Why do I need an accurate yardage book?  Why can't I just go by what the golf course says?

[Under the rules of the United States Golf Association (USGA) or the Southern California Golf Association (SCGA) there is no requirement for your golf course to have accurate yardages on their scorecards, monuments or sprinkler heads.]

What is the United States Golf Association (USGA) requirement for the golf course’s yardage accuracies?

 None. There are no rules that require any of the golf courses yardage markers or scorecards to be accurate. The golf course’s official yardages are merely a suggestion as to what the yardage may be.

If the Southern California Golf Association (SCGA) just surveyed my golf course shouldn’t the golf course’s yardage be accurate?

No. The golf course is the customer of SCGA survey and not you. The golf course is under no obligation for the golf course to have the scorecard or yardage markers to be what the SCGA surveyed it to be.

What is the accuracy of the River Ridge Fairways yardage books?

The design tolerance of the diagram is less than a half a foot. The useful accuracy to the users is limited by the user’s ability to use the scale ruler on the diagram. Careful measurements should be within 2 yards.

Why are the River Ridge Fairways yardage books more accurate than most golf courses’ posted yardage?

Some golf courses such as the Spanish Hill GC take their yardage markers accuracy seriously. Some other golf courses don’t have accurate yardage markers for some the following reasons:

1. The golf course’s Maintenance people may not put the monument yardage markers or yardage tags back where they should be after doing work on the tee boxes or sprinkler system.

2. The golf course’s scorecard may contain typographical errors and the golf course management wants to use all the incorrect scorecards up. The corrections could be a year away because of the large number of scorecards they buy at a time.

3. Either Mother Nature or the golf course management changes the layout of the golf course and nobody tell the users or the committee responsible for rating the golf course of the change in the yardage.

Why would I want to use a yardage book?

You can pre-plan your golf game. Decide if you should play the hole conservatively or aggressively. Plus the aerial view of the golf course gives the player a realistic over-view of the whole course.

Back to Top