• Welcome To ShotTalk.com!

    We are one of the oldest and largest Golf forums on the internet with golfers from around the world sharing tips, photos and planning golf outings.

    Registering is free and easy! Hope to see you on the forums soon!

Advice on rangefinders/GPS devices

smitty

Well-Known Member
Jul 6, 2006
52
0
I'm not sure if this has been asked before (I couldn't get the search function to work), but I am looking for advice or opinions on rangefinders. A friend of mine has the Bushnell with slope adjustment (legal for handicap rounds but not tournaments) and it was really useful knowing how much the upslope or downslope added to the shot. Also, you could use it on the range. It would be nice to know how far it is to a certain flag on the range when the move the range tees every day. On the other hand, the GPS units seem to be easier to use (you don't have to lock in on a fixed object) and it seems like you could more readily use these units to determine distances to bunkers, etc.

Anybody have an experience with these things and preferences?
 
OP
S

smitty

Well-Known Member
Jul 6, 2006
52
0
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #3
Thanks, those links were helpful.

I'd still be interested in (1) thoughts regarding the GPS devices, such as the SkyCaddie, if anyone has used one, and (2) how difficult is it typically to deteremine with a rangefinder the distance to carry a bunker, or the distance to a lake, etc.
 

Eracer

No more triple bogies!!
Oct 31, 2005
12,405
8
smitty said:
I'm not sure if this has been asked before (I couldn't get the search function to work), but I am looking for advice or opinions on rangefinders. A friend of mine has the Bushnell with slope adjustment (legal for handicap rounds but not tournaments) and it was really useful knowing how much the upslope or downslope added to the shot. Also, you could use it on the range. It would be nice to know how far it is to a certain flag on the range when the move the range tees every day. On the other hand, the GPS units seem to be easier to use (you don't have to lock in on a fixed object) and it seems like you could more readily use these units to determine distances to bunkers, etc.

Anybody have an experience with these things and preferences?

I like the rangefinder for a couple of reasons.

1. I can more easily calculate partial distances, like how far to the end of a dog-leg fairway, or how far to carry a hazard, or even how far to the group ahead.

2. The GPS relies on map data, which may not be available for a course.

3. The rangefinder is a covert magnifier that brings the hotties sunbathing by their pools just a little more in focus...
 

JEFF4i

She lives!
Supporting Member
Jul 3, 2006
13,545
95
It may just be me, but I'll never buy one, ever. For two main reasons;

Most courses here are well marked, therefore if it's an elevated green, I club up depending on distance, and vice versa.

And second, I was playing in a threesome for a tournament, and this one guy used his rangefinder on ever single approach shot, and we averaged an 18 minute par 4 because of it and fell 2 holes back. Myself and the other person were keeping up, but it easily took him 2 minutes total to get it out, dial it in, figure out the wind and the slope, and decide, then he had to practice and hit his ball. Rather irritating.
 

john45

Well-Known Member
Jul 4, 2005
84
0
JEFF4i said:
It may just be me, but I'll never buy one, ever. For two main reasons;

Most courses here are well marked, therefore if it's an elevated green, I club up depending on distance, and vice versa.

And second, I was playing in a threesome for a tournament, and this one guy used his rangefinder on ever single approach shot, and we averaged an 18 minute par 4 because of it and fell 2 holes back. Myself and the other person were keeping up, but it easily took him 2 minutes total to get it out, dial it in, figure out the wind and the slope, and decide, then he had to practice and hit his ball. Rather irritating.

I agree, I will guestimate and not buy one. I am very technical too but on the golf course I would rather not be technical. Just have fun.
 

warbirdlover

Ender of all threads
Supporting Member
Jul 9, 2005
19,151
5,601
central Wisconsin
Country
United States United States
I use one of the simple ones with the straight bottom line and curved top line. You put the "pin" between them and read the yardage. It is surprisingly accurate and not expensive. I want to get the better one though for the advantages Eracer brought up.
 
OP
S

smitty

Well-Known Member
Jul 6, 2006
52
0
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #9
JEFF4i said:
It may just be me, but I'll never buy one, ever. For two main reasons;

Most courses here are well marked, therefore if it's an elevated green, I club up depending on distance, and vice versa.

And second, I was playing in a threesome for a tournament, and this one guy used his rangefinder on ever single approach shot, and we averaged an 18 minute par 4 because of it and fell 2 holes back. Myself and the other person were keeping up, but it easily took him 2 minutes total to get it out, dial it in, figure out the wind and the slope, and decide, then he had to practice and hit his ball. Rather irritating.
People who play slow tend to play slow no matter what. You have to be a sub-moron to take two minutes to use a good rangefinder. (Either that are you have a really krappy one or don't know how to use the one you have.) When I played with my friend who had one, I would estimate it took an average of 10 to 15 seconds at most to get the exact yardage.

At my course, they have replaced many of the sprinkler heads in the past few years, and not reinstalled the yardage markers that were on the old sprinkers. Thus, you often find yourself waking over to an embedded area that you can see has a sprinkler head, and then you get over there and there is no yardage on it. Then you have to go to the next sprinkler or to the markers that they have every 25 yards on the edge of the fairwyay. But these markers are plates that you can't see unless you go over to them. I can pretty much guarantee that, unless you are sloth like the guy you mention, using a scope from the middle of the fairway and getting the exact yardage to the pin would be much quicker than finding the marker at the side of the fairway, walking over to it, adjusting the distance to calculate the distance to the pin, walking back to your ball, and then selecting your club and hitting the shot. :)
 

Pa Jayhawk

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2005
7,196
62
Country
United States United States
sssmokin said:
Hey Eracer, You've convinced me...........it's the rangefinder for sure.:)
Wise choice IMO.

Just to confirm and to add to what Eracer said, from one who has owned several GPS's for Hiking and driving for about the last 15 years, and has pretty good familiarity with the technology. I would opt for a rangefinder, and carry one in my bag. You can use it for practice as well, which was a big part of the reason I bought mine. I don't want to be married to the device on the course, I usually only pull mine out of the bag on rare occasions on the course, when they move tee boxes around, or when I play a newer course. I got tired of spending $5 on a yardage book everytime I played an unfamiliar course.

With this in mind, for me it was a no brainer. A GPS also takes time to initialize. For it to be effective you would need to have it on pretty much the entire round or prior to when you need it for distance. Personally, not something that interests me.
 

wirehair

Life's too short to drink cheap wine.
Apr 29, 2005
2,489
3
I use a Skycaddie. Clip it to the cart or bag if I'm walking. Just a glance gives me superquick results. In addition, I get distances to the front of the green not just the flag and I can always tell the shape of the green so I know which direction to miss to avoid being short sided.
 

🔥 Latest posts

Top