Digital Scorecard, Blackberry or iPhone

[Peleus]

I have been looking around for what the best options for digital scorecards are. From what I gather after searching through TST, Scorecard is pretty popular. I have yet to find a thread that really nails the pros and cons of the software though. Going off what I have seen on the Scorecard webpage though, I do not believe there is anything to be done on a phone with that software, which brings me to the next question.

My phone contract is up, and I'm debating between a Blackberry or an iPhone. Service seems to be negligible as a deciding factor, so frankly, I'm putting a lot of emphasis on whether it will help with the golf game or not. I plan on buying a GPS app either way, and if I could keep scores on my phone as well, even better. If I am putting them on my phone though, I do want to be able to access them from a computer as well.

If nothing else, it should be entertaining for all of you to laugh at my bad days when the good ones are just bogey golf. So before I go throwing money at software, please let me hear what you all have to say.





***Edit

Disregard the last sentence in the first paragraph. I was grossly confused between "My Scorecard" and "Scorecard." Looks like the latter will most likely be getting my money!

[zeg]

i use Scorecard, here are a few thoughts. Before I start I should disclose that I received my license for free through a promotion, but I try to be as honest as I can in these sorts of threads.

In my opinion, the best things about Scorecard are that it keeps all your data safe on your computer (rather than on a server somewhere with no guarantee of data integrity), provides a nice summary of statistics that are well-selected to give you solid feedback on your performance, and that the simple Scorecard iPhone app integrates well with it and is convenient to use on the course. It's also nice that it's available on both Mac and Windows, so if you need to switch platforms it can come along with you. The interface is solid and straightforward, data entry is quick, and if you read the short manual, it gives some very good tips on how to enter and interpret the statistics.

My only real issue with the program is that it is not as flexible as I'd like. Don't take that as a very strong criticism, though, because this is the flipside of the "solid and straightforward" interface---the reason it can achieve that goal is that it is designed to function and be used in essentially one way, and it is designed to do (and in my opinion does) that very well. Furthermore, I don't know of any competing products that are any better in this department.

The only other scoring application I've used at all is oobgolf, which is sort of nice for sharing scores with friends. It's an online service, with data stored somewhere on a server, which for me precludes its use as a primary stat tracker. It does have an iPhone (and maybe an Android, don't think they have any plans for Blackberry support) app for entering scores, which I think has GPS support, but I don't think it's as well-designed as the Scorecard app. So I usually keep score on my iPod with the Scorecard app, sync it to Scorecard on my laptop, and then later type it in there.

There are a bunch of other scorecard applications out there, but I don't know of any that do tracking the way Scorecard and oob do.

All things considered, my personal opinion is that Scorecard is the best option.

[Peleus]

i use Scorecard, here are a few thoughts... ...my personal opinion is that Scorecard is the best option.

You mention keeping score with your iPod, syncing to your laptop, and then "typing it in there." Is there something else to do after it's recorded? Is there some data you're expected to remember between the 18th green and when you can get to a computer next to type something?

[homerun79]

I have an iPod Touch and I use GolfShot to record my rounds, and they can be sent right to your pc in various ways to store and view them. Check out this site, http://shotzoom.com/ . I wish I had an iPhone so I could use their GPS software which there are 2 versions of now. I have a Blackberry Tour which is way behind is graphics power compared to iPhone so the GPS apps aren't as easy to operate on the Tour, but the touch screen berry's are probably a lot better.

[iacas]

You mention keeping score with your iPod, syncing to your laptop, and

The iPhone version of "Scorecard" which is primarily for data entry and syncing back to your home computer has the ability to type notes per hole, but I and others find it easier to type them on the computer. If you type them during the round they also sync, and sometimes I will write a short reminder note like "buried" to indicate that I had a buried lie in the bunker or something, but then I'll "flesh out" the note later.

The notes exist within Scorecard and also on the HTML exported data: http://erik.thesandtrap.com/rounds/20100909-p271.html Hover over the green thought bubbles to see them.

[iacas]

You mention keeping score with your iPod, syncing to your laptop, and

The iPhone version of "Scorecard" which is primarily for data entry and syncing back to your home computer has the ability to type notes per hole, but I and others find it easier to type them on the computer. If you type them during the round they also sync, and sometimes I will write a short reminder note like "buried" to indicate that I had a buried lie in the bunker or something, but then I'll "flesh out" the note later.

The notes exist within Scorecard and also on the HTML exported data: http://erik.thesandtrap.com/rounds/20100909-p271.html Hover over the green thought bubbles to see them.

