As a low handicaper (0-10) I have yardage books from the last tour event at our course via Strackaline.  They are very useful but not needed since my home course I already know many of the yardages from playing it. 

The best way to learn use yardage books, assuming I can get them from Strackaline for the course I am playing, is once you get used to one you understand the jargon and way things are done.  Those of you that have used their yardage books, and the ones before them by Lucas you know what I mean. 

Good question!

My handicap ranges from 10-15 and I find yardage books to be extremely helpful.  I prefer the books that provide a good green detail so I can better pick my placement shooting at the green.  If a course does not have a yardage book or in-cart GPS, I use a GPS app on my phone that does a good job in marking distances.

I'm 10-20 and use the GPS on my iPhone...   If I don't have my phone then I'll just look for the yardages on the fairway or look for the 100, 150 or 200 object (sticks, rocks, etc.).   From there, my head acts like a calculator and hope for the best.. 

If I know the course well, then the GPS and yardage book is not necessary....

I usually do some homework before going to a new course, just in case they don't have a yardage book.  Most courses post their score cards, so with that and Google maps you can do a fair job of getting the numbers close.  Once I get to the course, if they have a yardage book, I'll get it.  During the round, I'll add my own annotations to either the courses book or my version for future reference.  I always keep them so I can use it the next time I'm at the course.  For those courses I have books for that I play at a lot, I usually bring the book along, but rarely use it since I've been there enough and know what to expect.

I like to have a yardage book when playing a course that I am unfamiliar with.  If I am playing a course for the first time, I always try to get a book if it is available.  Once I become more familiar with a course, I don't find it really necessary.  For some of the courses where I play tournaments, I have some of the "professional" line drawn yardage books that are really helpful for understanding the greens and the area around the green.  As far as my home course is concerned, I don't even have a yardage book.  Enough time is put in there that I should know it pretty well.

I fall in the 0-10 range and love yardage books for foreign and familiar courses alike. I find the layout view helpful when planning out my strategy for the hole. For courses I know, I make notes about the way the fairways and greens ungulate, and how certain approaches play. 

I also think the yardage book is a cool keepsake. GPS's are nice for a flyover view, but I find their yardages to be inaccurate. I'll take a yardage book and a laser any day. 

I have old yardage books from my club but they are so outdated (course renovations over the years and resizing and shape of greens) I would think they would almost be useless. I now use a Garmin S4 GPS watch and a laser rangefinder. The watch provides you distances from tee to the center of the green, as well as the distances to doglegs and different layup points. I have yet to play a course in this country that was not included on the Garmin. 

GPS inaccurate??  nonsense!  :)

I would much rather use a yardage book and the on course markings than any other way to get myself around the course. If the on course markings are done correctly and the author of the yardage book knows his stuff, they can't be beat. I agree with Josh, small handheld GPS units are not all that accurate. I have been on a tee with 3 guys, each with thier own GPS and the yardages were as much as 8 yards different. If I can find them I will post pictures from the ones I used at the British Sr Open a number of years back....

I fall into the 0-10 and always try to use a yardage book if possible especially for the greens and run offs of the greens. Other than the green views I find that golf logix and a range finder does a pretty good job of telling me landing areas and how to play a hole. But that's just me and how I like to play. Now if we are going to a new course I will get a yardage book to look at and plan the round before I start playing. I always like to plan a round before I go play and have some type of plan of attack.

I use my skycaddie everywhere.  I have used yardage books at times with the caddie. I know my home course really well, but, it's not often I don't have the skycaddie with me as well.  I play weekly with  guys who use a laser and we are always within a yard or two of each other, so I believe the skycaddie to be pretty accurate.  When I play in club events with other members, who should know the course as well as I do.  They ask for yardages and always add 10 yards so they will use 1 more club.  I don't need an exact yardage number, and 99% of the rest of the amateurs don't either.  Just being within 5 yards is good enough.  I just glance at the caddie to see front or back carry number and choose a club based on that.  

I've never used a "pro style" yardage book, but I do like the consumer yardage books that a lot of nicer courses tend to sell.  If I've never played the course (or play it infrequently), a yardage book can be a huge help when seeing the layout of the hole and planning how I want to attack the hole.  However, after my drive (and on courses I play frequently), I've found my laser range finder is much more useful.  Yardage books will never go away.  There are too many traditionalists in golf and they are a cheap souvenir at nice courses.  But as GPSs and Rangefinders improve they will definitely make them less valuable to the average golfer.

For a tournament, I attempt at making my own but it is often hard to keep up pace of play and do it the right way.  Having a laser is a good start.  Knowing the yardage is key to confidence over 75 yards out.  The rest is feel.

I'm an 8 and rely on GPS.  Can't remember the last time I've used, or seen anyone, use a book.  The technology is fast, accurate, and gives me 99% of the info I need.   I think it may be a dying art.

By the way, a buddy who is a laser guy, used to diss GPS.  After numerous comparisons, he stopped doing so.  The readings are always within 1% of one another.   (that's 2 yds on 200yd shot.)  And who is to say which unit has the accurate reading at any given time.

I just don't need to overcomplicate things when an easy option is available.

