Sky Caddie Exposes The Phony Long

[Ronzo]

For those of you with a Pinseeker 1500, have you ever lasered the distance back to the tee marker you used from the point where your drive came to rest?

 

I got injured badly some years ago, so my long drive days are over. But one thing I have to make time to do is to go out to a range very early AM and measure my carry distances for every club in the bag, particularly from 185 yards in. Knowing that would help me improve my course management tremendously.

[Big_M]

I have an iGolf, and yes I have been humbled a few times... but it is great having a realistic perspective on when to go for what. My average was about 5-10 yds short of what I thought with driver, and I really have to get lucky to get to the magical 300 yd barrier. With irons I was realistic in what I hit them, some a touch longer average some a touch shorter, but with my new clubs I will now formulate a nice iron/carry chart.

[wolverine318]

I just got my skycaddie so i am anxious to see what this says about not only my drives but iron shots and shor iron pitches too. Others with skycaddie and rangefinders have measured my drives but not enough to be the end all be all.

[cb_golfer]

I have an iGolf, and yes I have been humbled a few times... but it is great having a realistic perspective on when to go for what. My average was about 5-10 yds short of what I thought with driver, and I really have to get lucky to get to the magical 300 yd barrier. With irons I was realistic in what I hit them, some a touch longer average some a touch shorter, but with my new clubs I will now formulate a nice iron/carry chart.

 

+1 on my drives as well.

 

I'm also 2-3 yards shorter in carry with my irons. Still, I've got my new yardages using my Neo and I love being pin high.

[sammyboy]

Ah yes, the "mark" feature...I love it. I've been using it for over a year to measure golf shots of all types. In addition to measuring my shots, I also use it help me find stray shots...

 

If I hit an errant tee shot and think I'll have trouble finding it, I'll "mark" it before leaving the tee box. It helps me narrow down the search area.

 

It's also great for practicing pitches as I can mark off exact distances.

 

It also gives me confidence when I "post" my driver distances on internet forums that they truly are as far as I say they are. :black eye:

[DBake]

I'm glad you all confirmed my Sky Caddie wasn't broken! I too thought I hit a long (at least in my eyes..) drive only to find out that the Sky Caddie revealed an actual yardage of 20 yards less. :black eye:

 

its not broken

I will remind all that GPS's are sometimes off by as much as 15 meters(50 feet) which comes out to about 16.67 yards :birthday:

in open view ill bet its within 3 yard of actual yardage technology is great isnt it.

 

I agree, the test days of GPS is out. I am pretty sure that all GPS systems are within 5 yards now.

[NPVWhiz]

If you want to really be depressed, try using the skycaddie mark ball function in the winter when it is maybe 40 or 50 degrees. The distances you get on your drives is pathetic.

 

On the positive side, I was reading last month's Golf magazine article on golf balls and the various distances and spin rates, cover hardness, etc. I see that for a 90 mph swing speed, most of the drives total carry was right in the 250 to 260 yard range. This is what I've been claiming I hit with an average swing speed and R flex shafts. So in my case my estimates were reasonably close.

 

The real problem comes in when you don't hit it just perfect every time, and it is somewhat cold or windy, then all of a sudden your 260 yard drive you think you can hit ends up at 220. Nothing worse than having to take out hybrid for your second shot on a par 4. :black eye:

 

One of those recent tests measuring distance with drivers at various swing speeds had distances that were out of line with what I've experienced, but then I saw the Total minus Carry number was 30 to 35 yards on their test range. Nice, firm bent grass I'm sure. Not the kind of wet, overwatered, uncut turf I find myself playing routinely these days...

