Imagine your ideal golf vacation.
Emerald fairways entice you, bunkers brim with sparkling white sand and greens run smooth and true. Ocean waves crash around the signature hole.
It’s perfect, except for one thing: You’re in the dark on how to navigate your dream course.
Now imagine you can hold a device in your hand that details each hole, including hazards, measures distance and even suggests the proper club to use based on your own golf history.
That’s the idea behind OnPar, a new touch-screen Global Positioning System range finder unveiled this month. The device looks much like an iPhone. OnPar can download and store up to 300 golf courses from a menu of more than 4,000 worldwide.
“We designed this product to provide the ultimate golf experience,” said Dennis Hassell, vice president of sales and marketing for Texas-based Savant GPS. “It really is like having a professional caddie at your fingertips.”
Comes at a cost
But virtual high-tech caddies can be pricey. Prices for hand-held GPS devices run from about $200 to $500. Additional fees that are charged for downloading courses vary. OnPar, for instance, costs $480, but there are no fees charged to download course information.
GPS systems and laser range finders on golf courses are nothing new, but the latest technology has made them a hot commodity.
“We stock a lot of GPS devices, and it’s a very sought-after item,” said Greg Spicka, operations manager at Golf Galaxy at Park Meadows. “A lot of my buddies swear by them and use them all the time.”
Adam Finch, an assistant pro at Fossil Trace Golf Club in Golden, played a round using OnPar last summer. He came away impressed.
“It was really cool, especially the touch- screen aspect of it,” Finch said. “I definitely see this as the wave of the future.”
Keep in mind that the golf carts at Fossil Trace are already equipped with GPS, but Finch said some players still prefer to use their own handheld devices. And at some courses, or on some holes, where carts aren’t allowed, the individual GPS systems come in handy.
One of the industry leaders is SkyCaddie, which this year was named “official range finder” of the PGA of America. The company prides itself on its detailed golf course information.
SkyGolf produces five models of its SkyCaddie, each providing more advanced features as the price increases. Costs range from about $200 to $400. With the SkyGolf program, the golfer purchases a device, then signs up for an annual subscription that provides golfers with detailed mapping information for nearly 30,000 courses.
“There are a number of different companies now entering the category, but what sets us apart from all other range finders is our tour caddie mapping methodology,” said Richard Stamper, president of SkyGolf.
“Tour caddies are known to walk every yard of a golf course to provide distance information their pros can trust, and SkyCaddie is the only company that follows that method,” Stamper added. “After receiving permission from a golf course, we have skilled golfers walk the entire course to map it, and they measure the greens, provide slopes and contours, false fronts, and a lot of precise information you simply cannot get with satellite mapping.”
Speeding it up
Joe Egnoski, director of golf instruction at the Colorado Golf Academy at Green Valley Ranch, keeps a range finder in his bag. The biggest benefit to the hand-held devices, he said, is speeding up the pace of play.
“I would guess that it takes off a good half-hour per round,” Egnoski said. “You don’t have to look around for a yardage marker on a sprinkler head, or search for a yardage post.”
There are purists who don’t believe satellite technology has any place in the game, and some exclusive courses still insist that golfers use real caddies. But those purists seem to be in the minority. In fact, many PGA Tour caddies use range finders to chart courses in the days leading up to tournaments.
“There are going to be some highly traditional golf clubs that don’t allow GPS devices,” Hassell said. “But all in all, GPS is one of the few growth categories in the golf market today.”
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
Lasers vs. GPS
There are two main types of golf range finders. Laser range finders use a built-in reflector to measure the distance to a specific target. GPS (global positioning system) devices require that a course be previously measured and mapped by satellite before it is used.
• Laser range finders look much like binoculars. The device measures the distance from the ball to the pin, or to a hazard, by use of a laser beam. Lasers require a direct line of sight, as well as a reasonably steady hand. They are considered extremely accurate.
• GPS range finders are more complicated. A map of the golf course must be loaded, and the quality of the range finder is dependent upon the quality of the map. In most cases, golf course maps are downloaded through a subscription. Tens of thousands of courses are already mapped and recorded.
Newer GPS models also have the ability to track a player’s past scores at the course and suggest which club to use.
Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
