Distractions on the golf course, new technology etc...

[bradleywedge]

I have recently had the Garmin S60 watch, which I used on my round and latterly the sensors for recording the shots. After a while using it I decided they weren't for me and I got rid. I then bought a cheaper Bushnell watch solely for the purpose of telling me my yardage to the hole, and started using golfshot app on my phone to input my score. That soon became a chore having to mess about filling in the info after every hole (putting glasses on, sometime losing the signal, app crashing etc..). I also have a rangefinder.

So today I thought back to basics, get a scorecard and pencil, fix to my trolley and just fill it in after every hole. End result: my best ever score in about 7 years. Which has led me to think, all this faffing about fiddling with watches, inputting scores into them, and changing to the next hole, getting out your phone to use the app must have some negative reaction on your concentration.

Today it was simply get to your ball, quick glance at the watch, maybe rangefinder for exact yardage, play shot, come off the green fill in score, move on to the next hole. The Bushnell watch I have automatically moves to the next hole without having to change anything, and the rangefinder is straightforward.

Any method in my madness?

 

[ArnoldArmChewer]

Pencils rarely let you down, just in case spend 50p on a sharpener and your good to go.

 

[Robster59]

I have recently had the Garmin S60 watch, which I used on my round and latterly the sensors for recording the shots. After a while using it I decided they weren't for me and I got rid. I then bought a cheaper Bushnell watch solely for the purpose of telling me my yardage to the hole, and started using golfshot app on my phone to input my score. That soon became a chore having to mess about filling in the info after every hole (putting glasses on, sometime losing the signal, app crashing etc..). I also have a rangefinder.

So today I thought back to basics, get a scorecard and pencil, fix to my trolley and just fill it in after every hole. End result: my best ever score in about 7 years. Which has led me to think, all this faffing about fiddling with watches, inputting scores into them, and changing to the next hole, getting out your phone to use the app must have some negative reaction on your concentration.

Today it was simply get to your ball, quick glance at the watch, maybe rangefinder for exact yardage, play shot, come off the green fill in score, move on to the next hole. The Bushnell watch I have automatically moves to the next hole without having to change anything, and the rangefinder is straightforward.

Any method in my madness?

Nope, that's exactly what I do, even down to the Bushnell watch. Oh, and I use a mini sharpie for scoring.

 

[Orikoru]

I have recently had the Garmin S60 watch, which I used on my round and latterly the sensors for recording the shots. After a while using it I decided they weren't for me and I got rid. I then bought a cheaper Bushnell watch solely for the purpose of telling me my yardage to the hole, and started using golfshot app on my phone to input my score. That soon became a chore having to mess about filling in the info after every hole (putting glasses on, sometime losing the signal, app crashing etc..). I also have a rangefinder.

So today I thought back to basics, get a scorecard and pencil, fix to my trolley and just fill it in after every hole. End result: my best ever score in about 7 years. Which has led me to think, all this faffing about fiddling with watches, inputting scores into them, and changing to the next hole, getting out your phone to use the app must have some negative reaction on your concentration.

Today it was simply get to your ball, quick glance at the watch, maybe rangefinder for exact yardage, play shot, come off the green fill in score, move on to the next hole. The Bushnell watch I have automatically moves to the next hole without having to change anything, and the rangefinder is straightforward.

Any method in my madness?

It's like you're trying to make it sound difficult. I use Hole 19 for GPS and enter my scores & putts, it really only takes about 10 seconds to get the yardage, and the score entering is done while walking to the next tee so no extra time taken. In fact I would say that part is quicker than writing on a scorecard. It rarely ever loses signal or crashes. I don't see how entering scores in an app is going to negatively impact one's golf in any way. If the only difference was that you didn't enter your score on an app, and you ended up with a good score, then it's simply a coincidence.

 

[Bdill93]

I do something very similar too.

I tend to carry a score card (and pencil) in my pocket to mark my all strokes for myself and any playing partners. Like Orikoru, I use Hole19 for yardages and mark scores on the walk between the green and the tee. I like that it records my putts, penalties, drive location and overall hole score. Ive found its a bit of a faff when you have a 4 ball taking everyones scores and marking in my phone, but the benefits of seeing the yardage for my shot far outweigh this. Only real improvment I would make is an apple watch so my phone stays in the bag.

