Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Help Keep Boards Alive. Support us by going ad free today. See here: https://subscriptions.boards.ie/.
If we do not hit our goal we will be forced to close the site.

Current status: https://keepboardsalive.com/

Annual subs are best for most impact. If you are still undecided on going Ad Free - you can also donate using the Paypal Donate option. All contribution helps. Thank you.
https://www.boards.ie/group/1878-subscribers-forum

Private Group for paid up members of Boards.ie. Join the club.

Technology (too far)

1356

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,133 ✭✭✭✭FixdePitchmark


    Russman wrote: »
    Isn't that where the concept of "judgement" would come into it though ?
    Obviously you could have a blind hole etc, but as Nicklaus said "no one ever said golf was meant to be fair".

    I think it would be interesting to see how the pros would score if they had a powercaddy and no yardage book - I'd bet there wouldn't be much, if any difference.

    Ahhh there would.

    sure the lads have the exact pin position on sheet and are accurate to within 2 or 3 yrds.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,000 ✭✭✭Russman


    It is still the principle of an electronic aid I have an issue with. Not seen in other sports.

    This is a very recent development.

    I'm not convinced amateurs have improved their scores as a result.

    I think most lads with them are fooling themselves.

    Some lads are spending 300 euro + - honestly think 7 or 8 lessons would be better.

    If a lads is say a low single figure golfer - it is more palatable.

    This ^^^

    Actually, in fairness I'm not totally against them, after all, a distance is a matter of "fact" rather than anything subjective. But I do think that the benefits are pretty marginal for most players, not all, but most.
    It depends on whether you're of a more analytical mindset or prefer to use feel and judgement, but I think there's a big danger of becoming too reliant on them.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,133 ✭✭✭✭FixdePitchmark


    Still seems to be an ongoing debate.

    I'd imagine they will be fully allowed with time.

    http://www.globalgolfpost.com/blog/ra-to-allow-distance-measuring-devices-for-amateurs/


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,133 ✭✭✭✭FixdePitchmark


    Anybody know any low guys who don't use them ? less than 5 ?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,000 ✭✭✭Russman


    Ahhh there would.

    sure the lads have the exact pin position on sheet and are accurate to within 2 or 3 yrds.

    Are they really though ?

    http://montescheinblum.com/blog/2011/07/14/i-hit-5-iron-183-yards/


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 20,664 ✭✭✭✭Rikand


    Anybody know any low guys who don't use them ? less than 5 ?

    I can think of a couple of guys right now less than 5 that don't use them at my club

    And by less than, I'm not even including me ;)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,000 ✭✭✭Russman


    Anybody know any low guys who don't use them ? less than 5 ?

    I used to be 3 once upon a time (5 now) and never used them, they weren't available back then ! Bought a GPS watch over the winter and genuinely rarely ever use it. I'd almost always wear it on the course but would usually forget I have it on !:)
    Away courses probably more so, to be fair.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 6,956 ✭✭✭SuprSi


    Russman wrote: »
    Isn't that where the concept of "judgement" would come into it though ?
    Obviously you could have a blind hole etc, but as Nicklaus said "no one ever said golf was meant to be fair".

    I think it would be interesting to see how the pros would score if they had a powercaddy and no yardage book - I'd bet there wouldn't be much, if any difference.

    You're probably right, but the pro would still need to know how far his shot was and would have to use some form of distance measurement, be that walking to the 150/200 marker and back to his ball. They can hit the ball with incredible accuracy but they still need to know how far their target is.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,133 ✭✭✭✭FixdePitchmark


    SuprSi wrote: »
    You're probably right, but the pro would still need to know how far his shot was and would have to use some form of distance measurement, be that walking to the 150/200 marker and back to his ball. They can hit the ball with incredible accuracy but they still need to know how far their target is.

    But we are not pros.

    If you have two markers on a fairway - you don't have to walk to a marker - I'm 1/2 way between - I'm 3/4 - Im 1/4. between.

    100 + 12.5
    100 + 25

    People go on about to stepping it out.

    That is good enough for me - the majority of lads on here.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 6,956 ✭✭✭SuprSi


    But we are not pros.

    If you have two markers on a fairway - you don't have to walk to a marker - I'm 1/2 way between - I'm 3/4 - Im 1/4. between.

