What is a yardage book, and how do you read one?

What a yardage book shows

A yardage book has a page, or half a page, for each hole. Each one is a drawing of the hole from tee to green with the numbers you need to pick a club:

• The length of the hole from each set of tees, and usually par and stroke index.
• Distances to the green from landmarks along the way: sprinkler heads, marker posts, the edge of a bunker or the corner of a dogleg.
• Bunkers and water, with the distance to reach each one (its near edge) and to carry it (its far edge).
• The green: its shape, its depth from front to back, and the bunkers around it. Some books add the slopes on the green.

Some clubs sell one in the pro shop, and some golfers make their own. Either way the idea is the same: you know the exact number before you get to the ball.

How to read one

1. Find the nearest landmark to your ball, such as a sprinkler head, a 150 marker or the end of a bunker.
2. Read the number on the book for that landmark. Check the book's key for what it's measured to: the front or the middle of the green.
3. Pace off the gap between your ball and the landmark, and add it or take it off. A common rule of thumb is that one long stride is about a yard.
4. Add the green. If the number is to the front and the flag is 12 paces on, add 12. A pin sheet, if the club gives one out, tells you how far on the flag is.
5. Check the trouble. Read reach and carry for any bunker or water between you and the target, so you know the shot that stays short and the one that clears it.

Say your ball is 8 paces behind a sprinkler marked 156 to the front, and the flag is 10 paces on: 156 + 8 + 10 = 174 to the flag. A greenside bunker marked 150 to carry is no worry at that distance; one marked 170 to carry is.

Then turn the number into a club. The club distance chart gives typical distances by handicap, and the plays-like calculator adds wind and temperature.

Are yardage books allowed?

Yes. Rule 4.3 of the Rules of Golf lets you use distance and direction information during a round, and that includes a yardage book. What's limited is information about the greens. Since 1 January 2019, any drawing of a putting green in a book or on paper must be at a scale of 3/8 inch to 5 yards (1:480) or smaller, and the book itself must be no bigger than 4¼ by 7 inches. Your own handwritten notes about the greens are fine if they're in a book that meets the size limit.

A device or book still mustn't measure elevation changes or recommend a club for you during a competition round. A committee can also restrict distance-measuring devices with a local rule, so check the competition's terms if you use a phone or watch as well.

A free yardage book for your course

Every page in our course maps is, in effect, a free yardage book: a map of each hole with its par, its length, how deep the green is with the front and back distances, and the distance to reach and carry every bunker and water hazard from the tee. For example, Kingsbarns Golf Links is 18 holes and 7,161 yards, par 72.

Distances are measured along the line of each hole as it's mapped on OpenStreetMap, from the tee end, so they won't match every set of tees. Add or take off the difference to the tee you play from. Course data © OpenStreetMap contributors, see about the course data.

To make the book: open your course's page, save or print it, and add the things only you know: your club for each tee shot, where the pin usually is, and where not to miss.

Find your course's free hole-by-hole map

Related guides

• Free golf course maps for the UK and Ireland
• Links golf courses in Scotland
• How long is a golf course?

Sources

• The R&A: Rules of Golf, Rule 4.3 (use of equipment)
• USGA: limits on green-reading materials
• The R&A: distance-measuring devices