Range finders and stepping off yardage

[LaterOn61]

With range finders do you zero in on the shaft which is holding the flag or do you zero in on the flag itself?

 

I have always had a question from the distance past. You hit your drive into the far right into another fairway. You catch a glimpse of a sprinkler head and a yardage from the fairway you were supposed to be in. How do you count steps from that sprinkler head to your ball? It can't be a one step = one yard reference as you will be shooting at the hole from a diagonal direction.

[birdie_hunter]

For range finders it depends on the stick your pointing at. Most of the courses I play have a prism at the top of the stick (some are in the middle of the stick) and the range finder uses that to get it's reading. The range finder, if you have a new enough model, will take that height into account and give you the correct reading (give or take a yard) to the hole. If the flag stick doesn't have a prism then it uses the actual flag (again, if you have a new enough model) and gives you the reading to the hole. Older models are just point and shoot and pray you got the stick/flag and not the trees, bushes, or whatever else is behind the flag.

For counting with steps you have to do a little quick math on the fly. If you know how far you are from the hole (we'll call this "A") and how far right or left you are from the distance marker (we'll call this "B") then you just have to use the Pythagroean Theorem ("A" Squared + "B" Squared = "C" Squared) where "C" is the distance from your ball to the flag.

Hope this helps.

[landolakes]

[quote name='LaterOn61' timestamp='1432745408' post='11636228']
I have always had a question from the distance past. You hit your drive into the far right into another fairway. You catch a glimpse of a sprinkler head and a yardage from the fairway you were supposed to be in. How do you count steps from that sprinkler head to your ball? It can't be a one step = one yard reference as you will be shooting at the hole from a diagonal direction.
[/quote]

Geometry

[SHIVAN]

[quote name='birdie_hunter' timestamp='1432750097' post='11636850']
Pythagroean Theorem[/quote]

Would apply to a right triangle, but I'm not sure I've ever had a 90° angle to apply it.

Get a Garmin or SkyCaddie watch.....

[birdie_hunter]

[quote name='SHIVAN' timestamp='1432750576' post='11636922']
[quote name='birdie_hunter' timestamp='1432750097' post='11636850']
Pythagroean Theorem[/quote]

Would apply to a right triangle, but I'm not sure I've ever had a 90° angle to apply it.

Get a Garmin or SkyCaddie watch.....
[/quote]
The yardage on the marker should be straight to the middle of the green (you might have to mark off a few more/less yards with steps, just stay on line with marker and the middle of the green). This is the "A" line. The distance you walk to your ball (whether left or right) should be at a 90* angle from the "A" line. Thus the Pythagroean Theorem should be very, very. very accurate (as long as you can walk off a yard properly).

PS - I have found GPS's to be inaccurate half the time and would not suggest those. Range Finders are the way to go.

[SHIVAN]

Draw it out on a piece of paper and consider what will actually occur a majority of the time. Unlikely to get a 90° angle.

Skycaddie and Garmin are within a yard precision.

[Hot Rod 71]

A simple way to figure an approximate yardage from an adjacent fairway or other area not a part of the hole you are on:

Face the center of the green of the hole you are playing.

Hold your arm straight out to the side in the direction of the fairway of the hole you are playing. Your arm should be perpendicular to imaginary line from your chest to the green you intend to play to.

Look to where your arm is pointing. Draw an imaginary line from your arm to the center of the fairway of the hole you are supposed to be playing.

That point is your approximate yardage to the center of the green from where you are.

[DTXgolfer12]

i always look for the 150 stick or marker - get a guesstimate for the yardage off the distance from that stick and then laser the flag. I aim at the top of the flagstick and the flag. Many of them have the reflectors on the top of the pin that allow the rangefinders to "lock on" to the exact distance.

I never have trouble getting a yardage from my leupold gx3i....for some reason my playing partners can never figure the thing out though.

But always double check the 150 stick. If you're inside the 150 stick and you're getting a 187 yardage you know you're not lasering the pin.

[adam667220]

I've never really understood this in my personal experience. I get it if you're a good golfer and you have one or two occasional misses, but for the "average" golfer, do you really need an exact measurement? If you're hitting the ball out of the wrong fairway, maybe just take a vague estimate and try to get the ball back in play. This is a very simplified opinion, but I see it all the time with my playing partners who are all high handicaps and it has never made sense to me. Even if they have the exact yardage, the likelihood of them striking X club that they decide on well or straight still isn't very good. If they would play the ball back out instead of trying to go at it from where they ended up, they'd all save several strokes a round.

[PouncePony]

[quote name='adam667220' timestamp='1432761340' post='11638274']
I've never really understood this in my personal experience. I get it if you're a good golfer and you have one or two occasional misses, but for the "average" golfer, do you really need an exact measurement? If you're hitting the ball out of the wrong fairway, maybe just take a vague estimate and try to get the ball back in play. This is a very simplified opinion, but I see it all the time with my playing partners who are all high handicaps and it has never made sense to me. Even if they have the exact yardage, the likelihood of them striking X club that they decide on well or straight still isn't very good. If they would play the ball back out instead of trying to go at it from where they ended up, they'd all save several strokes a round.
[/quote]

Based on flag position and your location in the fairway (left to right), there can easily be a 10+ yd difference from what you find on a sprinkler head or other yardage marker. That is a club difference. I want to be hitting the proper club for the yardage.