GPS, Guess or Yes???

[TonyN]

Ok as some of you know I made a point of saying I would rather guess and go off my course guide.... but.. Dun dun duuun! (drum roll please)

I have changed my mind

Yes I know I went on and on about it and said i thought they were a waste of money(still cant justify £120) however after playing a painfully slow round with 2 friends the other day I had alot of time to think waiting for them to find lost balls, take shots etc.

It rained none stop and my course guide got quite soggy. I found that I played some really good shots but came up short as a lack of judgement in club selection. As I kept finding my self reaching for the 7 iron for the bump and runs far to often, I wondered if my G.I.R would creep up as a result of using a GPS. My G.I.R was only 4 and I only hit 7 fairways. I felt i putted quite well as I only had 1 3 put and a total of 39.

So, as I wandered off the last hole I was a bit gutted at taking a bogey, as again I was short of the green by 10 yards on my approach and the pin was at the front! I think with the extra club I would of been putting for birdie, I thought maybe that GPS would of knocked 5 shots off the score!


So I conceed, I would be willing to try one and...AND I am convinced that I would be bowled over by the 9th. Still, £120 is a bit steep so will see what happens in the near future!

 

[John_Findlay]

Be interesting to see how you get on, Tony.

I don't have a GPS. I've a Bushnell laser rangefinder though and it's a superb piece of kit. It'll tell me I have 152 to the pin for example and even allow for upslope or downslope to tell me it's really 143 or 167. The trick is then picking the right club! Watching where the ball lands on the practice range deals with that.

Since I started allowing myself enough club to roll to the BACK of every green my GIR has gone up to 54% from 47% last year. Still suffer from missing short like most, though. 40% of my missed greens are short, usually because I hit them a little heavy.

 

[USER1999]

Thought you weren't allowed to measure elevation?

Also thought you weren't allowed to measure ttemperature either, but my oppo on saturday had a motocaddy trolley with a temperature read out.

 

[surefire]

Thought you weren't allowed to measure elevation?

Also thought you weren't allowed to measure ttemperature either, but my oppo on saturday had a motocaddy trolley with a temperature read out.

I don't think you are.
If its the Motocaddy S3, I have the same trolley. There is an option to turn off the temperature and distance display for competitions.

 

[John_Findlay]

Thought you weren't allowed to measure elevation?

Correct. You're not. I don't use it in competitions. Just bounce games with pals when we're all in the same area or when I'm playing on my own for practice and to help judgement for competition. So far, our club don't allow distance measuring devices in competition so far as I'm aware, although obviously the R & A have made provision for it.

Is anyone allowed to use them at their clubs?

 

[USER1999]

Yes, we are as of beginning of May. This is mainly what has sparked my interest in such things. Still can't use them in county events though (not that I qualify for these anyway).

I play in a few divisional matches for my club (11 to 19 h/cap), but I am not sure what the reception wuold be like if I turned up with a gps. I think they are supposed to be fun games, and not taken that seriously. Same applies to my society really. Get the impression I would be fined for using one.

Trouble is, once I don't use it for matches or society comps, then I am left with bounce games and medals. Not sure this warrants the money. Be nice to borrow one and map my course tho'.

It would be nice to pay a (small) one off fee to download a stroke saver with better information on it for your course. Our strokesaver is a bit sparse in information.

 

[John_Findlay]

Do the GPS things have a facility to tell you where the flag is on the green (if you know what I mean- do they map the green and you guess your own yardage to the pin?)

 

[USER1999]

No, you have to guess where the pin is, which is why it is a good idea to carry gps and lazer. That said, most of us mortals would be better going for the middle of the green, and not trying to be too clever. For this you need gps.

 

[matthewsgolf]

I have both GPS (scsg5) and the bushnell range finder. They work great as a combination.

 

[theeaglehunter]

sorry to hijack but whilst on the topic of GPS does anybody own or know someone who uses the caddy aid software, or in fact a caddy aid unit? I saw it today in an email from direct golf. What do you think to being able to download the software onto your phone or a pda?

http://www.direct-golf.co.uk/product/product.asp?product_ID=7674

If what it claims to do is true it sounds brilliant imo.

