MEMBER REVIEWS: StrackaLine Yardage and Green Reading Books + GPS App | See What Members Are Saying! (2025 Testing)

[GolfWRX_Official]

GolfWRX members are extremely familiar with StrackaLine and their precision Green Reading and Yardage Books and how it can improve their game. StrackaLine's "The Book" has been used by the players on the PGA TOUR, LPGA, NCAA level, and GolfWRX members alike. The members below will be testing out their new high definition books and their GPS and Putt app. Feel free to ask any questions that you might have, as the testers will be happy to answer them. 

 

The testers are:

 

•  @Pure716
•  @Augster
•  @Ty_Webb
• @Qwiklap
•  @woods991

 

About StrackaLine's Green Reading and Yardage Books
StrackaLine's world renowned laser scanned greens guides have been helping golfers make more putts since 2007. Search 10,000+ courses available for greens guides and 36,000+ courses available for yardage books from across the world. Their USGA-compliant greens guides offer a level of detail and accuracy not available anywhere else for the most precise green reading. Yardage books include complete tee-to-green measurements for every hole. 

About StrackaLine's Digital GPS and Make Putt Feature
The ultimate tool for competitive players, StrackaLine’s interactive GPS and Make Putt feature will give you full knowledge of the course from tee-to-green before and during play. Testers will receive all-access for one year.

 

Learn more about StrackaLine here.

 

Special thank you goes out to @StrackaLine for putting on this member testing event. If you read the reviews and would like to see how StrackaLine and their products can benefit your game, be sure to head to strackaline.com and use code "GOLFWRX" for 20% off products!

[DTorres]

Wooo Congrats! Looking forward to following yalls experiences!

[Ty_Webb]

At this point, I just want to say thank you so much to @StrackaLine and @GolfWRX_Official for this opportunity. I am working on my review and will post as soon as it's ready. 

[Pure716]

First off I'd like to thank @StrackaLine and @GolfWRX_Official for this opportunity.  I've had an extremely fortunate 2025 so far and can't wait to share my experience with the forum. 

 

This won't' seem very believable but ever since I was a junior golfer I've collected yardage books.  I have a pretty detailed "Tour" yardage book from my home course but have never owned a yardage book from Stracka.

 

I had a tee time last Thursday to take out my new yardage book and compare it to my Precision Golf tour yardage book. Unfortunately we have gotten a lot of rain the last two weeks and are experiencing some major (not as major as Texas) flooding. I have an 8:30 a.m. tee time for tomorrow morning in the event the forecast cooperates. If not, the rest of the week doesn't look too promising.

 

In the meantime, I found this video on Stracka's website which I found to be very helpful. 

 

[CanFred]

Such a cool test - looking forward to following along!

[Qwiklap]

Hey WRX family - I also want to thank @StrackaLine and @GolfWRX_Official for honoring me with this opportunity to test the Strakaline product.  So ... let's get to it ...

 

Background:  I am a golf sicko, longtime WRXer, I listen to Fried Egg and Shotgun Start, follow guys like Milo Lines and Dan Grieve on Youtube.  I am lucky enough to live in Scottsdale - and recently joined Ancala CC (the "budget" club in Scottsdale).  Its a fun and tricky course that demands accuracy off the tee, and excellent putting.  Many of the greens have zones and tiers that make long (and even medium length) putts difficult to judge. 

 

I am 52, but fit and strong (just a bit slower and achier than I used to be).  I never really tried to get good at golf until about 2018 - when I really got the bug.  I have gotten my handicap to a 10.6 - and am still questing to join the ranks of the single digit.  Putting is definitely holding me back.  I have been using Arcos for a long time and I used to average more than 35 putts a round.  However, with improved short game, better putting, and now the greens book, I hope to get that average down dramatically.

 

Fun fact -- I had literally purchased the budget greens only version of the Strackaline book for Ancala a couple of weeks prior to getting selected.  But for this review, they sent me the fancy, full color, high-res version of the fairways and greens book for review.  Of course I also have access to the app.  More on that later.

 

For my first post - I am just going to try and convey how I use the book and how it helps me at my course.

 

First - the book (which I put in a red leather scorecard holder).  I use two rubber bands to secure it in - one band holds the spine to my card holder, and the second I use to mark the page of the green I am on.

 

 

So with the high heat, most of the members stop playing after 11am - so I had the course to myself while I used the book and took pics.  The heat - now well above 100 every afternoon kills off the rye grasses and leaves only crusty bermuda.  Our greens are Championship Bermuda - and they are very, very firm right now - and running true at 10 to 11 stimp.  

