Judging approach distances accurately

[hampshire2012]

Can anyone help me with an iPhone app (or something else) that will help me do this? Essentially I'm confident that my lengths are consistent (from the range), but I'm starting to suspect that my judgement is just terrible, as it is not uncommon for me to miss by 30 yards short/long despite (what feels like at least) a good strike. I play lots of different courses so not much room for just learning what works where! I guess all I want is a 'ruler' extension on google maps, or an app that does the same thing. Any help much appreciated.

[xmanhockey7]

You could get a GPS app. I'd say get a laser range finder I love my Bushnell.

[hampshire2012]

  xmanhockey7 said:

You could get a GPS app. I'd say get a laser range finder I love my Bushnell.

Any advice on which apps? Would be willing to spend a small amount of money but most rangefinders ive looked at are well out of budget!

[chilepepper]

  hampshire2012 said:

Originally Posted by hampshire2012

Any advice on which apps? Would be willing to spend a small amount of money but most rangefinders ive looked at are well out of budget!

I have Sky Droid on my android phone. Works fairly well. Cost 2 bucks. Gives distances to green F,C,B. Does not give distances to bunkers and such though

[Dave2512]

GolfLogix is free and works great. Does more than gps.

[vo-man]

Garmin S1 works well, easy as it gets.

I use a Simmons rangefinder.  Quick, easy, inexpensive, and fits in the handy rangefinder pocket on my bag.

[Audaxi]

Do any of the courses you play at have markers at 100, 150, 200, 250 etc? Do they have distances on the sprinklers? If so, I've gotten into the habit of looking for those near my ball, then pacing it off to my ball, or an equivalent distance. This will give you a free way to get a quick and dirty distance measurement, but I've had sprinklers be off by 20 yards or more once you get past 250 yards.

[GaijinGolfer]

A lot of people like Golflogix.

[chilepepper]

  GaijinGolfer said:

Originally Posted by GaijinGolfer

A lot of people like Golflogix.

Just d/l'ed it. Looks to be a good app. More features than skydroid

[tristanhilton85]

If you are going to go the phone GPS route, I'd suggest Swing by Swing... it's free and works great for a phone.

[LovinItAll]

  chilepepper said:

Originally Posted by chilepepper

I have Sky Droid on my android phone. Works fairly well. Cost 2 bucks. Gives distances to green F,C,B. Does not give distances to bunkers and such though

SkyDroid does give distances to bunkers/hazards. Use the up/down arrow on the FCB screen.

[Chris Stewart]

I've used most of them and prefer GolfShot by far. It's clean and well done. While the Android app lacks in some of the features the iPhone version has, it's still better than the rest for Android. It's a little pricey at $30, but well worth it and the best $30 I've spent on golf in awhile.

[cooke119]

If you use a phone GPS get an extra battery, my droid eats them when the GPS is on. Thanks HTC

[hanalei]

U can also add bunkers to skydroid, edit maps etc. I even addded my local driving range cuz markers are always wrong...

[sean_miller]

  Audaxi said:

Originally Posted by Audaxi

Do any of the courses you play at have markers at 100, 150, 200, 250 etc? Do they have distances on the sprinklers? If so, I've gotten into the habit of looking for those near my ball, then pacing it off to my ball, or an equivalent distance. This will give you a free way to get a quick and dirty distance measurement, but I've had sprinklers be off by 20 yards or more once you get past 250 yards.

Within 200 yards distances between markers can be very accurately paced to within a couple yards error per 50 yards with experience. Not as accurate as a rangefinder, or some GPS devices / apps, but IF the OP is pacing then misses by 30 yards, it's not likely the distance estimation that's causing the problem.

[cruzthepug]

  Dave2512 said:

GolfLogix is free and works great. Does more than gps.

+1 for Golflogix, the free version only gives yardage to center of green, but for $20 per year you get yardage front, middle & back and also yardages to bunkers, harzards, doglegs, etc.

[colin007]

Swing by Swing is better than GolfLogix

[turtleback]

  colin007 said:

Originally Posted by colin007

Swing by Swing is better than GolfLogix

I can't say it is better, not having used Golflogix, but I like Swing by Swing a LOT!!  And it is free!  And you don't pay for course downloads.  And you can customize the course data relatively easily by labeling and marking spots so you can get the distance to them next time.  For example, on one hole there is a ditch running across the fairway.  I went to the ditch, labelled it on the phone and clicked a button to register its position and then saved.  Then next time, the the distance to carry the ditch came up on the screen so I could decided whether to lay up or not.

And unlike what I hear people complain about with other apps, I never had a problem with battery usage.  If my phone was fully charged at the beginning of a round it generally ended the (18 hole) round at 70% or higher.  That is with a Droid X2.  Plus the guy from Swing by Swing hangs out here occasionally and is responsive to questions and suggestions.

They have a "Looper" add-on for a fee that allows you to record your round shot by shot, entering the club you used.  Then you can go back and review your round, seeing where each shot went on a map of the course, kind of like looking at the Shot Tracker stuff on pgatour.om.  I got that add-on but after a few times decided it was distracting me a little too much so I requested a refund and got it instantly, no questions asked.  And they even let me keep the add-on until the next update.

Best $0.00 I ever spent.  LOL