Using laser rangefinder at the range

[Aussie Mark]

Do any of you use a laser rangefinder at the driving range to suss out your distances for each club? I scored a Nikon 500G for Xmas and am hitting the range during daylight hours on Saturday (I haven't bothered taking it to the range after work in the evenings this week because I assumed I wouldn't be able to see $%#@ with it at night).

Given the lack of landmarks and trees etc at the range (other than a couple of fake greens and a few distance markers), how should I go about this? I'm assuming a golf ball sitting on the grass 200 metres away will be too small to get a reading from, so I'm wondering if taking the rangefinder to the range will be a waste of time or not?

[Loop]

In my range, they have distance panel markers. They are somewhat accurate, but since they move the teeing ground everyday, I can get a 20 yard difference.
BTW, the best way to see exactly where your ball went is to go to a range with a 2nd level. Although you might get more distance, seeing from atop is quite accurate.

[Aussie Mark]

My local range is a double storey facility, but there is little in the way of distance markers other than 3 or 4 signs spread around the range at 100/150/200 etc.

[SiberianDVM]

You're right about needing good light: I took my new Nikon ProStaff 440 to the range last night and had a lot of trouble seeing the readout. I'm gonna try again on Saturday afternoon.

Darn this having to work for a living! It's interfering with my golf.

[Pa Jayhawk]

You should be able to get a fairly close reading (within a few feet) just off of the ground around the ball, especially if the tee box is a little higher than the range by even a couple feet. Just aim at the ball, it should read the ground around the ball. On the course I will just aim at the hole to get a reading on the ground around the hole. Although if there is a golfer in on the green in front of you, it is much easier to get a reading off of the golfer.

[Aussie Mark]

Originally Posted by FKA Pa Jayhawk

You should be able to get a fairly close reading (within a few feet) just off of the ground around the ball, especially if the tee box is a little higher than the range by even a couple feet. Just aim at the ball, it should read the ground around the ball.

That sounds promising, I'll give it a shot tomorrow and see how it goes. Thanks!

[Augster]

Originally Posted by Aussie Mark

Do any of you use a laser rangefinder at the driving range to suss out your distances for each club? I scored a Nikon 500G for Xmas and am hitting the range during daylight hours on Saturday (I haven't bothered taking it to the range after work in the evenings this week because I assumed I wouldn't be able to see $%#@ with it at night).

Given the lack of landmarks and trees etc at the range (other than a couple of fake greens and a few distance markers), how should I go about this? I'm assuming a golf ball sitting on the grass 200 metres away will be too small to get a reading from, so I'm wondering if taking the rangefinder to the range will be a waste of time or not?

I don't think I'd worry about things 200 out. A laserfinder at the range is absolutely GREAT for your shorter shots. Our first pin on our range is labeled at 70 yards. From anywhere on the range, you can shoot it with the laser. One day, it was 90 yards. I just practiced to that. Now, when you are on the course, and your finder says 90 to the stick, you know EXACTLY what shot to hit.

Confidence in your yardages at the range transfer directly to the course because you are using the SAME INSTRUMENT to read those yardages. Using the laserfinder at the range is the HUGE advantage it has over GPS.

Just use the sights in the laserfinder. Most stuff will reflect and you'll have the distance to wherever the sight was. Especially inside 150. Being accurate to your yardages over 200 is kind of pointless. Accuracy, i.e. straightness, is much more important on long shots than distance travelled. So many factors affect your ball over such a long distance that you only really need to "ballpark" the numbers from that far away.

[ualtim]

I use my rangefinder on the range and have been able to pick up the pins farely accurately. The only issue I have found using the rangefinder at the range is that the range balls do not accurately represent the balls I am hitting on the course. My local course changed its range balls sometime last year, and I am pretty sure that they do not travel the same distance that the old range balls did, and definitely shorter than my Stratas. I went for a range session to tune up my distances and based on that information, I went to the course the next day. For the first time that I can remember, I was consistantly a club to a club and a half longer that I had been hitting on the range. After airmailing the first 3 greens, I adjusted my club selection process and greatly improved my accuracy.

Just be cautious when working on your distances on the range until you can verify it on the course. As usual, I had to learn the hard way.