Golf Guru Update

reeves_ · April 9, 2008

Bought a golf guru today. Had first emailed sales a couple of times with questions about the product and my last reply was from Darryl Cornish, the head person.

He said the much anticipated release 1.12 is scheduled for this week and will allow users to modify downloaded course. Maybe current owners already know this through email updates but it was the first I heard of it, so I thought I'd share. Also, they are going to set it up so users can share their self mapped courses through their website and rate each others maps, but I don't know the timing of this.

My initial interest in the guru was because I didn't want to deal with membership fees. Once I found it's software is as good or superior to other products, the satellite coverage is better, and the size is smaller than other fully functional devices, I figured the product I was waiting for had finally arrived. I've also noticed from reading the threads here that the company is continually adding features to its software and very customer service oriented and responsive, so that sealed the deal.

The only downside I can see is it doesn't have as many courses as Sky Caddie, but all the courses I play are already mapped (I guess that's a benefit to living in a large metro area). Am curious to see to how much detail they are initially mapped to (just greens, or are bunkers and other targets mapped as well?).

Gozz · April 9, 2008

They are very quick to add a course if you need it in a hurry and will remap a course if it currently only has greens mapped. Best customer service I have ever seen from any company.

phil75070 · April 9, 2008

I have used a SG2 from SkyGolf for 4-5 years and replaced it a month ago with the Golf Guru. I could not be happier! It was never strictly a "money issue" with the SG2 as the yearly cost was less than the cost of a round of golf at a decent course, but I just got tired of the annual subscription fee and custom battery every two years (at $50 a pop). With no subscription fee, a $249 unit price and most of the courses in my area already mapped it was pretty much a no brainer. The ultimate selling point for me, however, is Golf Guru's "Green Zense" equivalent to the SkyGolf "Intelligreen". I find that feature invaluable and would not use a GPS without it. I have also found the Golf Guru quicker to acquire satellites, has an excellent "marking" feature that gives you a running total as you walk instead of just calculating the distance between two points you set with the push of a button, more accurate as it picks up far more satellites than my SG2 does, plus WAAS, and if you have the time and inclination to do it, mapping a course is really neat. The ability to edit downloaded courses will be a big plus as well.

The first couple of holes on my course had no intermediate targets shown and I thought, at first, that only the greens were mapped. However, that was not the case and many intermediate points were mapped but not to my liking. I also did not think the shape of the greens was very accurate in many case, probably because 11 of them were redone within the last 18 months and all of them redone within the last 36 or so. That presents a problem if the satellite or aerial photos used to map a course are not current. So, not waiting for the software upgrade to be able to edit my downloaded home course, I went out and mapped it. Unlike any other GPS out there, you map the shape of the green, not just stationary front, center and back points. I am not sure what the limit is for the number of hazards and other features you can map, but I think I had as many as 10 on one hole and it was not a problem.

The only negatives I have found are no ability to adjust contrast, and the buttons being above the screen takes some getting used to. The unit is slim, light weight and easily carried in one's pocket, but a belt clip or a way to attach it to a golf bag would have been a great addition.

Oh, and customer service, both before and after the sale. have been outstanding. "Made by golfers for golfers" they say, and I have to believe it! Great product at a great price.

Edited to add: forgot to mention that scoring and basic stats (FIR, GIR, # of putts) are functions that can be turned on as well if you are so inclined to use them.

idiotbox · April 9, 2008

I am really liking mine. It works great and the stats feature is great.

reeves_ · April 10, 2008

The ability to know the depth and shape of the green from any angle of approach is unique to Golf Guru and Sky Caddie and basically kept me from seriously considering other devices (iGolf neo was tempting). Does the greenzense feature work on already mapped courses, or only when I map my own courses?

Also the stats feature seems like something that could actually contribute to playing better. Have you guys found that its pretty easy to use during a round? Or does it take alot of effort and time to punch in the numbers?

niblick066 · April 10, 2008

i also bought one a couple of days ago. awaiting its arrival and glad to hear they're closer to the editing feature.

phil75070 · April 10, 2008

I have only played one course that I downloaded and the Green Zense was "active" for that course. As I mentioned, this was my home course and I mapped it myself and the outlines of the greens were more accurate as a result. The stats and scoring function requires that you interact with the unit and the stats are just the basics. It is just as easy, or more so perhaps, to keep track of them on the scorecard. Used both for my first round and have not used either since. I do come home and enter all of my stats into other software (Intelligolf which I have had for years).

GoToTheJoe · April 10, 2008

I have this unit also and I am very happy so far. Can't wait for more consistent weather to actually get to use it more!!

I do have a question to all that have mapped courses with this....do you map it as you are playing or would the course let you out to map even if you aren't playing? I haven't mapped a course before and I am a little leery of doing that as I am playing since I don't want to slow things down for my group. Also if you are playing, do you map targets on both sides of the course or just where you end up hitting to?

Just trying to come up with the best way to handle this cool feature.

Gozz · April 10, 2008

I have this unit also and I am very happy so far. Can't wait for more consistent weather to actually get to use it more!!

I do have a question to all that have mapped courses with this....do you map it as you are playing or would the course let you out to map even if you aren't playing? I haven't mapped a course before and I am a little leery of doing that as I am playing since I don't want to slow things down for my group. Also if you are playing, do you map targets on both sides of the course or just where you end up hitting to?

Just trying to come up with the best way to handle this cool feature.

I have mapped a course while playing and I would not recommend it. It messed up my game and my mapping. I would concentrate on making sure I marked all the points I wanted to and my game would suffer. I tried concentrating on my game and I would map a hole under the wrong hole #. Plus I play really fast, normally close to 3 hours, and it took me almost 5 when I mapped. My home course has a lot of bunkers, grass traps on both sides of the fairways and it was cart paths only. :russian_roulette: On the up side, it is really easy to map courses with Golf Guru.

phil75070 · April 10, 2008

I have this unit also and I am very happy so far. Can't wait for more consistent weather to actually get to use it more!!

I do have a question to all that have mapped courses with this....do you map it as you are playing or would the course let you out to map even if you aren't playing? I haven't mapped a course before and I am a little leery of doing that as I am playing since I don't want to slow things down for my group. Also if you are playing, do you map targets on both sides of the course or just where you end up hitting to?

Just trying to come up with the best way to handle this cool feature.

I also would not recommend trying to do it while playing. In order to use it on any hole the green has to be mapped and that is a case of walking the perimeter of the green, not just marking a front, back and center. Especially for larger greens that can take a couple of minutes alone. My course is only oen for play 6 days a week so mapping it on the 7th was not an issue (I walked it).