What is it about Skycaddie's/GPS etc etc ?????

Re: What is it about Skycaddie's/GPS etc etc ?????

This has been a good thresd, but it has become a bit reminisent of the old Custom Fitting thread from this time last year.

Just remember, each to their own !
 
Re: What is it about Skycaddie's/GPS etc etc ?????

Homer, I admire your open-mindedness, and yes, IF I ever tried one, I may well like it, as I may well like that white strip with yards on all the way down the middle too.
But, I dont want the game 'simplified' and reduced to a simple execution of shot with no judgement and perception of shot ?

I think that most of us, certainly of perhaps mid teens and below, know exactly how far we hit each club, with the exception of the occasional mistimed one perhaps, so I cannot see how it would benefit me there, with respect.

Smiffy: For sure I'd look at sprinkler heads etc, but they certainly arent marked at 5yd intervals, so still have that element of judgement I think we need.

Contentious issue for sure, and I hope we have all respected each others thoughts, I certainly mean no disrespect to anyone who wants to use them.

Certainly made us all think a bit !!

Anyway, I'm off out now, so hope everyone has a great New Year !!

Cheers :-)
 
Re: What is it about Skycaddie's/GPS etc etc ?????

Thankyou for a great thread.

All the best ChrisMc.
 
Re: What is it about Skycaddie's/GPS etc etc ?????

Well done Chris.

A great thread with good arguements either side. This is what the Forum's all about..
 
Re: What is it about Skycaddie's/GPS etc etc ?????

We all agree on this one....good debate. Good luck to everyone with their 2009 golf, GPS aided or not!!
 
A GPS will only give you yardages. It can't give you gradient,wind speed or direction. So the judgement element is still there. And I'll agree that a yardage a couple of yards either side is not going to make that much difference in shot selection. However, I have found that yardage markers at my course can be up to 8 yards out. Also most people thought the yardage was to the middle of the green but its actually closer to the front.

And they're a Godsend when you play a course you've never seen before.

I've only used my SC2.5 once (damn weather!) but its in my bag to stay. Commitee has approved them for competition play so I'm off and running.
Click to expand...

Have you ever considered that the GPS could on occasion be upto 8 yards out & not the marker posts...?

Though There have been courses where my eyes have told me that the 150 yard posts have got to be wrong. Yes this can be an illusion. But when the decision is made for an 8 iron instead of a 7 & then hit the green. Or gowith the yardage marker & end up in the field behind etc...lol

GPS accuracy alldepends upon getting sufficient satalites being picked up. the less satalites the less accurate.
 
I have always been of the same opinion as ChrisMc in that i would never consider the purchase and use of a GPS system. I have always thought that golf should be played in its most uncomplicated manner and a player should be able to use his skill and judgement to determine yardages and therefore club selection. If i can not reduce my handicap and become a better player by myself then i will play only at the level that i can achieve.
I nearly posted the above at the very start of this thread but, and this is a monumental but from me.....

having read all the posts in this thread and really thought about the positive and negative replies,the actual benifits of such a system and also what i really want from my game I have totally changed my view and think that a GPS system will be my first investment of the new year.(as funds allow)


However
 
Just back, so late in on this thread.

Up until very recently I was of the same opinion as ChrisMc.

However, the last time that AG cocked up their pricing I jumped in and got an SG2.5 - didn't cost a fortune and if I didn't get on with it it wasn't going to be a problem selling it on.

I've used it twice since; once on a course that I'm familiar with, once on a new course.

The verdict - the SG2.5 at least is not the second coming. To my mind it's great deficiency is that you do not get a course layout and on a new course get a shotsaver as well.

Where it is of great benefit (and maybe more so to a better golfer - one who knows how far he hits) is in its read of distance. I thought I could - truth is, though I'm not bad, the error can be one or two clubs. Secondly, yardage markers aren't always right, either through being missing or misplaced - I would guess through being removed for grass cutting and gradually moving up the course.