 

On hole 1 (a 380 yd downhill par 4 with OB all down the left and mounds and houses right).  I had a great drive, and 80ish yard wedge.  I got it pretty tight on the approach.

 

 

Here is the book view - with the book rotated to the orientation of the putt I had:

 

 

So it's showing a mild break to the left, and some downhill. I have been using aimpoint express for a few years now (mostly just to have some type of process to read putts).  But I cannot say that my judgment of the slope and break is always accurate, and hopefully using the book will allow me to better judge the 1 finger, 2 finger, etc.  In terms of process, once I have my my line picked out - I place my ball using a sharpie line to aim the ball.  I then take two practice strokes while looking at the spot on the green where I would want the put to go (assuming the green was flat and had no break).   In this case I have the putt going one finger right of the hole.  I take my practice swings focusing on a point about one foot short and about six inches right of the hole.  Then let her rip.  This sounds slow - but I do it quickly and smartly (if no one holds me up - I play 3.5 hour rounds with a foursome).

 

The result -- BIRD (seriously).  NOTE:  I normally take the flag out - but I was alone and playing quick.

 

I would say this is a great start - and I really think this book is going to help me read and understand these greens more accurately (versus using my feet or eyes).

 

 

I will follow up with more later this week.

 

Play well ... and hit them straight!

 

 

Edited July 10 by Qwiklap

[Pure716]

Update: Once again I'd like to thank @StrackaLine and @GolfWRX_Official for this opportunity.  I've had an extremely fortunate 2025 so far being selected for the Wilson Golf Product Testing and Fitting Experience @ Cabot Citrus Farms and now this.

 

I woke up at 6:45 a.m. to check the forecast (which was looking grim) and headed out for my 8:30 a.m. tee time. The forecast called for a level one risk of severe storms with the potential for more flooding. Now days I pretty much refuse to play golf in the rain or really anything short of perfect conditions. But, I really wanted to play with my new Wilson Clubs and had a rare morning tee time on my home course that StrackaLine sent me a Yardage and Green Reading Book for.

 

I thought this would be a great way to kill two birds with one stone.

 

The entire drive to the course looked pretty grim. I actually had to call my home course and enquire about the rain check policy because I’ve never had to worry about it. As luck would have it we had a perfect (although soggy) morning out and got in all 18 holes before the storms rolled in later that evening.

 

I’m embarrassed to say yesterday was only my second round out with my new Wilson Clubs. If you’d like to hear more about that, you can find my update here.

 

Onto the StrackaLine Yardage and Green Reading Books..

 

The first picture is the view from the Black tee markers on the 1st hole at my home course.

 

The second picture is my current “Tour” yardage book sold in the Pro Shop (Left) compared to the StrackaLine Yardage Book (Right).

 

The third picture is a screenshot of the StrackaLine App as depicted on my iPhone 15 Pro.

 

Finally, the fourth picture is the StrackaLine Green Reading Book located on the following page.

 

As I've mentioned multiple times now, this won't' seem very believable but ever since I was a junior golfer I've collected yardage books.  I use my current “Tour” yardage book sold in the Pro Shop (Left) on every single round at my home course despite playing hundreds of rounds here over the years. 

 

All that being said, I felt it would be helpful to walk through how I personally used my new StrackaLine Yardage and Green Reading Books using the first hole as an example. All of the distances to hazards are measured off of the back edge of the back tee marker.  In this example I am playing the black tee markers which are one up from the competiton tee markers that the yardages are based off of. StrackLine conveniently gives the difference from the back edge of the back tee to the back edge of each subsequent tee. In this example the difference was -33 yards. Next to that value you will see a green circle with +3 listed.  This is the elevation change.  Finally, as I am walking to my tee I pace off how many paces forward my tee markers are in relation to the back edge of the tee box itself.  In this example, the black tee markers were 5 paces forward of the back edge. 

 

Our formula: -33 yards (adjustment off of the back edge of the competition tees) + 3 yards (elevation) - 5 paces = -35 yards.

 

I then take my differential and use it to calculate today playing distance to any notable hazards. In this example I'm looking at the left (273 - 35 = 238 yards) and right (323 - 35 = 288 yards) carry numbers (Listed in black) for the right fairway bunker. The green number listed below the black carry number is the distance to the green from that point.  While this may seem like a lot, I can have my differential ready by the time I place my bag down at my tee marker. 

 

One of my favorite uses of any "Tour" yardage book is learning the true value of uphill or downhill elevation changes. In the case of this StrackaLine Yardage Books this information is depicted in a circle (red = downhill) located in the middle of the fairway.

 

If all this information is too much for you, you can default to StrackaLine app which simply depicts the key points and distances from the back edge of the back tee box.

