Is Speed of Play Still A Legitimate Reason?

[pflogger]

My Attempt at a Little GPS Humor

I bought a GPS for a couple of simple reasons. Give me distances to targets and hazards, as well as distances to the green. I want it to be accurate and reliable. I don't really need or use anything else, although I know many people like, and use all the features found in today's featue packed, handheld GPS devices for golf. So, with a little extra time on my hands (which I rarely get) I wrote up a little short story (ok...novel) on whether the current offerings can really claim to speed up play anymore. A little wordy, but maybe not too far from the truth (see next post) You decide.

[pflogger]

[size=3]So, me and my buddies are standing up on the first tee box getting ready to tee off. I whip out the ole handheld GPS, Strat-O-Matic, with full motion, high definition, 3D flyovers, mark tables, full scoring, and stats, as well as green contours and more. I punch in the first hole and proceed to take a gander at the flyover feature. Whoa, this is cool. The recent addition of high def, and 3D really make me feel better about dropping 500 bills on this puppy. I move up and down the fairway, taking note of all the possible hazards, one of which I'm bound to become intimately familiar with. Let's see, 205 to the first sand trap on the left, 225 to clear. An easy 240 to clear the dog leg on the right, with two more sand traps on the right. 280 to the first, and 320 to clear the second, Oh yeah, let's check out the distance to that creek crossing right in front of the green. Says 389 to, and 395 to carry. [/size]

[size=3] [/size][size=3]Since this baby has a zoom feature, I move around to a target or two, and blow it up to near life size on my screen. With this feature, I can see exactly what that hazard looks like, and never even have to look up and actually get a visual on it. Now, I'm gonna use that handy, dandy measure everything tool to figure out exactly where I want to hit my ball, and the remaining distance to the green once I hit my precisely placed tee shot to that location. Yeah, that looks good; a 270 yard blast off the tee box, gets me 30 yards past the dog leg, and leaves me an easy 160 yard shot into the center of the green. Wait a minute… that pin's way in the back today. No problem, I'll just bring up the green view and move the pin to the back. That adds another 12 yards to my second shot, so now I figure it's a 176 yard shot to the flag. [/size]

[size=3] [/size]

[size=3]Ok, 176 yards to the flag for my second shot, hmmmm? What club am I gonna use for that? No problem, as I've been marking my shots for every club in the bag with the shot marking feature. Just a couple of clicks, and there's my averages for each one of those clubs. Let's see…I've been averaging about 170.235 with the 7 iron, and 182.621 with the 6 iron. Easy enough, I'm gonna go with a full 7 iron on that second shot. Thank goodness for club averaging. Sure makes this easy.[/size]

[size=3] [/size]

[size=3]Ok, I've got a plan for this hole, and let me say, if it weren't for the ole Strat-O-Matic, I wouldn't have nearly as good a strategy for attacking this hole. Oh crap, I forgot to take a really good look at that green to see what's in store for me once I get there. I just downloaded that new software version that shows all the contours. Let's see…what buttons did I need to push to bring up that view? Oh yeah, I remember. Nope, that wasn't it. Yeah, there it is…got it now. How cool is that? The pin's up on top of that back shelf. Thank goodness, there's no need to change up anything in my strategy, since my 170.235 yard second shot will leave me just below the pin, with an up-hill putt. Good to go. [/size]

[size=3] [/size]

[size=3]Time to get ready for that first tee shot now. Let's see…make sure scoring and stats are turned on. Yep, still on and ready to go. Check'n the satellite reception, I see I'm locked on to 9 satellites, but wait a minute; doesn't seem that WAAS has kicked in yet. Ok…there's a bunch of trees here around this tee box, let me move over some and see if that helps. Oh yeah, there it comes. Guess those pine trees really do block out signals. Almost ready. Bring up that mark table and select "Tee box" and "driver". Now I'm ready to punch the mark button when I tee up my ball. [/size]

[size=3] [/size]

Looks like I'm ready to go. A quick look up and I see no one's hitting, so It must be my turn. I take a quick look around, but wait… who are these guys? Where's my buds? One of the gents standing around must have noticed the puzzled look on my face, and quickly yells out, "I think that's your group up there on the green getting ready to putt!"

[TM_HOYER]

This is not a story about rangefinders. This a story of a person that needs every little piece of information before making a decision. This is a person that cannot decide what to choose from a menu because they need to know every little detail on how something is prepared. This is a person that drives business associates up a wall because it takes them three months to make a decision on something that should have taken a day or two. Like 99% of the people that use GPS rangefinders, I know what club I am going to use before I get out of the cart most of the time.