Game Golf tracking system (merged)

[dciccoritti]

Think I'd rather have a the belt device with a scroll wheel and a button. Scroll to club selection and press button. Something digital. Not sure I like these "tags" on my clubs.

 

How about a wrist device, instead of a belt device? Pebble Time does exactly this with Game Golf. Shows you distances, too, like any GPS watch.

 

Not really keen on wearing a watch while playing golf although I've never tried. Might give it a shot one day.

[North Butte]

If there is a mapping issue where certain spots on the course are being mis-read by Game Golf as being on another hole or a feature is in the wrong place, just send GG Support an E-mail and they will remap the course for you. Usually quite quickly.

 

They do these maps by having someone manually look at the satellite image and mark out where everything is. If you point out a problem to them, they go back and have someone take a more careful look and/or use a more up-to-date satellite image.

 

Same deal with the par of the hole changing, they can fix that if you contact GG Support.

 

I contacted them Friday morning and they had it fixed before I went and played the same course Friday night. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

 

Glad your experience with GG was as positive as mine.

[BB28403]

Try the free app first. It really is amazing, like my mouth is still wide open in amazement. I did my whole round on Saturday with it, it's called "tagging" your shots. It's all free to download the app to your phone. I've looked over my round at least 5-6 times now.

Id love to buy it so I don't have to look at my phone, but the app is a sweet GPS too. And the newest product Game Golf Live looks the best. I'll use the free app for every round I play from here on out.

[@@@]

I've been using it for about a dozen rounds, previously I was using the strokes gained spreadsheet from here on golfwrx for a while then went back to just using the gir/fir/sandsave/scrambling type stats golfshot can do automatically.

 

The problem with game golf IMO is that compared to the strokes gained spreadsheet the quality of stats you get feel medieval, the graphics with all the drives or approach shots you've hit are nice and can be useful but it's implementation of strokes gained is so rudimentary it borders on useless. This trade off might be acceptable if it really was effortless to use but it isn't, because it doesn't know where the pin is if you don't manually edit the location all your strokes gained stats will be wrong and half the time even if I edit the location during the round gamegolf inexplicably forgets this during the round signing process.

 

From a stats perspective arccos is way ahead of gamegolf but is still missing some of the granularity you get using the strokes gained spreadsheet and the hardware doesn't appear to be without issues

 

All of these systems are better than gir/fir/sandsave/scrambling/putts per hole stats but you need to find something you're going to be comfortable dealing with the hassles of. I think I'm going to go back to the spreadsheet to be honest, since all the systems have hassle I may as well use the one that provides the most accurate insight for my game

[joergensen]

 

I contacted them Friday morning and they had it fixed before I went and played the same course Friday night. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

 

Glad your experience with GG was as positive as mine.

 

Me too. Reported a distance error Saturday pm. It was corrected Sunday am. Very impressive customer support.

[bo gee]

I'll second that about the free app. Been using it for a while without actually having the game golf device. Only bad this is you pull out your phone and tag each shot, but honestly it isn't bad at all. I also use the app for gps since it quickly displays front, middle, back yardages on the green, as well as any point on the course.

[BB28403]

Yeah that is the only bad part , have to whip out my phone before each shot. I thought my playing partner was going to kill me. I tried to explain how good of an app it was. I will buy the game golf live I guess for $199.00 when I have the money to cut down on the time aspect, but really they Prob update the app more often and the equipment that is $199.00 is out of date in 2 years. Whereas the app is free and never out of date.

Oh by the way guys , game golf is giving away a million dollars. Go enter in the contest . You can get extra entries for downloading the app.

[North Butte]

Yeah that is the only bad part , have to whip out my phone before each shot. I thought my playing partner was going to kill me. I tried to explain how good of an app it was. I will buy the game golf live I guess for $199.00 when I have the money to cut down on the time aspect, but really they Prob update the app more often and the equipment that is $199.00 is out of date in 2 years. Whereas the app is free and never out of date.

Oh by the way guys , game golf is giving away a million dollars. Go enter in the contest . You can get extra entries for downloading the app.

 

There's nothing to update in the device itself. All of the statistics and processing takes place on their web server. Either the phone or the device on your belt just Geo tags each shot with the tag used and the GPS coordinates.

 

They could possibly upgrade the belt unit by making it smaller or make the battery last longer or something but there's really no smarts in it other than a very basic GPS receiver.

[JStang]

I had one and found it to be kind of annoying. I would have to go back and edit the rounds afterwards for errors or if I forgot to tap it before the shot. For me it was just too much of a pain in the arse.

[arbeck]

I like it. I don't use the app on my phone really. I have a range finder for distances, and it's much faster for me than trying to get out my phone, unlock it and get a distance from Game Golf. My phone will also be basically dead after 18 holes using the GPS that much.

