Best GPS/Range finder/Cell phone software

[Augster]

Hi I have been looking into a laser range finder/GPS/smartphone software. need some opinions good/bad or indifferent. Skycaddie? Laser range finder? Free smartphone software? Any one using these please chime in. Thanks Brian

Bushnell rangefinder with Pinseeker technology. You can't miss your target. I doubt I'll ever go back to GPS because it is so accurate and so easy to use. I have tried multiple and none of them work as consistently as my Bushnell. I can go to any range in the country and know my exact yardages to each and every marker. Perfect practice. Anywhere, anytime.

Good luck zooming in on the cart girl from afar with a GPS.

 

[scgamecock]

Bushnell rangefinder with Pinseeker technology. You can't miss your target. I doubt I'll ever go back to GPS because it is so accurate and so easy to use. I have tried multiple and none of them work as consistently as my Bushnell. I can go to any range in the country and know my exact yardages to each and every marker. Perfect practice. Anywhere, anytime.

Good luck zooming in on the cart girl from afar with a GPS.

What about carry distance over a fairway bunker or a water hazard in front of the green. how do you measure front middle and back of the green?

 

[eclark53520]

Wow that thing sounds crazy, I wonder if it can help you select/hit the rite club, and calculate the risk/reward for you. Price is a little steep, but i am sure it will come down in a season or 2

I don't think the price is steep at all. I bet $500 spent on this gadget, would make way more improvement than the last couple thousand most people have spent on drivers in the last 3 seasons.

 

[Rockford35]

Just for clarification, the laser and GPS are not integrated. They are separate - just happen to be housed in the same case. I already have and use both, so this would just be a costly toy at this point.

I'm waiting for the next step where they do integrate the two. Take a reading on the flag with the laser, and that number is plugged into the GPS display to not only give the distance from you to the flag, but to every other feature programmed for that hole. Now that would be cool.

Wouldn't this be contradictory? If they were integrated, and gave the wrong yardages to EVERYTHING, doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a "backup" for each?

I like the idea of having the safety valve of the GPS. GPS technology has come a long way in the last 3 years, and has decreased in cost as a result. What were were payng $700 for three years ago can be found for $150 now. And the reason we left chaining and glass surveying is because GPS is just that - much, much more accurate.

R35

 

[Rockford35]

What about carry distance over a fairway bunker or a water hazard in front of the green. how do you measure front middle and back of the green?

My question for guys with lasers is this:

You have a shot of around 155 yards from the right rough/adjacent fairway where you have to carry 25 foot trees that are blocking the green. How do you establish yardage with the laser?

R35

 

[eclark53520]

My question for guys with lasers is this:

You have a shot of around 155 yards from the right rough/adjacent fairway where you have to carry 25 foot trees that are blocking the green. How do you establish yardage with the laser?

R35

Or a severe uphill shot with a flag in the back that you cannot see....not going to help much, but on 99% of shots, it will work as directed for most golfers.

 

[Rockford35]

Or a severe uphill shot with a flag in the back that you cannot see....not going to help much, but on 99% of shots, it will work as directed for most golfers.

So has pacing off shots. I think they've been doing this for longer than GPS and laser's legacy combined...

R35

 

[eclark53520]

So has pacing off shots. I think they've been doing this for longer than GPS and laser's legacy combined...

R35

I have played behind a few groups that pace off anything within 125 yards....wow what a nightmare.

I would have bought them all range finders from the cart girl if she was selling them.

 

[slickpitt]

My question for guys with lasers is this:

You have a shot of around 155 yards from the right rough/adjacent fairway where you have to carry 25 foot trees that are blocking the green. How do you establish yardage with the laser?

R35

Borrow your buddies GPS? lol

Or realize you aren't Phil and pitch out?

No seriously, very rarely have I been in a position where I'm totally blocked out. I can stand to one side or another and get an approximate yardage that will suffice. Generally if I'm in that sort of situation I'll take anywhere on the green anyway.

As far as distance to bunkers and water hazards and such, you can still shoot points on the ground or whatever with a laser. Granted not as accurate as most GPS's in that respect, but it'll work.

The debate of laser and GPS is like any other golf debate, more about personal preference than anything. If I had all the money in the world I'd probably have both... my laser and a SkyCaddie SGX thingy. I see benefits and drawbacks of both.

 

[Rockford35]

Or realize you aren't Phil and pitch out?

My rule of thumb for any round of golf is:

"I did not pay $X to lay up/pitch out."



R35

 

[slickpitt]

My rule of thumb for any round of golf is:

"I did not pay $X to lay up/pitch out."



R35

lol... hows that been workin out for your scorecard?

 

[Rockford35]

lol... hows that been workin out for your scorecard?

It kills the 4 birdies on the front in a heartbeat! LOL.

R35

 

[Augster]

Just FYI, on 99% of courses, if you have the middle yardage add 15 for the back, subtract 15 for the front. Accurate enough on almost every green and for any amatuer player.

And it is usually quite easy to shoot carry distances over bunkers. Most have a raised lip to keep your ball from escaping. Shoot the raised lip. Same for water hazards.

On Rock's scenario, I encounter that maybe once per summer where I can't shoot anything by the green because the trees are so thick. And I play 150+ rounds.

 

[Fourputt]

Just FYI, on 99% of courses, if you have the middle yardage add 15 for the back, subtract 15 for the front. Accurate enough on almost every green and for any amatuer player.

And it is usually quite easy to shoot carry distances over bunkers. Most have a raised lip to keep your ball from escaping. Shoot the raised lip. Same for water hazards.

On Rock's scenario, I encounter that maybe once per summer where I can't shoot anything by the green because the trees are so thick. And I play 150+ rounds.

Yep. Too many guys seem to think that you can noly use the laser for shooting the flag. You can literlly get a measurement to anything you can see within range of the unit. I use it to determine failsafe layup shots regularly. I shoot bunker lips in from the greens, and even the distance to a grass covered mound which is in the general location of where I want to hit a certain shot. I have yet to see a GPS which can pick out a mound on the course. That isn't to knock GPS, simply to point out that it has its limitations too. I still use both.

 

[wirehair]

My rule of thumb for any round of golf is:

"I did not pay $X to lay up/pitch out."

Wise choice
"when a defining moment comes along, you define the moment or the moment defines you" - Roy McAvoy