With more and more players at all levels of the game enjoying the benefits of using distance measuring devices for casual and tournament golf, the days of the traditional yardage book appear to be on numbered, according to a growing body of anecdotal evidence.
Staysure Tour player David Shacklady, who used a SkyCaddie SX500 GPS during his victory at last week’s Sinclair Invitational at Hanbury Manor, said: “I don’t find any need for the yardage book now. I get absolutely everything off the SkyCaddie.”
Shacklady’s final hole on Sunday provided the perfect example of why the SX500 is revolutionising golf for competitors on the Staysure Tour, more than half of whom now use a SkyCaddie to check their yardages.
“The 18th hole typified how I use my SkyCaddie SX500. I had the day’s pin position pre-loaded, but as it was an uphill second shot to a two-tier green it was more important to know the yardage to the ridge. Also, I wanted to know how much space there was beyond the pin. On shots like that you know the ball won’t stop immediately, so just knowing distance to the pin isn’t enough.”
He added: “Both me and my caddie Ash have an SX500, so with the cursor we worked out a yardage to a landing area safely on the top tier. It gave me a clear picture in my mind as to what I was hitting into, and I hit one of my best shots of the day to under four feet. It would have been impossible to do that with a laser, and I also have no need for the Tour yardage book now. I get absolutely everything I need from the SkyCaddie SX500, as quick as you like.”
SkyCaddie’s unique status as the only golf distance measuring device brand to walk every golf course, mapping dozens of target points on every hole, gives Staysure Tour golfers faith in its yardages. The SX500, which emerged in late 2018, also has the ability to show the day’s pins – which is crucial to an elite golfer.
On Sunday Shacklady shot a final round 66 to win by a shot from Austria’s Markus Brief, with Paul Streeter, another SkyCaddie SX500 user, shooting 71 to finish third at the Hertfordshire golf course. The win propels Shacklady into fifth place on the year’s Order Of Merit, with Streeter just outside the Top Ten in 13th place. Streeter scored the SX500’s first victory in late 2018, when winning the Costa Blanca Benidorm Senior Masters last December. Two other SkyCaddie SX500 users, Peter Baker and James Kingston, are also in the current Top Ten of the Staysure Tour Order of Merit.
The SkyCaddie SX500 can be bought with a free £30 leatherette holster, which also acts as a belt and golf bag clip for ease of use. See www.skycaddie.co.uk for full details