no reflectors on the pins.
 

Did you ever notice that there are no corner-cube reflectors on the pins in the Villages? I have been having a lot of trouble shooting the pins with my LRF. So I looked closely at one and now I think I know why.

My rangefinder has pin seeking, but it works erratically at distance when there is no reflector on the pin.

Anybody else notice this?

I have since got around the problem by going to a Garmin golf watch. Any excuse for adding kit. But I thought the lack of reflectors was odd.

They used to have reflectors on all the pins on the Championship courses, then they suddenly all disappeared. I’ve asked several times at the pro shop, starter shakes, and ambassadors, but never got a reason why they disappeared. It’s most certainly not consistent with speeding up the pace of play?

Modern GPS Range Finder units don't need "reflectors" (prisms).

Like using my 10+ year old Nikon Coolshot, but it’s more difficult now without the reflectors. No interest in dropping hard earned coin on a new rangefinder. Another example of forced product obsolescence despite the fact it still works.

I agree. But, I always considered any device that takes away the players natural ability and replaces it with technology is a kind of cheating. Like buying a device that can be programmed to launch a ball at the pin rather than having to swing the club yourself. Jmo.

The USGA disagrees.

Distance to the Green, Pin, or otherwise, is considered "public information". If you don't have a rangefinder, you can ask another player for the distance ... no penalty.

And that's just fine. It's just that I grew up with the idea that golf was testing yourself against yourself if I watch a road race, for example, and I want to find out who the best driver is, they should all be driving identical vehicles. If not, then I only know who has the fastest car (best tech).

Estimating distance isn't a golf skill.

Just shoot the flag , not the pin

Well, you can pace off the distance and take 10 minutes to get your distance and really slow things down. Most courses have yardages on sprinkler heads, I played a course that had not only 150 yard markers but 100 and 200 markers. Caddies used to walk the course before tournaments to gather many obstacle distances.. I use my range finder to get bunker carry, distance to water hazards and even to the players in front of me to see if they are out of range… all to speed up play. The USGA has started allowing range finders (no slope feature) at various events. All tour events provide yardage books for distances to various obstacles as well as pin distances from edge of greens.

Based on the quality of golf I generally see in The Villages, most players would score just as well, if they tossed a coin to guess yardage, or used a Ouija Board.

My Bushnell LRF has absolutely no problems shooting the pins.

My guess is the cost of replacing flagsticks. I did a quick ask on chatGPT and found that prism flagsticks are no longer in use mainly due to the cost and maintenance of them. A ballpark price on ChatGPt of $50 for each prism plus the maintenance of actually adding them and repairing them, etc. So, 800 holes * $50… $40k to buy plus the cost to add them…. ChatGPT says they were obsolete in the early 2000s… so get rid of your hickory sticks and balata balls and 15-20 year old range finder and get a new one. You will find many more uses for it than just pins.

Where can I pick up one of those??

We do a guesstimate on yardage as we are driving up to the ball. Apple Watch’s confirms the winner. First prize is free lunch. When our boys are in and granddaughter, she wins free lunch almost every time.

They consider yardage just a simple math equation. The skill comes from knowing the distance for the club you select.