Idiot playing partners with range finders.

elwhippy · April 20, 2009

One of regular gang has bought a range finder. What a pain in the neck this is. On every tee he is trying to argue the scorecard and tee markers are wrong, telling you what to hit and being a real nuisance. We have asked him to stop yelling "it's 150, you'll need a six iron", explaining the rules on giving advice etc, but his guy is treating his new toy like a first born son. Aprt from telling him to FOAD how do you deal with such a thing? He is 59 BTW, not some young gadget junkie.

TM golf guy · April 20, 2009

That would be annoying. It is just as annoying to have one (like I do) and have random people asking for yardages. I don't mind doing it with my buddies in a fun round, but "random stranger asking for yardage" is annoying.

oregongolf · April 20, 2009

One of regular gang has bought a range finder. What a pain in the neck this is. On every tee he is trying to argue the scorecard and tee markers are wrong, telling you what to hit and being a real nuisance. We have asked him to stop yelling "it's 150, you'll need a six iron", explaining the rules on giving advice etc, but his guy is treating his new toy like a first born son. Aprt from telling him to FOAD how do you deal with such a thing? He is 59 BTW, not some young gadget junkie.

FOAD :lol: :cheesy:

Hang in there man... it will eventually pass (hopefully :tongue:).

petter7 · April 20, 2009

If he flat out refuses to keep quiet, don't play with him.

jgpl · April 20, 2009

These stupid things should be banned.

One of the skills of golf is judging the distance/club and nothing is better than deciding you are 165 out and stiching a 7 iron or whatever club you choose.

OldSkoolTexan · April 20, 2009

These stupid things should be banned.One of the skills of golf is judging the distance/club and nothing is better than deciding you are 165 out and stiching a 7 iron or whatever club you choose.

+1.... Had to go to Ireland to find someone to agree with me on this one! Nice.....

SCFgolfs · April 20, 2009

Gotta agree somewhat with the above post. I'd say go ahead and choke that old dude out, or maybe black ink on the eyepiece? I don't work as a resort caddie as much any more, but I used to carry a broken Bushnell at work just so I could get my players to shut the hell up with second guessing yardages. "It says 155, are you sure it's playing 160?" "Better hit the 9 wood" "Shank!, splash.!"

blade_man · April 20, 2009

These stupid things should be banned.

One of the skills of golf is judging the distance/club and nothing is better than deciding you are 165 out and stiching a 7 iron or whatever club you choose.

Yea thats right, we should all have to play with caddies and cost us an extra $25 to $50 per round, great idea! I guess that is why the pros use caddies and lord knows we are all pros here, and we can just remove all markers on the course 'cause we know they are all wrong. Just because 1% of the ppl are a holes we need to punish everyone. End of RANT.

atlanta golfer · April 20, 2009

Anyone who behaves that way is going to be a p.i.t.a. whether he has a rangefinder or not. The rangefinder has nothing to do with it.

btw I can see the flag yardage with my rangefinder in about 5 seconds and it is back in the small carrying case on my belt, while I wait for my playing partners to spend a minute or two trying to figure it out and talking among themselves about it.

I will usually tell people the yardage if they ask, or if they have been asking, I will say something quietly like "it is 165 to the pin if anyone wants to know". Period.

tuna12 · April 20, 2009

They should be banned. If you can't pace it or eye ball your yardage your not a golfer. Like a 10 handicaper really needs to know the exact yardage. Come on.

PML101 · April 20, 2009

These stupid things should be banned.

One of the skills of golf is judging the distance/club and nothing is better than deciding you are 165 out and stiching a 7 iron or whatever club you choose.

you going to ban stroke savers as well ? I had the exact same point of view as you then my local pro pointed out its no different to a yardage chart.

mp33er · April 20, 2009

Gotta agree somewhat with the above post. I'd say go ahead and choke that old dude out, or maybe black ink on the eyepiece? I don't work as a resort caddie as much any more, but I used to carry a broken Bushnell at work just so I could get my players to shut the hell up with second guessing yardages. "It says 155, are you sure it's playing 160?" "Better hit the 9 wood" "Shank!, splash.!"

Very clever & convenient way :clapping:

Bomb and Gouge · April 20, 2009

Why not simply ask him to stop?

Golf is tough enough. Playing annoyed makes the game tougher and less enjoyable. I would take him aside and ask him to please stop doing that.

