MEMBER REVIEWS: StrackaLine Yardage and Green Reading Books! See What Members Are Saying!

[GolfWRX_Official]

 

We have five members testing out the StrackaLine Yardage and Green Reading Books! The members listed below will be reporting back to the community about how this product has helped their course management and green reading with their precision guides. Please feel free to ask any questions that you might have, as the testers will be happy to answer them! The testers are:

 

@krtgolfing

@mckennwa

@Yosef

@tetraulj

@fore_life

Thank you to @StrackaLine for providing our members with this testing opportunity! Search for your course HERE and use the promo code "GOLFWRX" at checkout to get 25% off your order at www.StrackaLine.com!

[tbowles411]

Awesome opportunity!  I often wondered if this would work!

[WalzBMW]

Interested to hear the reviews on these. If they are as good as I expect I may purchase one for my home course. 

[Yosef]

Review Placeholder
 

Thanks so much to Strackaline and GolfWRX for the opportunity to do this review! I just received the books, initial impressions are these are very high quality, greens depicted in stunning detail with 3 different views.
 

First round review: I was able to get out for an emergency 9 on Sunday afternoon. The green books took me a little while to get used to, at first I was struggling to equate the heat maps in the books to the actual green. After a few holes I started to get the hang of it. Especially in lag putting, this booked helped me right away with getting the ball close to the hole from 20+ feet. I actually holed a huge right to left breaker, and putted a couple others inside the leather from long range. I think this is the biggest benefit for me at least in the beginning before I can really get a hang of it. There were times where I couldn't get a handle on a few short putts, was second guessing myself on where the hole was in relation to the green books, but I think this will get better over time. Quick verdict after a quick 9 holes: This book is here to stay, I need to do some more homework and get some more time in with it, however I think its an excellent asset to have in your home course. I will continue to update this as I get more time with it. One more quick thought, even on straight putts the book helped with the severity of the slope pointing away from me or right back at me to help judge pace.

 

Update on first 18 hole round: I was able to play a full 18 with the green books today. I cannot stress how much this has helped me with lag putting. It is a small sample size but I am so happy with the results so far. I had so many easy two putts today. Strackaline gives me the confirmation to hit a confident lag putt. Going into this review before I received the books I assumed that it would help me mainly on right to left breaks, but when I am straight downhill or uphill seeing the greens on paper give me so much confidence hitting putts. I didn't drop any bombs today but I had so many within the circle/kick in range from 20,30,40 feet. This has been a weak part of my game for years, I'm so thankful for this book it has been a huge help. I'll continue to update this post as I get more time with the books.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Yosef

[Tupperwolf]

I missed out on this giveaway but I ended up buying one for Presidio GC in San Francisco and used it yesterday for the first time.  Initial thoughts:  The yardage book portion is what I would expect for a tour player.  That isn't exactly a compliment;  What one would get out of it is what one would put in - meaning, I would really like to walk around the course with a rangefinder and make my own notes in the yardage guide, adding sprinkler head yardages and yardages to and from trees etc.  It's not readable at-a-glance and I didn't use it as-is, instead using my GPS on TheGrint and my rangefinder.  There are circles showing distances off the tee and distances into the green, but when you're on the course it's almost impossible to use because they don't reference anything.  Fairway bunkers do have yardages, which is helpful.  Walking the course and adding your own numbers is probably a must and would make the yardage guide very useful.

 

The greens portion, however, is excellent.  It was really nice to see everything mapped out and I used all three of the charts to get a good idea of my read.  It took me some time to warm up my putting - I recently put on a different grip and adopted a different grip style - but I only had 14 putts on the back 9, including a birdie, and made quite a few longer range (8-12ft) par putts which I 100% believe is due to the green reading book assistance.  All of these were putts that were fairly flattish and the book gave me the confidence to know which way the putt was going to break and put a good stroke on it.

[philsRHman]

I'll be curious to hear the degree to which these help reading greens. I can see the advantage on subtle greens, but it will be interesting to hear if you find they're beneficial to knowing "this is a cup outside right" vs. "this in one ball outside right." I assume it's all based on your pace, so getting a consistent speed would also be critical. I very rarely outright misread a putt left vs. right, but do struggle with the severity of the break.

