Arccos or alternatives to golf shot tracking - need some advice please & thank you

[Drrussell]

I was a long-time Arccos user. I was even in the beta group for the Apple Watch when it first came out. It was fantastic. I started with the screw in sensors and then I ordered clubs and had the sensors build into the grips. My biggest issue was that occasionally a sensor would die and Arcoss would send a replacement. However, I got to the point I just bought a bunch of sensors just in case so I could swap it quickly. 

 

The Arccos data was incredible. But as others have said, I tracked something like 5-6 years and at the end, it really always had the same problem, which I also knew without seeing the data. The driver was a problem. I missed too many greens on par 3’s. My irons were solid. My short game was really strong. 

 

Probably the biggest benefit for me using Arccos was the smart distance. I know exactly how far I carry clubs based on launch monitor and simulator data. With Arccos it confirmed the actual distances on a course. It gave me so much confidence to know when I stepped up to a tee if I hit the club it will be the right club and data over time confirmed it. 

 

I got rid of Arccos when I switched grips and I could no longer use the built in sensors. It was a deal breaker to go back to the standard screw in sensors. At that point, I really debated just paying the membership just so I could use my Apple Watch and the smart caddie. After all, my distances hadn’t changed for a couple years. 

 

However, this week, I decided that with my new clubs, it would be nice to collect data again and I figured I would try something knew. I ordered the Shot Scope X5 today. Looking forward to some testing. 

 

As for battery life, the Apple Watch is terrible anyway. However, I only wear watches for golf. I had played 36 holes using the series 7 Apple Watch. If I knew there was a chance we would be playing more than 18 (because sometimes an emergency 9 is required), I would take it off the charger and turn it off (wearing a powered off Apple Watch all day) and then turn it on when I got to the course. 🙂 

 

My days of playing 36 holes are pretty much done so I wouldn’t have any concerns about Apple Watch battery life with any of the models. 

 

As far as missed shots. I used it long enough that it became second nature to keep an eye on my shots on the watch so I knew exactly where I was when the shot was missed. I generally wouldn’t mess with it during a round and after I got out to the car, would just run through the holes and make the corrections. I would say that about 90% of the time, no corrections were needed. 

 

For putting, I simply made those corrections on the watch on the fly. It may have missed a putt or had an extra putt. 

 

I also discovered that when I got multiple clubs out of the bag, I would hold them sensor down. Then when I would select the club, that was the only club that went grip up. Once I started doing that my missed shots went to virtually 0. The sensors activate when the club goes grip up…so I think that contributed to some missed shots. Good luck.

[Minarets]

59 minutes ago, Drrussell said:

I was a long-time Arccos user. I was even in the beta group for the Apple Watch when it first came out. It was fantastic. I started with the screw in sensors and then I ordered clubs and had the sensors build into the grips. My biggest issue was that occasionally a sensor would die and Arcoss would send a replacement. However, I got to the point I just bought a bunch of sensors just in case so I could swap it quickly. 

 

The Arccos data was incredible. But as others have said, I tracked something like 5-6 years and at the end, it really always had the same problem, which I also knew without seeing the data. The driver was a problem. I missed too many greens on par 3’s. My irons were solid. My short game was really strong. 

 

Probably the biggest benefit for me using Arccos was the smart distance. I know exactly how far I carry clubs based on launch monitor and simulator data. With Arccos it confirmed the actual distances on a course. It gave me so much confidence to know when I stepped up to a tee if I hit the club it will be the right club and data over time confirmed it. 

 

I got rid of Arccos when I switched grips and I could no longer use the built in sensors. It was a deal breaker to go back to the standard screw in sensors. At that point, I really debated just paying the membership just so I could use my Apple Watch and the smart caddie. After all, my distances hadn’t changed for a couple years. 

 

However, this week, I decided that with my new clubs, it would be nice to collect data again and I figured I would try something knew. I ordered the Shot Scope X5 today. Looking forward to some testing. 

 

As for battery life, the Apple Watch is terrible anyway. However, I only wear watches for golf. I had played 36 holes using the series 7 Apple Watch. If I knew there was a chance we would be playing more than 18 (because sometimes an emergency 9 is required), I would take it off the charger and turn it off (wearing a powered off Apple Watch all day) and then turn it on when I got to the course. 🙂 

 

My days of playing 36 holes are pretty much done so I wouldn’t have any concerns about Apple Watch battery life with any of the models. 

 

As far as missed shots. I used it long enough that it became second nature to keep an eye on my shots on the watch so I knew exactly where I was when the shot was missed. I generally wouldn’t mess with it during a round and after I got out to the car, would just run through the holes and make the corrections. I would say that about 90% of the time, no corrections were needed. 

 

For putting, I simply made those corrections on the watch on the fly. It may have missed a putt or had an extra putt. 

 

I also discovered that when I got multiple clubs out of the bag, I would hold them sensor down. Then when I would select the club, that was the only club that went grip up. Once I started doing that my missed shots went to virtually 0. The sensors activate when the club goes grip up…so I think that contributed to some missed shots. Good luck.

Let us know how you like it. I’m thinking the V5 myself. 

[North Butte]

Tracking shots accurately during a round, to accumulate data sufficient for any sort of meaningful analytics, is going to entail a certain amount of hassle and effort (which is what I think you mean by "steps"). Various devices promise to automate the entire process. They do not, that's just a marketing exaggeration.

 

With Arccos it's sensors, either Link or a phone properly positioned in your pocket, it's going to miss shots, it's going to record phantom shots, it's going to record shots in the wrong place or wrong lie and you're going to have to check and edit every round either while you're on the course or afterwards.

 

With Shotscope you have to wear their watch device, you may have to frequently "wake up" the watch by doing practice swings or waggles and [repeat all the above comments about Arccos and checking/editing wrongly recorded shots].

 

With various phone apps, you may not need sensors but then you are going to have to remember what club you used or else enter it into the app after every shot.

 

And for ANY device using GPS (including all of the above) you will have to estimate and remember the distance of each first putt because "automatic" placement of the flagstick and the ball location before the first putt are never going to be anywhere near accurate enough for putting and short game analytics. 

 

Or you can do what 99% of users of "Arccos of alternatives" do. Just let the device record what it records, let the bogus data accumulate and then have a blast pretending you're finding out something about your game by looking at all the pretty numbers and graphs. If they only sold these gadgets to people willing to actually put in the effort to check and correct every shot and to record every first putt length, they'd have gone out of business long ago.