My adventures in measuring distance (and other musings)

[Armus Patheticus]

Measuring wheels are notoriously and significantly inaccurate. Lasers are easy to misuse. Paces are the ideal combination of accuracy and convenience, you've got to walk to your disc anyway. I tested my paces against fiberglass tape for years when bidding and billing jobs. I don't bother with the tape any more.

Of course disc golf distance measurements don't need to be very precise.

 

[Steve West]

Measuring wheels are notoriously and significantly inaccurate. ...

But they're really fun to use when the golf course lets you use a cart when laying out their disc golf course.

 

[Dthunderchicken]

Step it off.
3' per step.
Close enough.

 

[hawgdriver]

I throw at a flat grassy park and use Google Earth's ruler feature. By now, I know distances within 10' based on where a disc lands. If it's a real crush, I'll take a mental note and plug it in. I'm lucky that the park is about 570' by 400' and empty most of the time.

Every week though, it seems I find a way to throw a disc that wants to play in the street traffic just north of the park... 8[|]

 

[acrosley]

I like to use UDisc. I'll wait until it's +/- 16 feet at the start and end and the convince myself I actually threw 32 feet further then I probably did.

I still can't figure out why I struggle to throw it end-zone to end-zone on the football field though. I think whoever painted the lines didn't measure them out right.

 

[klodkrawler05]

I tend to break my distances down into 3 categories.

"internet distance" that's where I'm on the course and the disc seems to stay in the air an unusually long time, I usually always have udisc running anyways so I'll hit measure distance. Gives me a number to compare with my buddies. Those are the biggest numbers of the 3 categories.

"field work distance" these are just ballparks of my yard. I know if I stand in the driveway and throw towards the road there's a tree I aim at and it's about 200-220' as guesstimated from google earth/pacing off/range finder. I usually use that to test out putters/midranges. I know if my shot goes across the road i've hit 250' ish and it's "long" for a disc of that variety. I know if I back up to near the water spout in our yard for the chicken yard that it's about 375' to the same tree. so I test out anything faster than speed 5 from that spot.

finally there's my "golf distance" which is some mixture of knowledge gained playing various courses and messing with my range finder to know I throw X disc when range finder says Y distance requiring Z amount of turn or fade. I've also gotten in the habit of trying to range to a tree or larger object near the basket rather than the basket itself as that can be hard to consistently hit unless it has a number plaque on top, I've found that's a bit more repeatable and usually works just as well, if I know it's 275' to that tree and I want to fade just in front of it towards the basket that's good enough. The more courses I've played the more I've learned not to rely on tee signs for anything more than a rough guesstimate of generally where to look in order to see a basket, some supposed 300' holes play like what I think is 350-375' depending how they are measured"

 

[autocrosscrx]

Step it off.
3' per step.
Close enough.

That'd be the easier way for me to add about 100 feet to my distance.

 

[bigreddog]

Others have mentioned it, but I second the football field if you have access to one, especially if it's a turf field where you know there will always be consistent markings. Gives you 360' of very precise measurements. If you start needing more than that you can pace off behind the endzone a little bit to start and just add that in.

 

[autocrosscrx]

I'd love to throw on a football field, but there aren't any around here that are open to the public. Unmarked practice soccer fields seem to be the only ones that aren't locked inside a fence.

 

[txmxer]

So here's a nice option. If you can find a utility right of way, you can use the poles for distance.

On flat ground the poles will be the same distance apart. Over at Weatherford DGC, there are two utility lines—different voltages. The HV line is 500', the MV line is 300'.

It's a design element for transmission lines called ruling span. Different lines will have different span lengths.

Because it's a utility ROW, no obstacles between poles and you can clearly measure it on Google maps.

I've used the pacing method forever, but my paces are a little shorter these days. 2.5'—which makes the math really easy.

Anyway if you can locate a ROW it can be a good spot to do distance practice. You can use the poles as targets and or to help validate distance.

 

[tomsdiscs]

I bought 2 things at Home Depot -

Milwaukee 12 in. Aluminum Measuring Wheel

DEWALT 300 ft. Measuring Tape

And the Milwaukee wheel has been accurate per the Dewalt measuring tape, but you can only use the wheel on relatively smooth ground and must not rush it or let it bounce around or waver back and forth across the line you are trying to measure.

The Dewalt measuring tape was needed when there was a canal through the fairway, so you had to use the tape to measure the flat distance from shore to shore.

I originally bought them because I knew the marked distances on my local course were often wrong, one hole was marked 342 and I knew it was longer, and sure enough it measured 365, off by 23 feet.

If you are going to use the Dewalt tape to make multiple measurements, it is too much of a hassle to unwind and rewind it each time, so bring a friend and gather it up between you, without tangling it, and carry it to the next hole, etc.

AND, if using the Dewalt tape, do not unwind it all the way, if you unwind it to the very end and any force pulls on it when fully unwound, it breaks and you have to buy another one...

 

[hawgdriver]

No one else uses Google Earth?

 

[ChrisWoj]

Step it off.
3' per step.
Close enough.

Having had some adventures in teaching orienteering to people for a few years - Most people are going to be within half a foot or so of that, but it isn't a huge majority. I'd say there's close to a 50% chance for most people that they're off by half a foot, and likely to be off by 50 feet when they take 100 steps if they assume that.

 

[BruisedOoze]

Having had some adventures in teaching orienteering to people for a few years - Most people are going to be within half a foot or so of that, but it isn't a huge majority. I'd say there's close to a 50% chance for most people that they're off by half a foot, and likely to be off by 50 feet when they take 100 steps if they assume that.

Briefly looked into step length as I was curious, and 2.2 to 2.5ft seems to be where averages seem to lie (physiological factors depending), and apparently many fitness monitors use these values. So your experience seems to reflect that.

 

[acrosley]

Having had some adventures in teaching orienteering to people for a few years - Most people are going to be within half a foot or so of that, but it isn't a huge majority. I'd say there's close to a 50% chance for most people that they're off by half a foot, and likely to be off by 50 feet when they take 100 steps if they assume that.

Simon had a video where he was throwing the Discmania putters and was just walking off the distances. I think he did actually measure at one point and he was off by about 50 feet by the end IIRC

 

[autocrosscrx]

When I was designing autocross courses, I paced off slaloms and we had rules regarding how far the course need to be from hard objects. For me, 10 paces was roughly 24 feet.

...but that seems to vary from 2 to 3 feet depending on how fast I was walking. And I tend to drag my right foot a bit.

 

[ru4por]

I measure my distance by how far away I am from the basket on my drive.

 

[jakebake91]

I have nothing constructive to add that hasn't already been covered.


I just wanted to say how proud I am of everybody that no one has made an off color joke about measuring and lengths being off. I thought for sure we wouldn't make it this long lol

 

[chevis]

I just wanted to say how proud I am of everybody that no one has made an off color joke about measuring and lengths being off. I thought for sure we wouldn't make it this long lol

not enough women here to call out dudes

 

[txmxer]

No one else uses Google Earth?

I do. I use it to double check myself on pacing off distances and I use tape to check distances as well. Google earth works really well though for anything semi open and it's about the only way to estimate distances over rough terrain (without a range finder).

For those that don't know--you usually count every other step, makes it easier to keep track. Your left (or right foot) hits the ground you count. Usually makes the math a bit easier. I think when you count like that it also acts like rhythm control so your steps tend to be more consistent.

You do want to check your step measurement semi regularly. With injury, age, etc., your pace can change over time.