[Tupperwolf]

The green heat map gives an indication of the severity of the slope, so you can learn how much break to give.

 

I'm watching this video now, seems like a good instruction on how to take advantage of the info...

 

 

[mckennwa]

Placeholder for my review as well.  Was on a trip to Arcadia Bluffs this weekend, but received the book Saturday. Looking forward to trying it out on the course Tuesday or Wednesday. 
 

FULL REVIEW

 

I’ve been able to use my book for three rounds now. Big thank you to Stackaline and GolfWRX for the opportunity.  I’m sure I will learn how to better use the book, especially in putting as it takes some effort to conceptualize the slope and the degrees shown in the greens maps. One will show you which way it break, while the other shows degrees. I find the one showing which way it breaks most helpful on slight breaks where I’m not certain but know it doesn’t move much. The degrees is most helpful when I can obviously see the break but am attempting to gauge how much. 

The book I have is for my home course, so 200+ rounds there in the last several years. The book was nice in confirming carries to certain features, run outs, etc. However, if you don’t play the tips you have to do some math as all yardages are shown from the tips. I don’t know if it is possible, but I’d love to see you be able to order a book based on your preferred tees. Would make it quite a bit simpler. 

 

Overall I will definitely continue to carry the book as it is a great reaffirmation on many putts. Surprisingly my absolute favorite part of the book is now easily it helps me remember the contours of the greens on my approach shots. I can quickly figure out how many yards short of the flag a slope is, or know whether to aim a bit left or right to feed the ball in. I used to remember this in a few spots, but now I can get an accurate picture each and every time. This is the biggest surprise benefit to me. 
 

One tip I have developed is to always point the bottom of the book at the tee when orienting the green views in the book. That always seems to work better for me that using the compass indicator which shows north. 
 

Id be happy to answer any questions. I think it is a great gift or something to buy for yourself for courses you frequent. It’s a no brainer if you caddy at any of these courses. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2021 by mckennwa

[krtgolfing]

Placeholder for my review. Received on Friday, but was out of town. I hope to try it out on the course this upcoming weekend. Weather does not looks promising though.

 

Finally got out of the course this past Saturday due to some rainy conditions and a soggy course. This review is a course I used to be a member at, but still play it a few times a month.

 

I did a good bit of research on these books on Friday evening trying to understand how the green maps worked. I did decide to go to the course a bit earlier than usual and went to the putting green to try it out there instead of on the course. I think some courses have the green maps and some don't based on what I have seen. I knew the breaks on the putting green pretty well, but the book helped me to get a feel of what to expect when I took it out of the course. 

 

The course that I play is through a neighborhood so there are a lot of doglegs and a lot of holes that I choose not to hit driver. This books helped me be a bit more aggressive off the tee as I am always cautious about trying to carry bunkers or water hazards. The books have rings that show the distances from the tips, which is where I play this course from as it is only 6600 yards. For the approach shots I didn't really use the rings similar to off of the tee for distances. I used my range finder to get distances for the approach shots. I did however looks at the green maps book to try and be a bit more conservative with my shots by trying to use slopes where possible to get the shots closer.

 

The most benefit that I got with these books were with my longer putts outside of 5 feet. I still used the book within 5 feet just to confirm my readings from the putt. Putting is one of my biggest problems and I think this book is very beneficial. I only had 28 putts with zero 3 putts. I typically average about 33 putts a round. On a few putts I did not see much break, but I broke out the book and it helped me confirm and or change my ideas on what to do. This was very beneficial for uphill and downhill putts where the elevation was minimal. There was only one instance of speed being way off, probably more user error. 

 

If I was a member at a course or played a course frequently I would not think twice about getting a yardage guide to help my game. 

Edited August 30, 2021 by krtgolfing

[fore_life]

Alright, sorry for the delay!