[ezra76]

Opposite for me. I played late last year with a guy who had one. Driver on #1 cap hole, 272yds., approach with 21* hybrid, 219 yds. 7iron from a flier lie out of the rough, 182 yards to the front, landed it on. That was downhill a good 10yds. though. The drive was the longest I'd hit that day though, 2 others were in the 260's and one off the deck was 252 with a cut but that's where it ran to, not anywhere near the carry. I'm not really concerned with how far I hit my driver anymore, so long as I can strike it well, square the face and stay on plane, I'm happy with the distance every time. I know my avg. is 106-107 and I can ramp it up to 111-112 if I clear as fast as possible. I know what distance that produces so no big surprises.

[Brian_Mc]

All of these posts caused me to break down and by an SG2.5. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I'm pretty anxious... especially to see just how short my drives are! :black eye:

[texcrom]

Oddly enough, everytime I hit a solid drive (not killed, just solid) that I feel is a good one to mark and measure, I end up with 273 yards. This literally happened to me five times in a row, on three different days.

 

Very wierd....but I'm pretty confident on my average yardage.

[Blues Golfer]

I'm kicking myself for not using my friends device to measure my drives the other day. I had never played with anyone who used one, so it was a nice thing to see at work. But it never dawned on me to measure how far I'd hit my drives.

 

I guess I don't worry about it that much.

 

Next time.

[jcrew]

You have to realize that scorecards measure down the middle of the hole from tee to green, doglegs and all. SkyCaddie is GPS so it takes the distance between to points. Where you tee'd off from and where you ended. They are both correct yardages. On a 400 yard par 4 with a 100 yard wedge in is still a 300 yard drive anyway you look at it.

 

 

 

No, it's not.

 

 

 

400-100=300

lol you're funny. that was a good joke. :black eye:

[Lance]

I am getting older and can't afford to lose any more distance off my drives. I guess I won't be buying one of them Sky Caddie gizmos.

 

 

Amazing quote, I like your thinking.

[capt.murphy]

longest drive ive ever hit gps'd =278. i cut the corner on a dogleg left. if i went by the course markers it measured 310. course markers are for judging your distance away, not how far youve hit.

[DrSchteeve]

sky caddies are great, but for the people that ACTUALLY get their drives measured by a real person is alot more accurate!

 

Not if the real person is the one who hit the ball!!!

[nchladek]

I got an SG3 for Christmas, but how do you measure the distance? I have used it only for yardages, not for this.

[roe]

Press the mark button(there is a pic of a tee), after you hit your shot whether it's from the tee or from the fairway. It will then say mark from this position, say yes. And when you get to your ball press the 'mark' button again and it will show your distance.

[nshon]

At my home course, we have 3 9 hole course - 1 of the 3 is much shorter 9 holes. On the first hole it is 361 to the green. I have hit a couple that left me a 3/4 sand wedge in. Now my full SW is 100 yards, so I figure about 80-85 yards. So I skycaddie the yardage thinking 270-280 range - I am all pumped up only to find a 255 drive. Still hit a 3/4 wedge shot to the middle of the green.

I will think that most 300 yard drives we read about are really 270-280'ish. I would love to have 270 drives all day long :(

 

I've mentioned this before in another thread. 420m hole and the long hitters in my group are left with 110m-130m so by that measurement they (we?) have been going around telling people about their 290m (317y) drives. Sonocaddie caddie says 255m(278y) is their max so far. Ouch.

 

My longest drive ever since I got the Sonocaddie is 235m(257y). Going by all the 'I smashed it 345y down the middle' posts on WRX, I am one of the shortest hitters around here. :)

[nshon]

I will remind all that GPS's are sometimes off by as much as 15 meters(50 feet) which comes out to about 16.67 yards :)

 

Given enough satellites to triangulate, GPS can be as accurate as 1m. But I always thought was absolute position, as in 'I am within 1m of the first tee', relative position which is more important for distance measuring should be very very accurate.

 

Then again I hope you're right, cause I'm pathetic when it comes to distance. Another 15m helps.

[scottiej70]

Great topic!! I have worked in the biz for 15 years & you have all hit the nail on the head most think they it much farther then they do. It's much easier to sell the right equipment if we are given honest answers. Glad to see someone else sees the BS factor also.