are being chased up a mountain by a black bear the moment you realize your rangefinders battery is dead and you don't have any replacements constitute as being dependent?
 
JMN57 said:
I admit it, I am now a certifiable rangefinder addict. For years I didn't have one and scoffed at the idea but late last year, I broke down and bought one. And I am now addicted to it and today proved it.

Today, I had a morning round at Glen Mills and checking my bag I realized my little Nikon Coolshot 20 was missing. Had it at the range yesterday but I either left it or it got lifted. I swung by the range on my way to the course but nada. It's gone. And worse, I had to golf the round without one.

I did have my GPS watch but I have to say that knowing the exact yardage was not about knowing the exact yardage but about feeling confident that you know what you have to hit. Turning that from a constant to a variable had an immense impact on my commitment to the shot and, at the end of it all, the proximity of the result. My club selection was off, particularly on the front nine, and my pre-shot routine was disrupted. I'm sure that it cost me 3-4 strokes.

I have to fix this problem pronto. I plan to get out on Friday and I need my crutch!

So, how many others are addicted to their laser rangefinders?
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I've had a couple of lasers and 3 GPS's and I much prefer the GPS. I now have a Garmin Approach S6 (not the watch).

That said, I use it sparingly. I only use it when I can't get a good idea of the yardage the old fashioned way, from on course markings. If the course has 100, 150, and 200 yard stakes, I can do pretty good with them. My old home course has plaques in the fairway for 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, and 250 if needed.

I learned back when most courses only had a 150 yard marker, so I learned to break down the difference in 5 yard increments, which is really as close as 99% of us need to be. The feel for measurement that I learned then is still holding true today. I've almost never paced off yardages, not since I got pretty good at estimating them.

I use my GPS more for when I'm well off the fairway I'm playing, and a lot for picking the right club for layups, which courses rarely give any distances for. Not so much for normal fairway approach shots.
 
I am a horrible judge of distance, so yeah I lean on my rangefinder quite a bit.
 
I use mine all the time. I got a bad distance today on the 17th hole and missed the green long and left. I was off by 50 yards as I picked up the trees behind the green. My eyes told me one thing but I believed the range finder. I made birdie but with the right club may have had a putt at eagle. Am I dependent on my range finder, yes. Do i need to double check in the future, hell yea.
 
I'm not a good judge of yardages on the course. GPS and range finders have really helped me, especially related to yardages to hazards, and clearing hazards, or yardages to a dogleg, things like that.
 
Tadashi70 said:
I use mine all the time. I got a bad distance today on the 17th hole and missed the green long and left. I was off by 50 yards as I picked up the trees behind the green. My eyes told me one thing but I believed the range finder. I made birdie but with the right club may have had a putt at eagle. Am I dependent on my range finder, yes. Do i need to double check in the future, hell yea.
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This. Most definitely this.
 
I wish I had one today at the range. Our range has targets without yardage markers and since the RSI's I've been struggling trying to regain a visual game, the problem is how expensive the rangefinders are, a good one is near $300 bucks.
 
Nate said:
Does breaking out in a cold sweat on the 1st tee or suddenly feeling like you are being chased up a mountain by a black bear the moment you realize your rangefinders battery is dead and you don't have any replacements constitute as being dependent?
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Thank you for this post. It made me remember to go put a new battery in mine. Lol

I have become so dependant on my RF. I use mine to get distances before shots, hazards, lay ups, etc., you name it, and after on some shots as well. As my ball striking has improved, my distances have been increasing and it's been great for making club selection easier. My course has 150 and 100 markers in the ground in the middle of the fw that are the size of a frizbee and lay flat to mow over but they are so sunken that you almost have to walk over to them to find them so the RF takes this issue out of the equation.
 
I use both a rangefinder and a GPS on most days. Can get away with just one or the other, but if I had to choose, I'd go with a GPS only. I've found it much more useful, especially for layup distances blind shots, distances to hazards, etc. I can judge distances, but usually need to pace off a marker somewhere.
 
Yep. And It's made me a better golfer, as well as help overcome my depth perception issues, especially on shots under 80 yards.
 
Are you dependent on your (laser) rangefinder?

Depth perception in the desert is a challenge. I use both a range finder and gps.
In Savannah, the 18th hole approach was 140 on the cart gps, looked closer. Laser said 120. I got another laser reading, was 120. I was within 15 ft on the approach.
I saw at least 6 players after me overshoot the green.
I will keep the range finder handy, for those instances.


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Spivey said:
Depth perception in the desert is a challenge. I use both a range finder and gps.
In Savannah, the 18th hole approach was 140 on the cart gps, looked closer. Laser said 120. I got another laser reading, was 120. I was within 15 ft on the approach.
I saw at least 6 players after me overshoot the green.
I will keep the range finder handy, for those instances.


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That's why I bought my rangefinder. The GPS was 20 yards off on an 80 yard shot and I flew the green and put it into the weeds. I kept saying "it can't be 80 yards" and sure enough it was 60 yards (confirmed with the range finder the next round).


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Tadashi70 said:
I use mine all the time. I got a bad distance today on the 17th hole and missed the green long and left. I was off by 50 yards as I picked up the trees behind the green. My eyes told me one thing but I believed the range finder. I made birdie but with the right club may have had a putt at eagle. Am I dependent on my range finder, yes. Do i need to double check in the future, hell yea.
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That's why I use both laser and gps to cross check.
 
JMN57 said:
That's why I use both laser and gps to cross check.
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i am learning this lesson quickly. what i try to do now is shoot the flag 3 times, then look at gps on the cart to see what the distance to the back is. if the pin is in the front, i'll hit a little more club. if it's in the middle or the back, i hit a club that if i pure it will be the right number but if i miss it a little should still be on the green.
 
checkered said:
I am a horrible judge of distance, so yeah I lean on my rangefinder quite a bit.
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Isn't it a bit short?

I never use a rangefinder.... never.... ever.... and if you believe that....
 
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