 

I like that stats. They might be rudimentary, but they give me a very good idea of what to work on (putting and short game!).

 

The first few times out I would forget to tag quite a few shots, but it's become pretty second nature to me. My last round I forgot one tag, and tagged one shot twice.

[Glynn]

Question.... Has anybody actually just using the tags against the android phone and not via the game golf unit. I wondered how it compared tagging wise?

[BB28403]

I don't think it works like that. I think you have to have the game golf unit.

Im just guessing but coming from an IT background Id think the tags are some sort of simple "identifier" of each club and the game golf unit itself probably has a bluetooth chip in it as well as some sort of processor and a simplistic program , but it may just have bluetooth and let your phone do the work .

Anyway that's all speculation but im pretty sure you need the belt unit .

[3_Putt_Par]

I don't think it works like that. I think you have to have the game golf unit.

Im just guessing but coming from an IT background Id think the tags are some sort of simple "identifier" of each club and the game golf unit itself probably has a bluetooth chip in it as well as some sort of processor and a simplistic program , but it may just have bluetooth and let your phone do the work .

Anyway that's all speculation but im pretty sure you need the belt unit .

 

Not bluetooth, the tags work on NFC and GG sells a set exclusively for use with Android phones. However, the main problem from what I hear is the app drains the phone's battery pretty quickly. Also, depending on your phone, it might be a distraction to have it in your pocket for the whole round. For the ease of use and saving battery I think it's totally worth the extra $ to buy the belt clip unit as well. I have the Classic version and love the stats and feedback I get on my rounds.

[RSinSG]

I have used the Classic system for over a year now and really like it. I'm not a pro so the basic stats are all I will ever need. It is nice to see the percentage of your shots that are short, long, left or right - club by club. Two glaring stats that surprise me is I hit the ball longer than I ever thought, and I putt like a dog.

[BB28403]

I take a USB battery out there with me. A simple external battery for your iPhone or android https://www.amazon.com/Jackery-Premium-3200mAh-Portable-Charger/dp/B00L9F95RO/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1466606215&sr=1-1&keywords=jackery+mini

 

This one costs $8.49 it's a jackery mini battery . You can keep it charged and in your golf bag for a couple weeks without needing it. I used mine the last time I played. It's the size of 2 9v batteries on top of each other. Actually a little smaller than that. And I think it can fully charge your phone 1-1.5 times.

[QEight]

My belt clip broke when I got into car. Any solutions or shall I try tie straps or duct tape?

 

Front pocket?

 

Golf trousers I have, have this small "prophylactic pocket" which I have found to be excellent for GG. Front pocket itself is too low and loose as it will allow GG to turn.

[Glynn]

My belt clip broke when I got into car. Any solutions or shall I try tie straps or duct tape?

 

Front pocket?

 

Golf trousers I have, have this small "prophylactic pocket" which I have found to be excellent for GG. Front pocket itself is too low and loose as it will allow GG to turn.

 

What trousers. Might sound odd but this could sway me into getting this as I don't fancy the belt clip and it being visible on my side.

[QEight]

My belt clip broke when I got into car. Any solutions or shall I try tie straps or duct tape?

 

Front pocket?

 

Golf trousers I have, have this small "prophylactic pocket" which I have found to be excellent for GG. Front pocket itself is too low and loose as it will allow GG to turn.

 

What trousers. Might sound odd but this could sway me into getting this as I don't fancy the belt clip and it being visible on my side.

 

Puma, two different styles.

[Glynn]

Can some one explain how live actually works. Does the phone use GPS as well as the device? Didn't really want to kill my battery however do have a spare phone that works without sim that I could use. But preload the course and make sure maps load but this could be hassle. Hoping someone can help.

[North Butte]

Either the Live or Classic models can record a round with no use of the phone at all, then upload it by USB or (with Live only) by Bluetooth. Then you check and if necessary edit the round on the GG web site once it is uploaded.

 

In addition, the Live version can communicate by Bluetooth with a paired phone and let you check the shots as they accumulate using the phone. You can also make real time changes to what was recorded, using the app on the paired phone. Finally you can see a GPS based map of the course on the phone app if you want to use it as a smartphone-GPS rangefinder. But all that is optional.

[Glynn]

Either the Live or Classic models can record a round with no use of the phone at all, then upload it by USB or (with Live only) by Bluetooth. Then you check and if necessary edit the round on the GG web site once it is uploaded.

 

In addition, the Live version can communicate by Bluetooth with a paired phone and let you check the shots as they accumulate using the phone. You can also make real time changes to what was recorded, using the app on the paired phone. Finally you can see a GPS based map of the course on the phone app if you want to use it as a smartphone-GPS rangefinder. But all that is optional.

