Has anyone noticed a problem with the skycaddie distances if there is an elevated green or tee box?

Question

if you are hitting to an elevated green that is 150 yards away "as the crow flies" you would still usually want to hit maybe 1 more club to account for the elevation. Will sky caddie tell you to hit 160, even though it's technically 150 away? or do you just have to figure that out yourself?

Answer 1

YES! Most definitely! And skycaddie and that new Golf Logic will differ as much as 10-15 yards on distance.  I was using Sky Caddie, my friend Golf Logic, and we had a GPS system in the cart. It was amazing that mp twp EVER agreed. Sky Caddie came the "closest" to agreeing with the GPS system which told how far to the pin! We need an independent service to test these things and give us the TRUE answers. The commercials are so full of BS! tThe GolfLogic ALWAYS showed it further away than the other two did. ALWAYS!

Answer 2

Any range finder (GPS, laser, etc) that 'account' for elevation changes are illegal under USGA and R&A rules.  Strickly talking golf GPS, a range finder should show just the flat distance between two points (allowing for the curvature of the earth only.)  It is the responsibility of the golfer to account for elevation, wind, temperature, humidity, and any other external/natural factors that may influence the shot.

In reality, most GPS systems will in fact give the straight line distance between two locations and this will in fact give the +/- depending on elevation.  But it won't _tell_ you that the difference between the actual distance and the flat land distance.  

As for the different readings by the different GPS systems, that tends to depend on the quality of the GPS chips being used, the number of signals they use to give the reading AND the software code.

Answer 3

I never had that problem, although I play pretty flat courses here.