 

[Orikoru]

When we played, at one stage I think I thought you might have been doing something with your watch, but apart that never noticed anything unusual.
Apart from the score ?

I might have faffed with the phone once actually because I've noticed it sometimes has a problem reading my fingerprint when I'm playing golf - I don't know whether that's dirt/tackiness from my club grips that affects my thumb print or what, but it doesn't always read it so I have to swipe up and put the swipe pattern in instead.

I don't wear a watch though, lol. Usually as I say, using the app while walking so it doesn't really add any extra time.

 

[Liverbirdie]

Pencils are for hackers and weekend warriors. They fade on score cards over time, erasing the 7's 8' and 9s.

A pen records pars, birdies and eagles, immemorial.

Prefer William hill red ones over Bet Fred blue, may upgrade up to Argos next year, next time I need a new toaster.

 

[jim8flog]

In a lot of social games my GPS or laser hardly get used. I have been a member for over 30 years and on most holes I know that when I am level with a certain bush, tree or other feature I know what the club is and only have to adjust for wind etc. We have 150 posts on the side and 100 yard discs in the fairway and most times happy to also use these.

I always try to let others do the scoring to save on pencil use. I hardly ever go in to Argos these days.

 

[Deleted member 23344]

I just use a watch for the yardage and a pencil on the scorecard. Never tried anything else as it seems like a faff. I only use a phone app to see the hole layout if I haven’t played the course before and they don’t do a yardage book.

 

[Grant85]

I have recently had the Garmin S60 watch, which I used on my round and latterly the sensors for recording the shots. After a while using it I decided they weren't for me and I got rid. I then bought a cheaper Bushnell watch solely for the purpose of telling me my yardage to the hole, and started using golfshot app on my phone to input my score. That soon became a chore having to mess about filling in the info after every hole (putting glasses on, sometime losing the signal, app crashing etc..). I also have a rangefinder.

So today I thought back to basics, get a scorecard and pencil, fix to my trolley and just fill it in after every hole. End result: my best ever score in about 7 years. Which has led me to think, all this faffing about fiddling with watches, inputting scores into them, and changing to the next hole, getting out your phone to use the app must have some negative reaction on your concentration.

Today it was simply get to your ball, quick glance at the watch, maybe rangefinder for exact yardage, play shot, come off the green fill in score, move on to the next hole. The Bushnell watch I have automatically moves to the next hole without having to change anything, and the rangefinder is straightforward.

Any method in my madness?

I don't disagree.

I use a watch and just glance at that if I'm not sure on club selection. I was guilty of not always recording my scores, especially if playing myself and losing concentration quickly and rarely playing more than 9 or 10 holes.

But post lockdown when we've been going out at set tee times in 2 balls, I've been playing a full round each time and keeping my score. Also have been recording my round on Golfshake after the event, and recording some basic stats like GIRs, FIRs, no. of putts, sand saves etc. However I've just been doing this from memory after the round, which I find is no problem to recall as long as I know the score from that hole.

Personally think this will be a very good source of information. For example, despite thinking of myself as a reasonable bunker player (in that I can usually get out of a greenside bunker in 1 go) I have zero sand saves. So I'm basically splashing out and never being that close to the hole.

Also been averaging 37 putts per round with 20% of holes being a 3 putt. Not great with 32% of GIRs.

So effectively 2 pretty decent area to work on to improve my scores, just from half a dozen rounds.

I reckon by getting into the habit of tracking rounds and stats, I'll be more likely to play full rounds and record progress.

 

[timd77]

I don't disagree.

I use a watch and just glance at that if I'm not sure on club selection. I was guilty of not always recording my scores, especially if playing myself and losing concentration quickly and rarely playing more than 9 or 10 holes.

But post lockdown when we've been going out at set tee times in 2 balls, I've been playing a full round each time and keeping my score. Also have been recording my round on Golfshake after the event, and recording some basic stats like GIRs, FIRs, no. of putts, sand saves etc. However I've just been doing this from memory after the round, which I find is no problem to recall as long as I know the score from that hole.

