Tournament Help

tbarr15 · June 19, 2007

how do I measure drives

I am going to host a golf tournament at my schools driving range (Elon University) in the fall of '07. It is too dangerous to have people out on the range to measure yardages. What do you guys suggest I do to measure peoples drives?

Onebulldogs · June 19, 2007

I am going to host a golf tournament at my schools driving range (Elon University) in the fall of '07. It is too dangerous to have people out on the range to measure yardages. What do you guys suggest I do to measure peoples drives?

First of all, stay away from my cousin. She is an awesome girl and can do much better then you. Why she goes to Elon is beyond me. (she loves it)

If you are going to have everyone blast away at the same time, the only way would be to mark the ball ahead of time. Maybe write a number on each ball with a sharpie? If people are hitting one at a time, you can send someone out there with the ball picker. When someone goes farther. You have teh guy in the picker call in with the result.

Rabidpenguin45 · June 19, 2007

Not a bad idea ^. Put the guy in a caged john deer thing just so its all legal. And as stated above, put numbers on the balls, like give everybody 5-10 drives, and like one guy has 10 ones, and so on and so forth... and after the ten are hit, the guy marks the longest and calls in. Countinue the cycle until a winner is claimed, and the champagne is sprayed!

smittysbar · June 20, 2007

And if any way possible try to make a grid. It will grow out in no time. But without a grid it will look like one ball is farther to one person were it is not to the other, angle of the observer. I have seen so many disputes about this, it's worth the paint and time. If you know anyone that marks underground lines and cables they will most likely donate the paint.

thenewbie · June 20, 2007

I'm guessing this is a long drive competition we're talking about. . .

if so, a grid will be a good thing to have. of course, in a real long drive comp you have to have an insanely long grid. . .a problem you shouldn't have to deal with. the detail of the grid will be determined by the nature of the tournament. how many people are expected to enter? if everyone is relatively good, you shouldn't have to bring the grid any closer than 200. but if you want it to be something for everyone, you'll need to bring it back a bit shorter.

basically, once you've figured out what yardage you want to START the grid at, you can either use a range finder (I would make sure to use atleast 2 and average the difference if there is any. . .if there's more than a few yards difference, get another range finder and compare it against the other 2) or measure it out with one of those wheels you walk behind (again, check and double check it to make sure). once you've got that starting point, measure back 10 yards and mark, 10 more and 10 more untill you've got it back as far as you want it to be.

when you have a grid, you can have spotters out on either side of the grid with measuring tape. they won't have to have more than 5 yards of measuring tape to get a distance from the ball to the nearest line on the grid, which will make it easy to calculate the distance relatively quickly.

numbered signs every 20 yards or so will give everybody a line to shoot for, and also let them get a sense of where they are while waiting for the official distance (for signs, the bigger the better).

the width of the grid will again be decided by the people you expect to enter. 50 or more yards wide will let people get off line a little without going outside the grid, but if you want to reward accuracy you might want to go more like 40 or less yards. you do need side lines though. . .you need a definitive line between in bounds and out of bounds.

or. . .

if there's only going to be like 5 people, have everyone hit their shots (usually 5) and mark the farthest one with a flag. if someone else beats it, pull out the flag and mark theirs. every time the flag gets moved, you have a new leader. so on and so forth untill you have a winner. you can use different colored flags for different classes (ladies, juniors, whatever). this will only work in a winner-takes-all setup though, and there are definately limitations if you go without a grid.

tbarr15 · June 20, 2007

Thanks for the input guys. Basically we are expecting about 30 people to show up, and we be having them hit one at a time. our range is really long, so I don't need to worry about that. Last year we had the event and we put people out on the range to get yardages but it was way too dangerous, and 3 people including me came very close to being hit. Now that I am going to be taking lead I want to have a safer way. I really like the idea of having the balls marked and once everyone is finished go out there and measure balls inside the grid (oh and we are going to have a grid).

