Lose the Yardage Markers

[Double Mocha Man]

3 minutes ago, blackbdmillsaps said:

If you asked golfers whether they had more of an issue with unsightly cart paths or small poles in the fairway...

 

... and let's not forget about the unsightly golfers.  J/K.  Cart paths... poles... I'll go between the horns of the bull and choose neither.  Though I realize the former limits who can play the course.

[Qqq123xx]

I'm an old guy, and I like doing old guy stuff. Like pacing off distances from yardage markers. All the courses I play the markers are to the middle of the green. 

[vandyfan]

3 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Though I realize the former limits who can play the course.

 

You can have sand paths or use some other substance to blend the paths in. Or just have lighter golf carts that don't require a path. I am really talking about concrete paths. Also, the amount of people who are physically limited to where they MUST take a cart vs people who are just lazy is like 1:100. Back to concrete paths, I mean, look at how ugly this is:

 

[Double Mocha Man]

6 minutes ago, blackbdmillsaps said:

Also, the amount of people who are physically limited to where they MUST take a cart vs people who are just lazy is like 1:100.

 

I agree with that ratio.  I believe that at Bandon Dunes and Chambers Bay you can get a note from your doctor, and under good course conditions, drive a power cart.

[MizunoMayhem]

1 hour ago, Double Mocha Man said:

I think it depends on the distance between the two markers.  The further apart they are (a mile?) the closer you are to the center of the green.  The next time I'm on the course, if I get the opportunity, I will scope the distance from both markers, and from the center of the fairway, to the center of the green.  Larry, using your trig, how far apart did you put the markers?

30 yards.....Karen.....reading is fundamental.

 

MizunoMayhem

Non-Rangefinder User

[Double Mocha Man]

2 minutes ago, MizunoMayhem said:

30 yards.....Karen.....reading is fundamental.

 

 

Back at you. So Karen, you come into this thread to add nothing. Other than catching my oversight. You're probably that same Karen that corrects everyone's typos.

[llewol007]

Great one more thing I have to think about when I’m walking the course 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[david.c.w]

I have not seen a course with poles at 100/150 in a million years.  I have never seen these colored basketball sized rocks on either side.  Why would courses not just put a plate at 100/150/200, and yardages on the sprinkler heads?  Have I been living under one of these colored rocks?

 

 

 

[Blaiser]

Came in just to say cart paths are the real villain here. Glad it was already brought up.

 

If the next president campaigns that they will ban cart paths on all golf courses, they will get my vote regardless of their other policies.

[Mudguard]

I played an expensive course (for us) recently and the caddie (again, an unusual experience) said the lack of the tee markers and signage was to keep a natural look. We had to tee off beside the distance marker for each hole. I did wonder how hectares of groomed non native grass was natural.  

[Abh159]

5 minutes ago, Mudguard said:

I played an expensive course (for us) recently and the caddie (again, an unusual experience) said the lack of the tee markers and signage was to keep a natural look. We had to tee off beside the distance marker for each hole. I did wonder how hectares of groomed non native grass was natural.  

 

The course didn't have tee markers???

[Mudguard]

1 minute ago, Abh159 said:

 

The course didn't have tee markers???

 

I should have clarified, they had one set out, but we were playing a back tee and there were none. The whole course was mown to one level too so tees blended into fairways and then into greens. So no rough, no fringe etc. 

[Double Mocha Man]

8 minutes ago, Mudguard said:

The whole course was mown to one level too so tees blended into fairways and then into greens. So no rough, no fringe etc.

 

Those greenskeepers are headed home by 10:00 in the morning!

[Pepperturbo]

@Double Mocha ManIf the hole was properly designed and markers placed correctly, actually - it can be both.  Depending on who designed the course and when, side hole marker posts Blue/200, White/150, Red/100yds should be the same as the accompanied plates in the middle of the fairway. 

 

I don't know why these would bother anyone either.  I have never seen them as distractions from the surrounding beauty.  I won't go into the associated manual labor costs of removing all such markers.  Manual labor on a golf course means hourly rate.

[Hawkeye77]

On and on and on about this?

 

Just have one mocha. 
 

Yardage markers are useful, are out out in all sorts of different ways, not everyone spends $ on a rangefinder and even those of us that have them are happy to rely on the course yardage markers from time to time. 
 

 

[itsame]

I use both a GPS watch and a rangefinder, but I still find markers useful as it makes it easy to know if the group ahead is far enough for me to drive.

My watch shows the markers on a minimap, so it's like 'they just walked past the 100y marker and that one is X yards ahead, I can safely drive'.

I have poor eyesight and this is faster than trying to laser people/carts.

[Shilgy]

42 minutes ago, Hawkeye77 said:

On and on and on about this?

 

Just have one mocha. 
 

Yardage markers are useful, are out out in all sorts of different ways, not everyone spends $ on a rangefinder and even those of us that have them are happy to rely on the course yardage markers from time to time. 
 

 

Funny you say that but at the courses I’ve played fewer and fewer of the sprinkler heads have the proper number on them.  They must figure no one needs them these days with gps devices and laser rangefinders.

[Double Mocha Man]

6 minutes ago, itsame said:

I use both a GPS watch and a rangefinder

 

The GPS comes in really handy when it's a blind approach over a hill.

[Wham49]

45 minutes ago, Hawkeye77 said:

On and on and on about this?

 

Just have one mocha. 
 

