Accuracy of Yardages at Meadows

[yun]

Hiya Folks,
Quick question. Are the yardages at Meadows from the tee box to the center of the greens very accurate - especially from the par 4's and 5's? I played a round today there, and although I've been tweakin' with the swing a bit (then again, who doesn't) I found from my yardage left to the green, I was supposedly pasting drives from 260 (buyable) - 290 (not so buyable) yards long. Although I'd love to believe this, I know I don't hit yardages like that. Well, not when I'm awake atleast. Does anyone else find the yardages on the par 3's and 4's off aswell? Thanks

Yun

[Gary Hill]

I personally lasered every tee box marker on all four 9's at Meadows and unless they have recently altered the scorecards, they are all correct.

BTW - Yardages follow the center of the fairway, so if you "cut the doglegs" the holes play significantly shorter than marked on the scorecard.

[Curious George]

Way to go Yun!

[golfdoc]

So the yardages at the Meadows are measured from the little cement circles on the tee boxes, down the center of the fairways and to the middle of the greens?

I assumed they are, but just want to make sure.

[Gary Hill]

Yes.

[GarthM]

Gary:

Any idea about the in-fairway markers then?? From the dead grass marks (squares) in some fairways, they are obviously moved back and forth at least within 5-10 yards. Some fairways have unmarked sprinklers that "seem" to be at 25 yard increments and are roughly within the regions "marked" by the fairway markers for 200,150 and 100 yards.

I've never been truly confident with yardages there on approach shots.

Thanks

GarthM

[Gary Hill]

The sprinklers were not constructed with the intent of indicating particular yardages. Any conclusions drawn are speculation.

The 100,150,200 yard markers were correct initially, but who can say how many times they have been displaced due to breakage, course repairs, etc. over the years.

[gwil]

Gary - you mentioned that the yardages are measured down the center of a fairway. So if I am at the 150 stake on a dogleg that still has 20 yards of fairway before the turn to the green, are you saying that I am actually closer than 150? It would seem pointless to measure 200/150/100 markers this way as most people would only care what the yardage to the green is, not along the center of the fairway, make the turn to the green.

Please let me know.

[Gary Hill]

The 100's are 100. The 150's are 150. The 200's are 200.

The point I was trying to make was to the original post by yun.

If you cut the dogleg on a 400 yard hole (scorecard yardage) and your ball lands on the 100 yard marker, you have NOT hit the ball 300 yards.

Many players make this mistake of "backwards calculating" their drive distances.

[golfdoc]

Gary,
In no way am I criticizing, just simply trying to confirm.

Hole #4 at the Meadows on the West Course is a Par 5. The green is tucked in around a bit of a corner and the fairway is quite snakey.

You are saying that from the tee box, the yardage is measure straight down the middle of the fairway (following the contour and not a direct line to the green). I understand this.

But...

You are saying that the 200 yard marker is measured directly at the middle of the green, and probably cuts through the corner of the trees on this hole when measured?

Same for the 150 and 100 yard markers...

This could mean that there actualy isn't 100 yards between the 200 and 100 markers. The reason I ask is because I tried to lay up the other day and went much to far.

[powerlefty]

It is erroneous to measure the distance "between" yardage markers since they do not always lie on the same straight line to the middle of the green. The distance between say the 100 and the 150 markers would be 50 yards only if the 100, the 150 and the middle of the green all lined up on a straight line. If they did not, for example because of a dogleg, the distance could easily be much more. As an example consider a hole which is a right angle dogleg with the 100 marker right at the corner. In this case the 150 yard marker would be somewhere in the fairway back toward the tee. In this case using basic trig a*2+b*2=c*2 where c is the 150 marker and a is the 100 marker it works out to 111 yards between the 150 and 100 - not only 50 yards.

[LobWedge]

Lets clarify things.

The total yardage for par 4's & 5's is measured from the tee marker along the "centre" line of the fairway to the centre of the green. For par 3's the measurement is from the markers "as the crow flies" to the centre of the green. Same for carries over water, etc. In the case of doglegs the measurement goes from the tee marker to the middle of the bend and then from that point down the centre line of the new direction and so on.

As for fairway markers (stakes, sprinkler heads, etc.) Those distances are straight line measurements from the marker to the centre of the green, regardless of what lies in between.

A perfect example of the difference is the 14th at Eagle Creek. You can hit 3 drives on that hole all measuring 250 yards, but depending on where you end up your 2nd shot could be anywhere from 200+ yds down to 70- yds.

[NoBack]

LobWedge ..............

As for fairway markers (stakes, sprinkler heads, etc.) Those distances are straight line measurements from the marker to the centre of the green, regardless of what lies in between.

A good example of that AT the Meadows would be North #6
Go through the tree line and hit about 225 for a second shot of 160yrds does not ADD up to 495 but it is if you take two shots around the trees.

IMO the markers / yardages at the Meadows, are fine. Never had a problem with any of the nines. Have to trust the course to be accurate.
BTW Gary I beleive the markers have inground holes and removable posts.