Sky caddie Fees

[Fyldewhite]

I have the Snooper S320. Comes with 4500 courses pre-loaded. Never not found the course I'm playing including Spain/Portugal. Gives front/middle/back plus distance to dog-legs water hazards and bunkers. Cost £160 three years ago and can't fault it tbh. Glad it's not costing £30 a year just for having it and having to fiddle about downloading course every time I go away. Just don't buy the accuracy argument. It's never more than a couple of yards different to the Skycaddie and as they are all inherently inaccurate to a few yards anyway I see that as acceptable at my level.

 

[Foxholer]

If you have an Iphone, then conforming GPS is available for free!

While SkyCaddie market their 'every course is mapped on foot', they are not the only ones that do that.

I have also seen cases where yardages of 3 SkyCaddie units side by side all show differing values - not a huge amount (about 5 yards), but enough to poo-poo any 'absolute accuracy' claim!

 

[mchacker]

That's how they used to work. For a couple of years now, if you don't pay the fee they just give front, middle and back - no distance to bunkers etc.

Wasn't my experience with an SG5 last year, got about 2wks past renewal date then skycaddie deleted all courses off my device. Tried to add them from the computer but as soon the device was connected the message came up insisting a subscription be purchased before continuing. Sold it out of principle, I had already downloaded any course I was likely to play and any changes I could work out for myself.

 

[bozza]

If you have an Iphone, then conforming GPS is available for free!

While SkyCaddie market their 'every course is mapped on foot', they are not the only ones that do that.

I have also seen cases where yardages of 3 SkyCaddie units side by side all show differing values - not a huge amount (about 5 yards), but enough to poo-poo any 'absolute accuracy' claim!

Thought you couldn't use iPhone GPS apps in comps as the phone can show wind speed/direction?

Also you will be lucky if a iphone will last for a 4 hour round with is constantly searching for a GPS signal, well I know mine wouldn't.

 

[Fish]

While SkyCaddie market their 'every course is mapped on foot', they are not the only ones that do that.

Really, can you list the company/companies that also walk UK courses?

 

[Fish]

How big a discrepancy are we talking ? Seen 5 yards difference between a watch and a GPS unit for example

Its not just accuracy or specific yardages to the greens, I have spoken to over 100+ golf courses just in the Midlands over the last 3 months and the amount of changes that courses have made removing or adding bunkers, adding drainage (open) ditches due to the wetter weather we have all experienced over the last few years, new tee boxes altering the shape of the holes and extending lay-up areas or distances to the start of the fairways and many more alterations have been considerable!

All these courses and those specific holes are then walked and remapped for SkyCaddie users to update, as other companies rely only on 3rd-party information, it could be years before other devices show those omissions or additions!

Also, when a course changes its par or indexes on any holes these can be updated immediately as soon as the information is known, again this cannot to be done by any other GPS brand.

I play with many other GPS users around my course (and others) and they (other brands) all show it as a 9 hole course reverting back to the 1st on the turn, however, our course has 18 tee's and as such the pars are different and the indexes are different so my information is 100% correct, and theirs isn't! I can then also save my card and round, but they can't!

Also the greens with SkyCaddie can be more detailed and accurate than any other GPS on the current market, I walked the course at Leamington County last month and there were quite a few false fronts to their greens and 2-tier greens, I was able to walk these and measure them so the more experienced golfer would know if he was too short (or long if it had a false back), he wouldn't roll off as I measured to where the ball could come to rest! not even a laser can give that information!

Am I biased, possibly, but for £30 to know everything that should be out there is correct is a no-brainer for me, especially when considering how much is spent and consumed in other areas of golf. The fee covers many other areas also within their website that other GPS's don't offer.

 

[Fish]

Have you thought about the garmin s1 watch? Gives yardages to front, middle and back of green. No subs fees, 1000s of courses already preloaded and with the pricing ranging from £100-£130 it's not gonna break the bank. Never heard a bad word against them.

There are no fee's for the SkyCaddie watches either.

 

[MashieNiblick]

There are no fee's for the SkyCaddie watches either.

