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Range Finders

ezra76

Well-Known Member
Feb 5, 2006
12,412
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Ok, how do these things work and what's the best bang for the buck. I just want to be able to find my average distaces for my clubs and then find yardage to the pin. I've heard guys say they can hit a drive, then shoot the teebox marker, giving them the distance of the tee shot. I'd love to be able to do this but not wanting to spend like $300 to do it.
 

Pa Jayhawk

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Nov 15, 2005
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Ok, how do these things work and what's the best bang for the buck. I just want to be able to find my average distaces for my clubs and then find yardage to the pin. I've heard guys say they can hit a drive, then shoot the teebox marker, giving them the distance of the tee shot. I'd love to be able to do this but not wanting to spend like $300 to do it.
I have the Bushnell Yardage Pro Tour. Works well for me. It is usually easier to take a reading off the ground, or a person standing on the green than trying to hit the flag. Unless the flags have the reflectors. I have heard both the Bushnell or the Nikon's are the way to go. The only tough way to get a reading is for uphill greens, then I usually just hit the front of the green. I likely would have gone with the Nikon, but could not find them in the stores, and I wanted to be able to take it back if I was not impressed.

From the research I did, I heard that you really need to get one of the models that range around $300. I believe the Yardage Pro Tour is around $250-$300. I read quite a few reviews where people were not impressed with the cheaper models on the golf course. Being able to shoot the tee box from a drive should be easier than hitting a flag or the ground by the flag, so this should be an option with any that will work with golf. Most go up to well over 300 yards, and more likely up to 700 yards. Again, hitting a piece of ground and getting a reading from within a yard or two is no problem on mine, hitting the front of a tee box or even a tee block should be even easier.
 

gwlee7

Ho's from Rocky Mount, NC
Supporting Member
Jun 15, 2005
1,402
1
Ok, how do these things work and what's the best bang for the buck. I just want to be able to find my average distaces for my clubs and then find yardage to the pin. I've heard guys say they can hit a drive, then shoot the teebox marker, giving them the distance of the tee shot. I'd love to be able to do this but not wanting to spend like $300 to do it.

Well, step off your drive to the nearest yardage marker and subtract the yardage form the score card yardage. Example: your ball is near four paces short of the 125 marker on a 400 yard par four. That means you hit your tee shot 271. It won't be "exact" but it will be close enough to let you know about how far you hit the drive. The upsides are you save $300 and you get to exercise your brain.
 

SiberianDVM

I love Hooters
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Jul 25, 2005
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I have a Nikon 440, but I use it to laze the yardage for my next shot, not the last. :D

Comes in real handy when I am not in the fairway, which is most of the time.
 
OP
ezra76

ezra76

Well-Known Member
Feb 5, 2006
12,412
16
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #5
I just want to dial in my distances but it would be fun to know how far exactly I am hitting my tee shots. I will be playing a lot of rounds over the winter at the course I am joining next year. I think a rangefinder will help to quickly get my yardages down. The course has tough greens and a lot of bunkers, being off a full club is just unacceptable.

Thanks for the advice. I'll probably scour Ebay over the winter for a used model. I was thinking about the GPS deal but it seems a bit too complicated, I just want to be able to say "OK 162 to the front edge, I can carry a full 8iron 164 or knock down a 7 165 and fade it in there. Right now I play by all feel but trying to save par with chips is not as easy with 8-10ft. high bunkers looming around.
 

Pa Jayhawk

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Nov 15, 2005
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I was thinking about the GPS deal but it seems a bit too complicated, I just want to be able to say "OK 162 to the front edge, I can carry a full 8iron 164 or knock down a 7 165 and fade it in there. Right now I play by all feel but trying to save par with chips is not as easy with 8-10ft. high bunkers looming around.
GPS systems are not real complicated, I own 2 of them, one for hiking and while on foot, and one for my vehicle. Although I have found that Skycaddie has very few courses in my area. You can put the front, back and center of the green, but cannot enter other info. For me the Range finder is a better option. I like not having to update and pay for courses, and the range finder will tell me much more about where I want to hit the ball. Plus I don't use it every round and just in cases that are in question or during practice. The GPS will not do this for me on my home course, the range finder does not take time to initialize if I am not using it all of the time, and just seems more convenient. I see little advantage of a GPS. I usually use my range finder the most on course I only play once in a while, or only once. When I go to a new course it is ready to go whenever it is needed.

