Modern golfers are finding the need for high tech gadgets to
speed up their golf rounds. We are a tech crazy culture, and golf has
never been left behind. New high tech clubs and balls; and now high
tech distance range finding equipment. It makes sense, we love golf, we
love high tech, and we love to compete;
golf rangefinders satisfy our
desires.
While the above paragraph is written in a flip manner and
we could, of course, do without such high tech equipment; these little
devices do help the average player speed his game and shoot lower
scores. And we golfers will do anything to shave a couple of strokes
and get home to our family a half an hour early. So golfers are
embracing the new
laser range finders and the golf GPS units. Let's
face it, pacing off yardage is time consuming and inaccurate. I am
always amused when I am playing a new course with a local member and he
tells you things like; this hole plays a little shorter than the marker
says, or you may need more club than you think. Are any of these
fairway markers ever right? And to be fair, I am never in the fairway,
so my pacing back to the plaque is never correct. But these new devices
are it! Absolutely it!
I played all of last year with a handheld
golf GPS unit, and I was amazed. I was actually hitting greens and
making pars and birdies. My handicap was reduced and I went from a
somewhat deliberate player to a speedy pants. At the same time one of
my buddies in the foursome got himself a
laser rangefinder and he
started to shoot lower scores and play faster too. I really love this
game improvement. I have always been a kind of snooty nose about golf
purity, but I like the results I am seeing with this technology. The
golf GPS lets me glance down, see the yardage, pull a club and fire. My
buddy with the
laser range finder does the same, except he needs line
of sight. If he is behind a hill he just pops on top of the hill,
shoots the flag and then paces back to his ball. He is a perfectionist,
I just want the front, back and center of the green, after that I can
guess pretty close as to where the pin is. On the other hand, he can
shoot bunkers from the tee, or in front of the green, whereas my
inexpensive golf GPS only has certain points plotted. However, some of
the more expensive golf GPS units will give you the distance to any
place you can touch, but I will have to wait until next year to get one
of those.
So my advice is to get one, you will love it. I like
the golf GPS, but
Bushnell makes a laser rangefinder with slope
determination now, which is very cool. The slope feature lets you shoot
an up-hill, or down-hill pin and will give you the effective yardage
the hole will play, so you do not have to guess how much up-hill, or
down-hill you are. On the GPS side, the new OnPar golf GPS will keep
your score, measure your shots, and even give you club selections, all
at a single touch. The best news is that you can save strokes and time
with inexpensive units; you do not need to get all of the bells and
whistles. I am a believer, golf GPS and
golf laser rangefinders are
here to stay.