Hi,
I'm new here, although I must confess to logging on as a guest for quite a while.
My question is
Are course yardages to the front of the green or the middle of the green?
On my home course in Western Sydney the yardages seem to be way out of whack. Its an old course being bought back to life by active members working in their spare time. I have bought a measure wheel on Ebay to redo all the yardages and set up some 150 and 100 markers etc for each hole.
I want to do them exact as they should be so hence the question.
I assume the correct way to go would be to work my way back from the 18th walking down the middle of the fairways. Is this correct ?
Thanks in advance and hello to all

Terry

terry,

from my experience the point of origin of the measurements varies a bit from place to place. I guess that the key is that you make it obvious public knowledge where you measure from. It should be on your cards next time you reprint them and probably on your local rules board.

The more common options seem to be "middle of the green" although i have seen "front of the green"and "10 metres from the front edge" as options.

the problem with a measure wheel is that if your course has hills and hollows it will not be as accurate as a laser measure (which measures a straight line from A to .

good luck and nice to see someone ( or a group of someones!!) getting off their bums and DOING rather than TALKING as so often happens

ken

Hi Terry

For what you are trying to achieve given that your course is perhaps not in the situation where they would want extended yardage information then yardages from the middle of the green to a spot 150 metres out and 100 metres out from the middle of the green is sufficient. You can work out easily enough where the middle of the green is. I say yardages but of course it is metres you are after.

Make sure when placing markers to identify these points along the hole that they either be a plaque in the middle of the fairway or if you wish to use trees or posts then make sure that they are on both sides of the fairway. That way a specific point can be determined as to where the measurement can be taken from.

One of my pet hates on older courses is to find a dogleg hole where the yardage post is on just one side of the hole and the angle could create anywhere up to ten- maybe more - metres difference. If you are going to do it do it well and thoroughly. It need not be a costly exercise but it is important to do it well.

The yardage wheels are good but the lasers perhaps now provide a more accurate yardage. You might be able to hire one for a day or two to use but if not then by all means use the wheel. Remember though if you are to use the wheel make it a direct line form the middle of the green to the marker that you choose.

Good luck with it and it is great to see a bit of club spirit there Terry

QUOTE: have clubs will travel @ Apr 30 2006, 06:58 PM

the problem with a measure wheel is that if your course has hills and hollows it will not be as accurate as a laser measure (which measures a straight line from A to .

I'd use a wheel to do it if I had to do it informally.

I did the books on the Australasian PGA Tour for four years, using Sokkisha equipment worth tens of thousands of dollars.

The caddies who did their own books and using a wheel were never more than 1-2% out, no matter how bumpy or hilly the fairway into the green was. The effect of the topography movement is grossly exaggerated. My gear came into its own for water carries, but even then some of the better loopers who used wire still got it pretty right.

Thanks for the quick replies!
I have a friend who works at Kennard hire so a laser measure might not be a problem. I never thought of that, thanks.
I hope to do this exact and properly, with a post each side of the fairway. Even a high handicapper like myself, likes to be given the correct information.
I will speak to the club Captain through the week but my inclination is to take the measure from the middle of the green
Thanks again for your help guys
Cheers
Terry

My course measures the distances to the middle of the green. They use three different coloured flags to indicate where the hole is one the green:

Red = the pin is at the front of the green

White = the pin is in the middle of the green

Yellow = the pin is at the back of the green

The system works well and the green staff put the flags out when they mow the greens.

The club is fortunate enough to have irrigated fairways and have marked distances on almost all sprinkler heads. This is a fantastic system as players are rarely far from a sprinkler head. I wish you luck.

Strangely, my club does the same with coloured flags, but uses:

Red for front
Blue for middle
Yellow for back

Can't think of the logic for those colours. I like:

Red front
Yellow middle
White back as you can equate it to how close you are to the pin and how "warm" the colour of the flag is.

I've seen other places which have a large ball object on the flagstick, which is positioned:

Low = front of green
Mid = middle of green
High = rear of green

I guess that system with a moveable ball thing means you don't have to arse about with swapping flags from green to green when you make a new hole on a different area of the green.

How hard is it to play on courses where they have no yardage markers! I know that low markers take the P*ss out of high markers pacing off to the exact metre (when hardly any of them hit lengths that consistenly anyway), but without any measures, sight-based judgement adds a whole layer of difficulty to approach shots.

Cheers,
Hack

Our club measures from middle of the green.

150m marker on left hand side of fairway, 100m markers on right hand side. Measurements also put on sprinklers heads on the fairways using stick on type numbers - black numbers/yellow background - seem to work OK.

We have what I can best describe as a type of large hollow ball on the flagstick which is moved up and down the flag to indicate the position of the hole on the green. Low on the flag means at the front of the green, top of the flag - back of the green etc. Greens staff set the position of the ball when they cut the new hole in the morning. Reduces colour confusion - but you just don't need some smart a*** to move the ball on the flag stick - so far haven't seen this happen.

Red = front
White = middle
Blue = back

for flag colours are common in Asia

QUOTE: Aussie Mark @ May 7 2006, 01:16 PM

Red = front
White = middle
Blue = back

for flag colours are common in Asia

the only logical flag colours - matches the tee's. those courses that use black/white/yellow checks drive me nuts.

QUOTE: Tec111 @ Apr 30 2006, 07:23 PM

Thanks for the quick replies!
I have a friend who works at Kennard hire so a laser measure might not be a problem. I never thought of that, thanks.
I hope to do this exact and properly, with a post each side of the fairway. Even a high handicapper like myself, likes to be given the correct information.
I will speak to the club Captain through the week but my inclination is to take the measure from the middle of the green
Thanks again for your help guys
Cheers
Terry

Hi Terry,
David golf p/l in melbourne,make (import) yardage markers.
They're about 300 mm.in diameter,come in several colours & distances.
Placed centre of fairway,they are easy to see and very durable.
Maybe worth a look,phone them on (03)95400011.
Cheers...

Our course yardages always seem off as well..

But after playing the course for ages you get use to what the real yardages are.. It would suck to be a visitor though

And our flags are

Yellow - Front
Red - Middle
White - Back

Which makes common sense on our course as yellow tees are visitors, then red for ladies, then white for mens..

Hey i only just realised that then too!