Will Golf GPS Speed Up Golf?

The popularity of golf has grown exponentially over the past quarter century.  People love the challenge, the lush outdoor experience and the company of congenial friends.  But the pace of play has lagged far behind.  Of course, one could say that the pace of play would naturally slow down due to the new crush of players.  And that might be so, but golf as a recreation for the average person becomes less attractive as rounds become all day marathons.  I believe that the introduction of the golf GPS, may help save the game.

In the old days (i.e. before Jack Nicklaus), folks played the game as a recreation not as much as a sport.  You would carry your bag down the fairway, eye the shot, pull a club and fire away.  It was a game of feel and not so much a game of ultimate accuracy.  As with any game however, people soon became more concerned with score and comparing scores.  Jack was one of the first touring pros to meticulously chart each course.  He played for money and accuracy was money!  So everyone joined in the fun; pros and amateurs alike started to take the game more seriously and marched off their distances.  Today it is common; every course has 100 yard, 150 yard, and 200 yard markers in the fairway, or on the cart paths.  Golfers pace off yardage like caddies to determine which club to select, and if you are an average golfer that becomes very difficult, since you tend to be off the fairway most of the time, and the markers are in the fairway.  The new golf GPS can bring back the old days, and let you score your best.

Inexpensive golf GPS units can actually let you play faster than the player of old, who eyed his yardage.  When you eye your yardage, you are guessing and guessing takes some time and talent.  Using a golf GPS unit you never guess, you look down get front, back and center yardage and you hit the shot.  You cannot get tricked by architectural feature, like a bunker set off the front of the green toward the player.  A golf GPS rangefinder will give you exact distances, what your eye sees is irrelevant.  A GPS rangefinder will keep you on the proper side of the pin.  Most golfers come up short due to poor strikes, but big scores can come from being long where you are usually chipping down the hill.  Coming up long is due to a properly struck shot with the wrong club.  Golf GPS eliminates this problem almost completely.  Knowing the back yardage of the green is crucial to low scores.  A golf GPS gives you the back yardage and with high scores lurking behind most greens you pull a club that cannot go that far, generally leaving you in the middle, or on the front of the green.

Golf GPS units can be quite expensive, or very inexpensive.  Some inexpensive models include Izzo Swami 1500, Sonocaddie V100 and the Bushnell Neo.  I love information, so I have the new OnPar touch-screen golf GPS that gives you any information you need, or want.  The OnPar GPS even tells you which club you should pull, it is very high tech, but it is for very serious golfers.  The inexpensive golf GPS units mentioned above, are better for fast play, as they have few buttons and only essential features, such as front, back, center yardage and the shot measuring feature (to measure drive or shot distance).  With these golf GPS units you will play faster than the old-time pro who eyeballed his target, because there is no guess work, no line of sight, just look and go.  If a foursome, went out to walk a lightly crowded course and all carried golf GPS units they could finish in 3 hours.  And the more popular the golf GPS unit becomes, the faster the game will move on all courses at all times and if you are like most golfers you will see your handicap go down 5 strokes.  Not a bad deal!