I was also thinking that we could have some kind of launch monitor type thing, or maybe just even a range finder to take the human mistake out of it. What do you guys think about that, and is there a way I could rent a launch monitor for a day?

thenewbie · June 20, 2007

the only problem with marking balls and going out at the end is no one will know where they stand during the competition. one general problem with long drive comps is they can be very boring. . .basically one person goes up and its just like watching one person hitting on any other range. if people know where they stand, everyone will get into it way more. also, if its a fund raiser, people who are just a little off the pace will want to give it another try.

actually, you could make the whole "hitting people" thing into something positive, like hitting a target. you could have a couple targets made out of plywood. . .maybe even shape them like people, and place them out in the grid. get a local restaurant to give a free meal to any who happens to hit one of the targets.

as for your spotters, grab a couple full sheets of plywood, and a few lengths of 2x4. shoudn't set you back more than 20, $25. 4 triangles made from the 2x4's should make good stands for your plywood shields.

just ideas. . .

tbarr15 · June 20, 2007

the only problem with marking balls and going out at the end is no one will know where they stand during the competition. one general problem with long drive comps is they can be very boring. . .basically one person goes up and its just like watching one person hitting on any other range. if people know where they stand, everyone will get into it way more. also, if its a fund raiser, people who are just a little off the pace will want to give it another try.

actually, you could make the whole "hitting people" thing into something positive, like hitting a target. you could have a couple targets made out of plywood. . .maybe even shape them like people, and place them out in the grid. get a local restaurant to give a free meal to any who happens to hit one of the targets.

as for your spotters, grab a couple full sheets of plywood, and a few lengths of 2x4. shoudn't set you back more than 20, $25. 4 triangles made from the 2x4's should make good stands for your plywood shields.

just ideas. . .

I agree, marking balls could make it pretty boring. The problem we had last year was that it was hard for the people out on the range to see the ball while it was in the air. We had two walkie talkies (one on the range, the other at the hitting station), but it was still hard to coordinate measurements.

raehtz10 · June 20, 2007

Put a couple of people out there in full protection with a laser. Hit, run to ball and laser it off back. A hockey helmet with a cage, shoulder pads, and catcher's gear and they should be good to go!

slicer365 · June 20, 2007

Put a couple of Freshmen out there, feed them beer until they have courage enough to stand on the fringe and have them run a tape measure out there. If they get hit they won't feel, and they'll love the free beer. Arange for drivers and you're set!!! if you really safer having them wear protection then, include a cup and lacrosse helmet.

taylormadefan · June 20, 2007

Put a couple of people out there in full protection with a laser. Hit, run to ball and laser it off back. A hockey helmet with a cage, shoulder pads, and catcher's gear and they should be good to go!

We basically did this when I volunteered for the Drive Chip and Putt for the kids. We just got in a cart and pulled up perpendiclar to the line of the drive just ahead of the ball so we were in the same spot every time. Then someone with the golfer would laser the cart. Then we would pick up the ball and pull off the fairway so they could go again. That eliminated confusion of whose ball is whose and was a pretty easy way to measure distances.

tbarr15 · June 20, 2007

I really like the cart/laser idea, we might have to try it

idrive400yards · June 20, 2007

I am going to host a golf tournament at my schools driving range (Elon University) in the fall of '07. It is too dangerous to have people out on the range to measure yardages. What do you guys suggest I do to measure peoples drives?

Can I play?

Onebulldogs · June 20, 2007

Put a couple of people out there in full protection with a laser. Hit, run to ball and laser it off back. A hockey helmet with a cage, shoulder pads, and catcher's gear and they should be good to go!

I went ot a range just outside NYC in New Jersey. I couldn't believe their range picking strategy. They had a bunch of people walking around with these cages they carried. They would walk a few feet. Drop the cage, pick up the balls, walk a few feet. It was insan and I never went back b/c I felt bad for the people in the cages.