How Can A Range Finder Improve Your Golf Game?
When playing, do you have trouble gauging how far a certain obstacle is, or how far away the green is for your next golf shot? Are you that type of person with an uncanny ability to estimate how far you need to hit your next shot? For most people it’s a guessing game, but it’s so important when it comes to scoring. It can make the difference between a great score or frustration, wanting to break every club in your bag!
Traditionally, it has been part of a professional caddy’s job to truly “know” the golf course, as well as the distance capabilities of every club. It was their job to walk the fairways, marking down every rock, sand traps, trees, water or any other permanent obstacle that you could use to gauge along the fairways to the greens.
Once this was recorded he’d look at the greens, measuring them the old traditional way – pacing off the distance from the front, sides, and back of the greens to the pin. He’d check for the break to the hole, the incline of the green and the safest place to land the ball on approach.
While there are traditionalists who consider technology such as range finders or GPS systems to be some kind of sacrilege to the integral challenge of the game of golf, there are many others who are more interested in perfecting their physical skills, and taking out the guesswork that causes frustration. Why penalize yourself a stroke because of an unseen water hazard or experience the maddening irritation of being in a sand trap if a better calculation can avoid all of these obstacles?
Modern technology is coming to the aid of golfers once again. The latest craze and greatest technological achievement for the outdoor enthusiast or athlete is the hand-held GPS system. By using a hand-held GPS range finder, a golfer now has the ability to cut several strokes off their scores.
By getting a better, more accurate read on distance to the green, the pin, and the precise location of hazards, a golfer can even use the GPS range finder to make better club choices, as the more precise calculations of yardage allows for more precise estimations of what club is needed for the next golf shot at hand.
While many golfers have benefited from the use of laser range finders, and while there is no doubt about their effectiveness in getting results in measurements of distances, more golfers are now discovering that GPS technology can take their game to a whole new level. If you have the physical ability to improve your golf game, it does make a great deal of sense to use this golf aid to help you become more consistent.
All golfers will tell you that confidence is critical. The challenge comes into play when they get to the golf course and really have no idea on how far their golf shots need to travel, or what happens to the golf ball when it lands. Using a range finder it can give you that confidence of being knowing where to place your golf ball on your way to each hole. This is course management, and it’s the difference between winning and losing on the P.G.A. tour. If you have the confidence that you can make a golf shot to a predetermined spot, then it will make a huge difference in your golf scores.
For the more established player who participates in amateur events, a range finder is even a greater purchase for you. These players have the ability to make their golf shots by knowing exact distances or contours of a green. For them, practice is taking place while they are playing. That is an entirely different game plan. In these cases, this is truly designed as a self improvement aid.
Knowing the exact distances they need to send the ball will only assist in making it an even better golf shot. It is a huge advantage in knowing exact distances and pin placements. If you have never played on a particular golf course before, you now have the ability to see where potential trouble is located and make the proper decision.
You already know that you can’t use it in a golf tournament, and so even during your competitive rounds with your friends they are just practice rounds for you. If your membership club allows them during regular play then by all means use the range finder to your benefit.
Today it’s much easier to work all this out, as most of the grunt work can be done using the latest technology. There are many manufacturers that offer top quality golf range finders today, and they all have some great information available. Depending on the manufacturer, each one works a little bit different.
With many of them, you can download any golf course in the United States and Globally, and be able to store this information on any hard drive. Some golf GPS programs are so advanced that they can track multiple targets for a single pin all at once, or even display the precise shape of the green as seen from your current angle of approach.
If you play at different golf courses, having this information is terrific. How can it not help you to know the distances to a hazard or to the green? If you know you can’t get it all the way to the green on this shot, then this golfing aid can help you make the most accurate course management decisions – where to land the ball to put yourself into the best possible position for your next shot, in this case.
A range finder is one of the best training aids available. The challenge is, how do you get the most from it? Go take advantage of it right now to help improve your golf game. You will see the difference in your confidence and improvement in your assessment of each hole. By utilizing the knowledge that you can gain by using this as a training aid, it not only will help you to play better golf, but win more consistently.
Scott Kowalski
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