For me the best 'reads' are for the shorter distances, the wedges around the greens. As I'm still carrying L-plates, it's of enormous benefit learning which clubs to use and how hard to hit them.

Though I will be keeping the GPS I won't be relying on it. My club bans them from comps - to the dismay of the pro shop which has just started to sell them. But it is a great learning aid.

One thing though, my 'read' of my driving average was about right!
 
On the 2nd hole I used my SC2.5 on I'd left myself a sort of half sandwedge or 3/4 lob wedge ish to the green.

Skycaddie said 48 yards. Went with the 58 degree knowing that a half shot with the SW might roll on a bit. 3/4 swing, loads of bite and a 6 inch putt for birdie. Now I can't say that I wouldn't have played that shot anyway but I had the 48 yards in my head and played a shot for that distance.

Going out tomorrow - the SC is on charge and I'm gonna burn it up (the course not the SC!!)
 
May not be as easy to stop the ball on frozen greens but I know exactly what you are saying. I love the feeling of confidence from knowing how far it is and how far you need to swing with the chosen club particularly from 100 yards and in
 
For some of the shotmisers faults the benefits over shadow them for example the par 3 down hill at my home track is 160 to the front and 190 to the back after checking on the GPS, the hole marker states 185 which would be a 5 iron, so last time I picked up the 6 iron instead and watched the ball stop inline with the flag about 5 yards to the right!! Also I find if its a blind shot I strike the ball with confidence as I know the distance now as most markers on the course are wrong, its a great tool and can be used in the car for sat nav as well!!
 
I was out playing with a mate of mine the other Sunday, who had also benefitted from AG cocking up their prices and purchased a 2.5 for £97.00.
Parked both trolleys next to each other with the Skycaddies hanging from them and on nearly every hole there was a 3 or 4 yard difference on the displays of each unit.
 
I am hoping this is because being too near to each other interrupted the signal each received, a bit like walkie talkies / radio devices do when held close together. If not this is rather strange / worrying for us skycaddie users!
 
I was out playing with a mate of mine the other Sunday, who had also benefitted from AG cocking up their prices and purchased a 2.5 for £97.00.
Parked both trolleys next to each other with the Skycaddies hanging from them and on nearly every hole there was a 3 or 4 yard difference on the displays of each unit.
Click to expand...

That sounds quite reasonable for each to be 1 or 2 yards out.
 
Having been out with the sonocaddie a few times, I was getting "used" to the distance it gave me.
As an experiment I went out without it and hit clubs in to greens from areas where I thought I knew the yardage..... I didn't. 6 short, 3 long.
Next experiment was to take the gps and select a club that I thought would get me close WITHOUT looking at the yardage on the GPS. When I checked the distance, I changed clubs............ 8 times :eek: I found that quite an eye opener.... It is GPS all the way now for me
 
Yup, me too, although I am pretty good at judging the front from within 150, I cant always (pretty much ever) judge to the back, so only ever give my self a choice of 1 club. Knowing I can take an extra club and swing easy sometimes makes a hole alot easier to score on.
 
The thing with SC especially (not sure about ALL the others) is that some greens especially older courses and some links tracks is that a green can be 40 yards long. Now that could be two clubs different between front and back alone and so by having a distance to the front, middle and back and being able to move the cursor to give you an approximate flag location really does narrow the selection down.

I have played a number of different courses in the last few months and invariably come up short on some holes because of being unable to judge the distance. With the SC I have been able to club on the yardage given (allowing for wind etc) and I'm finding the middle (or back third) of more greens than before and making more putts as a result (I'm not usually more than 15 foot away)
 
used my skycaddie for the first time last saturday and shot my best ever round,im not saying it was down to the skycaddie because i am playing my best golf ever at the moment but what i found was it give me confidence in the club you were hitting which im sure yee will agree is half the battle
 
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