 I was interested to see if the books would offer any additional insight for the greens at Aguila golf course out here in Phoenix, AZ, a great muni that is one of my favorites, as echoed by like every post i make in the southwest sub forum haha. I have never used a greens book, but consider myself pretty good at reading greens/putting.  So, my initial thoughts going in to the round were "how could a book show me anything more than what my brain has processed over thousands of footsteps over the course of hundreds of rounds?" Scanning through the book, I saw familiar contours to the greens, breaking just like I can see them moving in my head, hazards marked clearly, clearly defined yardages for quick estimation. But what I didnt see was all of the local knowledge , marking lines off of the tee that are safe, and sides that are dead etc etc. But the margins offer plenty of room for player notes, which I added the night before my round.

 I will say that for the first 3 holes,  The book didn't really come out for more than just a brief look, only confirming what I already knew. The 4th hole is the toughest hole on the course, really the only fairway where a left and right miss is dead, and a bunker on the left edge blocks the safe side of the fairway, and just to the right of the bunker, the fairway falls off to the right and narrows into the desert. There's always a doubt as to which line off the tee to take, risk a bigger carry down the left and be rewarded with a wedge into a 460+ par 4, flair one right and now you've got 220 out of the desert  to a bunkered green with plenty of awkward slopes and angles. But I never knew exactly the number to carry on the left(weird bunker shape) or have a really decisive game plan for that hole. But something about reading the book, seeing the exact numbers of what my approach shot options are via the distances off the tee, it kind of gave me a real solid game plan vs  " hey I'm gonna just try to hit the fairway," and I found that it really freed me up to play some golf, being decisive, etc. 

  I've got a pretty major problem of just tuning out on some rounds of golf, just going through the motions, worrying about my swing, all kinds of stupid stuff. Reading my StrackaLine actually changed my focus so much, reading the green breaks for my approach shots is something ive never really considered outside of the obvious giant slopes and stuff, but it really increased my focus on where I wanted my irons to land into greens, and not just a blanket "hit the flag" swing. Reading the slopes across greens really made chipping a breeze, lag putting as well. It's a really neat product, but I don't think I realized the impact it would have on my overall approach to a round of golf as much as it did. It 100% improved my focus and was 100% helpful

 Strakaline allows someone to gain all of the knowledge of the crusty old dew-sweepers who've been playing this course for years immediately in the palm of their hands. I really wish I had a book for every course I played, and it would be an incredible asset to gain course knowledge for a trip or tournament, but the price is steep enough to be off putting for most people that Ive shown the product to.  I would LOVE to see the green information incorporated into a GPS system of higher end courses or perhaps having a course order them in bulk to bring pricing down to the $25-30 range, I could see them selling like hotcakes for courses that get a lot our tournament and tourist play.

 

I am playing aguila again tomorrow with someone whos never been, I will post back with his thoughts on the book as well.

 

 

Edited September 2, 2021 by fore_life

[TxMike3]

I bought one of these for my home course a couple of months ago.  I just bought the green book, I have enough things already giving me yardages I didn't need another. 

 

One thing I did was go thru the book and indicate on each hole where the front of the green is as all the charts are oriented to north at the top of the page.  This makes it easier for me to figure out where the pin is on the chart in relation to my ball.

 

I don't use the book on every hole, since it's my home course I'm pretty familiar with the greens, but our course has a lot of undulating greens and sometimes I get confused or befuddled which way things are going and the book helps a lot in that respect and actually speeds things up.

 

All in all I am pleased with the book and would recommend it.  

[williewilkens]

I'm always interested in tools to help improve performance. Will definitely follow for updates!

[tetraulj]

Placeholder for my review. Received on late last week and just got back from a work trip. I will submit my review after I get out and use it on Saturday!

[philsRHman]

12 hours ago, TxMike3 said:

I bought one of these for my home course a couple of months ago.  I just bought the green book, I have enough things already giving me yardages I didn't need another. 

 

One thing I did was go thru the book and indicate on each hole where the front of the green is as all the charts are oriented to north at the top of the page.  This makes it easier for me to figure out where the pin is on the chart in relation to my ball.

 

I don't use the book on every hole, since it's my home course I'm pretty familiar with the greens, but our course has a lot of undulating greens and sometimes I get confused or befuddled which way things are going and the book helps a lot in that respect and actually speeds things up.

 

All in all I am pleased with the book and would recommend it.  