Not saying a GPS is a bad option, but for many the Range Finder is a better option and will tell you more exact distances for most instances. Just my opinion.

edit 1 - With my familiarity of GPS systems and the trees up here, I would tend to believe if I pulled it out of the bag cold, I would be on the next hole before the thing had time to initialize.
 

JEFF4i

She lives!
Supporting Member
Jul 3, 2006
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Buy a range book!

Actually I think they are cool, but I'm not a huge fan of yardage markers. If you get one, I think you may convince me to get one though.
 

Pa Jayhawk

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Nov 15, 2005
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Buy a range book!

Actually I think they are cool, but I'm not a huge fan of yardage markers. If you get one, I think you may convince me to get one though.
I don't like to use them alot on the course because it takes away from my game, but one of my main reasons for getting one is that I kept spending $5 on a Yardage book everytime I played a new course (and sometimes even the 2nd and 3rd time), and even with some yardage books the yardage is very questionable.

On my home course, there is really only one hole it consistently comes in handy for the second shot on a sharp dogleg par 5, and we have since marked our own distances on the sprinkler heads for the second shot distances to the 150 mark so I rarely use it on that hole anymore. When I first got it I found alot of yardage discrepancies, but they have since remeasured the course.
 

ualtim

Carrollton, TX
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Aug 20, 2005
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Check out Amazon.com for your range finder. I got a Bushnell Yardage Pro Tour there a couple of years ago for $199, brand new in the box. Flags can be hard to hit from longer distances or if there is no wind and the flags are wrapped around the poles. Also, I have noticed that certain flags do not seem to register with the laser. Some of the thinner flags that you can almost see through do not seem to provide enough reflection for a reading. Like Pa Jayhawk, I find other methods of obtaining distances such as golfers on the green, bunkers, grass mounds, etc.

Best $200 I have spent on golf equipment.
 

Farquod

Short Game Tragedy
Mar 8, 2005
1,165
0
I find other targets for obtaining distances such as golfers on the green, bunkers, grass mounds, etc.

Absolutely. Wait till the fat guy bends to get his ball out of the cup, and ZAP! Can't miss. :D

'course, you have to decide if you want to spend your round looking at THAT through a magnifying glass....
 
OP
ezra76

ezra76

Well-Known Member
Feb 5, 2006
12,412
16
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  • #12
Thanks. So how about that one I looked at on Ebay? (see a few posts up). Is that garbage or would something like that serve the purpose? I'm not going to take it out on like a midsummer Sunday. Just when I play alone over the winter. I'd like to get to know the course like the back of my hand. I was watching a Golf Channel program with Tom Watson, he was hitting a few different irons/trajectories into a par 3 over water. This really convinced me how much knowing the course as well as my own yardages would be so beneficial to going lower.
 

Farquod

Short Game Tragedy
Mar 8, 2005
1,165
0
Ok, I've had both Bushnell and Nikon. My personal preference is the Nikon, as it seems to have a bit more selectivity for hitting your target. As has been noted by 'tim and Jayhawk, the bigger and more massive a target (or reflective) the better the chance you're going to get a correct reading. The sun also can play havoc with these things, as trying to shoot directly into the sun can prove futile. I have not really noticed a problem with cold temperatures, other that it seems to be a good idea to check your batteries a bit more often in the winter.

They do work, Ez, and if you can get a deal, go for it. The price seems to vary directly with the rated distance, and inversely with the size. So the smaller versions that shoot farthest are most expensive. The older, bigger units work fine to 200 yards, which is probably the most common use you're going to have, and if you don't mind the size (not a big deal, really) it's a fine way to go.

So yep, I would think the one in the link would be fine.

Just as an aside. I have had 2 of these stolen, so be mindful of where you leave them. That is a selling point for the smaller models.
 

JoshinWA

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2006
185
0
The sun also can play havoc with these things, as trying to shoot directly into the sun can prove futile.

And shooting directly into the sun can likely blind you. But just in case anybody cares, the distance to the sun from sea level is 92,955,820.5 miles, or 163,602,200,000 yards, so subtract your elevation in yards (using the altimeter function of your GPS) from that to get your distance to the sun...

God, sometimes I am such a smartass! :D
 

Pa Jayhawk

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Nov 15, 2005
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And shooting directly into the sun can likely blind you. But just in case anybody cares, the distance to the sun from sea level is 92,955,820.5 miles, or 163,602,200,000 yards, so subtract your elevation in yards (using the altimeter function of your GPS) from that to get your distance to the sun...

God, sometimes I am such a smartass! :D
Had you purchased the pinseeker model it would have done the calculation with elevation for you!!!:)
 

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