 

Finally, as we approach the green we start to see how StrackLine really differients itself from my other "Tour" yardage book. Up until this review, I have never used a Green Reading Book. @Qwiklap did a great job explaining how to use it so I will save you the details. You may be thinking to yourself "So what? I play the same course every single day and know the greens.  How can this help me?" As I mentioned above, I use my current “Tour” yardage book sold in the Pro Shop (Left) on every single round at my home course despite playing hundreds of rounds here over the years. 

 

I found the StrackaLine Green Reading Book particularly helpful in three circumstances:

 

1) To help decide the best place to hit my approach shot in order to leave an uphill, straight putt to the hole.

2) To help get a better overall idea on extremely long lag putts that may break multiple directions.

3) No matter how many times you play your home course there are always spots where your eyes see one thing but your experience with the course tells you another.  Example: I always see this putt as straight but I KNOW it slides towards the creek.  Well, in this circumstance you can reaffirm your historical experience by consulting the Green Reading Book.

 

If you've made it this far thanks for taking the time to read about my experience so far.  I'll continue to update this forum as I get more and more rounds with it under my belt.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 11 by Pure716

[stratgolf]

Woah. This looks amazing. Can't wait for more reviews.

[SwingBlues]

Yeah, it does look amazing. 

 

I have a course here I like to get a good green read on - Wilson GC, Griffith Park. Unless you play it a TON, the greens are tricky and FAST, for example #5 Par 4. It's short and its visually deceptively flat-looking. The course has the Griffith mountains so they all slope. I've 3 or 4 putted this green many times. 

 

I was contemplating getting a book just for that course alone but I'll see how you WRXers use these books

 

Good stuff guys & CONGRATZ 👍

 

 

Edited July 12 by SwingBlues

[woods991]

Just go my book last week, thanks again strackaline and golfwrx. Looks amazing so far compared to any of my yardage books I have the major difference is how detailed strackaline is. Looks amazing, thanks again I will keep my reviews regularly and as detailed as possible. 

[Augster]

Thanks Strakaline and thanks GolfWRX. 
 

I got my book a couple weeks ago and have been able to use it on my home course about 10 times. A pretty good initial tryout. 
 

My course is over 100 years old and has mostly older greens. Because of that, almost all the breaks are very subtle. There is no such thing as a straight putt on my course. Everything breaks a little bit. 
 

To help out, we’ve come up with “helpers” to help read the putts when you’re not sure. “It breaks towards downtown”, “it breaks towards Taco John’s”. Mostly we just say we got “taco’d” when the putt doesn’t break as it looks. 
 

Enter my opportunity to use the Strakaline book. 
 

Firstly, they sent 2 books, which means my son will be able to help try it out also. Secondly, the books are well made and look great. They fit perfectly in my leather scorecard holder. Lastly, they seem to be made of paper that is holding up great out on the course. 

Here is a picture out on my 7th hole. 
 

 

All the elevation changes and SO MANY yardage points, it’s amazing how much data they have one each page. 
 

The green maps show all of the subtle breaks on my greens. I’m finding it a little time consuming to try to find the exact break with the book while putting, but if I’m not putting first, I can quickly, quietly consult the green chart to confirm my reads and see the exact breaks on each hole. But if I have to putt first on a green, I generally don’t consult the book as a time saver for the group. 
 

When I, or anyone else in my group, misses a putt and looks perplexed, I break out the book and show them the green map. So far, the maps have been 100% accurate on every part of every green I’ve consulted it, and tested it with rolling some putts. It truly is an amazing product. 
 

I was hoping to take some more pics tomorrow when I finally get to play my course again, but it’s most likely going to rain, so any updates may be a day or two later. 
 

I’m truly impressed with The Book by Strakaline. I’m already a really good putter, but The Book by Strakaline will certainly help me make even more putts by showing the most subtle of breaks at my course. If I could figure out a quick and efficient way to use the book on each putt, I would, but I’m not there yet for pace of play purposes. 
 

Thanks for the great opportunity! Any questions, I’m always on WRX. 

 

[Qwiklap]

Hey all ... checking back in with more on my experience with the Straka App.

 

I have tried to use it for a few rounds for green reading.  I love the concept, and I really want this feature to work well -- but I feel like it needs a bit more work.  The main issue I have is that it operates too slowly - when I would want it to be click open, and BAM! you are at the right page, the right green, it has your approximate location, and all you need to do is set the pin. 

 

I found that it was all happening a little to slow to be used for actual play.  I would pull out my phone (at alone raised eyebrows from playing partners) open the app (it seems to need to reload after the phone is asleep), pull up the right green, then try to figure out where you are on the green, then calculate your read.  I think in concept this features is amazing, but the combination of load time, and how much you have to interact with the app, makes difficult to use in actual play (especially if time par is 3:30 like I try to maintain).

