We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Distance Challenge!

Can we use a yardage book?
 
well,....since I've played most my life without one and only last couple seasons owned one I really don't need the experiment. For one thing its a big pain in the butt to find yard markers on many courses (even my home ones). But there is another side to this question too. You see....I think a lot of people will not have sound results. Mid/high an higher cappers are not very consistent and the only thing fairly consistent is when we make good strikes but making good strikes is not something that happens half the time. If it did we would be hitting 50% of our approaches on or very close to the greens. There are so many times through all the years without a finder and also times now when it was slow to adjust or lost power or for whatever reason you simply didn't use it and instead went with what you thought and hit a good strike to be long or short by a club and a half or two clubs and only afterwards did you realize the yardage you thought was not correct and actually was 15 yards or so closer or longer. But there is just no way imo a mid/high to high capper hits enough good strikes to say he/she was better with or without the finder. We're just too inconsistent imo to make that determination. Its really only a matter of convenience and when we do hit a good strike it has to better to know we were at the right yardage for our choice of club.

Its kind of like when imo we try new club or balls for just one round. Our inconsistencies at our lower levels of overall ability are just too great to truly obtain a solid fix on whether or not something worked so much better or worse. There can always be some exceptions but for the most part it requires a process through many rounds before we can usually and truly determine whats best for us. Play one round with a new driver and have a terrible time with it or have a great time with it (same with a ball). And many will think the ball or club is great or it stinks for him. But really it could very well be that you just had a great or terrible day anyway. So imo (and again there are exceptions) but when trying to compare things it takes a whole lot of golf to make definite determinations. Especially the higher up the HC scale we go, the more inconsistent we usually are. Lower cappers (due to much greater consistency) are imo much more capable to make the same determinations for whats better for them via a much shorter time span. I think the same applies to an item like a finder. They have the consistency to know whether it made a difference or not to have one but many of us can't because our inconsistent play gets in the way of any true answer. Cant say you are better or worse because of it because you may just had a better ball striking day or not.
 
The value of the range finder is not so much that it yields better yardages over some manual methods, rather it is the instant knowledge as opposed to the time it takes to calculate the yardage. So if you get behind a group taking this challenge, it may be a longer day.
 
I like this idea. I just bought a rangefinder last year and have already found I rely on it a bit to much. Also have a buddy that I will play with and he can eye it within a yard or two pretty much every time. I will be trying this out as soon as the weather breaks.
 
My father was amazing at eyeballing yardages-he was always spot on if I paced it off. I guess it came from growing up when there wasn't much assistance from the course, and there sure weren't GPS. I'm not as good at it, but can normally get within 5-10 yards just guessing. I grew up with sprinkler head yardages so I'm pretty quick and accurate pacing it off.
 
I'd like to carry a note pad with me like the pros. while there are yardage markers in the fairway and sprinkler heads, we do have hazards and I'd like to have "landmarks" noting if I can carry them or not, and if not, what I need to hit to lay up. I don't want to pull a gap wedge when I should pull a 9 iron, or pull the 9 iron when I should pull a GW and dunk it. Or if I am truly at GW distance I know I can pull a 5i and carry the thing.
 
I forget my gps watch quite a bit for spur of the moment rounds.

Neither way changes my score one way or another, having or not having changes the way I play though especially on lay ups. W/out I'll lay up shorter than I think I need to safety factor, with I'll either try to carry or lay up closer.
 
I always try to guess the yardage and am usually within a few yards.

But I like this challenge, and will be trying it.
 
Just got a range finder for the first time late last year. I never had a problem with distances around markers as long as the course had at least the 150 marked. But shorter distances seemed to be where I was missing out before. I would step up to shots all the time where I thought I was only about 30-35 yards out to find I am 45-50. What's weird is I was always good from those distances before because I didn't care. I just looked at the flag and felt out the distance. I haven't found my scoring to be that much different honestly.
 
I had to do this a few times last year when I forgot to charge my gps. At my home course it wasnt bad since Ive played it so many times but at a new course where not every hole has a 150 marker sticking up it was a pain searching for a sprinkler head that was only marked half the time. I grew up playing without any device so show me a 150 or 100yd marker and Ill guesstimate pretty good without pacing it off.
 
Go to the front desk of your course and buy a yardage book. They should have them for about $2.
 
Maddog701 said:
I have been thinking of posting this for awhile now. I am going to challenge players to test themselves on the course regarding shot distance.
On more than a few occasions while playing with six4three5 I have come with in a yard or been right on the number using my eye when he was using his range finder. He would just look at me and shake his head.