Yardage markers are useful, are out out in all sorts of different ways, not everyone spends $ on a rangefinder and even those of us that have them are happy to rely on the course yardage markers from time to time. 
 

 

careful, discouraging anybodies ideals on this place will get the Mods all over you, you may have hurt his feelings

[betarhoalphadelta]

2 hours ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Found this from a 2012 article on GolfTamers.com:

  

It’s hard to say “no” to a convenient device that makes getting the distance you need fast and accurately.

In fact, a poll done in 2012 revealed that about 69 percent of golf players that participated in the poll use a rangefinder.

 

I'm sure it varies from course to course, but I'd think the percentage would be much high 10 years later.

 

2 hours ago, MtlJeff said:

 

7 of 10 sounds very high to me. Maybe i am wrong --I definitely could see it among serious golfers. Like of the top 50 players in my club it's probably 90+ percent.

 

But i think a lot of weekend golfers still don't, like dudes who play public courses etc. So unless it's a major distraction (i don't find it to be) i don't see any real urgency to change things

 

as @larrybud points out above using them to calculate layup shots with your rangefinder could also be a good use of them.

 

Agreed that 7 of 10 seems high... Like it was selection bias based on very serious golfers. Public hacks like me didn't have rangefinders back then, and I'm not sure that the "budget rangefinder" category was as big as it is now, where you can get one of these device for $100-150, rather than $300+.

 

Oddly enough, though, I think this might be the sort of thing where the percentage has gone DOWN over time. Because of phone GPS and the rise of smartwatches, it wouldn't surprise me if more players are opting to skip rangefinders for the device they already have in their pocket or on their wrist...

 

2 hours ago, NJBigFish22 said:

I have never used a rangefinder or GPS on the course, unless it was installed in a cart.  I used the numbers on sprinkler heads and never found the 150 post distracting.  Then again, I just started back after 10 years, so I would probably be more likely to use now than in the past.  

 

To me the sprinkler head is the best option. First, there are a lot more of them typically on the course than just 100/150/200, so if you're actually pacing off yardages, you'll have less walking to do. Second, because the sprinkler heads are already on the course, you don't need to add things like poles, plates, etc that aren't necessary for the agriculture. 

 

You can either glue a marker with the number on the top of the sprinkler head, or (like the course I caddied at 30 years ago) have all the sprinkler head yardages to center marked in the yardage book. 

 

Simple, unobtrusive, and should even satisfy @Double Mocha Man...

[Hawkeye77]

5 minutes ago, Shilgy said:

Funny you say that but at the courses I’ve played fewer and fewer of the sprinkler heads have the proper number on them.  They must figure no one needs them these days with gps devices and laser rangefinders.

No doubt the standard for maintenance is different from course to course. Ours has round, slightly domed markers in the middle of the fairways. Some sprinkler heads are marked as well. Stakes seem more common at other places. I don’t see any of it as an aesthetic abomination, lol. 

[Double Mocha Man]

5 minutes ago, Wham49 said:

careful, discouraging anybodies ideals on this place will get the Mods all over you, you may have hurt his feelings

 

Yes, my feelings were hurt, but not nearly as much as my double mocha in the mornings was insulted.😀

[tatertot]

2 hours ago, blackbdmillsaps said:

 

You want to talk about UNSIGHTLY? Cart paths are the very top of the list. 

You know what's really unsightly? Watching the guy in front of me use his rangefinder to shoot the flag right after he shot the flag before he duffed his last shot 20 yards ... on his way to taking his fourth straight 10.

[Double Mocha Man]

Just now, tatertot said:

You know what's really unsightly? Watching the guy in front of me use his rangefinder to shoot the flag right after he shot the flag before he duffed his last shot 20 yards ... on his way to taking his fourth straight 10.

 

Ah, but hope springs eternal for some folks.  You gotta love that guy's optimism.

[North Butte]

Most courses I play are years ahead of you. I can't think of anywhere that has bothered keeping marked sprinklers, etc. maintained and correct over the past decade or so. Some places haven't bothered to dig up the red, blue, yellow or whatever plates in the fairway but new-ish courses or renovated ones don't have them.

 

The OP sounds like it came through a time warp from 1998 or something. 

[DFS PFD]

Don't feed the trolls please 

[Double Mocha Man]

54 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

I think this might be the sort of thing where the percentage has gone DOWN over time.

 

That might be true.  Good point.  Not everything continues to go up to match the trend line.  Take my tanked stocks, for example...

[Ghostwedge]

51 minutes ago, tatertot said:

You know what's really unsightly? Watching the guy in front of me use his rangefinder to shoot the flag right after he shot the flag before he duffed his last shot 20 yards ... on his way to taking his fourth straight 10.

Annnnnd he plays from the Tips.....

[Double Mocha Man]

1 minute ago, Ghostwedge said:

Annnnnd he plays from the Tips.....

 

😁... and takes 6 practice swings before each shot.  I've played behind this guy before.  He has no rear-view mirror.

[Ghostwedge]

1 minute ago, Double Mocha Man said:

 

😁... and takes 6 practice swings before each shot.  I've played behind this guy before.  He has no rear-view mirror.

Oh it gets better..... because he is still 200+ out he stands there for 5 minutes pulling 3 different clubs to hit. If he would have played from the right tee's he would have a short iron in and I wouldn't be wandering off into the rough to go look for balls while he jacks around.