How do YOU measure distance thrown?

[sidewinding]

I've just paced a football field enough times that I've practiced what a 3' stride feels like -- so when I want an approximation, I count the steps to the disc, multiply by 3, and there is my answer.

I think that practicing a 3' stride that you can use for distance measuring purposes is easier than Olorins method of trying to do the math to figure out how long your natural stride is -- for me, my "natural stride" depends on my mood, the shoes I'm wearing, the terrain, what I had for breakfast that morning, etc... my practiced stride I've found to be pretty consistent. +/- ~3% margin of error. So it's good enough to be helpful in most situations.

If you've got a football field available, use that. You get solid measurements marked for you out to 360', as long as your throwing from goalpost to goalpost. This also gives you a target to aim for that helps you make sure your are throwing straight instead of wildly to either side of the line you are aiming for.

Very few disc golfers throw too much over 360' so for throws out the back of the endzone, you can just pace off the number of steps past the endzone. So if you are 22 paces out the back of the endzone, thats 22x3=66+360=426. And when the first 360' is measured for you, theinconsistency of your steps for the remaining distance will be really insignificant compared to the total distance being measured, so I'd guess that you'll get measurements that are accurate to within 2% that way -- plenty good enough for seeing your throwing game develop.

Your real-world distance is not the distance on the one disc that got a random fluke wind or crazy flip and went an extra 40' past everything else you threw. I'd take 5 discs and throw them all. Eliminate the longest and farthest throws and average the other 3 distances -- see what that works out to and that's probably a good number to use when people ask how far you can throw. And there really aren't many golfers who can throw for real much past a football field with any consistency -- probably not more than a few thousand at this point.

This is exactly what I do.

 

[CartesianDoubt]

I can get a pretty accurate 5 yards with 8 paces (most useful skill I learned in marching band)

Ditto!

 

[t i m]

i got really good at measuring my pace when i was a professional gardener laying out 100 foot rows. my pace is just under 3 feet- 34 per 100 feet.

when i paced off hawk hollow the first time i wound up off by a grand total of 8 feet on total length. (of course some holes were slightly off one way and some the other to balance it out a little)

Biscoe -- that's impressive. Especially at Hawk Hollow, where so many of the holes have lots of elevation. I trust my stride on level ground, but elevation messes with my accuracy.

 

[fireborne]

Wow! That's a lot of replies in a little over 12 hours time!

There are some great tips in here that I would not have thought of on my own. I do like measuring by stride, and I'll have to go to a football field to accurately measure mine. Or I could just take out the tape measurer and see how many strides it takes to get to 10, 15, 20 feet. But cheers for the ideas.

I'll also see if there is any applicable application for my phone that will be accurate enough to measure distance in feet. Only ever used it for driving directions, and I don't think I can quite throw a quarter of a mile, or miles at that! So, on that note, for those who have used their phones, do you have any suggestions? One thing that I have been doing is using my phones built in accelerometer and step counting application to measure how long the total course is, but I have noticed several inaccuracies so I don't think I'll rely on it for measuring distance thrown. But maybe I just need to tweak the settings a bit more. Has anyone used a pedometer to measure distance reliably?

Thanks for all the great (and quick!) replies, and keep them coming if anyone has anything else to suggest!

 

[Midnightbiker]

I just use a measuring wheel when practicing in an open field and mark off distances with cones. It's fairly cheap, like $40 or something at Home Depot and hopefully accurate.

Go to the "Wanted" section of Craig's List and say that you are looking for a Measuring Wheel. I did that once and got lots of hits. The 330ft tape measure was a better deal, so I got that instead. The tape measure was $10. I believe the soccer cones are 4 for $2.50 at Walmart.

 

[harr0140]

Save yourself some money and just pace it off. Measure one time how many feet are in your normal walking pace, then from then on you dont have to carry a measuring wheel with you. It will also help you to mentally take a snapshot so you will have an easier time judging approach shots. If you rely on the measuring wheel or other device all the time you won;t be as good at recognizing the distance on your own. Now if you have a GPS already pinpointing the baskets on a course will always be more accurate and more helpful, but if all you are trying to do is figure out about how far you throw certain discs, measure once, then pace everything off after that.

 

[sidewinding]

I know a guy who carries a spool of string with a knot tied at every 50'. If he wants to know the distance of an unmarked hole or something he will just whip out his spool and measure it. The loose end is tied to a plastic tent stake which he pushes into the ground where he wants to start measuring. When he's done measuring he tugs on the string and the stake comes out and he rolls it up. It's a lot of work but it's cheap and accurate.