I have a feeling you can get no fee packages on the Aire too.

https://ukshop.skygolf.com/p-56-go-play-activate-only.aspx

 

[Fish]

I have a feeling you can get no fee packages on the Aire too.

https://ukshop.skygolf.com/p-56-go-play-activate-only.aspx

Your of course right, I was simply replying to the specifics of Dave's post as he may not have known SkyCaddie watches did not have a sub/fee as he was suggesting to look at Garmin based on that point :smirk:

 

[Foxholer]

Am I biased, possibly, but for £30 to know everything that should be out there is correct is a no-brainer for me, especially when considering how much is spent and consumed in other areas of golf. The fee covers many other areas also within their website that other GPS's don't offer.

As a SkyCaddie Regional Ambassador, I'd expect you would be!

But the £30 isn't a huge amount for the service. I know an equally responsive 'competitor' that only charges £20.

And to answer the OP's other question - about whether there's a better GPS system out there - I don't believe there is, though there are cheaper ones which may be 'better value'.

False Fronts are actually an area where I'm a bit dubious about GPS anyway. There's no 'standard' about them and a quick glance can be confusing. I know of at least 1 Par 3 where SkyCaddie reckons part of the Green where the pin is quite often placed is actually a 'false front'!

 

[Hickory_Hacker]

Your SkyCaddie is worth far more than what they charge 👍

 

[Fish]

While SkyCaddie market their 'every course is mapped on foot', they are not the only ones that do that.

the £30 isn't a huge amount for the service. I know an equally responsive 'competitor' that only charges £20.

False Fronts are actually an area where I'm a bit dubious about GPS anyway. There's no 'standard' about them and a quick glance can be confusing. I know of at least 1 Par 3 where SkyCaddie reckons part of the Green where the pin is quite often placed is actually a 'false front'!

Can you please name the company who also walks and maps out UK courses please?

Who is the "equally responsive 'competitor" who can go on-line immediately and make amendments to a courses pars & indexes immediately and also remove bunkers, ditches or any other hazard/feature within 24/48hrs on request for £20?

Nothing is a "quick glance" when a false front is being mapped out, you have to pace the yardages out from the front left & right of the green to where the green levels out, you then walk across that top line, even if it is at an angle so the maths can be done and equipment evaluate the correct dimensions. This is why bunkers will show their actual shape on our GPS's as we walk around them and also target mark them to the front and rear so players know a carry distance also.

If you feel something is wrong with a particular hole on a course you play at, then let me know and I'll pass it on and I'm sure we can go out and re-evaluate it, that's the beauty of owning a SkyCaddie, try calling up Garmin or Golf Buddy or any other GPS supplier if they can do that for you :mmm:

I agree with your edited post, I also don't believe there is a better GPS out their when everything is taken into consideration :thup:

 

[Foxholer]

Can you please name the company who also walks and maps out UK courses please?

Not sure who they were, but I did encounter 3 different mappers - from different companies - on the same course not long ago - and none of them were SkyCaddie, as I'd notified them of changes some time previously - along with changes to SIs!

You've gone into SkyCaddie Marketing mode that I won't respond to, but if I say they are based near Milton Keynes, that should help you. And you are showing how little you know of how the mapping is done - at least according to the SkyCaddie mapper I spoke to. There is no pacing done except walking the course and to reference points; those reference points are coded and logged by/on the shoulder carried GPS/mapping unit.

And you mis-interpreted my comment about false fronts. I prefer a quick glance - to get front distance for example. But where there's a 'false front' that can be mis-leading and, in the case I mentioned, could cause considerable over-clubbing!

 

[Fish]

And you are showing how little you know of how the mapping is done - at least according to the SkyCaddie mapper I spoke to. There is no pacing done except walking the course and to reference points; those reference points are coded and logged by/on the shoulder carried GPS/mapping unit.

Of course I know how its done, I'm doing it!!





OK, using the word "pacing" may have been incorrect, I'll go back to school shall I as my grammar isn't up to your standard? Pacing/walking the course, however you would like it described was in reply to your "quick glance" comment which you've now expanded on.

All measurements are walked and target marked, which I stated previously, no marketing mode, just plain facts so people have a better and factual understanding as many don't understand what is actually done. You also have to walk/pace much slower around and on the greens, so its not just a case of walking/plodding along the course.

As for 3 different mappers from different companies on the same course, I'll pass on responding to that!