My challenge is this, if you use a range finder, do not use it during a round this year, use your eye and yardage markers provided by the course you are playing. Come back to this tread and post your results/thoughts on how you played!

If you do not use a range finder, use one during a round this year. Come back and post your results/thoughts on how you played!


If you are a "sometimes" range finder, pick one way and stick to during a round and post results/thoughts on how you played.

This should be interesting. I also know the people in the north will not be able to do this for sometime due to weather but the people in the south can get the ball rolling on this one.

Thanks, looking forward to seeing the results.
Click to expand...

I play like this most of the time, even though I almost always have my GPS with me. If the course is accurately marked for 100, 150 and 200 yards, I have no trouble making a good estimate of my distance. I use my GPS mostly when I've hit a drive well off the fairway and have a bad angle to the markers, and I use it for accurate layups.

I began playing when most courses only had 150 markers and everything else was an estimate based on that, so for me it was a luxury when courses started adding other markers.
 
My father-in-law had a GPS before I did, and I would often ask him for confirmation of a yardage but he'd make me guess before telling me. I'm not sure if it's having played a lot at our league course, or just having played for a long time, but I was nearly always within 3 yards.

I find myself using my gps watch mostly for hazard distances / carry. I'm pretty good at estimating to pins (for whatever reason).
 
took my own challenge yesterday, first round of the year too. I did not use any distance device other than the course supplied yardage markers, 100, 150 and 200 yards. I would say there were two shot I would have benefitted from the device, I figured about 85 yards and it was 75 yards (long). the other was a 175 yard that was about 180.(short), other than those two I was very comfortable with yardage.
 
Cool idea definitely looking forward to trying it out next round.
 
Quick story about the " Distance Challenge". Played last week in league with six4three5, he had his range finder and causally asks me, what do you think, I used the 100 yard marker and my naked eye, I said 118 yards, he looked at me and shook his head, I asked what he had, he smiled and say 118 yards.
Last night same league different hole, pin up front, he pounded his drive, he asks me, what do you think? I say 101 yards. He looks at me with a grin and said, right on the money pops.

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk
 
I am very good at judging distance with my eyes, especially on a course that I know. I played my first 2,500 rounds before laser rangefinders existed. That being said, I'm a big fan of how much time a range finder saves during the course of a round. When nobody is on the course I can easily get 18 holes with my 10 year old done in less than 2:15.
 
I used to be better at guessing distance, but am now so used to using a range finder it's not funny.
A couple weeks ago I got to the course to find my laser battery was dead and the course doesn't have good markers. I was way off most of the round, and nearly hit one into the lounge area behind the clubhouse on the ninth hole.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk
 
was at the range tonight and left the ranger finder in the bag, just used the target flags......like the god ole days....lol
 
I can't do it, I wish I could, I'm just terrible at judging distance. I'm so dependent on my range finder that I carry a backup in case the battery dies on my main unit. Before I got a ranger finder I would search out sprinkler heads and yardage markers but never felt I got good yardage information that way. After, my game improve almost immediately, also sped my game up a great bit.
 
played last night in league with six4three5 last night. I did the challenge on 2 of his shots, first, 148 yards, I hit it right on the money, the second one was 47 yards and it turned out to be 48 yards, not bad for an old guy....lol
 
Not good at it. I've played my home course a few times when my GPS watch has died but I've played the course so often that I know which clubs I usually hit where and can adjust on that.

When I play somewhere new without the watch, it's a mess especially with uphill and downhill shots.
 
So I ended up doing the challenge for the majority of my round today, that by coincidence ended up with me posting a personal best 83.

My GPS wouldn't start up today, even though it was 3/4 charged, and my rangefinder started crapping the bed on me.

Ended up getting an approximate yardage on the 18th for the high pressure shot to seal the round, but other than that, I managed to get around the course decently enough. Didn't hit a ton of greens (ended up short a fair bit), but I would take that as more poor swing/contact than a bad yardage.

Tee shot, whatever I needed to do to get on the green/near the green, if short chip on, and then putt. Short game was clicking from the extra practice I put in before the round today, and it saved me.

I do think I tend to rely on the GPS to be a bit too exact with my yardages. I try more so to use the back distance , and just aim for the middle of the green.
 
I play different courses and 300 yds on course A looks more like 375 yds to the eye, and 300 yds on course B looks like 300 yds, then on course C 300 yds looks more like 225 but all three play like 300 yds. Looks can deceive you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top