We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Do You Want Data?

Go to article
Inferno2ss said:
I love my Garmin watch because it gives me great stats like GIR, Putts, Fairways missed percentages left, right, and hit. Plus it is noninvasive and It automatically calculates my handicap.

You can filter tee shots, approach shots by the club. It also has stats by the course that are great.

The historical information on holes you play a lot of good as well. For instance the 9th hole on a course I play once a week, I noticed that I was coming up short around 40% of the time. The hole is way uphill, so I was able to adjust how I played that hole. My greens in reg were about the same as my normal average, but it is a short hole, so I wasn't missing left or right as much as I did on longer holes, just short.
Click to expand...
I really like the information from the watch. Not intrusive at all. Just wearing a watch
 
Yes, I want it.

I've used Game Golf Live for 3 years now. At first, I used the 'Live' aspect of it, but ultimately found it unnecessary and, at times, unreliable. Getting the app and belt device to sync via bluetooth did not always work smoothly, so I ditched trying to. Eliminating the need for the phone in this process was a big plus. What has always worked, 'Live' or not, is using it just to track shots. I don't need to upload them on the fly; I prefer to wait to do that after the round now. I'm not going to dig into numbers while playing, anyway. The pace of play at my course is too fast for that nonsense.

I'm looking for alternatives for the inevitable day that GG goes down for good. Having purchased a Cobra Connect club recently, I was able to get the Arccos Completion Kit for a nominal fee. I used it for the first time yesterday for 7 holes. I was a little underwhelmed, honestly, but it's a small sample to make conclusions. There were too many missed shots and putting details seem lacking. The course mapping at my course was also missing partial and entire tee boxes on some holes, so those shots will be artificially short until that gets corrected. The app behaved strangely at times, flashing on and off as I'd go to touch the screen. I don't know if that is an Android thing or my phone, but it was really annoying. The app+locator+mobile data trifecta also made for a hot phone in my pocket. I just need to get more data collected during the trial period.

I'm really intrigued by the new Shot Scope coming out; looking forward to learning more about that.
 
I love me some data. Gathering actual data, on course, helps manage expectations and see how far you actually hit the ball.
 
I want it if its good, relevant and more important than anything else.....ACCURATE. Having used Arccos for two seasons i can say a few things about it. First, as other people have mentioned it doesnt get in the way or hinder anything from a performance perspective. That, I like.

Unfortunately it was terribly inaccurate on distances, locations on the hole, missed shots entirely etc etc etc, It was a cumbersome process to go back in and literally modify almost every hole to become more accurate. To me, at that point it wasnt worth the money nor the time. I can do the data input on my own lol. If it is seamless and has very few errors and gives me extremely good and accurate information on each round, hole, shot......than its invaluable. If its anything less than that.....i can just do it on my own. Lol....but i wont because i dont know anyone who has time to do that stuff. So......it better be pretty damn perfect because bad data isnt helpful whatsoever and neither is going in and having to fix it.
 
I personally dont. I know where I need to get better and dont really need a device that tells me what I already know.
I know that my driving is pretty good, that I dont hit enough greens, dont get up and down enough for par, dont have very good proximity to the hole and need to avoid 3-putts.
What is the data going to tell me that I dont already know? It certainly is interesting technology though.
 
I had Game Golf and it was great. Then the unit went out. Then the support became very intermittent.
Then I had Arccos which I had to carry the phone in my front pocket. I lost my phone on the first outing. So that went bye bye.
So I went back to pencil and paper.
Arccos makes a unit that clips on your belt so you don't have to use your phone but they never have it in stock... and they charge a bundle for the product + $99/yr subscription. Yeesh. I don't play enough rounds a year to make it worth my while.

These things will improve your game about 2-3 strokes over 30 rounds. So will that dirty eight letter word.... p r a c t i c e.
The disadvantage of these things is that they don't understand the times when you've had such a blow up hole you said f-it - you know when you're lying 8 and still not on the green. 💩 Then you have to go edit your round on your PC and make up stuff to "finish" the hole (that was a great shot that went in from behind that tree from 150 yds... 7 iron... 7 iron).
 
As a #s geek, I absolutely love these devices. Had a ShotScope which I enjoyed and gave to my playing partner since I picked up Arccos (thanks @Iceman! , Ping and THP).

I enjoy the quick post round summary arccos provides. Fun feature, and helps me a lot figuring out correct strategies on tricky holes.
 
I think I am finally ready for realistic data to help me play my best
 
When I first got my Shot Scope I used it to help me hone the distances on my clubs. Being new to golf this was one of my biggest issues. I use it now to highlight what I need to work on. Being a certified data goddess I can never get enough data.
 
The game is hard enough, we don’t need to worry of all kind of equipments for distraction. A GPS watch is all you need and maybe a laser scope for hilly courses with large/ long greens.
 
I tend to really like looking at data - I haven't tried any of the recent systems, but my first go-round with Arccos (first generation system) I didn't enjoy. It missed a lot of shots, or added additional shots and I felt like I spent a lot of time mucking with the system. I'd 100% be interested in trying something again, but haven't gotten around to it.
 
I want data but not like that, no need for electronics.

I go through every round afterwards and note the skills I succeeded and failed, every stroke examined, I target the skills that cost me the most on the scorecard and attack them with practice, that's it, keep it simple.
 
