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Brandon Tucker/Golf AdvisorĪrccos has been a shot-tracking leader the last several years. Read more details about V1 Game and other top Apple Watch apps in my 2021 review here.Īrccos' robust dashboard provides countless ways to slice and dice your golf game. If you're wary of spending on hardware but are interested in shot tracking and own a smart phone, start with V1 Game. V1 Game pairs with V1 Coach, so students can send stats and round performance to a coach, who can respond with tips and drill recommendations.
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It has an Apple Watch app that is good for GPS and has tracking capability, but I found it a little glitchy and preferred using their iPhone app. V1 Game's dashboard is colorful, continually improving and comes with Strokes Gained data, but it is still a step below Arccos. The in-round GPS maps also outperform Arccos. After the round, in the mobile app or on the desktop, you can review each location and assign a club or delete that spot. Their app uses GPS breadcrumbs to detect "probable" shot locations. A relative upstart in the smartphone tracking space, V1 Game ($59.99/yr for their premium app), has the best mobile app tracker I've tried and has been constantly rolling out new features. That's cumbersome and sure to drive your time-aware playing partners insane. Golf apps for smartphones have been out for a few years now, but they started in a pretty archaic way: manually entering shots from each location and assigning a club. Are you already tracking shots and using advanced analytics for your game? Let me know who you're using in the comments below! Want to add shot tracking to your game? Here are five options to try, ranging from watches to iPhone to club tags. Golf shot tracking options for amateurs is surging and is now available on more devices with more stats to track than ever before. It's next to impossible to transfer your data between apps, so whichever one you choose to use, you're committed to it unless you want to start over from scratch. You also need to ask yourself if you should be traking every round or only those in competition or serious play. But it's still up to you to discover the key insights and create a game plan for improvement.
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You'll be shown a ton of numbers in the dashboards. The data presented in the app is only as good as it is accurate, and each round, regardless of which app you use, will require a few minutes of review to check score, clubs, shot location accuracy and putt lengths. Garmin and Shot Scope watches should be able to go at least two and possibly three to four rounds. Arccos' Caddie Link clip will only last about two rounds. Phones typically need at least 50% battery to last the whole round (my older iPhone 7+ needs closer to 85%). You need to make sure your equipment's batteries are charged up. I use a watch to keep score or stick to the paper copy. Shot trackers are always going to miss penalty strokes and usually short putts or gimmies, so they don't fully remove the need for scorecards. What are some negatives for shot tracking? It streamlines the learning curve and makes it a lot easier for me to produce a lesson."Īrccos says users generally take off 4.2 points (strokes) off of their handicap index the first year. "For me, if they're empowered with more knowledge, it makes my job easier. "They're doing a lot of summaries after their round, or keeping journals." "A lot of golfers now are educated," said Lee. Many of his members and students are now using club sensors and tracking technology. I recently visit with Eddie Lee, the Director of Instruction at Hualalai Golf Club, which employs not only Trackman Range, but a new Trackman-enabled 'Golf Hale' instruction studio. The data can also help you communicate more effectively to your coach on what ails your golf game. Apps can show you shot dispersion by club, which can help you game-plan for competitive rounds.
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I've been shot tracking my rounds for most of 2020, and the most obvious answer is that it will tell you how far and where you actually hit each of your clubs, and also send up some red flags as to which parts of your game need work. What are the benefits of golf shot tracking?
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