[Peleus]

I have an iPod Touch and I use GolfShot to record my rounds, and they can be sent right to your pc in various ways to store and view them. Check out this site,

Oooo, that looks, to say the least, very pretty. I'm a bit confused on GolffShot vs. Golfscape and cannot seem to find any lists of differences between them. I seem to see people advocating buying both, which I would much prefer to stick with just one bit of software. The Golfscape looks like it has better visual information, but is ironically (to me) cheaper by $10 which makes me think I am missing something. From what I can gather, Golfshot seems to have all of the data recording.

Can you weigh in on this at all?

The iPhone version of "Scorecard" which is primarily for data entry and syncing back to your home computer has the ability to type notes per hole, but I and others find it easier to type them on the computer. If you type them during the round they also sync, and sometimes I will write a short reminder note like "buried" to indicate that I had a buried lie in the bunker or something, but then I'll "flesh out" the note later.

Thanks for clearing that up boss! Also, does anyone know if Scorecard has support on Android devices?

Also Erik, your scorecards make me sick. I'm hesitant to put up my bog and double bogey scorecards now...

[iacas]

Thanks for clearing that up boss! Also, does anyone know if Scorecard has support on Android devices?

We have no plans to support Android, no. The iPhone app was almost a bit of a playground so that we could familiarize ourselves with iPhone app development. I don't even use the iPhone much - I prefer to just write my stats in the paper scorecard.

[homerun79]

Golfshot GPS is a traditional system, Golfscape uses augmented reality technology, so you need an iPhone with a camera, you look through the camera lens at the golf hole and the software automatically puts the graphics on the screen relative to the hole! Pretty crazy if you ask me, wish I had the iPhone.

Didn't know Scorecard was available on the iPhone, I like the idea of being able to enter notes, Golfshot doesn't let you...

[zeg]

What I meant by "type it in later" was that I usually keep score on Scorecard, sync that to Scorecard on the PC, and then if I'm so inclined also type it in on oob. I do also keep notes and if something complicated happened on a hole, I may type that in the note or expand shorthand notes that I entered on the iPod in the manner Erik describes.

Also, I probably do 50/50 keeping score on paper and typing it in to Scorecard later vs entering on the iPod. If it's an unfamiliar course, I want to have the scorecard because it is easier to look up yardages for the different tee boxes (in case they've moved around) and for the local rules. In that case, I keep score on the paper and punch it in.

[The Road Dog]

romphill, if you haven't made up your mind yet, I suggest the iPhone or iPod touch with Scorecard. I use the touch because I refuse to pay AT&T; $160 a month for phone service I can get for $60. That being said the Scorecard app does a few things great. The one thing it forces you to do though is research the courses you plan to play first. You get a course score card (online) and gather the data to enter into the program, I do this on the laptop. Do a number of courses that you may play so you have a good selection to choose from when calling for a tee time on a suddenly open Wednesday afternoon at 2pm when a client cancels a meeting at the last minute.

With a good number of courses to choose from it takes only a few seconds to get ready to score a round. You can play two different courses the same day without losing time and during the round you can add those notes or memory joggers Iacas mentioned. Scorecard needs a few key entries to give you a complete picture of your performance on a hole.
When you sync to the home system and add fill in notes you have a historical record of performance that I use to figure out what to practice next week. Being able to graphically see improvement over time is enlightening. I still have a really jagged graph on almost every thing but the swings are getting smaller and the score is going down, GIR is going up. Then I can print out a round for discussing with my son in law.

My impression is that since my return to golf 13 months ago Scorecard has helped me move my HCI from 30 down to my current 13.8. Well, reading the books, the posts, the range hours, 77 rounds since Jan 1 and Scorecard helped. Anyway Scorecard is a habit for me. Oh and I use a Leupold GXII for a rangefinder while on course no GPS needed.

[jangro]

I use golfshot GPS. I think it works well, though it is a bit light on the information I can store. And inflexible. I like the idea of being able to jot down some notes in scorecard which I haven't tried.

If I start a round without a fully charged iPhone, I'm usually conserving batteries by the end of the round. 36 holes, forget it. I suspect that's mostly because of the GPS using battery. I've tried Golfscape and didn't like it. It's a bit gimmicky, and I actually like the overhead view of the Golfshot GPS better.

I think I'll pick up a dedicated GPS rangefinder over the winter and stick with just keeping score on the phone. I'll try out scorecard.

[homerun79]

I am using iGolf for my Blackberry right now because it's free and simple, gives you front/center/back distances and that's all I want. As I've read, most phones and apps drain a full battery by 18 holes, so in my last round I turned off Bluetooth and Wireless connections to see how much battery they used. I had 30% or more battery remaining when I finished the round, so if you can handle disconnecting yourself from the world for 4 hours, as most golf purists would recommend lol... chances are you can get a full round in and not have to charge your phone on the way home! give it a try :)

Cheers