GPS, WHY ?

[Lihu]

2 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Most shouldn't attack pins unless they are hitting a pitch shot or the pin is in the middle of the green 

Oh come on, give us mid handicaps something to dream about if we ever get to become a low single digit player!

[Jeremie Boop]

The GPS measurements is more of a side benefit to using Game Golf to track my game. I don't think that I'll ever buy any dedicated device for measuring distances either gps or laser range finders, but if I were ever given one as a gift or won something I would it.

[lenman73]

I just recently got a Garmin S2. A friend of mine has the S1 and he was showing me how it worked and when I found out you didn't have to download courses I was hooked.  The S2 i got is an older model but I got it new from Amazon for $119. I absolutely love it and it helps speed up play in the foursome. Instead of everyone wandering around looking for a yardage, just look at your wrist.  I think it is great. Pull right up to your ball and grab a club.

[No Mulligans]

10 hours ago, Fourputt said:

Your handicap is high enough that you should still be looking center of the green for most approach shots.  I worked my way to a 10 handicap long before DMD's were available or allowed, my only available markers were what the courses provided to the green centers.  Precise distances are not necessary when you are playing bogey golf or worse anyway.  Better to just focus on the biggest target possible.  

If I hit the middle of every green, I'll score well even if my putting is average.  Middle of the green usually means putts of 30 feet or less to almost every hole location, and from 30 feet you should be two putting most of the time.   If you are three putting or worse, then you know where your practice focus needs to be.

For courses with really large greens... Bogey golfer or not, if it's 30 to the middle and 40 to the back ping I'm definately going to play my 40 yard shot.  And if it's 30 to the pin and 40 to the middle, I'm definately playing my 30 yard shot. Aiming for the middle in those situations just doesn't make sense unless there is trouple to avoid.

[newtogolf]

2 minutes ago, No Mulligans said:

For courses with really large greens... Bogey golfer or not, if it's 30 to the middle and 40 to the back ping I'm definately going to play my 40 yard shot.  And if it's 30 to the pin and 40 to the middle, I'm definately playing my 30 yard shot. Aiming for the middle in those situations just doesn't make sense unless there is trouple to avoid.

Especially on greens with false fronts and backs or that have heavy slopes.  

[ASUslacker14]

The biggest use I get out of my phone GPS is yardage to the back of the green. I'll usually pick a club based more on that yardage if I'm in between clubs so if I don't hit it flush I still have a chance to be dancing .  

[Lihu]

6 hours ago, No Mulligans said:

For courses with really large greens... Bogey golfer or not, if it's 30 to the middle and 40 to the back ping I'm definately going to play my 40 yard shot.  And if it's 30 to the pin and 40 to the middle, I'm definately playing my 30 yard shot. Aiming for the middle in those situations just doesn't make sense unless there is trouple to avoid.

It comes down to how big are your shot zones. It's usually better to try to line up the shot zone center to the center of the green.

[Fourputt]

11 hours ago, No Mulligans said:

For courses with really large greens... Bogey golfer or not, if it's 30 to the middle and 40 to the back ping I'm definately going to play my 40 yard shot.  And if it's 30 to the pin and 40 to the middle, I'm definately playing my 30 yard shot. Aiming for the middle in those situations just doesn't make sense unless there is trouple to avoid.

 

11 hours ago, newtogolf said:

Especially on greens with false fronts and backs or that have heavy slopes.  

You may have misread what he wrote.  He said that he is playing his 30 yard shot to a front pin, and that will kill him a lot of the time if there is a false front. 

What I posted above was a generality, not every hole and every approach.  I'm going to try and play the shot with the highest potential chance of success.  Most of the courses that most of us play don't have gargantuan greens.  It takes a fairly bad miss to leave a 60 foot putt. 

The way I usually figure for front or back locations is to take the distance to center, then add or subtract 5-6 yards to move my target into the quadrant where the hole is situated.  I then select the club that gets me closest to that distance with a normal swing.  If there is any sort of trouble, then I'll adjust that further to try and account for the threat, favoring closer to the middle area of the green because that is always going to be better than missing the green and having to chip from rough or blast out of a bunker.

[70sSanO]

I played for years without anything but markers and hopefully a good guess.

I have a few free apps on my phone, but they never really worked well for me... I'm pretty sure it is operator error.  But I also suspect that the free ones are more cumbersome and lack some features.  I recently got an inexpensive laser rangefinder and I am really enjoying it.  It is quick and doesn't slow me down and it is easy to either pick up the pin or scan a certain area.