Personally think this will be a very good source of information. For example, despite thinking of myself as a reasonable bunker player (in that I can usually get out of a greenside bunker in 1 go) I have zero sand saves. So I'm basically splashing out and never being that close to the hole.

Also been averaging 37 putts per round with 20% of holes being a 3 putt. Not great with 32% of GIRs.

So effectively 2 pretty decent area to work on to improve my scores, just from half a dozen rounds.

I reckon by getting into the habit of tracking rounds and stats, I'll be more likely to play full rounds and record progress.

Hole19 can record all that for you as you go round, and once you’ve finished it gives you stats on your round, fairways hit, putts, bunkers etc. It’s very good.

As for the OP, I kind of see where you’re coming from. When I first started using hole19 I used the ‘shot by shot’ function which meant getting the phone out after every shot, logging what club I’d hit and where it finished, which is fine on the tee or fairway but a bit of a pain around the greens when PPs are waiting/watching and it did become quite distracting. I‘ve gone back to basic yardage and scoring (as above) function unless I’m on my own and want to check club yardages etc.

 

[Tommy10]

I've got a Garmin watch that provides yardages, hard enough putting a score together without faffing about with apps and other stuff.

Each to their own obviously

 

[bradleywedge]

Which watch have you got Tommy? I had the S60, just found it fidgety having to fill in all the blurb after each hole.

 

[Tommy10]

It's the Approach S10, think it was £110 or thereabouts. Nothing fancy but it's good enough for me and my level.

Only issue is now and then it doesn't sync to the next hole so you could end up playing a 5 iron to a hole 120 yards away as it's still reading yardage from the last. Schoolboy error.

 

[Yorkshire Hacker]

I've used a Skycaddie for 10 years now, and I rarely play without it. The odd time I don't have it with me , I feel lost..........but I learn to cope. I certainly am not into faffing about downloading info after every hole. Give me a pencil and a scorecard any time. I would get a little miffed with any of my pps wasting time doing any of that nonsense.
But for me, even after playing my course for 17 years, I like to arrive at a hole, and a quick glance at the Skycaddie tells me (for instance), how far to the ditch for a lay up, or (good example) our last par 3, 114 to the front, 125 to the centre, and 135 to the back. A quick check on the wind, and out comes the (hopefully) right club!
Skycaddies are a bit tiresome with the downloading required for a new course, but they are always spot on with their yardage. They save time in my opinion.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I use to record the stats on Scoresaver 2 and it was a simple scorecard process so would do it walking off the green as I would for a competitive card so didn't take any time at all. In its time SS2 was a decent app for stats but it doesn't offer anything like strokes gained which is something I'd definitely look at next time I want to record stats. From that point of view SS2 wasn't a distraction. I have a GPS that I'll look at briefly (usually for distances to obstacles as I can move the icon to get an accurate reading) and also a laser for distances inside 120 yards. As I am making a conscious effort to look at the device I don't feel it is a distraction and I'm more confident over the shot knowing I have the right club

 

[Del_Boy]

I’ve been using Golfshot GPS for years. In fact have data of 594 rounds (not that I look at it very often ?) Never found it a hassle to get the yardage or add in my score during the round. Although I don’t need glasses. With comp scores now being added to IG as well it would be good if they integrated the two so I only enter the score once in Golfshot

 

[Golfnut1957]

Bushnell Hybrid. Incredibly accurate and fast laser and a very accurate GPS which will do front middle and back plus hazards all in one managable device. Downside is price but it does have a two year guarantee.

Just add pen and card.

 

[Sats]

I use a scorecard and pencil normally, use my apple watch with Hole 19 for course blah, and my laser for quick distances. Doesn't distract as I have my phone either on silent or in the car as my apple watch will pick up any emergency calls/texts.

 

[bradleywedge]

I’ve been using Golfshot GPS for years. In fact have data of 594 rounds (not that I look at it very often ?) Never found it a hassle to get the yardage or add in my score during the round. Although I don’t need glasses. With comp scores now being added to IG as well it would be good if they integrated the two so I only enter the score once in Golfshot

Has your golfshot been ok recently? I found it slow and unresponsive and occasionally crashing, all part of my problem, I guess.