Golf GPS system VS Range Finders part 1

Technology has boomed in the world. Just a few years ago DVD was the king of the movie world and now Blue Ray is here. Televisions have gone from tube, to plasma, to LCD. Golf has been no exception. Does anyone remember a steel headed driver? Now Titanium and even composite materials. Yes, technology is changing this game.

The new buzz in the techno side of golf is the way we calculate distance. I remember pacing off distance with a friend in a tournament. I had a shot over water on the 18th hole of a major tournament in Spokane, Wa. We both stood at the 150 marker and paced to my ball. I had 137 and he came up with 133. He was a little taller and had longer legs than I, apparently ha ha.

Now, I am nowhere near good enough to quibble over 4 yards, but as a 0 handicap in contention to win this tournament, I was quibbling over 4 inches. I played it at 135, splitting the difference, and hit a terrible shot. I pulled it in the water to the left of the green. Indecision cost me the tournament. In all reality, it was the shank out of bounds on the first playoff hole, but that is a story for another time.

Today, we have options for defining the distance to the target we are firing at. There are GPS units and Range finders. But how would I choose? First thing we have to do is define the features of both options.

Range finders are somewhat simple at their core. They look like binoculars or looking glasses. They have a laser that fires out of the unit and reflects off a surface back to the unit to measure the distance. The laser is typically able to reflect off of any solid surface, but works best off of a reflective surface.

The beauty of a range finder is that you can gauge distance to any object you desire. Want to know how far it is to that pesky tree that you hit it behind EVERY time you play the 14th hole at your local golf course? No problem, point and shoot. Want to know the distance over the daunting water hazard in front of you on that short par 5? No problem, point and shoot. Done.

The best thing about range finders, and the real discernible difference from a GPS unit, is that you can point and shoot the flag stick and get exact distance to the pin, itself. GPS units are not able to give you exact pin distance. We will discuss that in the next post, though.

The features of each range finder are different, but there are a few things we must take into account when we choose a range finder. The first thing you must decide is if you are going to use the range finder in tournament play. I would suggest phoning your local tournament director to see if they allow range finders at all, but there is one that is non-conforming for all tournaments because of a particular feature.

This one has a feature called slope. This feature will distinguish the distance based on the elevation change as well as the standard distance. The range finder that provides this feature is the Bushnell Yardage Pro Pinseeker 1500. The Bushnell company produces the same model with out the slope feature in their Yardage Pro Pinseeker 1500 Tournament Edition.

If these units are a bit more than you need for your golf game, check out the I-On Optix range finder or the Callaway LR 550. Both have the necessary features to give you accurate distance to the targets you desire while being tournament legal.

When you are thinking of a yardage calculation device, if you want distance to an infinite number of targets, the laser range finder is going to provide you with the opportunity to choose the targets you want. If a range finder is not for you, take a look at a GPS unit. Those are covered in the next entry of this blog.