How to calculate distance from the hole in golf?
When golf is on TV, you see pros walk off steps from a known point, such as a sprinkler head, to their ball. But since their ball, the hole and that known point don’t form a straight line, how do they know the exact distance to the hole?
In my mind, those three points form a triangle, which most likely doesn’t have a right angle, so even Pythagoreus would have difficulty with the math. How do they get it down to a precise number like 171 yards?
Professional golfers and their caddies spend hours walking off and measuring the course from various points (such as the sprinkler heads, rocks, etc) to the middle of the green in the days preceeding the tournament and hit many shots from those points during practice rounds — which is why if you’ve ever watched an early week PGA practice round, you see golfers hitting multiple balls from one spot on almost every hole. Then, each day of the tournament, the caddies go out and find the hole placement and walk off how far it is from the center of the green.
All of this information is on that little book (pad of paper) that the caddy or golfer carries and occationally TV shows them looking at.
The other guys statement is correct, but he didn’t really answer the question. The tour pros do have a great yardage book, in fact most of them use a book specially designed for the course they’re playing, not available to anyone except them. Then they have a pin sheet with the pin location for the entire week and their respective yardages on the green.
However, even armed with all this information, you are correct, the yardages are still not exactly correct.
But you have to remember a golfer has to take many things into account when pulling a club, and this is a golfer at any level of play. For instance, I take these things into account when I pull a club:
1) Lie – rough or fairway? Uphill, Downhill, Sidehill?
2) Wind – Speed and Direction
3) Temperature? Hot or cold?
4) Is the green soft or hard?
5) Do I need to hit the shot around an obstacle?
6) Do I need to curve this shot to get to the pin?
These are just a few of the many things a golfer has to take into account when figuring out which club to hit, it’s not just strictly yardage driven. Although yardage will give you a good baseline target to start your computations.
Remember this, many people consider Ben Hogan the greatest ball striker and iron player of all time……he NEVER used a yardage book. That statement should tell you everything you need to know.
Hope this helps!