Pebble Time & Game Golf. Awesome!

[joergensen]

I've been using the free Game Golf app for quite a while, finding it pretty good. I haven't been missing the club tags, since I don't see much difference in selecting the club on the iPhone display vs. tagging the club on the GG belt clip device. I've had my iPhone sitting in a craddle on the handle of my pushcart, so it's been easily available both for tagging and as a GPS. Positions are a little bit off vs. carrying the iPhone in a pocket, but close enough. I typically park the pushcart in the same position relative to my shot, so distances are not really affected by the position offset. Only downside of the Game Golf app is really the need to press twice for each selection: first to add a shot and then second to select which club I'm using. The process is especially annoying when adding a few putting strokes, since there is also a 5 second delay after the club selection is entered. I've submitted an improvement suggestion to Game Golf suggesting that the club selection screen could be made the default screen, but with no success.

 

Another possible Game Golf improvement would be a wrist device to have the information immediately available, similar to the GPS watches. I've thus been looking at the Garmin S20 as well as the Microsoft Band, but the AutoShot function seems flawed. If you have to press a button to select the club or to add puts and score, you might as well press a button to detect the shot as well. Another possible Game Golf "upgrade" is the Apple Watch, but the process for entering shots are similar the the Game Golf app, and thus less than perfect imho.

 

Enter the Pebble app for Game Golf. This app is now available, although the Game Golf website still says "coming soon". The Pebble Time is affordable ($120), the Pebble display always on and the battery last 6-7 days. And of course thePpebble can be used as a generic smartwatch with plenty of apps available. The Pebble display is less than ideal read in darkish environment, but outside (e.g. on the golf course) it's great.

 

The Game Golf app for Pebble is near perfect, too, I think. The Pebble basically acts as a remote display for the Game Golf iPhone app (or Android) and it still uses the iPhone GPS. On the Pebble screen it shows hole number, par, score, distances to front, mid and back of the green, and then the club selected. You scroll up and down between your clubs and then press the select button to enter a shot with that club. Entering a shot also increments the score counter. If Game Golf doesn't pick up the change of hole automatically, you can change to the next (or previous) hole as well. There is no provision for entering penalty strokes directly, but I have added a virtual club to my bag, and select that club for penalties. Problem solved.

 

You can use the same trick if you want to reduce your need to press buttons. Just use a default club for each shot, which reduces the entry to one button press per shot. This does not give you club information, but it does update the score as well as register your shot positions for analysis. One button per shot to get a full scorecard. Really neat, I think. Or you can even leave the Pebble alone, in which case it still shows the distances like any basic GPS watch.

 

The information entered on the Pebble is replicated on the iPhone, so you can at any time use either device for updating any information. There is no information about hazards or other intermediate distances on the Pebble, so for the occasional situation where you need more detail, you will have to pick up the smartphone. But 95% of the time the Pebble will show everything you need.

 

The Pebble app for Game Golf has allowed me to put my phone away, and do everything I need to do from the Pebble Time instead. It's still a little less automatic than Game Golf Live and Arccos, but the value for money is just outstanding. And I actually find the Pebble easier to use than the iPhone app, since the most time consuming part of the process - selecting the club - can be done when you have time available. Instead of pressing <+> <putter> wait 5 secs then press <+> <putter> wait 5 secs then press <+> <putter> a third time on the iPhone for three putts, at a time when you really should be moving on to the next hole, you select P when entering the green and then press <Select> three times without delay, when you have finished putting (or once between each put). Trust me, it does really make a difference.

 

And then I can use the Pebble as any other basic GPS watch if I don't want to fiddle with the advanced features.

 

Strongly recommended.

[LeicaRedDot]

Surprised no one replied to this. Thank you for a great review. Are you still using this pebble solution? Still working well?

 

Anyone else using this?

[nikuk]

I use this setup. I bought a pebble watch to try this out and to be perfectly clear: it's going to take something ground breaking to kick this out of the bag.

 

Over the years I'd used swing by swing, golf logix, oob, golfpad, and a couple of others. I mean that I fully used them for at least 4 - 5 rounds each. I made it the longest with SxS (2 seasons).

In the end I was just tired of pulling my phone on every shot. All told it only took 15 seconds per stroke to pull, enter, advance, and put away the phone... but it wore on me.

 

This year I bought an entry level rangefinder and figured id basically ignore my tracking and stats and see how the season played out.

 

Reading through this site I saw a bunch of references to game golf and a few other new contenders but I really dislike the idea of adding something to my clubs. Had tried a few different tech pieces in the past which proved this out.

 

...then I saw a few glowing posts about game golf & pebble. I looked into it a little more and ordered a watch from amazon (figuring I could return it most easily) to give it a go. About halfway through the first round I realized that I was referring to the watch far more than the rangefinder. I'd go to the optic on a tight shot, but otherWise the speed and ease of the watch won out.

The tracking is literally 2 buttons and takes me LESS than what seconds per stroke. This was definitely encouragingredients. All told I was fairly happy with the pebble & game combo after that first round.

 

...then I logged into the website and I was truly sold. The potential for the club tracking is huge.

The course view is great.

The stats are a little rough and while the strokes gained is cute I wonder about its validity.

I also wonder if / how they're going to develop the app as they only income is from the tagging hardware.

