Handheld Tool To Test Distance Measurement?

dduarte85

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A quick question for the THP folks... is there an old school, handheld tool that can be used to measure distances off the tee? I know there are apps but I have an older iphone that drains battery easily and I am not a huge fan of checking my phone while playing. I suppose you could use a pedometer but am unsure if there is an actual tool that can give you some accuracy in measurement
 
measuring wheels, you can get them at any hardware store
 
Rangefinder?
 
I use a free golf app, FreeCaddie, and it has a measure feature I've loaded to my cell phone. I love this app because it just tells you yardage to the front, middle and back of the green. If you want a picture of the hole it has that selection.

https://www.freecaddie.com/
 
A quick question for the THP folks... is there an old school, handheld tool that can be used to measure distances off the tee? I know there are apps but I have an older iphone that drains battery easily and I am not a huge fan of checking my phone while playing. I suppose you could use a pedometer but am unsure if there is an actual tool that can give you some accuracy in measurement

couldn't you get the distance off the tee, then pace off from sprinkler heads/yardage markers in the fairway?
 
Golf Buddy is like $90 and you can get GPS distance on that. Mark the tee and then mark again when you get to your ball. Seems to work pretty well
 
I use a free golf app, FreeCaddie, and it has a measure feature I've loaded to my cell phone. I love this app because it just tells you yardage to the front, middle and back of the green. If you want a picture of the hole it has that selection.

https://www.freecaddie.com/

He already said he didn't wanna use an app because he doesn't like to check his phone during play and his phone battery drains too quickly.
 
couldn't you get the distance off the tee, then pace off from sprinkler heads/yardage markers in the fairway?


That would help if you're near the sprinkler heads. Might need to break out a compass and make some measurements and calculations if you're very far off the correct route.
 
GPS watches usually have a shot measurement function. I measure many of my shots with my old Bushnell NEO XS. One nice aspect of that feature is that it can be utilized even if away from a golf course. I do a lot of full/partial scoring club distance work away from the course with it. I also have a cheaper launch monitor (Voice Caddie SC200) so I've sometimes used the shot measurement feature on my GPS watch to verify how close the numbers that I'm seeing on my SC200 are.
 
measuring wheels, you can get them at any hardware store
. I might look like a weirdo rolling that down the fairway lol!

couldn't you get the distance off the tee, then pace off from sprinkler heads/yardage markers in the fairway?
. I wish the courses I played had distances on sprinkler heads!

Golf Buddy is like $90 and you can get GPS distance on that. Mark the tee and then mark again when you get to your ball. Seems to work pretty well
. May have to look into that.
 
Step and count? Not handheld but about as old school as you can get, right? :D
 
Step and count? Not handheld but about as old school as you can get, right? :D

Not sure I can count out 305 yards....

lol, haha I wish.
 
I use range finder to measure my shots. Goto the ball and shoot at the person standing on the tee box. Might be off 5+- yds but it’s good enough for me.


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Not old school but certainly one of the easiest is with gps.

Timely thread because I haven't used my Garmin G6 in a year since switching to a rangefinder. But I've enjoyed a recent increase in distance off the tee so I was thinking about breaking out the Garmin for a look-see.

Time to charge 'er up!
 
I use range finder to measure my shots. Goto the ball and shoot at the person standing on the tee box. Might be off 5+- yds but it’s good enough for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That’s not a bad idea. I have a Bushnell
 
That’s not a bad idea. I have a Bushnell

I also have Golf buddy that clips on the cap but I usually forget to charge it. Yesterday I used range finder to measure lay up and measure few drives. It worked great as long as you can find something to aim.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I measure driver distances all the time. It depends on your circumstances on which works best but here are some options:

1) Arccos Driver - Sensor attaches to your driver grip, download the app and leave your phone in your pocket. The microphone on your phone picks up the sound when you strike the ball so it knows each spot you hit it from and calculates the distances between each shot. I know you mentioned you didn't want a gizmo that works with your phone but thought I would throw it out there as an option in case you change your mind or if others wanted options. Cheapest option @ $29.99

2) Game Golf Classic - Receiver unit attaches to your belt. You then put the provided plastic tags onto your grips. On the tee box you tag the driver by placing the grip sensor near the belt receiver. It beeps and vibrates to let you know a tag was made. You hit your next shot and when you tag that club the system then calculates the distance of the drive. You then log onto their website or phone app see your results. $99 if you can still find it. They have a newer version but it works via the phone I believe. I mentioned the older version as you do not need a phone to use it.

3) Rangefinder - This works great if you have an empty course. Every so often if I am testing a few a drivers I will find a level hole on an open course and camp out for about an hour hitting drives. I leave my golf bag at the tee box, hit the drives, walk or drive the cart out to each shot, shoot the rangefinder back at my golf bag at the tee and write down the distances of each shot. Probably the most expensive option as rangefinders typically start around $150 for a quality one.

4) GPS unit with shot measuring - Definitely the easiest method of measuring a shot and relatively accurate too. Most units these days have shot measuring capability. So at the tee box you hit the button to begin the measurement, get to the ball and look at the unit again and it will say how far you hit it. The only drawback is some units take a while to settle in on the yardage and being its based of the satellites if you remain there for a while and look again the yardage could fluctuate a little usually (1-5 yds).
Cost: Probably the cheapest I have seen a unit with shot measuring was when the Bushnell Neo Ghost was on special at $49. Their new unit the Phantom is $99 which is still a great buy.

5) Measuring wheel - I own one but have never used it for shot measuring. I guess you could take this to a course but it seems like it would be a little tedious. And the cheaper ones with the small wheels tend to bounce around on grass and uneven ground. You would probably need a higher dollar one with a larger wheel.

I actually have own all 5 above. The shot tracking units like Arccos and Game Golf are nice as they pretty much do the work for you, but if you are opposed to using a phone app the GPS unit is the next best option. Using the rangefinder and trying to find an object to shoot back to at the tee is a crapshoot and leaving your bag there requires the course to be open.

I would recommend scouring ebay for a deal on a gps unit. I bought a used Garmin G6 recently for like $50 and it works great for measuring a shot or two when I am testing on the course.
 
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