 

[haplesshacker]

Eagle.

Have you checked out Caddyaids website

https://www.caddyaid.com/index.php

Must admit I forgot about this piece of kit as I didn't realise that you could buy the sofware on it's own.

I currently have a Pocket PC phone but am due to upgrade this month. Think it'll be the HTC TyTn2 as it has inbuilt GPS. Incidently guys, upgrading your phone to this type of phone is much cheaper than buying a golf dedicated GPS unit. As the phone will also do road mapping software (free if you use Goggle Earth on the right contract of course). Plus it'll sync in with all your Outlook appointments and contacts, e-mails etc. No I don't sell them.

Something else to consider is Mobile Golf Scorer, but I like the photos on Caddyaid.

Too many choices, but Caddyaid does have my course and MGS doesn't. MGS also appears to do a lot of what SS2 does, but I think all that faffing on the golf course is an unnecessary distraction. I know, I used to use Intelligolf on the phone.

Now how do I persuade the wife?

 

[Sam]

Hapless
I have the TyTnII and am thrilled with it - also have Mobile Gold Scorer and that has Pictures also!! Great combination.

 

[haplesshacker]

Sam
Did you choose MGS over Caddyaid, or did you not know about it? What other choices are out there? What's the battery like running a GPS for 5 hours?

MGS seems to be very USA orientated, website doesn't appear as straight forward as Caddyaids.

Be interested in your views, or anyone else's for that matter.

(Not meaning to hijack, if that is what I'm doing!)

PS PM me if this is detracting from the discussion as a whole or feel that it is useless to anyone else.

 

[Marko77]

Is anyone allowed to use them at their clubs?

We can use them in Comps at our club and I know of another close by that has allowed them.

I played an Open up at Forfar at the weekend though and although they had nothing against them, the Committee hadn't yet approved it on local rule so had to go with the paper strokesaver. Now that I'm used to GPS the difference between the two is massive if you don't know the course.

As I've touched on before I think its bang out of order the way the R&A have approached this (putting it on the clubs). As far as I'm aware this hasn't been the case with any other type of equipment?

i.e. local rule to allow the use of a Scotty Cameron putter - how rediculous would that be?


PS Tony - Welcome to the dark side

 

[Sam]

Hapless

Did you choose MGS over Caddyaid, or did you not know about it? What other choices are out there? What's the battery like running a GPS for 5 hours?

First off, I didn't want to have a mobile phone and a GPS device to cart around so changed my phone to TyTN. I also wanted the device to do all the scoring in round and produce analysis straight after game and when downloaded to PC. Caddyaid probably slightly better if looking for ONLY a GPS device but doesn't have my local course and doesn't do the scoring. Looked at main players in Mobile 6 software and bought Intelligolf but is a real pain to set up a course (need to maually enter all coordinates) if not already done - many are not. Then bought MGS which permits you to Google Earth your course and place pins (a common Google Earth facility) at the tees, start of green etc and then just save the results as a file which is auto-downloaded with images of each hole, to the TyTN. No cost, therefore, for additional courses.
Battery life no problem - about 45% left after 18 holes.

MGS seems to be very USA orientated, website doesn't appear as straight forward as Caddyaids.

Andreas Lachner is the developer - German Pro Golfer but agree the web site is somewhat muddled - it's all there though!

 

[viscount17]

How does it handle the fact that the Google Earth images are, possibly, some years out of date?

Recent changes to my course most definitely aren't there but then neither are some from at least two to three years ago.

 

[Sam]

How does it handle the fact that the Google Earth images are, possibly, some years out of date? Recent changes to my course most definitely aren't there but then neither are some from at least two to three years ago.

Please don't get me wrong - I think Caddyaid is probably a better bet unless you want scoring and registering/analysis of your irons, drive lengths etc.
However, all devices which use images (Caddyaid flies over your course methinks)will be out of date at some stage but that doesn't really matter much with MGS because you can just stand at a given position, say start of green and press a button to re-register the new location. Not sure whether Caddyaid and others have same facility - would suspect so.