rangefinders - front back center and layups

[FairwaysToHeaven]

just wondering for those with a rangefinder, as I have a watch gps, how easy or how often are you able to shoot a point on the ground with decent accuracy. if you shoot a flag at 175 but cant tell if its front back center, can you shoot the ground and what front it?

 

i'm debating getting a rangefinder as i've foudn the gps lacking accuracy on tee shots when the hole is dogleg and some layups or some hazards that run diagonal to fairway (creek)

 

i don't want to miss out on having quick and accurate yardage to front and back of a green though and hope to be able to laser these areas with some accuracy

[raynorfan1]

I would say that you can't reliably shoot a point on the ground unless it's accompanied by a slope of some kind. Distance to carry a bunker? Sure; shoot the far lip of the bunker.

 

But a flat green from a non-elevated fairway? Very tough to feel good about the distance you shoot. OTOH, pretty rare that you can't tell F/M/B with 5x magnification...

[cristphoto]

Typically you will know the FMB position by either the flag color or a pin location chart. I use my laser to then get accurate distance to pin. Sometimes if there is a bunker in front of the green I'll measure to the top edge of it to know my minimum carry distance. Likewise with doglegs I'll measure to a tree or bush at the inside corner. Very simple and helpful when working around a course. The benefit of a laser vs GPS is you get accurate distance to the pin whether you're in the center of the fairway or either wide edge of it. Often the FMB readings on GPS's is based on the center of the fairway which will throw off the readings if playing in from the rough.

[FairwaysToHeaven]

thanks for the answers. so i'm assuming a little slope helps in shooting an area on the ground, and especially getting the cover distance from a front bunker. i think most, or at least my gps gives fmb in a straight line from your ball to green. basically you can be on the side of a green and the new front is the nearest portion of the green.

 

i like the simplicity of the watch and knowing i don't have to carry the laser with me if walking from cart to ball and worry about leaving it behind, but seems when playing new courses there are too many times doglegs, hazards, and layups just aren't accurately known on a gps watch. i'm also thinking factoring slope in a rangefinder would be a big help.

[cxx]

You can pick out features that stick up. Pretty hard to figure on surfaces that are flat or tilt away from you. I sometimes use the marked sprinkler heads to compare to the measured distance to the flag.

[North Butte]

I have a Nikon Coolshot 80VR with the vibration reduction feature. So I can aim and hit small features more reliably with this laser than with any other one I've ever tried, by far.

 

That said, no way I can accurately get the distance to a flat spot on a fairway a couple hundred yards away. There has to be something sticking up to aim at, although from up to 150 or so yards a golf ball will suffice. Or it can be a bunker lip, a tree or bush, a steep embankment of some kind, cart path curb, that kind of thing.

 

I routinely shoot a flagstick and then the lip of a bunker fronting the green. That gives me an exact to-the-flag number and a fairly close estimate front-of-green estimate. From those two I can usually deduce what's going on with that day's hole location, assuming it's a course I've played before. But mostly it just warns me away from automatically pulling my "140 club" when I get 137 to the flag but then check and see it's 132 to carry the bunker. Then I club up.