    100 + 12.5
    100 + 25

    People go on about to stepping it out.

    That is good enough for me - the majority of lads on here.

    And that's fine - I prefer to know exactly how much I have left to the pin & the back/front/middle of the green. I have no problem in admitting that it hasn't made me a better golfer, but it at least allows me to very quickly determine what I have left, and what I need to look out for, without having to look for yardage markers or guess how far I am from them.

    This means I can be confident about the club in my hand and leaves me free to concentrate on making a balls of something else!!


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 150 ✭✭Ally McIntosh


    Suffice to say that I am against them and believe that they are unnecessary, add mental clutter and detract from the essence of the game.

    At most, I believe there should be 100, 150 & 200 yard markers at the side of the fairway but I'd be happy with just the 150 marker or nothing at all.

    Have a glance as you are walking to your shot and play more on feel.

    I accept that I have an old-school, traditional stance on the subject.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,133 ✭✭✭✭FixdePitchmark


    Probably a generational thing.

    The next stage of technology will be - technology being part of every aspect of life. It has happened.

    It is just a bit sad that golf has given in.

    I've reached the end of the road. I'm the 2 % on this.

    So I'll be one of the lads asking - give us a distance.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,882 ✭✭✭Golfgraffix


    Quite surprised at some of the resistance to tech.

    I have two pieces of tech that i carry, my GPS which gives me the same data as the old course guides and yardage markers but quicker and also means i dont have to buy one for every course i play. So it offers me something that was always there but allows me to play quicker using it.

    The second is my game golf, this allows me to keep my stats (which i have always done) but without writing anything down or having to enter anything on a web site. It takes less than a second to log each shot, so at worse for me it will add 90 secs to my round.

    Neither one let me play any better than i would have by using the old system of course guide, yardage makers and pencil.

    On a side note i love to see a bare golf course, i would be much happier without distance posts, i can live with distance disks but i absolutly hate distance bushes/trees.

    J


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,681 ✭✭✭ziggy


    This post has been deleted.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,107 ✭✭✭HarshOstrich


    What's next a device that gives you an exact wind speed and direction on every shot


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,138 ✭✭✭✭PARlance


    What's next a device that gives you an exact wind speed and direction on every shot

    Grass 2.0


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 644 ✭✭✭Arsenium


    Quite surprised at some of the resistance to tech.

    I have two pieces of tech that i carry, my GPS which gives me the same data as the old course guides and yardage markers but quicker and also means i dont have to buy one for every course i play. So it offers me something that was always there but allows me to play quicker using it.



    J

    I think that's it in a nutshell. The distance markers have always been there, this is just a different way of getting your yardage. And quicker. I can't see any argument at all against them.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 27,505 ✭✭✭✭GreeBo


    What's next a device that gives you an exact wind speed and direction on every shot

    What's next a device that automatically corrects for miss hits?
    A device designed to help you get the ball airborne?
    Or how about a device designed to help you stop the ball?
    Just as much tech in golf without dmd's.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,313 ✭✭✭Dr_Colossus



    On a side note i love to see a bare golf course, i would be much happier without distance posts, i can live with distance disks but i absolutly hate distance bushes/trees.

    J

    Why? Distance posts/bushes are much easier to spot especially if gone off line while with disks you nearly have to be on top off them as some fairways start to reclaim the turf. Castletroy is one course that comes to mind with no distance posts/bushes and the disks are quite difficult to spot so it's encouraged most of the members to purchase a DMD to assist them in their club selection. I don't think that's a particularly good trait and difficult for visitors not in possession of a DMD such as myself.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,138 ✭✭✭SaveOurLyric


    I agree with the use of DMDs.

    I dont think it fundamentally changes the game. Yes it is modern technology, but of that in itself, 'so what' ?
    It is only a technology that brings the cost and convenience of a particular service while we play into the realms of the masses rather than a minute minority. That service is 'pretty accurate' or 'accurate enough for handicap golfers' distances and map of the hole we are playing. Nothing more than could already be accessed by those with enough money to hire a caddy who walks the course and diagrams distance from this or that feature from the green, and play a club where a caddy or the course makes pin position charts available daily (whether we need them or not is a different discussion - the point is that they are fundamentally nothing new). So it hasnt changed anything really. Simply made it more widely accessible.

