How to visually measure distance?

[hunterxaz]

I want to learn how to visually measure distance, particularly on the greens. However, reading the fairway, etc, is definitely useful -- right? Is this a skill of the past now, with GPS, and range-finders?

[Timmy]

This seems like more of a "feel" thing than anything else.  The only way you're going to get better at it is by playing rounds and understanding distances, uphill/downhill, fairway conditions, etc.  Your course I'm sure has yardage markers, so you should be able to get a rough estimate off of that.  If you don't want to spend the money (like me) for a GPS or range finder, it's just a matter of getting out there and practicing in my opinion.

[irfan]

the only way you will get a feel for it is to look up the yardage via fairway/sprinkler heads, or GPS/laser, and visually assess it.  then walk up to some shots, estimate, and double check with real yardages.   i dont bother guessing more than 25 yards off a marker though, so from 75 yards to 225 i can guess well enough based on fairway stickks... but even then the GPS app on my phone shows im off by a club length sometimes

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by hunterxaz

I want to learn how to visually measure distance, particularly on the greens. However, reading the fairway, etc, is definitely useful -- right? Is this a skill of the past now, with GPS, and range-finders?

Green distance is a feel thing.  I've known guys who paced from the hole to their ball, but all it did was waste time and slow the game down.  As far as fairway distance, most courses have had some sort of distance markings since long before laser and GPS rangefinders were around.  Whether it was just a 150 yard marker, or 100, 150, and 200, or marked sprinkler heads, its been commonplace since the 70's at least.  Some guys used to pace from these markers.  I rarely did that.  I always found it pretty easy to gauge from the markers in 5 yard increments.... meaning I could judge if I was 15 yards from a given marker just by eyeballing it.  Still can, even though I use a GPS most of the time - I will still sometimes just glance at the marker and wing it.

[jamo]

What do you mean by "on the greens?" You want to be able to know how far away from the hole you are? Assuming that, if you start pacing off putts (one stride for me is ~one yard) you can pretty quickly develop a feel for how far away you are. It won't be long before you know, with pretty decent certainty, how far from the cup you are. From the fairway I use the yardage markers. The more I can see the better. For example, if I can see the 100 and the 150 yard makers, I can usually get a pretty good estimate (usually within 5 yards, assuming the markers are correct and the fairway isn't too much of a dogleg) just using fractions. Where it gets harder is inside 100 yards. I usually just count from the 100 yard marker, but there is no great way to do it short of buying a laser or a GPS.

[B-Con]

Pretty much all courses have a 150 yard pole marker. If you have one, then it just becomes an issue of estimating how far you are from that. That's easier because you're probably closer to it than you are the green. I learned to walk at a pace where each step is a yard, so I can pace off those distances. Whenever you can walk past or to a yardage marker, I'd recommend doing so and getting a more precise yardage. Or even just walk half-way -- if you know half the distance, you have a good idea what the full distance is. But for visual, here's my method, I basically just break the course down into chunks that I can estimate within. [list] [*] First learn small yardage gaps up to 40yds. I'd recommend 10, 20, and 40. You can pace these off yourself somewhere familiar. I use my local pitching green, because I practice pitching from those distances so I both learn what the yardage looks like while I learn how to hit it. Learn to combine those distances. Eg, know how to find a point 30 yards away by first finding 20 and then finding 10. Frankly, I don't even memorize what 40 yards looks like, I just know how to double 20 yards. 10 and 20 yards are pretty easy to learn, and since you shouldn't need to add distances more than once you shouldn't have to worry about compounding errors when adding them. You already know you're not going to be accurate to 5 yards. [*] Learn to estimate the half-way point between the 150yd marker and the green. [*] To determine you distance from the green, look for the closest point of the actual green, the 150yd marker, and their midpoint. You should be within 40 yards of one of those three points. [/list] If learning distances up to 40 yards proves too difficult, you can actually drop it to 30. That leaves a dead zone when you're more than 30 yards between landmarks, but that's OK because given, for example, that you're more than 30 away from 75 and 150, you're between 105 and 125 so you still have a good idea where you are. When possible, I'd pace distances off (or pace roughly half of it off and then double it). So if you can find the marker/green midpoint, and learn 10, 20, and 40 yards look like, you can know your yardage within 190 yards of the green. If you're farther than that, well, "I'm farther than 190 yards) is probably good enough, you make make wild guesses at that point. Just practice those few things by doing them in a familiar setting and every time you play. You'll get better. You probably won't be able to guess accurately to 5 yards, but you should be accurate to 10 yards, which is usually all you can hope for if you're not standing close to a marker.

[Inebriated]

I shoot a lot, so I' got decent at judging range out to about 300 yards before I could get a range finder. Not super accurate, of course, but I can tell which club to grab or where to put the sights and get a good shot. The easiest way I know is to relate to something I know. If you know football, you can easily pick out 100 yards. If you can pick out 100, you can probably guess about 200, and if you've got 200, you know that 300 is about however much more club to get another 100. For short yardages, I actually just imagine how far that would be if I wanted to throw a football to the flag, and I'm fairly accurate at that.

So in short, you relate it to what you know.

[GaijinGolfer]

Judging distance is something that just comes with time and experience.

[irfan]

in 10 years ive only seen 1 guy pace off distance on a green... and he missed by 20 feet.  Everyone else just eyeballs it for distance.  the footage isnt going to mean much when you factor in the undulations and slope of the green.   its not like there will be a predetermined level of power for each putt based solely on distance.