This is where I see the catch 22. In theory you know your home course better than anywhere. So you’d need the book more when you travel or play a tournament, etc. But are you going to shell out $100 for a round or two of golf? Just trying to sort the use case if you’re not a professional (who can justify the ROI) or a high level competitive am, or someone to whom $100 doesn’t matter much. 

[tetraulj]

So just thought I would show some pictures comparing a few different brand yardage books that I have used this year. The colored book is the strackaline, then there is a toursherpa yardage book that has some slope on the greens. The final one is a basic decade yardage book. For green reading the strackaline is by far the best, the tour sherpa is good, and decade doesn't have anything and you have to draw your own in. I do like the tour sherpa book a little better to get distances for tee shots and shots from the fairway.

 

Between the three it all comes down to what you want more and how much are you willing to pay. Decade books are a membership and you can get a 6 month subscription and 6 courses for $100. Biggest down side is no green slope at all and not much for carry numbers for tee shots. Tour Sherpa books I really like for all the sprinkler yardages, carry #'s and some green slope. These are also expensive $100 per book and very limited selection of courses.

 

Now for the strackaline! I have never used a yardage book to ever help me read greens before and I have been playing competitive amateur golf for 14 years. That being said if you are playing tournament golf and you are uncertain which way a putt breaks this definitely helps. They are very detailed with the amount of slope and the color graphs really help show where the high and low spots of the greens. The biggest draw back is the price $125 per book but they have a ton of courses. 

 

Hope this helps some of you out there!

 

[teatew21]

Aw man, I missed out on this opportunity. 

 

I've been using strackaline at my home course (27 holes) for a number of years now.  Initially it was so I get a better read of the greens with the course(s) being new.  Now I use it for confirmation of my reads.  It's definitely made me a better overall putter. 

 

As I use aimpoint, the slope grade numerics make calculating breaks a lot easier (do math, map to number of fingers).   While I certainly don't make every putt I look at, I have less anxiety over putts when I know I have the breaks read and I just have to worry about speed.

 

Books are awesome, though a bit pricey. 🙂

 

Edited August 24, 2021 by teatew21

[mckennwa]

My review has been updated above. My book was from Purgatory Golf Club in Noblesville, IN. 

Edited August 31, 2021 by mckennwa

[krtgolfing]

Updated as well. My book was from Shadowmoss Golf Club in Charleston, SC.

[tetraulj]

On 8/24/2021 at 3:39 PM, teatew21 said:

Aw man, I missed out on this opportunity. 

 

I've been using strackaline at my home course (27 holes) for a number of years now.  Initially it was so I get a better read of the greens with the course(s) being new.  Now I use it for confirmation of my reads.  It's definitely made me a better overall putter. 

 

As I use aimpoint, the slope grade numerics make calculating breaks a lot easier (do math, map to number of fingers).   While I certainly don't make every putt I look at, I have less anxiety over putts when I know I have the breaks read and I just have to worry about speed.

 

Books are awesome, though a bit pricey. 🙂

 

I totally agree with what you said about using the book to confirm my reads. I have always been a good putter and good at reading greens. Must have been working construction with my dad growing up being able to spot things that are level or not LOL. 

[fore_life]

updated my review

[Unibrow]

I have the Strackaline green book only and also the golf logix. Bot are only Lidar created as my course wouldn't pay anyone to set up lasers. Both books are good the only problem I have with the Strackaline is the information on the non heat green is so faint and small that is of no use to me. I simply can't read it. Golf Logix is easier to see. If I had 20-20 vision the Strackaline green would provide more information. 

[Drumdog]

I have a question for the reviewers (and thank you for doing these).

Do you find the books slowing your pace of play as much as they do with the pros?

What is your approach with the book? Do you read the green with your eyes first and then go to the book or vice versa?

Do you find that you re-read the green after looking at the book?

[mckennwa]

For me I consciously attempt to not let it slow me down. That being said, it has to in some small degree. For example, it may take a few extra seconds on approach shots, but I can usually do that while another player is hitting or as I walk to my tee shot. When putting, if I am first it is a bit slower. But if I’m not first, it likely isn’t any slower. It is also a bit slower if I check it for my second putt, but usually I don’t do that very often as I usually just watched the putt roll somewhat close to that line. I usually only look at it for my second putt if I miss well left or right. 