"Hey man, I appreciate you trying to help us, but it's a little annoying to be honest.

rymail00 · April 20, 2009

I play on a course with stakes on the out skirts of the rough. The course is cut out from the woods,so there fairways and then tree on both sides. People miss fairways a lot there and then end up right near the 100,150, or 200 stakes, and pull them out of the ground and never replace them. So you never know how far you are anyways.

And yes I am a 10 handicap w/ a $100 skycaddie 2.5. And yes its very helpful, and yes it helps us hackers. Even though I am a 10 handicap I know my distances w/ irons so the skycaddie helps me pick the right club. I shot 77 yesterday because on a few times inside 100 yards I knew how much room there was between the front of the green and flag. It is very useful to this 10 handicap hacker.

I hate when people on here think there better than someone, or that some piece of equipment, or technology should only be used by scratch players. Seriously get over yourself! :russian_roulette:

Sorry rant over

daughterscameron · April 20, 2009

These stupid things should be banned.

One of the skills of golf is judging the distance/club and nothing is better than deciding you are 165 out and stiching a 7 iron or whatever club you choose.

Yea thats right, we should all have to play with caddies and cost us an extra $25 to $50 per round, great idea! I guess that is why the pros use caddies and lord knows we are all pros here, and we can just remove all markers on the course 'cause we know they are all wrong. Just because 1% of the ppl are a holes we need to punish everyone. End of RANT.

Did I miss something here? I thought jgpl was just stating, it's good to be able to figure out

Your yardages, on your own. And a caddy??? :drinks:

PML101 · April 20, 2009

ill say it again, how are these things any differnet to a yardage chart in your back pocket ?

playbo44 · April 20, 2009

Range finders are great! They help speed up play...

blade_man · April 20, 2009

These stupid things should be banned.

One of the skills of golf is judging the distance/club and nothing is better than deciding you are 165 out and stiching a 7 iron or whatever club you choose.

Yea thats right, we should all have to play with caddies and cost us an extra $25 to $50 per round, great idea! I guess that is why the pros use caddies and lord knows we are all pros here, and we can just remove all markers on the course 'cause we know they are all wrong. Just because 1% of the ppl are a holes we need to punish everyone. End of RANT.

Did I miss something here? I thought jgpl was just stating, it's good to be able to figure out
Your yardages, on your own. And a caddy??? :drinks:

First he states "these things are stupid", that is his thought, and he does not imply how to figure yardage you are just suppose to know or in his words "judge", while he is looking for a yardage marker I can scan my gps and hit the shot, while he may know the yardage but is wrong he will have to guess the yardage again and hit an extra shot or more, not to say I hit them all well but my chances are much better to get on or close to the green KNOWING the yardage, not guessing.

As far caddies, that was just a "bonus" to figure out yardage.

mesegrn · April 20, 2009

If you can't pace it or eye ball your yardage your not a golfer. Like a 10 handicaper really needs to know the exact yardage. Come on.

So pacing off WRONG yardages makes me a real golfer? I would think any handicap would benefit from a rangefinder eventually. When you first started playing did you have any awareness of your yardages. So a 10 handicaper that is a decent ballstriker, but has trouble with his short game would not benefit from knowing his yardages?

laseranimal · April 20, 2009

right

so we should all ditch the rangefinders/gps/yardage books and watch every 20 handicap take 5-10 minutes to pace off the yardages from 250 yards out and then watch him top it

I can see the threads complaining about it now!

Rangefinders and GPS systems are the BEST thing to happen to golf, I personally thing they ought to be required along with knowing EXACTLY HOW FAR YOU HIT EVERY CLUB in the bag.

jowwy · April 20, 2009

i'm a 11 handicapper and i have recently bought a gps system, since using it my last two rounds have been 72 and 79.....why? cause i know how far it is to front, middle and back of green and take the club that suits the yardage rather than trying to second guess by eyesight.

not all 10/11 handicappers are hackers and just because a peice of equipment is available, it doesn't mean i can't have one cause my skill level isn't that of a scratch player.

just like GI irons and Large headed drivers are ther to help people play better and make the game easier, so are GPS units, yardage books and rangefinders.

end of rant

sandwedge59 · April 20, 2009

I play on a course with stakes on the out skirts of the rough. The course is cut out from the woods,so there fairways and then tree on both sides. People miss fairways a lot there and then end up right near the 100,150, or 200 stakes, and pull them out of the ground and never replace them. So you never know how far you are anyways.

And yes I am a 10 handicap w/ a $100 skycaddie 2.5. And yes its very helpful, and yes it helps us hackers. Even though I am a 10 handicap I know my distances w/ irons so the skycaddie helps me pick the right club. I shot 77 yesterday because on a few times inside 100 yards I knew how much room there was between the front of the green and flag. It is very useful to this 10 handicap hacker.

