Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Ive just started playing golf again and one thing ive never been much kop at is judging distances, ive been having a look online at the digital range distance finders and GPS units.

I was just wondering what people tend to use and have had the best results with, i know you can get apps for your phone but a few reviews seem to say that they are battery heavy.

Godspeed Brakes

iTrader: (259)

I have both , GPS everytime , see lots wearing the watch's now which seem like a good idea.
I have a Skycaddie and find it very good , but you do pay yearly subscriptions with these ones

Geezer

You could try SkyDroid, available for both iOS and Android. Thousands of courses on it, but you need to download them before you play. I have used it round our course and it's fine considering it's price ($2.99).

You can pay more for better options if you wish. Obviously there is a question of battery life on your phone, but if you are a lazy git like and have a leccy trolley with a USB charging port on it, it's not a problem.

A few of my friends have the Garmin watches, they seem very good.

That said, as long as the course has 150yd markers, I tend to find GPS devices unnecessary.

Geezer

ScoobyDoo555

I use "GolfCard GPS". You can upload the data from Google maps if your course isn't on there. And it's pretty accurate

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Ive downloaded Skydroid onto my phone, for the sake of £1.28 its deffo worth a go, on first impressions it looks very good, ive downloaded a few maps as well so i'll report back when ive given it a run out.

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for the suggestion, i'd already downloaded the previous suggestion of Skydroid so i'll give that a whirl first. I guess different people will like different apps, at least you have found one that works and your comfy with.

fitzscoob

My friend has one that is gps, tells him the distance to the front, middle and back of the green from wherever he is on the course.

That being said, unless you can yard your clubs, there's no point knowing you're 150 yards away.

They are a great bit of kit, but you'll really benefit from them if you're able to know your distances for full, 3 quarter, half and quarter swings with each iron.

Geezer

That's true as amateurs won't hit it consistently. But, knowing the hole is 140 or 170 yds is going to make a difference, and on some courses, the trees, contours etc. can give you a very different idea to the distance from what it really is.

Like I said though, as long as they have 150yd markers, you can always get a decent approximation of how far it is. Anything under that distance is about feel anyway.

Geezer

BlueBugEye

iTrader: (12)

I use the swing by swing app gives really good info off the satellite images and can check any yardage you want.

You can play for looper as well and get club distances recorded etc. only issue is my club won't let you use them in any comps (however we have 200, 150 and 100 markers)!

pacenote

+ 1

I tend to prefer the old school yardage book if there is one for the course, however I have 'my caddie pro' on my iphone which comes in handy if you go "off piste " so to speak

fitzscoob

One of the best practice routines was from Dave Pelz book.

Using 7 iron through to wedges, hit 100 ***** with each club, first 100 full swing, work out your average distance, second 100 three quarter swing, work out your average distance, etc. through to half and quarter swing etc.

Helped me massively when I was a bit more serious, now I just have a couple of beers before I tee off.

pacenote

Sounds like a good routine if you have the time. I'm going through a complete swing change so may give that a go once I have some consistency.

The beers sound good but don't think I could do that before an 8 am tee off

fitzscoob

You'd be surprised how good a beer is at 7am

It does take a while to get it settled but well worth it. Another one is a good putting routine.

Take a dozen golf ***** or so and work from 12ft in a circle around the hole and when you drop each one, slowly move the ***** in to 8ft, then 5ft, it helps build confidence and getting used to hitting the back of the hole.

cster

If you use a laser range finder, you will not only have a precise distance to the pin, but you can also check out the range to hazards you may wish to hit over or be short of.
If you don't know how far your clubs go, there is no point either in having a range device, or arguably, in playing golf.

Luan Pra bang

The standalone gps's are mostly **** and many charge a subscription that means the device forgets all its courses when you stop paying. I use Freecaddie and Nrange on my phone both were completely free and work well. As yet the only course I have found not on it was a place in Africa that built an extra 18 holes that had not been mapped yet. The range finders are good for calulating elevation but if they do that I beleive they cannot be used in competition. For the price (free) you cannot beat the phone apps.

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

The only problem i see with this routine is you can only practically use this on a golf range using range *****, they fly nowhere near as far as the proper ***** you use on a course. Your yardage will be a good bit further using proper ***** on a course so you'll over hit a lot of shots.

Its an excellent routine if you have access to somewhere that has grass and is long enough to hit proper *****.

fitzscoob

This is all very true indeed. I was lucky enough to have a senior school playing field nearby to my old house. You should have seen the kids run

neil-h

I'll start by saying i've never played golf (closest i've ever come is the crazy golf on Painton sea front) but surely part of the skill is in being able to judge distances and pick the right club?

fitzscoob

It is, but club distance can be altered depending on the conditions.

Lets say you hit an 8 iron 150 yards.

Flat course, 150 yards to the middle of the green 8 iron.

Down hill shot, 150 yards to the middle, an 8 iron will go long.

Up hill shot, 150 yards to the middle an 8 iron will come up short.

Throw wind into the mix and you're going home with a headache.

Once you start aiming at pins, and they're 5 paces on, or 10 paces short of the back etc. you need to tweak your distances. So knowing your distances is important, but its not that straight forward.

On most courses you'll find yardage markers, 200 - 100 - 50 usually although courses can vary. The downside is you wont always land right next to one, so you need to get better at judging distances.

The gps takes away some doubt. I see the benefit in them, but to be honest, unless you're a really decent golfer, swings will not be consistent enough to hit the yardage you're looking at every time. So it's a moot point a bit, although nice bit of kit to have to take out the doubt.

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Like Fitz says, their are a lot of factors that go into judging the distance on a golf course. As just normal players our swings are not consistent so they will vary in speed and the distance you hit a ball, its also not easy to jusge the distance as the majority of golf courses are not flat, some holes are uphill where as others are down hill, wind and the type of ground your hitting off come into it.

Its like someone saying to you when your approx half a mile away from a set of traffic lights in your car, how far away are those traffic lights in yards ? From half a mile away you'd probably do well to guess within 30- 50 yards of the lights.