Michael Satterfield
I was recently invited out to play at one of the most exclusive golf courses in all of Texas, Boot Ranch. Being a casual golfer I need every advantage I can get, so when the team at Nikon offered to let me test out their latest Coolshot Pro rangefinder, the timing couldn’t be better. Boot Ranch was the perfect course to test a rangefinder on with long fairways and rolling hills the slope adjusted distance feature would come into play often, but would it improve my game?
The Nikon Coolshot Pro Stabilized is lightweight and fits in the palm of your hand, the stabilization feature makes sighting out small pins in the distance much easier by reducing up to 80% of the movement from shaky hands. The reading is clear, fast, and gives you a more accurate distance than the GPS range finder we brought along for comparison.
The “Locked-On” indicator makes it easy to focus in on your target and the slope adjusted distance gives you the distance to the pin based on the terrain instead of just line of sight. This feature can be turned off as the USGA does not allow slope rangefinders to be used during tournament play. When the Coolshot Pro is in “actual distance mode” a green LED light lights up allowing judges to see that the range finger is in a legal mode. The ability to turn it on and off means the Coolshot Pro is the only rangefinder you need for tournament or recreational play.
At a course like Boot Ranch, knowing the slope adjusted distance compared to the actual distance gave me a better idea of what club I should be using every part of the course. On a long lar-5 the slope adjusted distance added nearly 20 yards, so I went with a 4-iron instead of a 6, getting me close to the pin and likely saving me an extra stroke. While on a short par-3, the actual distance was very close to the slope adjusted distance, having that extra information proved to be a clear advantage to the GPS based systems.
At $449.99 the Coolshot Pro Stabilized is on the higher end of rangefinders, it is still over $140 less than its two major slope rangefinder competitors, while still offering more standard features and a 5-year warranty.
To learn more about the Coolshot Pro Stabilized visit NikonSportOptics.com.