My gps is my yardage book.  For me it's quicker than looking in my old yardage book so saves me time.  I would say, that any means one feels comfortable with to get yardage is the good way. 

If I am playing a strange course or one I do not play often. I like the pictures in yardage books to see hazards, carries, etc.  I use a range finder for yardages.  Not so critical since I don't play competitively any more.  I used to try and map greens, always thought that was more important.   At my home course I rarely even use a rangefinder.

I'm in the 0-10 range and I love using a yardage book.

Using a yardage book enables me to think through the process in a more creative/strategic manner.

I use a laser to get my yardages and the book to identify my targets and hazards.

I need to count the books in my yardage book collection...it's kind like my trophy case.

Straight Down The Middle!

Dr. K

I agree with everyone.  I'm in the 0-10 handicap range, and I ALWAYS use a yardage book and take notes at every course.  I find it very helpful, especially when charting greens and places to miss. I also always use my bushnell laser range finder.  I think it is a huge advantage to know the proper places to miss, or when to take those risk/reward holes on. I think a large reason high handicappers remain high handicappers is that they play fast and loose, and sometimes don't always think about the best way to make the best score possible on a hole.  Having a game plan by using a yardage book helps to keep your focus on the hole and take it 1 shot at a time.   Best of Luck!

I will typically only use a yardage book in my tournament rounds. I have found that it helps me when I can see the layout of the green and you can usually see the slope on them too so you know if you can attack the pin or not.

I'm in the 0-5 range and a long-time SkyCaddie user, and recently added a laser rangefinder, which is great for hitting flags on approach shots. The SkyCaddie is very helpful for targets off the tee, layups and reality checks when I'm not sure about a laser yardage. I also find SkyCaddie's front/middle/back helpful, especially the "back", to know when a deep flag is so deep that a few yards long is dead. I've made that mistake of hitting an approach a bit long, landing on the back fringe and ending up in junk long of the green.

Any SkyCaddie users out there? I'm in the last year of a 3-year purchase for their service and starting to question it. Why should I keep paying for it when there are free apps out there?

In the 0-10 range and use them at the two courses I play the most, Torrey Pines! Not so much worried about the yardages, as the Leupold handiest that. The books come into play on the green, I have all the breaks and levels marked on them.

I am a 0-10 handicap and I mainly use my rangefinder for distance, just because I am cheap and do not want to go and pay for one at all the courses I play.  But if they do have a yardage book for free I usually use that for locating how far hazards are away, and then rangefinder for distance to the flag.

I use a yardage book every time when playing at home.  It's mine..and I've been working on it for quite some time.

Less than obvious breaks in the green, distances to unseen hazards and obstacles, and lines on a variety of shots can be a great asset.

WW

I am a 0-10 handicapper and I use a yardage book for courses that I only play a few times a year. I do not have one for my home course. I also use a rangefinder, but def love having my yardage book for times when I am unsure about club selection and when it comes to those "best miss places" on the particular hole. 

I am in the 10 - 20 handicap range.  I don't use yardage books.  I usually use my GPS on my phone and Range Finder.

I received a fine leather yardage hook cover when I graduated from college.  I filled it up with great detail on my home course.  I lost the cover some 15 years later.  

Always use use a yardage book when vacationing or at another course as a guest......it helps your score.  I have been shopping for a nice leather cover - 

Haven't used them since the 1970's.  I'm all digital and paperless.

I use a Garmin GPS Watch, which I won from The Golf Channel

Before getting a GPS I always relied on yardage books for courses that I wasn't familiar with, especially to help with lay-up decisions, where hidden trouble may be lurking, and how the greens were setup (i.e. with undulations, false fronts, and so on).  Now I rely more on my GPS for that information, but if you don't have a GPS Mark, then yardage books can be really helpful when you tee it up at an unfamiliar course, and even augmenting them with your own notes about greens and the like is useful if you happen to play the course again for fun or in a tournament.

I'm a 10-20 HC and I have been able to improve my scores by making my own (very basic) yardage books, this allows me to plan my course strategy and, ideally, play to my strengths (now, if only I knew what that "strength" will be on the day I play haha).

My process is simple but it requires a bit of a time commitment:

1. Find the course I'll play at http://course.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/course/course/directory.htm
2. I take a screenshot of the whole, and put that on a PPT template I created.
3. I then go hole by hole finding yardages from Green back, and ideally from Tee box forward (I know this isn't how you're supposed to do it, but I do like to know the min and max distance to fairway bunkers or other hazards from the tee box.
4. I type the distances on top of the image in the PPT template and add a few notes as well.
5. The final step is to Print and use my paper guillotine to cut the excess paper.

Always use yardage books and mark them up with various information (wind directions, lay up info, landing areas, haards, club used, etc.) and keep them for the next time I play the golf course or if someone I know is going to play the course.

Great question Mark. I never used one, but I can see where they would make a big difference. Only been playing a year and a half, but hooked for life. Worked at a muni course for 17 years before I picked up the clubs. Always liked the game but hoops got me through college. Would love to be taught the right way to make one up. Thanks again for the question, I have a feeling I will see it through.

Play Well,

Steve S.