I do agree that there is some over the top marketing hype about the accuracy of these devices such as +/- a yard (meter) vs. +/- 1/2 yard (meter) or a readout in tenths of a yard (meter).  A person really needs to know that the flag is precisely 77.3 yards away?  For most golfers they give a good idea of the distance and that is really valuable.  I am also charting my iron distances so I will have a better idea of how far I really hit each one.  I have also taken readings back to the tee to get a feel for the longer distances.

John

Edited May 31, 2016 by 70sSanO

[Lihu]

44 minutes ago, 70sSanO said:

I played for years without anything but markers and hopefully a good guess.

I have a few free apps on my phone, but they never really worked well for me... I'm pretty sure it is operator error.  But I also suspect that the free ones are more cumbersome and lack some features.  I recently got an inexpensive laser rangefinder and I am really enjoying it.  It is quick and doesn't slow me down and it is easy to either pick up the pin or scan a certain area.

I do agree that there is some over the top marketing hype about the accuracy of these devices such as +/- a yard (meter) vs. +/- 1/2 yard (meter) or a readout in tenths of a yard (meter).  A person really needs to know that the flag is precisely 77.3 yards away?  For most golfers they give a good idea of the distance and that is really valuable.  I am also charting my iron distances so I will have a better idea of how far I really hit each one.  I have also taken readings back to the tee to get a feel for the longer distances.

John

No need to write anything down, just tag your clubs and you get automatic statistics!

Try the free app on your phone. It's just a tiny bit less convenient, but still awesome!

 

You even have single round stats.

[No Mulligans]

4 hours ago, Fourputt said:

 

You may have misread what he wrote.  He said that he is playing his 30 yard shot to a front pin, and that will kill him a lot of the time if there is a false front. 

What I posted above was a generality, not every hole and every approach.  I'm going to try and play the shot with the highest potential chance of success.  Most of the courses that most of us play don't have gargantuan greens.  It takes a fairly bad miss to leave a 60 foot putt. 

The way I usually figure for front or back locations is to take the distance to center, then add or subtract 5-6 yards to move my target into the quadrant where the hole is situated.  I then select the club that gets me closest to that distance with a normal swing.  If there is any sort of trouble, then I'll adjust that further to try and account for the threat, favoring closer to the middle area of the green because that is always going to be better than missing the green and having to chip from rough or blast out of a bunker.

Yes I believe we are in agreement.  What I like the most is this part you wrote: "I'm going to try and play the shot with the highest potential chance of success".  I use to play a lot of poker and accordingly had to get very comfortable with the related probability math.  As such I see the highest potential chance of success from that angle.  Sometimes the outcome from a probability perspective is better when one takes a risk.  And, I believe we are in agreement on all of this.

Reading between the lines in LSW, I believe @iacas looks at things from a probability perspective (even though he didn't risk boring many readers with the details of the related math).

[dennyjones]

I've always used Golflogix.   It's nice at a new course to see the layout of the hole and get relative distances to trouble spots and the green.   It has always been sufficient.   I recently retired and bought myself a retirement gift, the new Leupold GX-2i2.   It has the option to turn off the slope feature in the software (I don't play tournaments).   Currently, I'm using both as I learn to trust the range finder.   It has become a very good training feature.   I didn't realize the vast difference slope plays in distance.   It has saved me several strokes and as I continue to learn to trust it, I'm sure many more.  

Could I play without either, sure but I'm enjoying them.

[Fourputt]

45 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

I've always used Golflogix.   It's nice at a new course to see the layout of the hole and get relative distances to trouble spots and the green.   It has always been sufficient.   I recently retired and bought myself a retirement gift, the new Leupold GX-2i2.   It has the option to turn off the slope feature in the software (I don't play tournaments).   Currently, I'm using both as I learn to trust the range finder.   It has become a very good training feature.   I didn't realize the vast difference slope plays in distance.   It has saved me several strokes and as I continue to learn to trust it, I'm sure many more.  

Could I play without either, sure but I'm enjoying them.

Which is one reason why DMD's that measure slope are not allowed under the rules.  Judging the needed adjustment for elevation changes is considered a skill that a player is expected to develop with experience, no different from adjusting for wind.  I learned to adjust for ups and downs long before the advent of electronic devices, and I never considered it as being so difficult that I would need a tool to do it for me.

