94 replies to this topic

[Volgolfer]

I was a Skycaddie user for years and for the most part the yardages were correct.  After a while, it was kind of a pain to remember to charge the unit the night before a round, or worse to run out of juice when playing 27 or 36 holes.  Also had issues on cloudy days with reception.  Was also not too crazy about the yearly subscription.  Having a Droid smartphone, I ditched the Skycaddie and downloaded a free GPS program (Free Caddie) and have used that for about two years now.  Every bit as accurate as the Skycaddie; however, it did not give distances to hazards, water, etc.  In my opinion this is the only way to go if you like GPS.  

Many of my playing partners have laser units, and after seeing that they were able to get a better fix on the pin than I could guesstimate with my front/middle/back GPS numbers, I purchased a Leupold GX-3i.  After just one use I found that it helped my ability to get closer to the pin.  I can also use it to gauge distances to bunkers, etc.

My recommendation in this world of everyone having a smartphone is to download a free GPS program for longer shots (<200 yds) or to see length of your shots, and purchase a range finder for your shots inside 150.....

[TitleistJunky80]

I was using the GolfShot app on my Iphone, which is a great app by the way, and I really liked it. As I am improving as a golfer, its starting to matter more to me to have accurate yardages from around 120yds and instead of just font/middle/back. I use the Leupold Gx1i and love the thing. I get more accurate yardages much faster than the GPS. I still keep my golfshot running when I play to give me distance to my favorite layup yardages and also for the scorecard and stats feature, which really helps you tune up your game.

[PooN]

Laser is EXACT to whatever you aim it at.

Need to know what it is to the front of the sand trap, zap it.  Need the front of the green, zap it.  Need the carts of the group ahead in the fairway, zap it.
My friends have a hard time hitting the flag sometimes, but I am a hunter and haven't had any issues picking my targets.

My skycaddie was better than nothing, but it always seemed to be a couple yards off at the most inopportune times.

[gopherguts]

PooN, on 23 January 2013 - 12:00 AM, said:

Laser is EXACT to whatever you aim it at.

Need to know what it is to the front of the sand trap, zap it.  Need the front of the green, zap it.  Need the carts of the group ahead in the fairway, zap it.
My friends have a hard time hitting the flag sometimes, but I am a hunter and haven't had any issues picking my targets.

My skycaddie was better than nothing, but it always seemed to be a couple yards off at the most inopportune times.

Only problem with that is lasers can only measure what they can see.

They can't see around corners and they often can't see where water begins and/or ends.

On a course you're familiar with probably no big deal. But on a strange golf courses this can be a MAJOR problem.

Just last week I played a course for the first time. Had already played 9 holes with the rest of the group so they had some idea of how far I can hit the driver. We came to a dogleg left with a bunker on the corner and water to the right. Bunker looked pretty easily carry-able (I didn't ask the guy with the laser) and they told me to cut the dogleg as there was plenty of room to the left.

I hit a really good drive exactly where they told me to, right over the middle of the bunker, even with a slight draw (I'm a right-handed player).

We get out there and can't find my ball. We're looking in the left rough. I look back at the tee and visually draw a line from the tee over the trap and from there it doesn't look like it would even BE in the left rough but in the middle of the fairway. I follow that line FARTHER out than we're looking and find the ball in the RIGHT rough, about 6 feet short of the water that couldn't even been seen from the tee !!!

Laser can't help you there. Had I had a GPS, like the Garmin where you can touch a point on the course and see the yardage, I would have "seen" where that water was.

[MaxBuck]

I've never understood why people look at this as an "either-or" thing.  I use both -- the GPS (Android app) for blind shots or quick yardage, and the laser mostly when I have a short shot and need to adjust my shot accordingly.