Funny find on the course- pic

[Hey_Porter]

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I just don't understand why you need to know that you are exactly 288 yards from the green if you aren't going for it. Most landing areas you are looking to lay-up to are going to be bigger than a green, and it's pretty damn easy to visually mark off 100/150 yards to get to whatever range you feel comfortable with.

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I don't think I'd be that accurate eyeballing 300 yards vs 350 yards, or similar differences. That makes a BIG difference in terms of what I want to do with my layup. So even if it was easy to estimate 100 yards, which I also don't think I'd be that accurate with, the more important fact is that when I do have to estimate it due to lack of markers it's usually 3 or more times that.

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But you aren't estimating the distance to the green when you're that far out. You're estimating the distance to where you want to lay up. All I'm saying is, if you're 300-350 yards out, in MOST situations you should be able to generally estimate the distance to your preferred landing zone. Seriously, how accurate do you really feel you have to be? If you estimate that you are 150 yards from the 100 marker (where you want to be) and you hit it 105, or even 110, how poorly does that effect your next shot?

I decided to MS paint this (my first MS paint)



If your ball is at point A, and you can see the "main" yardage markers in the fairway, it is pretty easy to tell that you are going to have to fly at least 280 yards or so to the green, therefore, you're not going to go for the green. Thus, exact yardage from your spot to the green isn't necessary. Up next is our yardage to the 100 yard marker. If our ball was right next to a sprinkler head that read "280 yards," sure, it would be nice, as we'd know that we can use our 180 yard club and get right there cozy next to the 100 yard marker. But if the sprinkler head said "You're Penis isn't THAT Big," would we REALLY have reason to be annoyed? Even with the little bottleneck around the 170 mark, you pretty much have a nice little landing area that is 70 yards long. Sure, you can TRY to be as accurate as possible, and it would be nice if your estimate was the right one (180 yards). But what if it's not? What if you estimate 160? You're fine. You're right there around 120 out, with a shot you should be able to play pretty well, and consistently. And you've got 20 yards of leave in the other direction where you're safe as well. You SHOULD be able to estimate any distance on the golf course within 20 yards.

In short, when you are 300/350 yards out, for the most part you aren't estimating the distance to a landing area the size of a green. You have much more room for error, and that room for error is seriously no more than your standard deviation for estimating distance.

[Butcho22]

The difference between an approach shot from 100yds to 120yds is way more than you're suggesting

[Hey_Porter]

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The difference between an approach shot from 100yds to 120yds is way more than you're suggesting

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I submit that if you're that worried about yardage, then a 100 yard shot SHOULDN'T be that much different than a 120 yard shot.

[Butcho22]

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The difference between an approach shot from 100yds to 120yds is way more than you're suggesting

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I submit that if you're that worried about yardage, then a 100 yard shot SHOULDN'T be that much different than a 120 yard shot.

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Ok, you really lost me on that one, lol. Explain your thoughts a bit further please.

[Hey_Porter]

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The difference between an approach shot from 100yds to 120yds is way more than you're suggesting

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I submit that if you're that worried about yardage, then a 100 yard shot SHOULDN'T be that much different than a 120 yard shot.

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Ok, you really lost me on that one, lol. Explain your thoughts a bit further please.

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I am not THAT great at golf, but my accuracy from 100 to 120 yards is quite similar. And I imagine if you are so serious about golf that you get annoyed when you don't know whether you are 300 or 350 yards out, the difference should also be quite nominal.

[guids]

Im not that great at golf, but 20 yards is a lot of ground imo, its the diff between a pitching wedge, and an 8 or 9 for me. It doesnt have anything to do with accuracy per se, but how far I can hit the ball.

[Butcho22]

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The difference between an approach shot from 100yds to 120yds is way more than you're suggesting

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I submit that if you're that worried about yardage, then a 100 yard shot SHOULDN'T be that much different than a 120 yard shot.

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Ok, you really lost me on that one, lol. Explain your thoughts a bit further please.

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I am not THAT great at golf, but my accuracy from 100 to 120 yards is quite similar. And I imagine if you are so serious about golf that you get annoyed when you don't know whether you are 300 or 350 yards out, the difference should also be quite nominal.

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Okay, now I see what you mean.

I completely disagree.

100 yards is a nice, stock SW for me.

120 yards is some type of sawed off PW.

Over the long run (10,000 shots), there will be a big difference in my average approach shot distance to the pin.

Now, I realize we're not talking about a 3 club difference, and I'm not trying to be extra nitty; but any scratch/low handicap golfer will back me up on this.

[LetItBe]

Not to mention, comfort-psych wise, people have a certain distance they love to hit from. For some it may be 100, for others it may be 120. So even if you are a great golfer, you want your approach shot to be as close to your favorite distance as possible.

[Evan]

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If your ball is at point A, and you can see the "main" yardage markers in the fairway, it is pretty easy to tell that you are going to have to fly at least 280 yards or so to the green

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If my ball is 280 yards out I almost certainly cannot see the main yardage markers in the fairway. I might be able to see the 250 (if there is one), probably can't see the 200 unless it's downhill and certainly can't see the 150 and 100, which are the one's I actually care about. At most courses these markers are flush with the fairway (or even recessed a bit) and about the size of a dinner plate. I don't know how anyone could expect to see something like this from more than 20 yards away.

Even if I could see the marker, I doubt I could guess consistently within 20% margin of error how far I was from it.

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In short, when you are 300/350 yards out, for the most part you aren't estimating the distance to a landing area the size of a green.

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An average green is probably between 30 and 40 yards deep, with smaller greens being maybe 25 yards without many exceptions on the low side. I don't know what you're talking about because I'm definitely aiming for a spot more precise than 40 yards. Laterally it's probably going to be bigger on average, because I usually don't really care what side of the fairway I end up on, but we're talking about distance here. Being off by the margin of error that would miss a green in that direction is actually a pretty big deal.

[wmonfor]

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People who don't find that hilarious take golf AND themselves WAY TOO SERIOUSLY...

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this is the correct anwser. it's just a game, not a friggin dissertation.