 

[t i m]

I know a guy who carries a spool of string with a knot tied at every 50'. If he wants to know the distance of an unmarked hole or something he will just whip out his spool and measure it. The loose end is tied to a plastic tent stake which he pushes into the ground where he wants to start measuring. When he's done measuring he tugs on the string and the stake comes out and he rolls it up. It's a lot of work but it's cheap and accurate.

I like that idea. Too much work, but creative and simple.

 

[nexanimal]

Measure?

I *always* toss 200' straight, unless it's a really good shot in which case its 300.

hehehe
a girl can daydream, right?

 

[trifocal]

I've always wondered why holes are measured in feet, but the "putting circle" is 10 meters.

I use the pace method. My stride ( 20 years on golf courses) is a bit shy of 3 feet. I count my paces and then divide my paces by 2. 80 paces x 3 is 240. 80 divided by 2 is 40. 240 plus 40 is 280...about my average drive.

 

[bjreagh]

These are all great suggestions.

I practice on a football field often- perfect for those who throw 300' or less (360' if you use the end zones). I was in marching band for many years and am now a band director so I was delighted to read that garublador uses that method of measuring! The standard marching step is 8 steps/5 yards, however I find that pacing is an easier step style and is a larger step so it takes less time.

I have a 100' tape measure and I plan on buying some cheap orange cones to set out every 10 feet or so in the 250-350' range.

One more thing, Trifocal makes a great point about DG using feet and meters. Does anybody know why that is? Maybe to make DG an international game they tried to use a little of each?

 

[_.-Dut-._]

Back of endzone to back of endzone is 360'. Anything over that I just guesstimate how far I over shot it and add it to the 360.

There is a hole at my local course that has been GPS'ed or at the least it has been said it has. I pracitce my distance shots there more then anywhere else and same thing as before. The goal is 432' so I just estimate how close I am to the pin to know how far I threw.

 

[trifocal]

These are all great suggestions.

I was in marching band for many years and am now a band director so I was delighted to read that garublador uses that method of measuring! The standard marching step is 8 steps/5 yards,

I'm having a wierd vision ( surprise surprise ) of a disc golfer carrying his discs and playing a tuba while marching down the fairway playing Queens..."we will rock you"

Spring cannot come soon enough.

 

[ERicJ]

One more thing, Trifocal makes a great point about DG using feet and meters. Does anybody know why that is? Maybe to make DG an international game they tried to use a little of each?

The PDGA rulebook is entirely in metric with a conversion table included in section 805. So they are consistent, at least from a rules standpoint.

It's the U.S. course designers who use almost exclusively feet for measuring holes. And they do so to cater to their audience. Can you imagine a U.S. course for which the tee signs listed distances only in meters?? That would be listed as a "Con" in just about every review on DGCR.

ERic

 

[scarpfish]

I've always wondered why holes are measured in feet, but the "putting circle" is 10 meters.

One more thing, Trifocal makes a great point about DG using feet and meters. Does anybody know why that is? Maybe to make DG an international game they tried to use a little of each?

Any measurements done with respect to disc weights, discs diameters and widths, putting circles, or anything else that has to be uniform was done by the PDGA and like other disc sports is done in metric.

Distances of a hole OTOH are usually done by members of a local organization that installs the course. In countries like ours where they use imperial measurement like the US, its generally best to do that in feet. I believe though they use metric for that in Europe and other places with metric measurement.

 

[scarpfish]

.....

 

[BrotherDave]

Garrr! I too be measuring me distances in paces, then, I be placing a large X on top of whar my disc lays so that I can come back during a full moon and bury me treasure thar, har de har har.

 

[D.W.G.]

I don't... I just play each round, then go home... I guess at how far I tossed my disc, but there is no measuring going on here... Maybe cuz I can't get it out there all that far???

 

[sidewinding]

Can you imagine a U.S. course for which the tee signs listed distances only in meters?? That would be listed as a "Con" in just about every review on DGCR.

This course http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=929&mode=ci has the listed distances on the tee signs in yards which is not too bad. You're right, if it was in meters I probably would've listed it as a con.

 

[Glynis27]

Some good ideas here. I have a fairly large yard and used a tape measure to mark off 100, 150, 200, 250, 300 and 350' with fiberglass rods. Haven't hit the 350' yet, but when I do, I have 200 more feet worth of yard to mark off. The rods I used here are reflective, neon and tall enough to see from a distance. Don't need to go out into the field to see how far it went.