My newest pet peeve (amongst many) is not being able to tell how far away from the hole I am on the golf course. Call me old fashioned or a fuddy-duddy, but I have played for 40 years and there have been colored stakes on the side of the fairway to denote 100 yards (red), 150 yards (white) and 200 yards (blue) to the center of the green. You could also find sprinkler heads in the middle of the fairway with yardages marked on them. Oh, those were the days. I miss them and my scored has reflected it.
Yardage Markers are Effective
How long does it take to know you are approximately 125 yards out if you are in-between the red and white stakes? Seconds, right? If you were a little closer to one or another, you could step it off and have a very accurate distance within a minute. Same with a sprinkler head once you found one with a yardage on it.
Earlier this year, I was looking for fairway marker on the front nine where the 150 yard marker was. But small white white stake had been mowed over by the grounds crew and lying down in the first cut of rough. In subsequent rounds, they failed to replace it.
Age of Technology
Perhaps in the last 5 or 6 years, the golf course I play the most invested in those new-fangled flag sticks with the prisms in them so a person with a rangefinder could tell how far they were. OK, I get it. A person that spent $200+ for one back then would be able to use it on our course. But they still had the yardage markers and marked sprinkler head on the course for those that didn’t want to fork over for one of these devices. It was peace and harmony for all.
Sure, you have handheld GPS devices and GPS watches to help tell you distances too. Even the USGA (yes the same USGA than banned anchored putters) has allowed for their usage since 2019 with some exceptions like club recommendations, wind speed, altitude and slope-based distance.
Rule 4.3a allows the use of distance-measuring devices so long as the player does not access any information that is prohibited.
Privacy Concerns
There are also apps available for your Smartphone to provide distances. Sorry, but you are playing golf, not supposed to be on your phone. That is the whole point, disconnecting and enjoying the great outdoors and hopefully a good round of golf.
Plus, I don’t want to use a GPS app on my phone collecting data on me and sending it to God-knows who. Even the reviews on the ones I see available, people report they have issues getting the wrong yardage, not updating what hole they are on, amongst other bugs. Is technology really helping here?
Have We Prevented Slow Play from This Technology?
Once they take the yardage markers away from golfers and make them rely on one of these yardage measuring devises mentioned above, I still am confronted by slow play. I see people fiddling with a device in their hand. Are they checking distances, the stock market or their social media feed? Plus, the casual golfer who plays only a few times a year, doesn’t own any yardage device to guide them along the way. Yelling “FORE” because you didn’t know how far you were away could have been preventable by reverting to the old fashioned yardage markers.
Maybe I’ll grudgingly buy a rangefinder soon and join the current century or Santa will bring me one for Christmas. But until then, I’ll know whom to blame when I airmail a green, come a club short, or decide to play elsewhere.