    My earlier whimsy on the perambulator contraption had a little more substance to it than I made clear.
    DMD objectors could equally argue, 'carry your bag like the rest of us. pulling that trolley thing is giving you an advantage over us true-blues who carry our bags - what it has electronics and a battery and you dont even have to pull it! Away with you'....with analagous retort.... 'I could hire a caddy as has been done since time immemorial and you wouldnt object - this provides me no more than some of what his service would be, at a cost I can afford'.

    As discussed on another recent thread, while the above applies for me to GPS and laser, I am unhappy about the laser. Not from the golf aspect but from the slow-play aspect. Yes people here will tell me they need the accuracy and that they check the distance while their companions are playing their shots and there is no delay. But I see people out there these days who are far from so quick. And are contributing to slow play. A bad enough scourge as it is. And even if you are quick, and while I dont object to it on golfing grounds, I do snigger at people using them for short ranges to know that they face a 42 yard pitch. When that close, just look at the flag and hit the bloody ball !


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,536 ✭✭✭Dolph Starbeam


    What's next a device that gives you an exact wind speed and direction on every shot

    "Banned apps under the rules include weather, compass, club selection, green-reading, slope-measuring."

    And I can't see that rule changing.

    most.

    Still trying to think of another sport ?

    Range finders are used in hunting and shooting a lot, which I think probably qualifies as a sport. i can't even really think of any other sport where similar technology could be used.

    As mentioned above, it is simply a device to gauge the distance of your shot, some players take longer looking for yardage markers than it takes to glance at a watch or use a range finder. When it does annoy me is when it slows play down, but technology isn't the only thing to blame for that problem.


    I like the technology, yes some players don't need it and some players getting distances from 30-40 yards is a complete joke but I have played a lot of new courses lately and would have been lost without my GPS. I only have the Golfshot App, haven't splashed out on a Range Finder or Watch yet but I will at some stage buy one of them. Another great feature of the Golfshot App is that after a round I enter my scores and it gives me a great overview on how I'm playing and a very clear picture on where I need to improve.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,823 ✭✭✭✭First Up


    I agree with the use of DMDs.

    I dont think it fundamentally changes the game. Yes it is modern technology, but of that in itself, 'so what' ?
    It is only a technology that brings the cost and convenience of a particular service while we play into the realms of the masses rather than a minute minority. That service is 'pretty accurate' or 'accurate enough for handicap golfers' distances and map of the hole we are playing. Nothing more than could already be accessed by those with enough money to hire a caddy who walks the course and diagrams distance from this or that feature from the green, and play a club where a caddy or the course makes pin position charts available daily (whether we need them or not is a different discussion - the point is that they are fundamentally nothing new). So it hasnt changed anything really. Simply made it more widely accessible.

    My earlier whimsy on the perambulator contraption had a little more substance to it than I made clear.
    DMD objectors could equally argue, 'carry your bag like the rest of us. pulling that trolley thing is giving you an advantage over us true-blues who carry our bags - what it has electronics and a battery and you dont even have to pull it! Away with you'....with analagous retort.... 'I could hire a caddy as has been done since time immemorial and you wouldnt object - this provides me no more than some of what his service would be, at a cost I can afford'.

    As discussed on another recent thread, while the above applies for me to GPS and laser, I am unhappy about the laser. Not from the golf aspect but from the slow-play aspect. Yes people here will tell me they need the accuracy and that they check the distance while their companions are playing their shots and there is no delay. But I see people out there these days who are far from so quick. And are contributing to slow play. A bad enough scourge as it is. And even if you are quick, and while I dont object to it on golfing grounds, I do snigger at people using them for short ranges to know that they face a 42 yard pitch. When that close, just look at the flag and hit the bloody ball !

    Slow play is a curse but I'd say lasers cause about .0001% of it. I see a lot more time lost by people dithering between clubs, or pacing from a marker - and still getting it wrong.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,138 ✭✭✭SaveOurLyric


    YayaBanana wrote: »
    i can't even really think of any other sport where similar technology could be used.

