Yardages
 

What do you guys find the best way to find out your yardages, I am terrible at trying to figure them out on the range because the gapping between the targets. Do you guys use different ways?

Range finder and GPS for me.

Do you mean for yardages to pin or your actual club gapping?

I dont know what this means. I measure my shots or what I am aiming for on the range and determine what clubs go how far so I know my gaps.

Ya, I think you got it, I mean like okay 7 iron 150, 8 iron- 138, 9 iron 126, etc.. like that

I've never understood how anyone uses range balls to determine their yardages anyway. Range balls are usually so much different from the balls that most players use on the course that it has never made any sense to me. Even going from one range to another can produce different results. Unless you are wealthy enough to be a member at a high end club where they have real balls on the range, I just don't see how you can make that valuation.

I get my yardages by playing on the golf course. I measure where I am from the hole with my rangefinder, then I select the club that is about right for that distance, hit it and if it's a good hit, I can tell by where the ball ends up how far I hit it. I adjust the rest of my irons accordingly up and down the line, and verify with each successive approach shot. It shouldn't take long at all to have a very good idea how far you hit each club. Long before the days of lasers and GPS I still established it the same way, except that I used course markings - 150 yard markers initially, then sprinklers when that became common. Not as precise, but then like 99% of amateurs, my game doesn't require it. http://www.thehackersparadise.com/fo...milies/doh.gif

Very true on the range ball comment, Fourputt. The "measure my shot" feature on many GPS units is great. It will give you an average over time.

I have struggled with this too. At one point my 7 iron was my 150 club but as my swing improved it worked down to and 8 iron and sometimes a 9. I FourPutt is right, experience is the best way to learn but I do believe the range can give you a good idea how close you are.

True but fior those who don't play often enough or have a way to measure distances on the course, range bals and range time are the only other way. At the very least it gives a good approximation. Most people aren't that precise anyway so +/- 5 yds or so is not going to kill them, especially with the longer clubs. Just my opinion though.

Of course, if they play that rarely then it likely doesn't make any difference anyway. A player who plays once a week could use the method I described and get along quite well. It's how I did it back in the 70's when I first started playing regularly - no more than one round a week but it took only 3 or 4 rounds at most to get a good idea how far I hit each iron. One who only plays 2 or 3 times a year isn't going to be consistent enough for it to matter.

My old method was, "hmmm, looks like a 7iron to me". That didn't work so well. I did get a rough idea from the range, but I've found that not only are distances a little off, but the balls seem to react differently for me. I seem to produce more side-spin on the range.

As soon as I figure out this feature on my OnPar I will use it, still cant get the dang thing to work right. TC, P4B.. help!!!

I believe that this might be location and geography based. Many courses around us use regular balls for the range. Not all of them of course, but quite a few do. I would definitely say more than half.

If you have been playing for any fair amount of time shouldn't you pretty much know what your yardages should be if you aren't changing sets of irons very often? A sorta "standard" +/- yardage that you are should be seeing giving certain conditions. For example if you have 150 out I could hit 8 iron... however I know my range could be +/- 10 yards when you factor in wind, weather, or hitting it soft, full, or hard.

I understand when you get a new set of clubs and maybe have to figure out how far you hit those. I went from Miura Blades and tried to match my i15 setup of those. I found out I was hitting them almost a club longer than my "standard" yardage that I was used to seeing with my Miuras. The guys I play with we usually are same club # when comes to yardage so now I have to remember to club myself down when we help club each other.

I don't see where someone not playing very often really need to know exact max/min numbers that they think they can hit a club. I don't see how they could be that consistant that it would matter. Nor do I doubt most are as anal or as good as some of top pros than know exact max yardage they can hit a club. I think if they find a general range per each iron that would help them the most.

Like others have said get a Bushnell or GPS and go to spot you can hit and get a general idea what yardages you can hit your irons and take that info to the course to you.

I never knew, because range balls go far less for me, but after I got a GPS, it helped a lot. Now I can know exactly what club to hit at 150 (7 iron) and everything 80-190 yards.

The problem with range balls IMO is not that they're not "real" it's that they've been hit 10,000 times, dimples are worn down and they were cheap Pinnacles to begin with. That said I think they are only off about 5 yards with most irons and almost nothing with wedges for me.

Does anyone use a launch monitor to keep track of their club yardages?

I go out to the course late evening and drop some balls and use the range finder to the pin. I then proceed to play the balls in to the whole to see what I can score.

I play it as a par 3 and see if I can meet or break par with the number of balls I hit.

If I meet or break par, I will allow myself a purchase in the club house of something I have been wanting. This way I am playing for something and actually concentrate more.

i don't use range to figure out distances.. to me, range is for accuracy and consistancy. i have to learn my distances when i play, that way i know about what i will need the next time that yardage comes up, since i will be using the same ball, same swing (for the most part), and so forth..

Any iPhone GPS users? If so what app do you use to keep your yardages?