Feel or actual yardage?

[phillyk]

With all the cool technology in terms of yardages of the course that has come to golf, I was just wondering how many people rely on the actual distance to choose the right club versus being able to feel the yardage and hit the right club?

For me, I mainly feel the yardage, but I like to have a rough estimate of yardage once i get 220+ from the green.

[indybuckeyefan]

i like to know where i am at anywhere over 100 and under 250

[TourSpoon]

Interesting. I usually look at the target from the fairway, decide what kind of shot to play where, and then zap it with my rangefinder for an exact yardage. Once I have that number, I then pick the club and visualize my shot. Sometimes the club doesn't feel right and I will pick another. Knowing the distance has just made a huge difference in my ability to feel the right shot and to place the ball pin high or under the hole depending upon what the hole gives me. I believe that having precise info is better than not having it.

[Sai-Jin]

I used to just feel the yardage, but now that my game is much more precise, I do need my range finder and gps.

This helps a lot to learn what my actual yardages are in winter and summer.

[GaijinGolfer]

I just use the yardage markers on the course.  Once I know that, I can pretty well estimate what the yardage is and choose my club from there.

[awmgolfer]

I prefer to know the exact yardages. I know my clubs and with the yardages I can then take other factors in, elevation, wind, etc. It starts with the proper yardage though for me.

[pound puppy]

I use the course markers but inside of 200 yrds, I use the laser for such things as distance to front or back of green so I know a general minimum and maximum range.

[Bastid]

I like to know the distance unless I'm right around the green. Knowing the exact distance allows me to then visualize the type of shot I want to hit. I don't think there is one good answer to this question. That's the beauty of golf; you can hit a different shot in any situation on any given day. I love it.

[max power]

I always want to know the distance, I've been walking it off since I started playing.  I use a GPS when it's available, otherwise I walk it off.

[Jay-Bird]

From 210 to 65 or so I want to know the exact yardage to the pin or target. I'll walk off from sprinkler heads or cart path indicators. I carry a GPS on my bag.

If I'm inside 60 or so, it's completely feel - I'll pace it off - and look at landing spots, but the shot itself - carry distance, trajectory, spin - is all FEEL based - Not a mentallly calculated "OK, hit this ball 43 yards ..."

[lumpuckeroo]

Originally Posted by indybuckeyefan

i like to know where i am at anywhere over 100 and under 250

Same for me,

[BostonSully]

I just played my first full round using the SkyDroid Golf GPS app I downloaded to my droid. I actually shot my best score ever and I give a good amount of credit to that APP. I was able to tell when I should be using my PW vs GW vs SW also the difference in Iron distances really helped.

It gave yardages to the doglegs as well eliminating basically all the guessing from club selection. I dont think Ill ever play without a GPS again.

[Kieran123]

For pitches under 80 yards It is usually feel, anything above that I want yardages

[jwrussell]

Probably should have chosen "it depends".  I use actual yardage whenever possible, but that's probably only accurate for some shots.  In fact, other than par 3's I probably only really pay attention to yardages for my second (third on par 5's) shot.

[Zeph]

Inside a full 58º swing I don't get the distance, but on anything else I use my rangefinder. I don't have a chance at guessing the yardage, I'm not able to see the difference between 140 and 150 yards.

[Aquaguru]

anything under 65 I will just feel the shot.  But over that I like to know exact yardages.

[zeg]

Like most, it seems, I like to know the yardage for shots over about 70 yards.  For shorter shots, I go by feel.  For longer shots that are not stock shots---punching out from under trees, e.g.---I want to know the yardage, but it's not as simple as picking the club that goes that distance.  Usually then I pick the highest-lofted club that will stay low enough and play it by feel like it's a long chip.  Distance control suffers, but for these shots I'm usually happy to get out of the trouble and reach anywhere playable.

[goblue107501]

I prefer the exact yardage.  It is too easy to mess up on feel.  You can still mess up with the yardage, but that is the fault of the swing and/or contact.  I would hate to have a great swing and great contact only to find out my feel was off by 15 yards.