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Golfing Focus

Your Rangefinder Is Lying To You

Published 13 days ago • 2 min read

In this Issue

  • The rangefinder trap — 3.5 million shots say the number on your scope is wrong.
  • One ball for everyone — the rollback just planned for one date.
  • The straightest wood of 2026 — one model had half the dispersion of the field.

Plus: the pro distance surge, and a fitting story worth reading.

Hi Reader,

🎯 Your rangefinder is often telling you half the story

You zap the flag, it reads 154, you pull the 7-iron. And you come up short. Again.

Here's why.

A new analysis of 3.5 million shots from Arccos found that the average golfer ignores 12.4 yards of "plays like" distance on a typical shot. Elevation, slope, wind.

Your laser gives you the straight-line number. And it's not wrong.

It’s just incomplete, and your brain fills the gap with optimism.

The point is: most of us club for the distance on the screen, not the shot we're seeing, and end up under-clubbed more often than not.

So treat the rangefinder number as the minimum, not the target. Take more club when the green sits above you, and stop aiming at the pin number when the conditions say otherwise.

⛳ One ball, one date, coming to your bag

The golf ball rollback is one step closer to getting simpler, and that's not entirely good news for amateurs.

The USGA and R&A have announced they are seeking to change the planned split between the pros and the rest of us.

The plan proposed now is that everyone moves to the same standard on one date: 1 January 2030.

The cost to us regular golfers though is smaller than the panic suggests. A few yards for most amateurs, more if you swing fast.

The focused view: 2030 is a long way off, the change is modest for amateurs, and you do not need to do anything about it now. File it under "good to know".

🏌️‍♂️ The straightest fairway wood of 2026

If you're replacing a long iron you can't hit, accuracy matters more than the extra five yards.

A robot test of every 2026 fairway wood found a huge spread in dispersion. The Titleist GT1 came out clearly on top, with just 5.3 yards of dispersion against a test average of 13.5. That’s less than half the scatter of the field.

For the golfer who's swapped a long iron for something more forgiving, that's the stat that counts. Worth a look on your next fitting.

🔗 Quick links

The pros keep getting longer. PGA Tour driving average is now 302.6 yards, up around 10 over a decade, which is exactly why the rollback exists. (Golf Monthly)

A fitting story worth reading. One golfer’s Callaway HQ session ended with a mini driver in the bag and a wedge gapping rethink. Real club-selection thinking. (r/golfgear)

And finally and most importantly we hope you are enjoying your golf!

Play well 👍

Graeme Hay

Founder, GolfingFocus.com

PS – If you are interested in Arccos – Golf’s first artificial intelligence shot tracking platform – and getting an exact idea of how far you hit the ball so you choose the right club every time click here to get 15% off when you use our discount code – GOLFINGFOCUS15. Recognised by Golf Digest Editor’s awards 5 years running Arccos’ members improve by an average of 5 strokes in their first year of membership!]

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