Rangefinders

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

I know they are currently prohibited by the USGA, although there are indications that they may soon be approved for use in USGA competitions.

I was curious if anyone here has ever used any of them, if they had found them useful.

I could see them being helpful in improving speed of play, too. No more having to pace off from yardage markers, and of course, if you play municipals, it can sometimes be impossible to find yardage markers.

I would be most curious if anyone has used the ones that aren't laser technology, if something like the Bushnell Scope works well.

Cuz I'm not about to go drop $200 on something like a laser.

 

[Silver]

only prohibited in tournament rounds, not for rounds that count for your handicap, as far as I know

friend has one, and it's very useful - the laser one, that is

funny you should bring this up, was going to maybe get one today!

 

[ualtim]

I have been using a Bushnell Yardage Pro Tour for most of the summer and have been really impressed by it. While it is a laser range finder, I found it for under $200 on amazon and pulled the trigger.

The initial reason for purchasing the range finder was primarlily for one of the local courses that had no yardage information other than 150 poles. Since purchasing, I have found it even more useful at the range where the distances are always suspect or hard to find. Even when I am playing a course that gives out GPS receivers, I still use the rangefinder to find the distance to bunkers, traps, trees, and flags. The only time I have problem getting good distances is when there is little to no wind and the flag is hanging against the flag stick. When that happens, I have to shoot another target (such as a bunker face) then estimate distance to the flag. I love mine and can not imagine a round without it.

As far as the USGA goes, you can use a rangefiner during a round for handicap purposes but not for tournement rounds. As I am not a tournement player, it has not really impacted my use of the device. As for the future of rangefinder, the USGA has been trying to get them legal for tournement play for a while but the R&A does not want to allow them. Since the driver COR flap, the USGA and R&A have been in agreement to reviewing and changing rules together and trying to keep their rules similar. Because of this increased cooperation, the USGA will not change the rule on rangefinders until they can work out a solution that the R&A can agree with and both publish the change at the same time.

 

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

I can see the laser ones being useful. Point and shoot. I've been searching about for a more detailed explanation how the distance is calculated if you're just using the scope lens models. I found a brief description about how with the Bushnell you line up the lines with the flagstick's height(?), so from that there may be a way to calculate a yardage?

I think I found something that describes the method, so if you know the height of the flagstick, you can then make the calculation based on how many ticks on the internal reticle, it seems.

So a non-laser rangefinder would require some mental calculation, I'd guess. I can handle that. Maybe I can find a place with a display model, so I could test out how it would work.

 

[Don]

range finders

First of all, that Bushell scope you asked about, it's not worth the money to blow it to bits. I have one and it's your's for the postage it would cost to ship it to you. As for a laser, I got one and I use it all the time. You can measure the distance to the flag, a bunker in front of or behind the green, the corner of the dogleg, anything you want. Need to carry a lake to reach the fairway, check it with the laser and you will know exactly what the carry distance is you need. Played a course yesterday, had a lake and a sign by the tee box telling me it was 207 to carry the water. When I measured it, it was only 186, not 207. For some golfers, that a BIG difference. I can confirm what was posted about reading to a flag when there is no wind, it doesn' work as well. the maximum distance you can get a reading is reduced. I'd recommend you check out Bushnells website and look at all the features of all the models they sell, not just the golf lasers, but the ones for hunters as well. Some of the hunter models read the the same distance as the golf models, and cost a lot less. I got a Bushnell Yardage Pro 500 at GartSports on sale for about $150 last year. The maximum distance it will read to a flag was the same as one of the golf models, but it carried a list price that was lower for some reason. And there are more hunters using laser than there are golfers, so you can find a better sale on hunting equipment in the fall than you can on golf equipment. Worth checking it out in my opinion. For what it's worth, the yardage on some par 3's can be listed as one thing, and be off by as much as 25 yards, depending on pin placement and where in the tee box you have to hit from on any given day. I don't know about you, but I hate to miss the flag by 25 yards on my approach shots, makes for really long putts, if I'm lucky, bunker shots when I'm not so lucky.

 

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

Thanks for the feedback. , I'm still not ready to drop $150 on a laser one yet, though.

 

[Silver]

oh, now THIS is cool:

http://www.bushnell.com/products/rangefinder/specs/20-5103.cfm

it measures slope too!

 

[DaveE]

oh, now THIS is cool:

http://www.bushnell.com/products/rangefinder/specs/20-5103.cfm

it measures slope too!

If it could hit the ball for me I'd get one. I don't need anything that elimates excuses.

 

[Loop]

A scope lens is a piece of trash. I wouldn't even use it if someone gave it to me.

Get a laser rangefinder, it'll give good distance.
And for tournament play, I had this notion they changed the ruling to allow electronic measuring device....

 

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

Well, I'm gonna hold off on a laser one. Let me see about the idea next year. If I'm still pleased about golfing, if my shoulder is still good with the idea of golfing, then I'll look into it.

For now, I'll just keep working on estimating, and improving my eye for that estimation.