[JonMA1]

On May 30, 2016 at 8:24 AM, paininthenuts said:

As of late I have played with a few people using some sort of GPS device, which in turn  made me envious, and I have therefore been looking on the internet with a view to buying one. Then I stopped and thought, WHAT DO I NEED IT FOR. Firstly, I am not a great golfer, and the length I can hit a ball with a club varies a lot based on how well I make contact. Secondly, what if it is windy, what if it is cold, what if it is wet, and finally, what if I am hitting a ball uphill or downhill. All a GPS would help me do is estimate what club I need on a dry day, with no wind, and on a flat plain. Of course, I and can take these factors into account, in which case I would be guessing again, and then I may as well not have one anyway. Like most people, I quite often hit over the green, or leave it short, but to be honest that has more to do with my golfing skills rather than the wrong club. All courses in the UK have distance markers, and to be honest you have to be pretty stupid not to be able to work things out from there. 

Needless to say, some of you would have already spent a fortune on such a device, and will reply to this post telling me how wonderful they are. So, please go ahead and convince me !!

I am a higher handicapper and I think the gps helps my game. If I could trust the markers or if I could gauge distances when I'm shooting from extreme angles, maybe I wouldn't use one.

Bu as far as all the variables, that doesn't really change the advantage of knowing distance, IMO. The elevation, wind, bad lie, how I'm hitting on a specific day... all factor in along with the GPS distance to make the decision on which club to pull.

As far as having inconstant distances, yeah same here. But seeing where a shot lands relative to a measured distance gives me instant feedback (sorry, I hate using golf buzzwords).

On the upside:

• I know what club not to pull when there's a hazard or dogleg I want to stay short of.
• Same with how much distance I need to carry a hazard.
• On unfamiliar courses, I can see hazards that are otherwise blind.
• As mentioned above, it helps with variables (wind, obvious elevation, lies, bad days, etc) 

On the downside:

• The Garmin goes through batteries.
• The Garmin and my phone's GPS are not very consistent to one another.
• On shorter shots - like less than 75 yards - I don't use the GPS.
• Using one doesn't speed up the game, for me anyway.

Bottom line: You don't need one. If these things weren't around and I didn't know any better, I'd still love playing this game without one just as many others do. In fact, getting better at judging distances would be yet another skill to develop, which I kind of enjoy. But I feel like GPS makes the game just a tiny bit easier, and I need all the help I can get.

As others probably have suggested, try out a free phone app if you're able to.

[Hacker James]

As with any new thing, I tend to do a little research on an item while waiting for it to arrive in the mail. Concerning Garmin...I am amazed at how many courses have been mapped out. Even the smallest little goat tracks that many have never heard of. I wonder how long it takes them to map them out, how many people, and how many man-hours involved? Just in San Diego county alone, there are far many courses than I could have imagined, Little neighborhood par three's up to the championship venues. I happened to look up where I was born in Ohio, and found a lot (over 800), many in and around tiny farm towns such as Hope dale (where Clark Gable was born - not Cadiz).  In any event, I am somewhat excited about trying mine out. 

[shanksalot]

Use of a GPS is solely based on two things. One that you know how far you hit with each club and you play different courses and need to know the yardage of each shot. I play the same course over 97% of the time and while I carry one attached to my golf bag I really need it because I play the same course and know each hole and pretty much know my distance based on where I am because I have been in that area most of the time. Going to a new course a GPS unit helps me find the yardage quickly so I don't hold up my group or the group behind us. 

[paininthenuts]

Since starting the thread I actually bought a TomTom golfer watch. On my own course it's pretty much a waist of time, as I know which club to use without thinking. However, on courses I don't know it has proven to be a great tool, especially as the markers on most courses I have played are NOT in the right place.  

[Marty2019]

I use an iphone app called FreeCaddie.  It's free, but for $4.99, it'll also give you the ranges to dog legs and hazards.   It works very well for me.   I've checked it against 150 yard markers, and it's almost always very accurate.

Where it helps me most is on par 3s where they move the tee boxes forward and backward all the time, or on holes where I'm well inside the 150 marker.   Many times I have guessed at a range to the pin, and the app shows that my guess is off by as much as 30 yards!  

The great thing is, I don't have to wander around in the fairway looking for the 100 yard marker, or pace off a distance. 

The only thing is, sometimes it takes a little time to adjust.   So we are constantly having conversations on par 3s like,

"What distance have you got?"

"I've got 170.  No wait, now it says 165." 

"165?  I've got 161."

"Wait a second.  Now I've got 159." 

"I've got 350." 

"350?? What hole are you on?" 

"13." 

"Dude.  This is the 14th hole." 

And on and on like that.   Usually, after about half a minute, we all come to an agreement. 

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2016 by Marty2019