riverdale

"Hitting to elevated and de-elevated greens" This is an updated link for Slopetecgolf . Sorry for the error.

mdbuschr: Understanding how elevation change affects your shot is a big part of good course management and hopefully to lower scores. Your definitely on the right track using Google Earth, it is a great source for evaluating a course or even a particular hole To your question, there is NO formula that will provide very accurate information. It is almost impossible to determine accurate elevation change that is greater than a few yards. So adding a club for every 10 yards is still basically a guess. The yardage correction needed for an uphill shot is going to be different than the yardage correction for a downhill shot with the same distance and corresponding elevation change due to the flight characteristics of the golf ball. The yardage correction for a 100 yard shot with 10 yards of elevation change is very different than the yardage correction for a 200 yard shot with 10 yards of elevation change. So “eyeballing” it or going by “feel” are two very common methods, they are still only educated guesses. If you are serious about game improvement I suggest checking into some of the products that will provide this information for you, Bushnell, Leupold or Nikon Callaway all work very well, but at a pretty high price. Here is an updated link to an inexpensive product that will provide the same information at a reasonable price S lopetecgolf . Even if you use it on a few holes per round it will help you start understanding how to play shots with elevation change a little better. Good luck.

mdbuschr: Understanding how elevation change affects your shot is a big part of good course management and hopefully to lower scores. Your definitely on the right track using Google Earth, it is a great source for evaluating a course or even a particular hole To your question, there is NO formula that will provide very accurate information. It is almost impossible to determine accurate elevation change that is greater than a few yards. So adding a club for every 10 yards is still basically a guess. The yardage correction needed for an uphill shot is going to be different than the yardage correction for a downhill shot with the same distance and corresponding elevation change due to the flight characteristics of the golf ball. The yardage correction for a 100 yard shot with 10 yards of elevation change is very different than the yardage correction for a 200 yard shot with 10 yards of elevation change. So “eyeballing” it or going by “feel” are two very common methods, they are still only educated guesses. If you are serious about game improvement I suggest checking into some of the products that will provide this information for you, Bushnell, Leupold or Nikon Callaway all work very well, but at a pretty high price. Here is a link to an inexpensive product that will provide the same information at a reasonable price Slope-Tec . Even if you use it on a few holes per round it will help you start understanding how to play shots with elevation change a little better. Good luck.

The simpler and quicker the better - on course keeps the focus on the game. Currently using: Golfshot http://golfshot.com/ Slope-Tec http://slope-tec.com/ Thinking about: Golfscape http://golfscapeapp.com/

"Hitting to elevated and de-elevated greens" I play 75% of my golf in Colorado and became very interested in why & how elevation change (of the shot) effects the "Flight path" or carry of the golf ball, over the past year I have come up with some interesting conclusions that might be helpful. Elevation change does not discriminate between a 1 handicap or a 20 handicap. Most golfers neglect to take elevation change into account or they just guess. There are 3 to 6 approach shots typically (per round) that require "distance adjustment" due to elevation change on the majority of courses. Golf course architects use design elements to fool your "eye", making it virtually impossible to determine true elevation change. There are countless methods and formulas available but without knowing the change in elevation - they won't be very helpful. knowing how many yards to add for an uphill shot or how many to subtract for a downhill shot and play that "adjusted" distance you will take the guess work out of the shot. "Trackman" and other flight monitors provide very helpful diagrams to understand launch angle, maximum height and landing angles to see what the ball flight looks like. Bushnell Tour v2 slope http://www.bushnellgolf.com/laser/tourv2_se.cfm works great from my own experience, Nikon and leupold also have rangefinders with slope, but they range in price from $350 to $600. Recently I found a site: http://www.slope-tec.com that has a product that calculates the yardage adjustment for uphill and downhill shots for you, and they have an APP that does the same thing. I tried the APP during the last 3 rounds and it does seem to provide pretty accurate adjustment for uphill and downhill shots. I know these devices are not legal for USGA sanctioned play but, they are a good way to start getting a better understanding of determining yardage adjustment rather than just adding or subtracting a club. In conclusion: "it's all between your ears" and having an actual yardage to add or subtract has taken a lot of the guess work out for me. Hope this helps.