GAME GOLF Updates - Hole Switching, Pin Placement (and SAVE $100!)

[iacas]

Quote

 

GAME GOLF LIVE ANNOUNCES MAJOR UPGRADES TO AWARD-WINNING SYSTEM

New Pin Placement Feature

The first advancement not only helps golfers track more accurate putting stats from specific pin placements, but also helps other golfers who will play the same course on the same day. Using GAME GOLF LIVE or the GAME GOLF App, the new Pin Placement feature allows golfers to select the edit button on their phones, zoom in on each green and drag the pin to its precise location, resulting in putting stats that are 100 percent accurate on every green.

“We track more data on more golfers on more golf courses worldwide than any other company,” added McGuire. “A database of pin locations does not exist in golf, so we are building the world’s first and most robust set of accurate data on pin placements and putting for the amateur golfer. With this advancement, we’ve put the control for pin placement back in the users’ hands. The big deal is that the next players to play the course on the same day will see automatically accurate pin placements and can truly plan their game strategies.” The new feature also allows for precise adjustment of ball locations on the green relative to the pin, further enhancing the accuracy of the data. The pin placement feature is currently available on iOS (iPhone) platforms and coming very soon to Android systems.

New Auto-Hole Switching

The second upgrade that is on the way is an Auto Hole-Switching feature that works more smoothly and handles multiple golf situations better than other competing devices. With this feature, GAME GOLF LIVE now tracks a golfer’s movements from hole to hole, automatically updating the system. “When you pull out your phone to look at your data as you move from hole to hole, there is no delay in seeing your data with this upgrade,” commented McGuire. “The system is truly operating in real time, the whole time you are on the course, unlike some other systems.” Auto Hole-Switching is coming soon to Android and iOS (iPhone) platforms.

Save $100

From May 23 through Father’s Day on June 19, GAME GOLF LIVE is offered for $199 US MSRP ($100 off regular price of $299) at GAMEGOLF.com, in golf specialty shops and more than 800 green grass pro shops; and on #AmazonLaunchpad.

 

 

 I'm not sure why it says $229 on the left (maybe that will fix itself later today?), but when I visit the page it says $199. And with Prime, that's free two-day shipping too. It's also not May 23rd yet. Check it out. If you don't already own a GAME GOLF, but you care enough about golf to be on this site, you might want to consider picking one up.

The auto hole switching is probably a little bit overdue, but it's nice and saves you from having to switch to a later hole to get a yardage. The hole editing is also really good. I know some guys use the phone app and this will make their stats much better without having to go back and edit on a computer later.

[saevel25]

It is much easier to use the app now to edit the rounds. They show you the distance of the putt. This helps out on editing where you putted from. 

[Jeremie Boop]

Nice, being able to update the pin placement more accurately on the phone is huge for me. Also having that pin placement go live in the database will be great for those days when I play more than 18 holes on the same course. I still wish they had made it a bit simpler by just adding a button to mark the pin placement though, it would be quicker and easier than zooming in and moving it manually but I'll take what I can get. The auto hole switching isn't a game changer for me, I already hit the arrow to move to the new hole after I finished each hole anyway.

[iacas]

10 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

I still wish they had made it a bit simpler by just adding a button to mark the pin placement though, it would be quicker and easier than zooming in and moving it manually but I'll take what I can get. The auto hole switching isn't a game changer for me, I already hit the arrow to move to the new hole after I finished each hole anyway.

@Jeremie Boop, realize that you're a unique case: for 95%+ golfers this would mean they stand by the hole, pull their phone out, launch the app or unlock the phone, and tap a button, make sure it's right, then bend over and get their ball… while their buddies are waiting to putt.

Better to just edit off to the side while you grab the pin or collect your other clubs or whatever.

[saevel25]

6 minutes ago, iacas said:

Better to just edit off to the side while you grab the pin or collect your other clubs or whatever.

I agree. 

I've had no issues with just editing the pin placements after the round, or when I am waiting for the group in front of me to hit. 

It's not that big of a deal. I agree, it would just be tedious to stand where the pin is and tap a "place pin here" button or option. 