Edited September 3, 2021 by mckennwa

[Yosef]

I will echo what mckennwa says regarding pace of play. If you are not putting first it doesn't slow pace up at all. There probably is an argument for it actually speeding up play since theorectically you should make more putts/have more tap ins. But I consider myself a fast player and haven't noticed pace of play changing much if at all since having the book.

[StrackaLine]

On 8/16/2021 at 8:36 AM, WalzBMW said:

Interested to hear the reviews on these. If they are as good as I expect I may purchase one for my home course. 

you can use the promo code "GOLFWRX" at checkout for 25% off!  Thanks for your support of StrackaLine!

[StrackaLine]

On 8/16/2021 at 8:36 AM, WalzBMW said:

Interested to hear the reviews on these. If they are as good as I expect I may purchase one for my home course. 

 

On 8/16/2021 at 9:28 AM, Yosef said:

Review Placeholder
 

Thanks so much to Strackaline and GolfWRX for the opportunity to do this review! I just received the books, initial impressions are these are very high quality, greens depicted in stunning detail with 3 different views.
 

First round review: I was able to get out for an emergency 9 on Sunday afternoon. The green books took me a little while to get used to, at first I was struggling to equate the heat maps in the books to the actual green. After a few holes I started to get the hang of it. Especially in lag putting, this booked helped me right away with getting the ball close to the hole from 20+ feet. I actually holed a huge right to left breaker, and putted a couple others inside the leather from long range. I think this is the biggest benefit for me at least in the beginning before I can really get a hang of it. There were times where I couldn't get a handle on a few short putts, was second guessing myself on where the hole was in relation to the green books, but I think this will get better over time. Quick verdict after a quick 9 holes: This book is here to stay, I need to do some more homework and get some more time in with it, however I think its an excellent asset to have in your home course. I will continue to update this as I get more time with it. One more quick thought, even on straight putts the book helped with the severity of the slope pointing away from me or right back at me to help judge pace.

 

Update on first 18 hole round: I was able to play a full 18 with the green books today. I cannot stress how much this has helped me with lag putting. It is a small sample size but I am so happy with the results so far. I had so many easy two putts today. Strackaline gives me the confirmation to hit a confident lag putt. Going into this review before I received the books I assumed that it would help me mainly on right to left breaks, but when I am straight downhill or uphill seeing the greens on paper give me so much confidence hitting putts. I didn't drop any bombs today but I had so many within the circle/kick in range from 20,30,40 feet. This has been a weak part of my game for years, I'm so thankful for this book it has been a huge help. I'll continue to update this post as I get more time with the books.

Thank you for your feedback and support of StrackaLine!!

[StrackaLine]

On 8/16/2021 at 9:40 AM, Tupperwolf said:

I missed out on this giveaway but I ended up buying one for Presidio GC in San Francisco and used it yesterday for the first time.  Initial thoughts:  The yardage book portion is what I would expect for a tour player.  That isn't exactly a compliment;  What one would get out of it is what one would put in - meaning, I would really like to walk around the course with a rangefinder and make my own notes in the yardage guide, adding sprinkler head yardages and yardages to and from trees etc.  It's not readable at-a-glance and I didn't use it as-is, instead using my GPS on TheGrint and my rangefinder.  There are circles showing distances off the tee and distances into the green, but when you're on the course it's almost impossible to use because they don't reference anything.  Fairway bunkers do have yardages, which is helpful.  Walking the course and adding your own numbers is probably a must and would make the yardage guide very useful.

 

The greens portion, however, is excellent.  It was really nice to see everything mapped out and I used all three of the charts to get a good idea of my read.  It took me some time to warm up my putting - I recently put on a different grip and adopted a different grip style - but I only had 14 putts on the back 9, including a birdie, and made quite a few longer range (8-12ft) par putts which I 100% believe is due to the green reading book assistance.  All of these were putts that were fairly flattish and the book gave me the confidence to know which way the putt was going to break and put a good stroke on it.

Thank you for your support of StrackaLine! While we do see the value in the yardage (tee to green) portion of the books, the value is really seen in the green maps for not only reading the greens but helping with your approach shots.... 

