Golf GPS Devices

Although I apply certain unusual local rules as determined by the Committee (me) when I play golf, such as the "hidden-in-plain-sight rule", I am a traditionalist when it comes to stepping off distances and club selection. For some weird reason, I enjoy finding the sprinkler heads and walking the distance from the sprinkler head to my ball and calculating the distance from my ball to the pin. I have gotten to the point where my golf stride is almost exactly one yard. However, it is frustrating when you can't find a sprinkler head, the sprinkler head does not have a plate with the distance, or the numbers on the sprinkler head plate are unreadable, or the course is playing "cart path only" and your ball is on the far side of the fairway from the cart path and you need to take your entire golf bag to your ball. When playing "cart path only" I purposely try to hit my drives on the side with the cart path!

On the other hand, I would much rather play a round of golf in 3 1/2 hours, rather than 4 1/2 hours, and hand-held golf laser range finders and GPS systems and cart-mounted GPS systems are time-saving devices. I knew when the U.S. Government and military installed global positioning satellites (GPS) that we would find an important use for them! GPS systems and range finders not only provide information as to distance to the pin, but also lay-up distances and distances to hazards. In addition, the individually owned devices can store all kinds of personal information regarding your historical scores, the distance that you actually hit each club (not how far you think you hit it!), your USGA Handicap Index, etc. You can now get a GPS system uploaded to your blackberry! Although having a range finder or GPS system is similar to a professional golfer with a caddie, I thought that the up-tight USGA and R&A would not permit this technology under its Rules. In this case, I was only partially correct!

Every other year, the USGA and R&A, golf's ruling bodies, issue new decisions, revise previous decisions or withdraw previous decisions based on thousands of interpretive requests throughout the world. In another post, I will discuss some of the more bizarre rulings, but back to the issue at hand. The 2006-2007 Decisions book allows a Committee to permit the use of golf GPS and golf range finders by Local Rule. This applies to devices that measure distance only, not any other conditions that might affect a player's play (e.g., wind or gradient). In the absence of such a Local Rule, the use of a golf GPS or golf range finder is not permitted. New Decision 14-3/0.5.

My SO has talked about buying me a golf GPS or range finder. If my followers have any thoughts on the best deals let me know. Keep in mind that I am not the most technologically savvy person in the world and I already have way too many swing thoughts when I am playing golf so KISS (keep it simple stupid) is a good motto for me. Don't worry; I won't make any final decision until I have gotten input from the Curmudgeon!