Google Earth and Golf

[Mr.Buckethead]

I have been a little bit obsessed with Google Earth lately. I always used it to get yardage approximations but now I find myself logging in 3-4 times a day.

I have a tournament coming up this weekend ( a flighted city tournament) and keep mapping out my shots for each hole.

Anyone else addicted?

[Andy_Mac]

I am... I get on there and measure drives after every round. I also use it to map out carry distances and such on courses im about to play.

[tonyy]

Hmm. Very interesting. I think I'm going to try this out.

[Jeepthrills]

I just went there and measured the 1st hole on the course where we play our Wednesday night league and found something interesting. The card and sign say 219 yards. Google Earth show 234. That explains why I often come up short. Well...that and my sh@#y swing.

[sacm3bill]

I swear by Google Earth. Incredibly detailed resolution (for most courses in my area anyway) and very accurate results from the yardage ruler/tool. I spend several hours mapping out new courses and making notes before playing them. I definitely think it has shaved strokes off my rounds.

[seanYsean]

I just went there and measured the 1st hole on the course where we play our Wednesday night league and found something interesting. The card and sign say 219 yards. Google Earth show 234. That explains why I often come up short.

That made me laugh,,nice man, I feel the same about mine, hahahaha.

[seanYsean]

Thanks for the fyi on this...

I did a couple "path's" and it was almost exact to the yardage..pretty cool tool.

[Undr Par]

stupid question but how do you get yardage off of Goggle Earth, I just went there and couldn't figure it out....(I know I need Goggle Earth for Dummies )

[sacm3bill]

In the toolbar there's a button with a ruler icon - click it and it'll bring up a window that will display the distance between any 2 points that you click on the map.

[Grogger31]

Cool idea!

Too bad that 290 yard drive I hit last week turned out to be 255. :o\

[Soup Fan]

I made a yardage book for a course on google earth.

That was back before I had a baby and had way too much time on my hands.

[TigerCurtis333]

Holy mother, just tried it out that thing is sweet!

[Anand]

Holy mother, just tried it out that thing is sweet!

Man .. you can say that again. Incredible!!

Sadly for me, parts of my home course was under construction when these satellite pics were taken (course is a year old), but most of it is well mapped. The ability to zoom close, rotate the angle, etc. is just fantastic. I'm going to add a whole load of yardage info to the standard yardage book ... WOW! //Anand PS. On a slightly related point, there are some big privacy issues here in the UK right now regarding all these Google Earth vans parked outside people's home, happily snapping away front doors, etc ... They're creating a treasure map for burglars and other criminals.

[Jack_2251]

I am using this at the moment and making yardage books for all the courses I am planning on playing soon but haven't played yet. Great idea it works perfect!

[hos327]

I use it religiously. Only problem I've found is some of the courses (areas in central Illinois) haven't been switched to hi-res which makes it almost impossible to map. I usually end up on mapquest or windows.live. and using Google earth to give me a scale on two obvious objects or roads. Not exact but better than nothing. The info and abilities on hi-res courses is outstanding. A lot of fun for measuring drives - also great tool for getting lines on cutting blind doglegs.