I hate when people on here think there better than someone, or that some piece of equipment, or technology should only be used by scratch players. Seriously get over yourself! :russian_roulette:

Sorry rant over

I couldnt agree with you more on this subject , im so over those who think technology should be banned because they say so , im sure they will be saying next that it lessens the integrity of the game but they wont have a problem with using a R9 or some other club driven by the latest advances in golf , breaches in common courtesy on the course is another matter but banning gps/ range finders is a frickin joke .. just like the other gentleman said .. get over yourself :vava:

HoosierGolfer · April 20, 2009

Why not simply ask him to stop?

Golf is tough enough. Playing annoyed makes the game tougher and less enjoyable. I would take him aside and ask him to please stop doing that.

"Hey man, I appreciate you trying to help us, but it's a little annoying to be honest.

I agree!

mesegrn · April 20, 2009

It seems funny to me that people speak of 10 handicapers as crappy golfers. An average round in the low 80's is pretty dang repectable to me. I play near scratch and play with a few 10 handicapers that are only 4-5 shots off me per side. Sorry to get off subject, but come on guys. I say if it works for you, use it regardless of your handicap!!!

Dukefan1 · April 20, 2009

They should be banned. If you can't pace it or eye ball your yardage your not a golfer. Like a 10 handicaper really needs to know the exact yardage. Come on.

You can't be serious!

bloodred393 · April 20, 2009

I think a mid capper doesn't really benefit from a range finder. The only reason I say that is because a buddy of mine I play with weekly has one. I(strong 7 hc) throw out a number that I think its playing to the flag to see how well I can judge distance by sight and the marker. But he on the other hand has a number in his head now. The only problem is, he doesn't hit a consistent yardage with any club. Until he has a go to number for each club, I think that thing confuses him. I know what club he'd like to get to 155, but if I were him, I wouldn't know whether to hit an easy 6 or hard 7.

Rangefinders are great for 100 in, but again, he doesn't know what he hits a pure 46, 52, 58 to.

Bomb and Gouge · April 20, 2009

They should be banned. If you can't pace it or eye ball your yardage your not a golfer. Like a 10 handicaper really needs to know the exact yardage. Come on.

You can't be serious!

The best part of the game is guessing the yardage! The game isn't hard enough when you have the exact number.

:russian_roulette:

jgpl · April 20, 2009

Good God!

Didn't expect that my little contribution would receive so much negativity.

There is nothing wrong with yardage charts (just don't spend 10 minutes looking at one before your shot) and yardage markers are there to be used. Find one, step out your yardage, select the club and hit it, simple??

Very few handicap golfers (me included) have exact distance control with their irons and even the use of a range finder won't change this.

I simply don't like range finders and believe that steeping out a yardage from a marker and selecting the club for this yardage and compensating for any weather conditions is one of the skills of golf.

And while on the subject I don't believe tour pros should be given yardages by the caddy either, they should play the game like the rest of us..... now there is a subject for a new thread and a few rants!!!

Bomb500Plus! · April 20, 2009

Anyone who behaves that way is going to be a p.i.t.a. whether he has a rangefinder or not. The rangefinder has nothing to do with it.

btw I can see the flag yardage with my rangefinder in about 5 seconds and it is back in the small carrying case on my belt, while I wait for my playing partners to spend a minute or two trying to figure it out and talking among themselves about it.

I will usually tell people the yardage if they ask, or if they have been asking, I will say something quietly like "it is 165 to the pin if anyone wants to know". Period.

+1. When I had a rangefinder, everyone wanted me to give the yardages on Par 3's and so I did. I'd never give club selections and I'd never elaborate....just yardage to the pin.

Fencer04 · April 20, 2009

These stupid things should be banned.

One of the skills of golf is judging the distance/club and nothing is better than deciding you are 165 out and stiching a 7 iron or whatever club you choose.

They should be banned. If you can't pace it or eye ball your yardage your not a golfer. Like a 10 handicaper really needs to know the exact yardage. Come on.

Yea, because all of the "pro" golfers are amazing at judging yardage. They have all had caddies that walk the entire course and plot every green for them. Having a GPS to tell you the yardage makes the round quicker as well. I have seen people running all over the fairway looking for a yardage marker. Once quick glance down and I know everything that a caddy would tell me.I also bet that most golfers who think they are spot on with their distance judgment are farther off than they think. I'm not saying they don't know what club to hit, they just have a false idea of how far they are hitting it.