Pro golf and rangefinders? (NO COVID-19, NO POLITICAL POSTS)

[Creedo77]

Yeah I agree that newer technology in golf has made the relevance for yardage markers less.

As you can see from the regular pga tour stops a good portion of them are Tpc properties and have been built to have pro golf tournaments on them. They are the most well marked courses I’ve ever been on

[cristphoto]

So at 38/32 I'm not regular. Exceptional?

[Skhacker]

The caddies have all of the yardage to within +/- a yard. The caddies are fast. It's some players that are slow.

[Ferguson]

 

Irregular.

[Hawkeye77]

If I get back to 34/34 (and I don't mean I'm getting shorter) I'd like more of a reward than just being "regular", not much incentive in that, lol.

 

 

[Hawkeye77]

It happens - I like it when I shoot three times in a row and it keeps getting closer!

IF (and it won't happen) the PGA Tour has an event without caddies I could care less if the guys use rangefinders, and I bet they would be allowed.

Otherwise, it's the same old discussion. I'll go with the caddie on this one.

[cristphoto]

I've heard that from my wife too.

[ThinkingPlus]

I have noticed the same thing as @Creedo77 with my latest Bushnell. The numbers bounce around as much as 2 yards. That really should not happen. The early model Bushnells did not do this. The Nikons I have had did not either. While this is somewhat speculation, I think design changes have been made with the more recent Bushnell models making them less accurate. Probably done to to reduce cost and increase reliability. A key performance parameter for the laser is pulse width. Narrower pulse widths provide greater accuracy, but tend to be more expensive, maybe larger, less reliable, etc... . Might be worth it's own thread.
BTW, variability from one LRF to another is because they aren't necessarily calibrated to an absolute distance as well as you might think depending on the design. Once again a 2 or 3 yard difference from truth wouldn't be unlikely. This would be a constant error. If you knew the distance to an object was exactly 100 yards (via survey grade LRF or wheel) and your LRF read an average of 98 yards (handful of readings) then that particular LRF would have a cal error of -2 yards. Once you know that error you can compensate all your other distances measured by that amount.

[Soloman1]

It's probably the wind affecting it . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

I better put a smiley face or something or half of the people here will think I'm serious. ;)

[Ferguson]

 

I have always been irregular - 34/32 for most of my life.

Last year I moved to a 36, not by choice.

 

Age - up

Golf score - up

Waist - up

 

 

 

Up With People!

 

 

[smashdn]

I agree. Estimating distances is what I consider to be a "core golf skill." It should be tested during a round as much as picking strategy, club selection and shot execution. I would want to do anything and everything to (re)introduce as much between the ears requirements into the game.

[smashdn]

You don't have to allow any of those things to be used as a condition of competition.

[gvogel]

My Leupold is pretty consistent.

[farmer]

Scottie Scheffler won the Maridoe Samaritan event with no caddie, no rakes, upside down cups, and social distancing. Nine under on what is reported to be a very difficult course. No idea about rangefinders, but these guys can play quite well without all the usual accoutrements. I think it would be interesting to see them with little carry bags trying to figure out the course in the same manner I would.

[cristphoto]

I would like to know how the putts in that tournament were figured with the raised cups. Or since it was a charity event with little at stake the rules were eased. At my club (and probably all others) the cups are raised and we play "touch the cup - its holed". Lots of times we absolutely know even though we touched the cup the putt wouldn't drop.

[farmer]

I was wrong, there spacers in the holes, but no flagsticks.

[Creedo77]

A totally different environment if you ask me, re compared to a normal event. This was a charity event where he gave away his 9 or 10k earnings to the caddies there. I'm sure he was under no pressure and it was merely an outing with a bunch of Dallas based golfers for a good cause.

This isn't taking anything away from Scottie because I know him, saw him out on the KFT last year and he'll be a top 20 player in the world within the next 2 years. But, I would have liked to have known what he was feeling during the event compared to a PGA event.

[gvogel]

Once upon a time, we had the best golfers playing a course they knew well, and they could judge distances from know landmarks, ie bunkers, trees, bushes, humps, hollows, etc.

Then we had traveling golfers playing courses they did not know well, so they had scorcards where they noted distances from notable landmarks. Or sprinkler heads.

Then we graduated to tour books, or course books, where the distances to the middle of the greens were notated in a small book.

I would like to see pro golf go back to range finders, and pin sheets, and they figure it out for themselves. And, no green reading books; if you can't figure it out from walking around the green and using your eyes, you don't deserve to make a putt.

 

Right, I mean if you can't read a putt without a book, you don't deserve to play. And if you can't hit a shot without a range finder telling you the distance, forgot it. Go home.

[cristphoto]

Didn't the Tour recently modify how much detail green books could have? I remember hearing about a golfer that was fined or DQ'd for not having the proper book. Plus didn't Dechambeau get warned or fined for using a pair of calipers to measure the books?

[Creedo77]

The grid on the green books have to be a certain size. The people who sell them every week have modified them to use.

Cejka was DQ'd in the honda last year after Cameron Triangle called him out for using an old book.

[cristphoto]

Mods - help me out here. I started this thread and see its title has been modified to add no virus or political discussion allowed. What could be political or offensive about rangefinders? Plus mentioning covid is simply the discussion of the day and the golf world has had to make severe adjustments to allow play to continue. Or were other unsavory political posts deleted that I didn't see. Not being a hothead, just curious.

[KrazyTrain18]

I don't believe rangefinders would speed up play other than when pros hit it way off line and are struggling to find a yardage. The caddies are generally quick and ready to go once they arrive at the next shot. If anything green books should be eliminated completely.

[tacklingdummy]

They should allow rangefinders for all pro tournaments. Rounds would speed up a lot.