What's your take on course/yardage markers?

[formula428]

So, I've recently formulated an opinion that I really prefer courses that have the yardage sticks at the edges of the fairways, instead of the cart path markers or the fairway markers that are in the fairway.  This allows me to know the edges of the fairway from the tee box and know the yardage of my ball at all times, without having to use my cell phone at all.

What's your take?

[Chris Stewart]

I only use my phone but I'm starting to question its accuracy sometimes. Every so often I'll pop it out and it seems to be significantly off and have to close the app and start it again to resync with the GPS.

[Paradox]

Center Markers.  I want the yardage to be from the most direct route to the hole..down the middle of the fairway.  I can either use sprinkler heads(have to be included with the marker posts) or approximate any additional less yardage as I get further from center.

Cart path paint doesn't make any sense to me as the distance always seems really wrong unless the path is straight and the hole is straight.

Side markers..are they measuring from the side or is it supposed to denote the yardage if you were in the center of the fairway from that post?  Depending on hole layout..1 side of a fairway can be 10-15 yards further/shorter than the opposite side.

Now I have a rangefinder, though..so it shouldn't be an issue for the most part.

[awmgolfer]

My home course is horrendous on the yardage markers. We have 150 bushes on the side of each fairway which are great. The 100 yard markers are just a big disk in the middle of the fairway but you really can't see them until you are on top of them and that is it for markers. The course owner refuses to put out anymore because it will interfere with the mowers instead of buying the ones you can mow right over, drives me and the course pro nuts. I struggle on courses without halfway decent markers and a lot of people that play the course complain about the lack of markers. I like to just see a stick in the middle of the fairway or on the edges, no real preference either way as long as they are there.

[Goonsidious]

My course has white/red balls that are in the fairway.. theyre lovely. Placed well also for certain obstacles..etc.. I hate those sprinkler disks hidden low to the ground..basically have to walk around and find one.

[LuciusWooding]

I like to be able to see the markers from the tee so I can know what sort of approach club I'm hitting. I like the markers on the center fairway as well, as long as they don't obstruct play. It'd be nice if the courses provided a yardage book, even nicer if they warned you where the pins are; sometimes that back pin is actually 11 yards short of the back fringe and not 8 feet like it looks from the tee. Then there's the hidden hazards prominent on some courses.

I'd prefer a laser over a GPS or static markers but they aren't cheap. Ideally you should be able to play the course for the first time and not get too screwed by distances. Being on the wrong tier of a green, missing the green on the wrong side, hitting the wrong club on a hilly or windy par 3, getting a poor angle to the green off the tee, or having to pull an iron because you don't know the proper line for your driver are all acceptable consequences of playing an unfamiliar course. Stuff like false fronts, bottlenecks in the fairway, and valleys in front of the green are a bit tough to see but usually won't hurt good shots. Hidden hazards, overly sloping greens, and blind shots can make it impossible to score decently on a course your first time. Poor yardage markers can do the same thing for a first timer with no rangefinder.

Courses should really publish yardage books; I'd pay a couple of bucks for one at a new course, especially as a souvenir for nicer courses. It gives a new player at least a semblance of warning about hazards and layout.  Plus only one guy per group needs it to benefit the whole group.

[teamroper60]

I personally like the 150yd pole in the middle of the fairway but otherwise, I just use my phone.   It may not be dead on, but it's close enough for me to decide which club I want..

Personally, I think the paint on the cart path is fairly useless.    The little markers in the fairways are kinda nice though...

[Motown88]

I prefer the markers to be at the edges of the fairway along with all the sprinkler heads having the distance to the center of the green.  I've been using my phone all season though with GPS and it seems to be very accurate.  I have to agree with the OP, it's nice having fairway markers so you can clearly see both sides of the fairway, especially for some longer holes.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by teamroper60

I personally like the 150yd pole in the middle of the fairway

I like those too. I also like what my course has. Yardage plates in the centre of the fairway at 250, 200, 150, and 100. The also have corresponding bushes with poles adjacent to them on the sides of the fairways. They're accurate too - placed on a arc.

[mikelegacy]

I use my phone's GPS :)

[GaijinGolfer]

I dont trust them because in my experience theyre usually inaccurate.  I only trust what my laser rangefinder says because thats the only thing that is going to be accurate.

[LuciusWooding]

Originally Posted by GaijinGolfer

I dont trust them because in my experience theyre usually inaccurate.  I only trust what my laser rangefinder says because thats the only thing that is going to be accurate.

Well, to be fair, the markers generally correspond to the center of the green, along the line of the center fairway. Obviously the pin isn't going to be in the middle every time, and you won't get much of a reading off the ground at 100+ yards so you're probably shooting off the flag or some solid object in the background like a tree. Plus if there's a turn in the fairway it can make the shot directly at the green be shorter than the shot to the center of the dogleg + the shot from there to the center of the green. Usually I check distances in google earth if I'm curious and I don't see tee boxes or markers off by much. It's always me and never the markers. There was one time I thought a hole was improperly marked but it turned out to just be a really flushed shot, like 30 yards past my best shot with that club ever flushed.

Noobs: the yardage markers will usually not tell you the correct range to the flag. You use them as a guide and figure it out from there. If you pull the wrong club routinely anyway, this notice won't help you.

[HoboTrekker]

we're very lucky our markers are brilliant sprinklers all over the place with the front printed on them and you get a pin sheet at the start with the flags, if you don't get one theyre on every tee box too, so your yardages are always right and easy to get.

[Zeph]

They are inaccurate and don't tell the distance to the flag. I use my rangefinder instead.

[zipazoid]

I like center of fairway poles. The also serve as good aiming points from the tee.

[lumpuckeroo]

One of the courses I play a lot has a small, approx. 10-12 inch, plastic "stake" in the middle of the fairway.  They are the standard Red, White, Blue, it's on a spring device of some type, because if it gets run over it just springs back up.  It works great for that course, as it's not a long course, greens are pretty much round or oblong shaped and if you hit in the middle of the green you have a putt that can be made.

I personally find this type of marking much easier to pick up the distance and estimate yardage then having a marker on one side of the fairway.

[Wally Fairway]

I like 150 yard stakes, and I use my phone GPS, and although both of those my be inaccurate at times - they are much more reliable then my swing, so I really can't complain about them.

[ghalfaire]

I voted for the sprinkler head markers in the fairway.  But to tell the truth you can't trust any of them and should use your range finder (where allowed).