I really enjoy looking at data. It has helped me identify a glaring weakness that I have addressed by totally playing a specific shot differently. I've used Game Golf (not enough data), Golf Pad (tagging too inconsistent but lots of data) and considered Arccos but battery life in the club sensors is a real issue for me given how much I play. Now I am probably going to purchase Shot Scope V3 as soon as it goes on sale. everything I've read and seen has a lot more positives than negatives.
 
I’ve become a huge fan of data and golf.
I purchased the Garmin S62, and it has been incredible to use during a round, as the caddie feature helps with club selection. Also after a round I can go back through and look at each shot, by hole by club. Has been a huge help.
 
I really enjoy data. Having a graphical, historical capture of my rounds, as most offer, it is really fun to go back and look at past rounds, good and bad. Data collection has helped me identify and pretty much resolve a glaring weakness in my game (1/2 and 3/4 wedge shots). Also, with the right system, being able to gather on-course data to compare, say, different shafts in a driver, or two different brands or models of the same club and how much distance and dispersion is gained or lost with each is much better than guessing based on what one can perceive on the range as you can't always tell or if you don't have constant access to a Trackman or the like........... This may still be better data even if you do - real live data under the stress of playing.
 
The data, in terms of Strokes Gained and the relative strengths and weaknesses of my game, is interesting to me. In truth it doesn't change much over time but it is always neat to see where my subjective impressions (i.e. "I was hitting it great today but couldn't buy a putt!") match up or don't with what actually happened.

But as cool as that kind of thing is, it doesn't add enough to my life to be worth hassling with data collection technology during the round. Am I'm sorry, if it involves having a phone with me during the round or adding a "tagging" ritual before every shot or anything else to pay attention to other than the game and my playing companions, it ain't worth it. Golf is for me mostly exercise and relaxation and I'm not interested enough in data to compromise at all on the "relaxation" part.

So I do the next best thing. When I get home I generally have about 95% perfect recall of the yardages I lasered during the round. And the yardages I don't know, since I'm playing the same course every day I can estimate to within 10-15 yards. So I make a mental note of my first-putt distances when I get to each green and that evening I type the shot-by-shot putt-by-putt information into Broadie's Strokes Gained app on my phone.

The elements that are missing are the clubs I used and the left/right/long/short finish of each shot. There's probably an app for that kind of thing too but I'm OK with just tracking the SG-related metrics.
 
I have been an Arccos user since the first generation became available as an early adopter. Really love the product and seeing trends in where I am missing and what distances my clubs are actually traveling. They continue to increase and improve the data they are providing and I don't plan on leaving the product any time soon.
 
xThor said:
I’ve become a huge fan of data and golf.
I purchased the Garmin S62, and it has been incredible to use during a round, as the caddie feature helps with club selection. Also after a round I can go back through and look at each shot, by hole by club. Has been a huge help.
Click to expand...

I broke down and bought an s62 as well on Sunday (too impatient to wait and see how the SS v3 is). Tagged 2 rounds so far, so easy. Thought about buying the club sensors, but really don't need them.
This watch has soooo much data I really don't know what to do with it all.

Garmin S62 has;
-Autoshot- detect your shots and keep score
-Heart rate monitor
-virtual caddie after 5 rounds it will know your distances.
-battery life +++ done 2 rounds, charged on sunday and still at 70%
-custom watch faces- some with some stats on them
-quick change bands for color or style (with this and the custom faces, you really could have a different watch each day of the week if you want)
-pin pointer- in bush and can't see pin, pin pointer will point to the pin
-wind direction, and taken with altitude has the "plays like" feature
-sleep monitor- wow I don't get enough rem sleep
-stress monitor- can see when you are stressed and what causes stress on course.
-garmin pay- can tap your debit/credit card through Garmin pay
-steps
-can cycle through hazards, or zoom to anywhere on course for distance
-other sports supported
-swing tempo- gives 6 or 7 different tempos with 3 vibrations for timing your swing to the tempo being practiced, then look at your watch and see how you did for each swing. I've done this a few times now, and really seen the difference in my swing, as I found out my backswing was just a little bit too slow.

For sure this watch has a premium price, but is so much more than just a golf watch. And really was only double what my GG pro cost. I cannot stand having my phone in my pocket, and Tags on clubs have been a problem for me in the past as I'm moving my clubs in and out of my bag a lot as I play sim golf as well as outside golf. And have lost a few tags in the past. And I've been known to play in the rain from time to time. Really happy so far with this watch.
 
Not sure Luddites such as myself would be able to benefit. I have been playing so long, it comes naturally to me to analyze as I go in my own head. Not always good news there.
 
I've been trying to take a slight break from data, but I played today with a weird mixed set, just did a couple hours of club building, and have new clubs coming, so I can kind of feel myself sinking into the data hole again.
 
I used to keep track of data, then ended up playing "data" instead of golf. I was getting too hung up on stats. I don't need the data to tell me what I need to work on.
 
Hard to beat the data IF it is good data and you know what to do with it. Just having data doesn't do much at all, but taking the data and making something meaningful out of it is beneficial.
 
I just do putts, fairways and greens. That's all I want, just put the info with my score when I write it down. If any of those numbers are off much it won't be a very good round. Do use a GPS for yardage, more accurate than guessing, usually.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top