    Rugby. Top team players wear units that have GPS (again!), but also monitor heartrate and energy consumption, providing real time info back to the bench so that players workrate through games can be monitored, timing of substitutions judged, coordination of 'bursts' of effort shared around the team etc. And afterwards the data used to help analyse their performance, miles covered, etc.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,133 ✭✭✭✭FixdePitchmark


    I don't think the pace of play comes into it at all. Once most people are sensible.

    I've seen worse delay with all the various comparisons of the different devices in a 3 ball. When people are standing at a hole marker.

    Anyway - slow play is mostly, lads not starting routine before the ball has landed and rolled out of other guy.

    - full practice routine, 3 practice swings , then stand over ball, then freeze - then back to bag as not mentally ready - full shot routine again - freeze. then freeze.

    Then - look in amazement at a bad shot - practice swing why it happened. Then slow walking. I think that is the type of lad who may think he needs to know a flag to 1 yard.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,000 ✭✭✭Russman


    I don't think the pace of play comes into it at all. Once most people are sensible.

    I've seen worse delay with all the various comparisons of the different devices in a 3 ball. When people are standing at a hole marker.

    Anyway - slow play is mostly, lads not starting routine before the ball has landed and rolled out of other guy.

    - full practice routine, 3 practice swings , then stand over ball, then freeze - then back to bag as not mentally ready - full shot routine again - freeze. then freeze.

    Then - look in amazement at a bad shot - practice swing why it happened. Then slow walking. I think that is the type of lad who may think he needs to know a flag to 1 yard
    .

    Nail on the head.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,882 ✭✭✭Golfgraffix


    Why? Distance posts/bushes are much easier to spot especially if gone off line while with disks you nearly have to be on top off them as some fairways start to reclaim the turf. Castletroy is one course that comes to mind with no distance posts/bushes and the disks are quite difficult to spot so it's encouraged most of the members to purchase a DMD to assist them in their club selection. I don't think that's a particularly good trait and difficult for visitors not in possession of a DMD such as myself.

    Just like a bare course i guess, especially on links courses, no bins, signs, seats or distance markers.

    J


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,133 ✭✭✭✭FixdePitchmark


    Just like a bare course i guess, especially on links courses, no bins, signs, seats or distance markers.

    J

    Never seen that angle

    They are ugly. Most distance markers.

    Sprinkler head a happy compromise.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,823 ✭✭✭✭First Up


    I don't think the pace of play comes into it at all. Once most people are sensible.

    I've seen worse delay with all the various comparisons of the different devices in a 3 ball. When people are standing at a hole marker.

    Anyway - slow play is mostly, lads not starting routine before the ball has landed and rolled out of other guy.

    - full practice routine, 3 practice swings , then stand over ball, then freeze - then back to bag as not mentally ready - full shot routine again - freeze. then freeze.

    Then - look in amazement at a bad shot - practice swing why it happened. Then slow walking. I think that is the type of lad who may think he needs to know a flag to 1 yard.

    Well if someone thinks he needs to know a flag to one yard, he will get it from a laser in about 5 seconds. If he has a gps he will be slower because he still has to calculate the flag location.
    The other nonsense is something else and has nothing to do with technology.


  • Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 18,335 Mod ✭✭✭✭slave1


    I love my GPS, quick glance on the tee box and knowing where bunkers and hazards are makes my mind up quickly, I played a course blind yesterday without a map on the rear of the scorecard and poor signage on tee boxes so without the GPS giving me the shape of the hole I was on, it would have been easy to play down the wrong fairway and messing (and slowing) things up.
    I also never use a scorecard for casual rounds on courses I know so again speeding things up as I keep my score with one hand when walking off after teeing.
    Would not attempt to pull or push a trolley with my back, battery trolley all the way.

    My stuff on Adverts, mostly Tesla Pre Highland Model 3

    Public Profile active ads for slave1



  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 659 ✭✭✭Nemesis


    scrubber72 wrote: »
    Like graffix i don't have a problem with the tech, i just have a problem with people using it in overkill.
    Saw a lad once use laser from 10 yards of green to flag in middle of green maybe 30y away on his home course.
    There is over dependence on these too and i admit it bothered me when my gps watch didn't have a course on it (needed update).

    Laser eye surgery might be more beneficial than a laser range finder in this case :p


Advertisement