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Many golfers would love to know what the pros recognise with regard to course information. All that info their caddies provide before and for the duration of a tournament.

The caddies go out the day before a tournament and walk the course taking measurements and distances from tee to all areas of interest to the play. These would include slope of the fairway, layup areas, hazards such as bunkers, trees, bushes, lakes and of course distances to the greens with each day flag positions even the shape and run off areas on the greens.

To those of us who play our rounds and struggle with distances and club selection aid is at hand. The Rulers of Golf have relented in favour of the Amateur golfer. You may now use electronic GPS gadgets for your round. There is a big “but” though, if you are playing in competition, local rules come into force. Some golf courses concede distance measurements only, if your device does any more than that, then you are not permitted to use it and could be disqualified if you do.

So if your device is one that may show you all the difficultnesses that the course throws up it is likely that the local ruling will be that you cannot use that device. Which just regarding does away with all the GPS devices, because of all the unbelievable data they provide?

The R&A and the United States Golf Association have declared these changes among 111 amendments to the book Decisions on the

Rules of Golf. Published each two years, the new edition becomes effective for all golfers from January 1, 2006.

Rules of Golf decisions, Golf GPS. The actual Rule reads as:

Another major alter is the governing bodies’ sanction of the use of distance measuring devices, including GPS based systems and laser rangefinders. New Decision 14-3/0.5 allows a committee to permit the use of distance measuring gadgets by Local Rule. This applies to widgets that measure distance only, not any other conditions that might affect a players game such as wind or gradient. In the absence of such a Local Rule, the use of a distance measuring device remains contrary to the Rules.

The rules do not say that you can not walk the course with your GPS device the day before your contest and take notes on all the hazards and areas of interest and distances to the greens, after all that is just what real caddies do.

If you are in need of better course management and feel that with more info in regards to the course you are playing your game will improve then I suggest you buy one of these devices. There is not one thing in the rules that says that you can not use the device for each day golf with your friends, you could even share your info with your golf partner, just to make it fair, unless you both have these GPS units, then I may not see any problem.

“It’s Just Good Golf Sense”

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