[StrackaLine]

On 8/16/2021 at 6:58 PM, mckennwa said:

Placeholder for my review as well.  Was on a trip to Arcadia Bluffs this weekend, but received the book Saturday. Looking forward to trying it out on the course Tuesday or Wednesday. 
 

FULL REVIEW

 

I’ve been able to use my book for three rounds now. Big thank you to Stackaline and GolfWRX for the opportunity.  I’m sure I will learn how to better use the book, especially in putting as it takes some effort to conceptualize the slope and the degrees shown in the greens maps. One will show you which way it break, while the other shows degrees. I find the one showing which way it breaks most helpful on slight breaks where I’m not certain but know it doesn’t move much. The degrees is most helpful when I can obviously see the break but am attempting to gauge how much. 

The book I have is for my home course, so 200+ rounds there in the last several years. The book was nice in confirming carries to certain features, run outs, etc. However, if you don’t play the tips you have to do some math as all yardages are shown from the tips. I don’t know if it is possible, but I’d love to see you be able to order a book based on your preferred tees. Would make it quite a bit simpler. 

 

Overall I will definitely continue to carry the book as it is a great reaffirmation on many putts. Surprisingly my absolute favorite part of the book is now easily it helps me remember the contours of the greens on my approach shots. I can quickly figure out how many yards short of the flag a slope is, or know whether to aim a bit left or right to feed the ball in. I used to remember this in a few spots, but now I can get an accurate picture each and every time. This is the biggest surprise benefit to me. 
 

One tip I have developed is to always point the bottom of the book at the tee when orienting the green views in the book. That always seems to work better for me that using the compass indicator which shows north. 
 

Id be happy to answer any questions. I think it is a great gift or something to buy for yourself for courses you frequent. It’s a no brainer if you caddy at any of these courses. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your support mckennwa!!

[StrackaLine]

On 8/17/2021 at 8:49 AM, krtgolfing said:

Placeholder for my review. Received on Friday, but was out of town. I hope to try it out on the course this upcoming weekend. Weather does not looks promising though.

 

Finally got out of the course this past Saturday due to some rainy conditions and a soggy course. This review is a course I used to be a member at, but still play it a few times a month.

 

I did a good bit of research on these books on Friday evening trying to understand how the green maps worked. I did decide to go to the course a bit earlier than usual and went to the putting green to try it out there instead of on the course. I think some courses have the green maps and some don't based on what I have seen. I knew the breaks on the putting green pretty well, but the book helped me to get a feel of what to expect when I took it out of the course. 

 

The course that I play is through a neighborhood so there are a lot of doglegs and a lot of holes that I choose not to hit driver. This books helped me be a bit more aggressive off the tee as I am always cautious about trying to carry bunkers or water hazards. The books have rings that show the distances from the tips, which is where I play this course from as it is only 6600 yards. For the approach shots I didn't really use the rings similar to off of the tee for distances. I used my range finder to get distances for the approach shots. I did however looks at the green maps book to try and be a bit more conservative with my shots by trying to use slopes where possible to get the shots closer.

 

The most benefit that I got with these books were with my longer putts outside of 5 feet. I still used the book within 5 feet just to confirm my readings from the putt. Putting is one of my biggest problems and I think this book is very beneficial. I only had 28 putts with zero 3 putts. I typically average about 33 putts a round. On a few putts I did not see much break, but I broke out the book and it helped me confirm and or change my ideas on what to do. This was very beneficial for uphill and downhill putts where the elevation was minimal. There was only one instance of speed being way off, probably more user error. 

 

If I was a member at a course or played a course frequently I would not think twice about getting a yardage guide to help my game. 

Thank you for your support of StrackaLine!

[StrackaLine]

Hi GolfWRX members!  Please use the promo code "GOLFWRX" at checkout to get 25% off your order at www.StrackaLine.com

 

StrackaLine is the leading greens guides and yardage book supplier to the golf industry.  We supply books to the PGA tour players, over 90% of the Collegiate golf teams and to all levels of amateur golfers.  Our books elevate the overall level of play for your golfers, improve their scores and offer an added benefit. 

 

The best players in the world are using StrackaLine books and you can too!