I hear golfers use the phrase its the 15th club in my bag.  Evey golfer knows, or should know, that you are only allowed to have 14 clubs in play during a regulation round.  So what then is the most important thing every golfer should have besides their golf clubs?  No you cannot count tees, or a glove, or golf balls.  Although those are all very important to the game of golf, they are a given.  Every one needs those basic items in order to play the game of golf, so what then is the most important item in your bag non essential to playing the game of golf?

I personally think that a range finder is the most important piece of equipment outside of the golf essentials.  It is so imperative, I believe that it almost qualifies as a basic item essential to playing the game of golf.  Every amateur golfer will tell you that we are not always in the center of the fairway near sprinkler heads, or yardage stakes in order to gauge the distance that we have left to the hole.  And yes it is still a guess, no matter how educated of a guess it is.  Wouldn’t it be nice to go straight to your ball and shoot the distance exactly to the hole, regardless of where it was in the rough, or two fairways over or in the parking lot of the shopping center next door.  No more searching for a sprinkler head, or playing at the angles to figure out how far you might have.  Any range finder will be able to you the exact yardage, and all you need is one eye, and line of sight.  Now some yardage binoculars are better than others.  Some require little reflectors on the flags themselves in order to find the correct distance, while others can easily pick up just the flag or the flag stick itself.  While each company will boast of different variables on to why their range finder is the best, simplicity seems to be the best quality to any range finder.

I purchased a Bushnell Tour V2 Tournament Edition on eBay for around $200.  It is a refurbished model from the manufacturer that I got a good discount on.  It came with one battery, and the carrying case that will clip to your golf bag.  I use my range finder on every shot.  I use it for every shot (including most pitch shots) to get a better feel for how far I need to hit the shot.  Plus I find myself with at least one really wild drive where I have no idea how far I need to go in order to get back into play.  I can pull out the range finder, and find out exactly how far it is over the water on a par 5, I can find out how far a fairway bunker is from the tee box, I can find out how much room I have between the flag and a greenside bunker.  It makes me a more confident player because I can look into the rangefinder and know for certain how far I have to the flag.  I always use the rangefinder for my shots, as I like to see the yardage for myself.  Not that I don’t trust my competiors, but it helps me visualize the shot when I can see the yardage through the range finder.  Plus you get to see how severe the green is.  Does it slop back to front, is there a false front?  You get a magnified view of the lay of the land.

If you do not use a range finder during every round of golf, then you are at a huge disadvantage.  Your competitor has one, his caddy has one, even the guy in the gallery has one so he can tell his buddies where your shot landed.  How can you play a serious round of golf at a disadvantage.  It is the equivalent of playing golf in the rain without a umbrella.  Your are a better player, when you know exactly how far you have to the flag.  If you do not believe me, check out any practice round pictures of any professional event, and you will see each and every player or their caddy or both with range finders.

I give the Bushnell Golf – Tour V2 range finder an EAGLE.  I love my range finder, and for the money and the ease of use, there is no reson for me to tell anyone who will listen that this is a great range finder and you will be hard pressed to find a better tournament ready range finder on the market.