 

If the app loaded faster, knew which green you are on (like the Arcos app) and could even give you an approximate location based on GPS, that would be amazing.

 

Now if there is user error - then I take full blame.  But I am using the app with an iPhone 16 pro, and I am relatively tech savy.

 

For now -- I am going to stick with the book, which I seem to be able to better manage when I am playing.

 

 

 

 

 

When it comes to using the app for yardages - it's great. The course maps are simple and elegant, and you can easily and intuitively determine landing zones, lay ups, and distances to hazards, greens and places.  That said, I use a range finder for most of my yardages, and I don't think I would use the app (personally) for the yardages unless I forgot my range finder.

 

Here is a par five on my course were you need to know where to land the ball (the wide point) and how far you will have left.  I hit it about 275ish most days - so this gave me a great target.

 

 

 

After the drive, I can see where a layup will be.  The left side of the fairway is less ideal because you have to hit over heavy vegetation to get to the green directly.  So you can get the idea of how the yardage book works (and it does work well).

 

 

 

 

[505]

I was part of the group last year, and wanted to chime in with just a quick update now that I have a book for every course I regularly play and more time with them. In short, I don't like playing courses that I don't have a book for anymore. They are that good. This year I started using a little bit of AimPoint on longer putts, and having the actual slope measurements almost feels like cheating. I'm 2 strokes better a round than I was at this time last year, into the + side for the first time in my life.

 

That's it really. Buy these books. They are fantastic.

[Ty_Webb]

I have had the app and book for about a month now. The only courses I typically play more than once a year are Bethpage black, which is really hard to get onto this year and a couple in the UK which I see in quick succession in April. Not ideal for a review like this, so I went with Huntington Country Club, which was the venue for the Long Island Amateur this year. A week long event with a qualifier followed by match play. Unfortunately my golf this year has been poor so my experience only lasted the one round. I typically use a laser range finder and the gps on my watch. That’s good for front middle back and okay for distances to hazards etc. With that said:

 

The book was very helpful for my round prep and on the day of. Each hole has a detailed satellite picture with distances to and from all the landmarks noted. For example this is the 5th hole

 

useful here is the fairway width marking and all the circled numbers are how distances are adjusted for uphill or downhill. That’s info I can’t get from my laser or my watch. I missed my tee shot here to the right but hit it poorly enough to not reach the bunker. I found it very easy to associate the land in front of me with the satellite image. 
 

The other thing I found pretty useful was standing in the fairway on the previous hole and looking at the green I noticed it looked like it was sloping towards me. I pulled out the book to check and saw this:

 

That confirmed my suspicions and allowed me to commit to playing a little short of it. I wound up over hitting my first putt a little and had a funky 2.5 foot putt that broke about a hole. The confidence of knowing the slope was there and the putt was going to break was very helpful. I found this image of the green more helpful than the other two, but I’m a numbers person and if I was more visual I could see one of the others working better. It’s great to have all of them readily available. 
 

The app is good too. I can use that easily to prepare before I start. I would use google maps for that but this is quicker and more helpful if I don’t know the course at all. For example, I have a qualifier next week at Nassau Country Club. It’s super fast to search for it and add it to my course list. Then you can go hole by hole and see what’s happening. For example, first hole:

 

It starts like this. The little numbers are a series of possible targets shown on the ground together with the yardage to and from that point and then front middle back from each point. Alternatively you can pick up that green circle and move it around wherever you like. It’s quick to tell you how far different points are. The larger colored circles tell you 50, 100, 150, and 200 yards from both points. You can easily pick up the tee spot and green spot too so you can measure lay ups easily as well. Here is the same hole where I’ve dragged the green circle to a different point:

 

Then once you get to the green there are a few views. I didn’t find the equivalent to the book one with the numbers in it, but there are a few colored options which do the trick. You can move the hole around and your ball and then click the little target and it gives you the line and speed. Quite incredible and honestly I’m a little surprised it’s legal. 

Here is the green map with a couple of optional map types:

 

This one is also showing the fall lines option - the red and green lines around the hole

 

This is the ice option. 
 

Then this is the give you line and speed options in a couple of instances:

That’s about it for now. I would echo that the putting thing while really impressive I can’t see myself using it all that much while playing unless it’s very slow or quiet. It will only work if you have the ball and hole in just the right spots and the time to go through finding the hole and so on. I think in practice I’m more likely to look at it for a general idea of the green rather than to get an actual read off it most of the time. It could be super helpful for practice rounds and getting my reads down.