65 replies to this topic

[youngstructural]

Anyone ever grumble at having people constanly ask you what their yardages are?  I'm don't mind helping from time to time, but I have a friend constantly ask "whats my distance to point X" ... back when I had a laser range finder I would just say ... shoot it yourself, but I've since sold that and got a skycaddie -- NOW its constant ... always, how far is this, how far is that?

And I feel wierd so I just give him the distances, but I really want to say ... " DUDE go buy one!".  

/rant over

[J5isalive]

its a gentleman's game, i tend to give people distances without getting to flustered about it.

[eric_b]

Comical solution is to continually give him bad yardages.....then again, I enjoy giving people a hard time so......

But seriously, just tell him to get one for himself if he needs yardages THAT much....i had a friend who would try to the same thing, except it was with my driver....at the time, i had a draw biased driver.....my friend tried it on a hole....hit it straight.....got to the next hole, sliced it again, asked for my driver and i just said "no....it's mine, if you like it, get one for yourself....i didn't buy it to lend it out"....he actually tried to give me the whole "real nice" and stop being a baby routine but i just rebutted with "hey, i'm having a party in a couple of weekends....can i use your house....and i need a date....what's  your wife doing?"  Everyone laughed....and he stopped asking.

[FLOGMR]

I had a guy tell me that I was "Morally obligated" to share the information with anyone who asks....that was the last time I shared with him or anyone other than close friends....give them false info a few times and they will stop asking

Edited by FLOGMR, 30 April 2012 - 11:55 AM.

[youngstructural]

J5isalive, on 30 April 2012 - 11:49 AM, said:

its a gentleman's game, i tend to give people distances without getting to flustered about it.

I agree.  But it has been going on for a long time, and to me, it effects my golf game when I have to stop what I am doing, walk to his ball, and give him information.  That takes away from my thought process, my routine, and my focus.  Sure if we're on a new course, I'll share info, and of course I'll probably continue to do it and suffer in silence, but to me it is just principle.  And I would NEVER expect anyone to effecitvely pay for and maintain a range finder device just so I could leech off of it on almost every shot.

Edited by youngstructural, 30 April 2012 - 11:58 AM.

[596]

Guys ask me all the time.  I'll give him a best guess if I'm not at his ball.  No way am I going to his ball every time to give him yardage.  If I'm at my ball I give him my yardage and then he can figure it out from there.  Not trying to be mean, but I'm not going his his ball on every shot , give him yardage, then go to mine.  I have a game to play, I play mine, you play yours.  You want the yardage, you get it from where I am, not where you are.

[tElihu]

Club borrowers can be really annoying.

We've got 1 laser in our group.  I will ask if I'm well off the fairway and can't step anything off myself, but if I'm in the fairway or anywhere close to some yardage marker, I won't abuse the privilege.  I feel if I wanted more accurate distances, I'd buy one myself. We have another guy who asks for a yardage even when he's practically standing on a sprinkler head. The owner doesn't seem to mind doing it, though.

[KYMAR]

It's a Gentleman's game. And a true gentleman will have enough respect for you to not sound like a 7 year old on a cross country road trip to disney "How far now?...... How about now?...... Now how far? How far to that place, ok well what about to there?"

[TM Superdeep]

I give them yardage to pins on Par 3s and only then. At the end of the day if they want yardages for every approach they should invest. Im not being mean or ungentlemanly. I paid £200+ for the laser to improve my game not theirs.

[Pepperturbo]

As someone earlier said, it's a gentleman's game.  However, there are a great many people that lack gentlemen social skills, that play golf.  Those are the one's that annoy me.  They seem to think since I was kind enough to offer yardage on the first par 3, that I am required to provide them with yardages throughout the rest of the round.  Me offering is one thing, them asking is another.  That's when I make sure I am no where near them.

[RRFireblade]

If I get bothered I'll just start guessing the yardages when they ask never pulling out the laser.

I just go "Well the 150 stick is right here so your like 160/165ish". Couple of those and they stop asking.

But mostly I pretty much will head off to my ball and keep myself out of the line of questioning.  Which also keeps me out of their line of range to the hole to shoot a distance anyway.

[Slapjax7s]

596, on 30 April 2012 - 12:05 PM, said:

Guys ask me all the time.  I'll give him a best guess if I'm not at his ball.  No way am I going to his ball every time to give him yardage.  If I'm at my ball I give him my yardage and then he can figure it out from there.  Not trying to be mean, but I'm not going his his ball on every shot , give him yardage, then go to mine.  I have a game to play, I play mine, you play yours.  You want the yardage, you get it from where I am, not where you are.

