Range finders for beginers

[bigbear43]

would a range finder, gps or laser, be beneficial to a beginer who does not hit the ball consistanly? They are beneficial to finding distance but not worth it if you can not hit the ball consistantly with each club. any thoughts

[zeg]

It depends on how bad your distance control is.  I like having one because, while I do hit a lot of poor shots, my distances are very consistent when I make good contact.  I also like to measure tee shots.

I don't think it'll make a major difference, though, unless your courses are very poorly marked.  My usual courses have 100, 150, and 200 yard posts; I can figure out distances +/- 10 yards without any trouble, and that's plenty accurate if you're still just aiming for "anywhere on the green" on your approach.  If I'm off on another fairway, sometimes it comes in handy, and it can be reassuring to have confirmation.

So anyway, I would say it's not going to hurt and it might help, but I wouldn't be in any rush to get one.

[Sai-Jin]

Def agree with Zeg. At least it'll give you confidence in which clubs to use.

For me... I just become spoiled. I like my range finder... and right now it's being replaced and I find that

I need to get used figuring out the yardage and used the wrong club half the time since I made a mistake in estimating the distance ^^

[Double Bogey]

I love my Garmin Approach SI (the watch style GPS).  It is no maintenance and gives me the confidence that I have the right club, especially when I am off the fairway.  I posted a review on it a couple of weeks back.

[ghalfaire]

I have an old sky Caddie and really like it.  Most courses are marked on sprinkler heads or have the 200/150/100 yardage markers in the fairway so a GPS isn't absolutely necessary but helps speed the game some.   I don't see how knowing the yardage to a target can be anything but helpful.  Is it worth the money if you can't control yardage yet?  I suppose that is a question that only the buyer can answer.