 

Awesome. So I can turn rangefinder off. I want it to upload straight away but don't want the GPS on the phone really.

[North Butte]

I think if you are running the GG app to do real time uploading it is going to show you the rangefinder info. I would imagine if you want to not use the phone battery you would have to wait and upload the round at the end of the round or maybe after each nine holes or something

 

As it uploads each shot in real time it shows you on a GPS map on the phone with the location of the shot shown.

 

What you can do, and what I've done myself, is pair up the phone and turn on the app but then just leave the phone in your pocket. Every few holes unlock the screen and let it upload and catch up. Then put it back in the pocket for a few more holes. That did not seem to use much battery at all. But looking at the phone after every shot and all that drains it pretty quick as you can imagine

[joergensen]

Yeah that is the only bad part , have to whip out my phone before each shot.

 

I use the Game Golf app with my Pebble Time. Effectively similar to a GPS watch, with the addition of shot tracking and automatic scorecard functionality.

[CAT GOLFER]

I am not huge into the stats, but I like that I can get a realistic view of the spread of my shots, makes pulling specific clubs easier.

[BB28403]

Jorgensen , thanks for the reply, please tell me how the pebble watch works with the Game Golf App?

Do you not have to use your phone as much? Thanks!

[joergensen]

Jorgensen , thanks for the reply, please tell me how the pebble watch works with the Game Golf App?

Do you not have to use your phone as much? Thanks!

The Pebble acts as a remote interface for the Game Golf app on the phone, i.e. you do need the app running on the phone, but since you don't use the display on the phone, the power consumption is limited. I keep my phone in my bag, and never touch it during a round. Please however note the solution also uses the GPS in the phone, so your phone shouldn't be too far away from the ball. I always walk, so my bag is close to me at most times. No problem.

 

When launching the app on the phone, the rest is done from the Pebble watch. At any given time the watch shows distances to front, center and back of the green. It also shows hole number, par for the hole and the actual hole score. The three buttons on the Pebble is used to scroll up and down between your clubs as defined in Game Golf, and then entering a shot with the selected club. I have also defined a virtual club, which I use to enter penalty shots. Game Golf automatically advances to the next hole. If for some reason this doesn't happen, e.g. when tees are close to the prior hole, you can advance to the next hole manually.

 

I basically see the solution as a GPS watch with the added functionality of club tracking and scorecard. The operation is really simple, about as complicated as the "normal" Game Golf operation and even simpler than a Garmin S20. Only downside is that the distances are from the phone. You need to have the phone reasonably close to the ball. In my experience keeping it in a stand bag or a pushcart is not a problem.

[BB28403]

Cool! Joergenson I ordered a Pebble Time from AmaZon for $99.00. I hope I got the right one. Is there a name to the app that runs game golf? Or can you give me instructions on how to set this up? You can just point me in a direction, I have an IT background but this watch stuff is new to me. Thanks for the info! Im really going to love this GPS and shot tracking . Not to mention know what time it is haha.

[joergensen]

Cool! Joergenson I ordered a Pebble Time from AmaZon for $99.00. I hope I got the right one. Is there a name to the app that runs game golf? Or can you give me instructions on how to set this up? You can just point me in a direction, I have an IT background but this watch stuff is new to me. Thanks for the info! Im really going to love this GPS and shot tracking . Not to mention know what time it is haha.

 

Setup is really easy. You need two apps on your smartphone: Pebble app and Game Golf app. Then power up the Pebble Time and connect it to the phone using the Pebble app on the phone. Finally install the Game Golf app for Pebble. This is also done through the Pebble app on the smartphone. Don't worry. It's much easier to do than it is to explain :-)

 

Whenever you run Game Golf on your smartphone and select "Play Golf", the Pebble Time will run the companion app, and show you the distances. If you have setup your clubs on the smartphone, the Pebble Time will allow you to select between clubs and enter a shot. When your round is done, select "end round" on the smartphone. The round can then be reviewed and edited on the smartphone or using your Game Golf account on a PC. And obiovusly you have all the stats etc. including actual club distances.

 

Enjoy.

 

 

Edit: This is the Game Golf companion app for the Pebble. https://apps.getpebb...ction=watchapps

You install it from inside the pebble app on your smartphone. You also need the Game Golf app for your smartphone.

[BB28403]

Thank you Jorgensen! Very informative stuff! I don't think I'll ever be buying the external game golf unit now. This seems like better technology all the way around. I will let you know how the setup goes. For anyone with a smartphone , only $99.99 gets you a very very advanced watch. Very cool!

[richawkeye184]

I think it's great has helped me loads with how true I hit my irons and woods and my wedge gapping on full shots. Would be great if you had a option to turn off the beep noise as this can get annoying after a well when tagging lol