+1. If they are near me I will tell them, if not, sorry. I will give my group the distance on all par 3's though. Even if we have a friendly match going, they still have to hit the shot.

[timbo08]

I don't mind too much.  I ended up making it a habit just to be the first one tee on all Par 3's and call the yardage out to the group when I am playing with friends.  If I am playing with folks I don't regularly golf with, then I just let them ask and supply them with the information.  It doesget annoying when someone is on the other side of the fairway, and waits for you to hit your shot, then go over to theirs and give them yardage.  Really slows things down, and I honestly will say something at that point.  

I did have one buddy, who is bound and determined to argue about everything under the sun.  Doesn't matter what it is, not just golf, although especially annoying on the golf course, I say it's black, he says it's white, well you get the idea.  Anyways he would ALWAYS ask me for yardages, most of the time it didn't even matter cause he is about a 25 cap and wasn't going to hit the shot anyways.  After I gave him the distance he would say something to the effect of "Are you sure thats 175?  Looks more like 190."  Drove me absolutely nuts, like seriously man, you ask me to spot you a yardage off of my GPS, and then you are going to stand there and argue with me about it?  Needless to say when some of the refurbed Upro's went on sale for $99 last summer, I made sure he got one.  Now instead of arguing with me about the reading my GPS is giving him, he calls me over to double check my GPS against his.....I just can't win with this guy.

[ev780]

RRFireblade, on 30 April 2012 - 12:35 PM, said:

If I get bothered I'll just start guessing the yardages when they ask never pulling out the laser.

I just go "Well the 150 stick is right here so your like 160/165ish". Couple of those and they stop asking.

But mostly I pretty much will head off to my ball and keep myself out of the line of questioning.  Which also keeps me out of their line of range to the hole to shoot a distance anyway.

My variant is....

"My ball shot X yards!"  Pretty soon they quit asking.  Or they show up with their own device.

That being said if it is convient to shoot for a cart mate...No problem.

[eric_b]

KYMAR, on 30 April 2012 - 12:12 PM, said:

It's a Gentleman's game. And a true gentleman will have enough respect for you to not sound like a 7 year old on a cross country road trip to disney "How far now?...... How about now?...... Now how far? How far to that place, ok well what about to there?"

+1.....i love that argument.....being a gentleman is putting up with someone who's being a royal @$$.  Yeah....how about no.

[Aithos]

I don't mind giving distances from the teebox, par 3s and hazards (creek carries), etc.  But that is mainly because I already have it out as I'm scoring the last hole and checking my own distances (unless it's my home course).  I don't mind giving the occasional distance if I happen to already be near their ball, but I'm not walking across to you.  Pay the 30 bucks for golfshot on your smartphone, it's not expensive.  My distances may not be as accurate as a good rangefinder or skycaddy but they are good enough for me.

[golfnut-2X]

i sometimes offer to speed play.  i have a bushnell and had a skycaddie which i returned for a garmin 6.

don't understand why they don't break down and buy one.  i have personnaly tried to estimate distances by eyeing it and check with the laser and i am off.

a few people at the club bust my *alls because I use it on the pitches / partial wedge shots.  i think its great on these because knowing the exact yardage helps me then feel the shot that much better.

[Another Steelers Fan]

I actually have encountered the OPPOSITE end of this. The guy with the laser that provides UNSOLICITED yardage callouts.

I'm personally not a fan of range finders. I like to play by what I see and "feel". There's one guy though who always wants to call out yardages for everyone in the group. He's a really nice guy but I personally find it distracts me knowing it's actually 162 yards to the pin instead of me "feeling" it about 160. Sometimes it becomes an additional thought and will make me alter my swing.... and NEVER for the best.

98% of the time the yardage markers on the course and looking at the size of the green and if the pin is in the front, back, or middle is just fine for me. Maybe one shot every other round or so at a course I'm unfamiliar with will I actually be uncertain enough of a yardage that I liked to have a laser.

Anybody else here encountered and/or been bothered by this?

[Lefty44]

I agree with some on here.  I'll give a distance on a tee box or any other time I already have it out.  If I'm just walking down a fairway and they ask, I'll probably just find the nearest sprinkler head and tell them what's on that.  Hopefully it doesn't come off as rude or ungentlemanly but I'm not going to get my rangefinder out just because you can't do your own homework.

[idiotbox]

i always shoot and announce the yardages on par 3s. i give front of the green, to the pin and back. if a ball is near mine, i will go ahead and shoot that yardage for the person. the guys i play with appreciate it and would do the same.

