Thank you, everyone, for your replies.

On my home course...the one I play almost every day...a gps wouldn't help me much because I've pretty much hit from every square inch of the course. I know the distances.

However, I played a new course yesterday, and I found myself constantly making bad club selections.

I will be buying a GPS unit as my next major golf purchase. I've narrowed down my decision between the Golf Guru and the Sonocaddie. I don't mind paying an activation fee, but I refuse to pay an annual membership fee.

I purchased the Golf Buddy today after finding that only one store in eastern North Dakota or along my drive to the Twin Cities tomorrow has any Sonocaddie units in stock. This was a Wal-Mart in East St. Paul. It's only about 15 miles out of my way on my drive to Burnsville tomorrow, but the thought of going to a Wal-Mart in East St. Paul simply does not sound appealing to me. Yes, I spent about three hours calling every Dick's, Nevada Bob's, Scheel's, Sears, Wal-Mart, Austad's, etc that is listed on google maps.

I shot nine at my home course after I got off work. It seems like a pretty slick unit. I only had to hit buttons once. That was when I bladed a blast shot out of a sand trap next to the next hole's tee-box. That is an understandable dilemma for the GPS unit to have to sort through.

My game is really off at the moment because of the lessons I had earlier in the week. An altered stroke and grip is resulting in a lot of mis-hits. My first impression was spot on, though, as I decided to club up off the tee on hole number one. The score card lists it as a 133 yard par 3, but the Golf Buddy unit told me I was shooting 121. I put it on the center of the green. Hole number 9 was the biggest alteration, though. The scorecard says it's 163, and I've been trying to figure out why I can't reach it with my 6-iron. I've even been clubbing down as of late to my 5-iron, and I still can't reach the green. The tee-box was moved up today, and the Golf Buddy told me I was 185 yards away. WOW! I pulled out my 4-hybrid, hit an easy swing, and put it 4 feet from the pin.

I'm still using the unit to see how far some of my clubs go. I learned tonight that 70 yards is the perfect distance for my gap wedge, and I learned that I shouldn't try to hit my lob wedge more than 45. I'm going to read the instruction book tonight before bed to see what all this unit is capable of doing. It says that I can record shot distances, scores, and plot key points on certain holes. I'm looking forward to trying out some of those features.

The biggest advantage, though, is that it comes with 20,000 courses pre-loaded. Plus, if I find a course that's not in the system, I can go online and download it, though I'd have to remove one of the existing courses (presumably one in South Korea or perhaps Kuwait). I also only had to push a button on the unit once on my entire round. That was when I bladed a blast shot out of the bunker that flew next to an adjacent tee box. I can understand a GPS unit not understanding that situation, though, and re-finding the correct hole was pretty easy. The subsequent shot was actually the one where the unit was the most valuable. I was shooting over a tree and a hill, and I thought my sand wedge would be the right club. The GPS told me 40 yards, so I clubbed down to the lob wedge and put it on the backside of the green. The sand wedge would have put me back in the sand.

All-in-all, I'm happy with my purchase. I intend to golf potentially three new courses when I'm in the Twin Cities next week, and this unit could really come in handy.

@ bjohn...I don't blame you for not wanting to hit up a Walmart in E St. Paul, I have been to some of the Walmarts around the TC. And thanks for posting your review about the golf buddy. Keep us posted about how it works for you (the good and the bad, I want to justify the expense to myself before i try to convince my wife). I am currently cruising eBay for a golf buddy tour looking for a great deal but they mostly come in @ around $350. Maybe I am going to have to man up and pay the going rate unless one slips through the net for $150.

You're welcome, activesense. I bought the unit because the salesman at National Golf did a pretty dang good job selling it.

I thought I'd add a few things since I seem to have forgotten in my initial review. First of all, the only difference between the Golf Buddy Pro and the Golf Buddy Tour is that the Tour version has a color screen. That's it. The introductory model, the Golf Buddy Plus, only holds 1,000 courses and doesn't have the ability to track score (a feature I'm not likely to use). Those are your differences.

As far as accuracy goes, I did have the opportunity to walk around four greens with the Golf Buddy unit watching the yardage readings as I walked around them. Since I use a pull cart, I tend to stay about 5-10 yards off the green. These units seemed pretty accurate in representing my distance off the green from these close ranges, which leads me to believe that it couldn't have been off by more than a yard or two at most. After reading how to track shot distances last night, it sounds extremely easy to do. Just hit a button before you shoot, walk to your ball, and see what it says.

Now, the one feature that Golf Buddy lacks that I think looks pretty dang cool is it lacks an actual picture of each hole. We can get the same effect by mapping up to eight different targets per hole, but all we have to differentiate between these targets are short "code-words". This feature especially comes in handy on dog-legs or on greens that are protected by hazards or bunkers. I could see how an actual overlay of the hole would be helpful.

All-in-all, though, I'm pretty happy with my purchase. The only thing left to see is how durable the product is. I'll post here if I run into any problems.

An update on my GolfBuddy usage.

The belt clip seems a bit flimsy, especially for the replacement price. It costs $10 to replace the clip and another $10 to replace the holster. My Blackberry unit has a holster/clip that is extremely sturdy that costs less then $10 to replace. My last phone, an LN enV, cost less than $10 for a holster/clip that lasted two years and got a LOT more use.

First off, whether or not it had a belt clip was a definite factor in whether or not to purchase the unit. I'll be frank. I have a tendancy to wash things in my pockets. The belt clip eliminates that problem.

On the course yesterday, I looked down to find my GPS unit missing. I had to go back and look for it. Sure enough, the belt clip had broken while I was digging under a tree to find my ball. I've had cell phone belt clips that have been through a lot more hell than that that have held up just nicely.

I was impressed to find the unit still worked from my pocket. I was unimpressed to find the unit still in my pocket as I was unloading the washing machine this morning.

I took the unit apart to dry it out. Hopefully, it will still work once that happens, though I am doubtful. I'm going to write to GolfBuddy to see what my options are as far as replacement goes. However, I am 100% certain that I won't be spending another cent on a unit that can be lost due to a faulty belt clip so easily. Perhaps this is something to keep in mind for those who are looking at purchasing this unit.

Yeah...I'm pretty bummed about potentially wrecking a $350 device.

My condolences on your loss.Hopefully it will resume operation for you.I was thinking about getting the pro or tour model for xmas.
Maybe you should consider keeping it in your golf bag and returning it there after each shot.

I believe the unit is shot. It powers on, but the screen doesn't show anything.

I put it in the bag for a couple of holes, but in the name of speeding up play, it just wasn't practical. The only thing I ever really like to go back to my bag for are clubs.

I already bought a lifetime membership for a golf app on my new Blackberry, though. Now, it's just a matter of waiting to hear back from the GolfBuddy customer service department. Technically, the unit is still under warranty, but my hopes aren't all that high.

Both! I find that a GPS works best when you don't have line of sight to the pin. The range finder works best when you have clear line of sight to the pin.