 

That being said I love the app for GPS and for basic tracking.

[LeicaRedDot]

great review thanks, Nikuk.

 

Think i'll be giving this a try. For £100 the pebble is much cheaper than most GPS units and is worth a shot.

 

When you say basic tracking, what do you refer to? Simple shot tracking and distances for each club?

 

How is the battery life on the phone and watch for a round?

[nikuk]

I've taken to wearing the watch most days and even at night to try the sleep tracking thing. I've had the watch a little over a month. I get 8-9 days on a charge.

 

I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 phone and walking 18 @ 6600 yds using Game Golf + watch will leave me with around 50% battery. I do turn off nearly everything else though (sync, WiFi, rotation, etc etc) though I do NOT use any power saving move because I don't want to interfere with the GPS or Bluetooth connectivity.

 

What I mean by basic tracking is that I love how Game does club distances. It's simple, and seemingly very accurate. More so though I like it because it seems very intuitive - it'll seemingly disregard chips and pitches without input from the player. Also the banding graphic it shows and interface make it easy to pick out tendencies.

 

I like what they are trying to do with the drive accuracy & approach info graphics but I definitely question the accuracy of the "stats" due to hole mapping / geofencing. This is mostly a hunch on my part.

 

Also I don't like the way they capture or report putting. With today's tech it is not at all difficult to capture GPS coordinate with <3' resolution. I feel like they missed out by not having a "click through" function to capture the coordinates of the hole. I've looked at my stats and rounds on the Web but I don't bother editing them. So I have a lot of holes where I finished up by holing out from 5 - 25' away. LOL.

 

I'm still a big proponent of this setup for the reasons I've previously mentioned, as these are the only flaws that concern me. I couldn't even tell you much about the phone app itself as i very very rarely pull the phone out on course - which is #1 why i love the setup.

If those last two points about stats could be addressed decently I would be glad to pay a monthly fee.

[LeicaRedDot]

nikuk, thanks again.

 

Pebble Steel arrived in the post this morning and playing 18 tomorrow afternoon. Hoping this is what 've been looking for!

[BeTheBall_]

I bought a pebble classic yesterday to use with game golf, got it setup and all was looking good. About 10 minutes later it froze then the screen went completely haywire. Pebble told me to return it to the store, which I did. Retailer exchanged it and the second unit was dead straight out of the box (boot error)! So that's two in as many days.

 

Will exchange the 2nd one later but it doesn't exactly fill me with confidence for the products longevity :/

[IWL]

Does anyone know if the pebble core will work with game golf? I'm not interested in a screen so trying to go as lightweight as possible.

[joergensen]

Surprised no one replied to this. Thank you for a great review. Are you still using this pebble solution? Still working well?

 

Yep. Still using it every round. Still very happy.

Thanks.

[LeicaRedDot]

nikuk, thanks again.

 

Pebble Steel arrived in the post this morning and playing 18 tomorrow afternoon. Hoping this is what 've been looking for!

 

A few rounds into the pebble with game golf setup and i'm really enjoying it. The pebble is seamless with the iphone and game golf app.

 

The only two observations i have is that the game golf app on the iphone is slightly slower at settling at a distance once I get the my ball compared to the Garmin watch, and it would be nice if the app predicted the club I would be using based on the distance and previous club performance.

 

Will be using this setup until technology gets better.

[LuckyStrike]

Good post thanks. I've been considering purchasing a Pebble for just this purpose. This confirms that it's the right way to go.

[LeicaRedDot]

Update using the pebble with Game golf...

 

The system works really well and its using game golf for what it was meant for. Really easy to tag and the data is semi-useful.

 

For me though, having thought that i've always wanted shot tracking stats and ability, now i'm going back to the garmin watch and golfshot to keep my scores and stats. For me the game golf thing is just a bit of a gimmick that has only kept me interested for 10 rounds. Now i'm finding i don't care too much about how far i've driven the ball or how far my last 7 iron went. I already know my distances so this feature (although cool to show my mates the 325 yard drive) is not working for me. Plus when i'm having a bad round, its a massive distraction to keep tagging every shot.

 

Back to basics for me and using the GPS watch. Also, I find the Garmin constantly gives me my yardage quicker than the game golf with pebble. Although not a huge difference i find the pebble has to catch up with my position on the course once i've got to the ball.

 

In summary though, for anyone wanting the game golf ability, it is a fantastic solution, however it took 11 rounds with this to realise its not for me.

[joergensen]

Back to basics for me and using the GPS watch. Also, I find the Garmin constantly gives me my yardage quicker than the game golf with pebble. Although not a huge difference i find the pebble has to catch up with my position on the course once i've got to the ball.

I use mine every round, and really wouldn't be without it. I don't have another GPS watch, and wouldn't want to pay for one, when Game Golf/Pebble does the same thing - and a lot more when I want it.

 

I do use the shot tracking every round, mostly to keep score, but also to keep up with the development of my game. If my game was stable I would probably not care about shot tracking, but it isn't, and I benefit from knowing that I add a few yards to my distances here and there.

[tjl48]

I have this combo as well. It works really well with game golf. To be honest I am kind of getting tired of game golf. I will start using it again because I am getting new clubs and want to redo my distances. Outside of that I haven't really been tagging shots and have just used it for yardage.