[sheppy335]

I dont mind, if they ask politely. What drives me nuts is my Brother in law has a GPS and wont turn his on when i go with him and asks me all the time for yardages. I am like turn your on so you have it with and not slow us down as i am on the other side of fairway!

[kekoa]

I like it best when someone asks you the yardage and then proceeds to laser it themselves just to confirm.  wtf!!


Also, isn't it illegal to ask yardage in a tournament?  Still guys do this all the time.

[ben w]

I don't mind. but I only do it if they ask. if you have a laser and you give yardages unsolicited, it's just as bad as giving unsolicited swing tips.

that being said, I've given incorrect yardages before, to guys who were serious ****** canoes. not proud of it. only happened twice.

[596]

Slapjax7s, on 30 April 2012 - 12:59 PM, said:

596, on 30 April 2012 - 12:05 PM, said:

Guys ask me all the time.  I'll give him a best guess if I'm not at his ball.  No way am I going to his ball every time to give him yardage.  If I'm at my ball I give him my yardage and then he can figure it out from there.  Not trying to be mean, but I'm not going his his ball on every shot , give him yardage, then go to mine.  I have a game to play, I play mine, you play yours.  You want the yardage, you get it from where I am, not where you are.

+1. If they are near me I will tell them, if not, sorry. I will give my group the distance on all par 3's though. Even if we have a friendly match going, they still have to hit the shot.

Yep, just like me.  I give the yardage on par 3's, which is on the GPS even before we exit the cart, so it's no big deal.  Other times you are on your own unless you are nearby, then you get a questimate.  I;m not walking to your ball.

[youngstructural]

Thats one thing I'm hoping for with the gps over the laser finder.  Now that I have a hand unit gps, it'll be much more conspicuous checking my distances, rather than looking like Luke Skywalker looking for R2D2.  :-)

I don't give unsoliciated yardages, as I can see how that could easily disrupt another presons process just as much as asking for them all the time disrupts mine.

[FDSouthPaw]

596, on 30 April 2012 - 12:05 PM, said:

Guys ask me all the time.  I'll give him a best guess if I'm not at his ball.  No way am I going to his ball every time to give him yardage.  If I'm at my ball I give him my yardage and then he can figure it out from there.  Not trying to be mean, but I'm not going his his ball on every shot , give him yardage, then go to mine.  I have a game to play, I play mine, you play yours.  You want the yardage, you get it from where I am, not where you are.

This.

Where the OP probably messed up was going out of his way to get this guy yardages to start with.  I have a laser rangefinder, and if I'm near someone I'll gladly shoot a target for them.  If I'm standing at my ball, the yardages given are from my point, and they can get the best idea they can from that.  I've never had anyone expect me to follow them around to give them yardages.  That said, I think it's kinda rude to withhold any yardages because it's YOUR Skycaddie/Rangefinder.  I don't see a need to get that territorial with my golf equipment.

[KYMAR]

youngstructural, on 30 April 2012 - 02:49 PM, said:

Thats one thing I'm hoping for with the gps over the laser finder.  Now that I have a hand unit gps, it'll be much more conspicuous checking my distances, rather than looking like Luke Skywalker looking for R2D2.  :-)

I don't give unsoliciated yardages, as I can see how that could easily disrupt another presons process just as much as asking for them all the time disrupts mine.

  Awesome!

[Matt10]

I think it depends what kind of person you are - do you get enjoyment based on others results, or your own?

I go to the course by myself, so I usually join a group. I love having the yardages that they need. There is something so rewarding about seeing playing partners play well and enjoy the game.

[BB15]

I'm still relatively new to the game and I ask my buddies all the time what the yardage is. They don't typically get irritated. I'm getting better at making my own guesstimations though. I would never dream of borrowing any of their clubs though!

Edited by BB15, 30 April 2012 - 03:09 PM.

[Stevie]

I'm the guy with the laser in our group. Always shoot the Par 3's and share the number. The others usually only ask if they can't find a sprinkler head or yardage marker. I'm also the only single guy in my group so I understand they may not have $350 for a laser so I'm glad to help out.

youngstructural, on 30 April 2012 - 11:45 AM, said:

Anyone ever grumble at having people constanly ask you what their yardages are?  I'm don't mind helping from time to time, but I have a friend constantly ask "whats my distance to point X" ... back when I had a laser range finder I would just say ... shoot it yourself, but I've since sold that and got a skycaddie -- NOW its constant ... always, how far is this, how far is that?

And I feel wierd so I just give him the distances, but I really want to say ... " DUDE go buy one!".  

/rant over