Here's Garmins small print in their T&C's

Map Data Information
Garmin uses a combination of governmental and
private data sources. Virtually all data sources
contain some inaccurate or incomplete data. In some
countries, complete and accurate map information is
either not available or is prohibitively expensive.

So, £30 a year is "prohibitively expensive" in their words and they not only don't walk courses, they don't revisit and can't react anyway near what SkyCaddie can do to changes, that is a fact, not marketing, plain simple facts, but they'll happily sell you a GPS knowing its not up to date and may not be for 12mths or more on courses that have had changes 12myhs either side of producing them!

Oh, and who is this company that is "equally responsive" for £20 a year. I received 4 emails yesterday with copies of the clubs new scorecards as holes had been changed (pars & indexes), I did them this morning and their now ready to update, is that the same service they can offer?

 

[Deleted member 18588]

No GPS system is IMO worth the purchase price or fees.

If people were honest they would have to admit that unless they are at least Elite amateur status they cannot have confidence in their ability to consistently hit any club a specific distance.

Most courses I have played in recent years have sufficient markings to enable the club-golfer to select the right club. Whether he or she then hits that club the anticipated distance is another matter.

 

[Grantley1988]

I totally disagree. I bought my my sky caddie 3 months after I started playing and found it really helped my game. I started to work out how far I hit each club and had confidence from the yardages I was getting. Knowing how far a bunker is or the carry over water stops any second doubting the yardage

No GPS system is IMO worth the purchase price or fees.

If people were honest they would have to admit that unless they are at least Elite amateur status they cannot have confidence in their ability to consistently hit any club a specific distance.

Most courses I have played in recent years have sufficient markings to enable the club-golfer to select the right club. Whether he or she then hits that club the anticipated distance is another matter.

 

[bozza]

No GPS system is IMO worth the purchase price or fees.

If people were honest they would have to admit that unless they are at least Elite amateur status they cannot have confidence in their ability to consistently hit any club a specific distance.

Most courses I have played in recent years have sufficient markings to enable the club-golfer to select the right club. Whether he or she then hits that club the anticipated distance is another matter.

But what about new courses you might play that have blind tee shots/approaches? Looking at my GPS and seeing that there's a hazard within driving range would probably change my club selection and could save me at least a shot or 2.

 

[mchacker]

No GPS system is IMO worth the purchase price or fees.

If people were honest they would have to admit that unless they are at least Elite amateur status they cannot have confidence in their ability to consistently hit any club a specific distance.

Most courses I have played in recent years have sufficient markings to enable the club-golfer to select the right club. Whether he or she then hits that club the anticipated distance is another matter.

So what then happens when you're on the far side of the next fairway over(we've all been there) with trees between you and the green and the yardages are out of sight because they're on sprinklers?

 

[Fyldewhite]

No GPS system is IMO worth the purchase price or fees.

If people were honest they would have to admit that unless they are at least Elite amateur status they cannot have confidence in their ability to consistently hit any club a specific distance.

Most courses I have played in recent years have sufficient markings to enable the club-golfer to select the right club. Whether he or she then hits that club the anticipated distance is another matter.

Strange course, dogleg, bunkers on far side of fairway (straight ahead of the tee). Do I lay up? Do I aim further round the dog leg? Actually, a quick glance at the Snooper and they are 290 yards so I'll just ignore them. Yes, I could have judged that but tried hitting a good tee shot when you have doubt in your mind?

Just one example.......it's not just about knowing the exact distances to greens but all sorts of information with a reasonable degree of certainty. How often have you laid up to a water hazard and been 30 yards short? I was one of the biggest sceptics going in the early days but they really are useful....and I do know how far I his my clubs to a reasonable degree (+/- 5 yards or so) at the short end of the bag where it really matters.

As for OP, I still don't think £30 a year on top is good value when I play maybe 8-10 away courses of which maybe one changes each year??? and then maybe no more than a couple of holes.....the whole "kept up to date" argument is IMO being overstated.

 

[NWJocko]

I spend more than £30 a year on golf gloves so, IMO the skycadde fees are worth it. What we spend on golf £30 is nothing.

I was a sceptic and only got one last year. Bought an older skycaddie (2.5) off a mate and is very simple which is perfect for me