 

[iacas]

14 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

It's not that big of a deal. I agree, it would just be tedious to stand where the pin is and tap a "place pin here" button or option. 

Never mind that the pin is still going to be limited by GPS at that point, which is even less accurate if there are tall trees or it's overcast.

[Jeremie Boop]

48 minutes ago, iacas said:

@Jeremie Boop, realize that you're a unique case: for 95%+ golfers this would mean they stand by the hole, pull their phone out, launch the app or unlock the phone, and tap a button, make sure it's right, then bend over and get their ball… while their buddies are waiting to putt.

Better to just edit off to the side while you grab the pin or collect your other clubs or whatever.

I know I'm unique, I'm told that all the time . Using the app exclusively to track like I do, yes you would have to pull the phone out, but you don't have to unlock the phone or load the app, but yes you would have to tap the button. It wouldn't take any longer than it takes me to tag my shot prior to to playing, but I do see your point that adding this in would benefit a very small number of people so it's not really worth the extra coding time.

[Hardspoon]

The pin placement feature seems cool. It would be neat if courses were able to work with GG to edit daily pins themselves, but it's unlikely that would happen unless GG became ubiquitous.

Still probably not worth the upgrade for me (I have the standard version)...I've never had a problem editing pin placements since they've added the putt distances.

But, this is good news...glad to see they are constantly improving.

[No Mulligans]

Cool feature.  I think I may have already seen it as on my round on Wednesday the hole placements seemed to be more accurate than usual prior to my edit.  My guess is for us Game Golf classic users, any updated pin placements will be reflected when we go to edit our rounds.  They certainly won't maintain separate data for live vs. classic.

I wonder if when I move the pins from home during the edit process right after a round if that will become a new pin placement for other users?

I wonder if after I've edited a round if my pin placements could later be moved by other users and affect my data/stats?  I hope not.  

The main thing I try to do is get the length and general direction of the last put correct.  Given the GPS variance of where my ball was before the putt, I would think my pin placement would not be as accurate as someone doing it from the course.  Also, I certainly don't want the edited length of my last putt changed by some other user.  I'm accurate to within a foot as I pace off (if necessary) and write down the length and direction of my last putts.  (It doesn't take any extra time as I have to retrieve my ball anyways.)

[RandallT]

1 hour ago, No Mulligans said:

I wonder if when I move the pins from home during the edit process right after a round if that will become a new pin placement for other users?

Good question. What if there are conflicts, generally? Every user could potentially adjust it (even if by just a few feet). Who does Game Golf trust to get it exact? Consensus middle point? I suspect it will be answered in time. 

I suspect if you edit it, you get that edit. If you don't, then you get some sort of pin that was either set by somebody on the course or some general average of all those who tried to set it.

1 hour ago, Hardspoon said:

But, this is good news...glad to see they are constantly improving.

I'm impressed with Game Golf, and how they respond fairly quickly with customer support and how they roll things into production fairly aggressively. When a product doesn't communicate and change, it gets stale. That's how I felt about Golf Shot. For a while, Swing By Swing was incredibly responsive and interactive with their customers. Then poof. Their site changed, they changed their customer support, they shifted mainly to a phone only thing (with the web site stats scaled back as if it were secondary to mobile devices). 

Game Golf is doing well thus far in keeping good changes rolling along. 

4 hours ago, iacas said:

The auto hole switching is probably a little bit overdue, but it's nice and saves you from having to switch to a later hole to get a yardage.

Yep, Swing By Swing had this feature several years ago, and even though it's a small thing, saving phone fiddling while playing golf is appreciated.

[iacas]

6 hours ago, RandallT said:

Good question. What if there are conflicts, generally? Every user could potentially adjust it (even if by just a few feet). Who does Game Golf trust to get it exact? Consensus middle point? I suspect it will be answered in time. 

Pretty sure they (@GAME Golf) just use where you set it. To do anything else would make no sense.

6 hours ago, RandallT said:

I suspect if you edit it, you get that edit. If you don't, then you get some sort of pin that was either set by somebody on the course or some general average of all those who tried to set it.

Yup.

6 hours ago, RandallT said:

Game Golf is doing well thus far in keeping good changes rolling along. 

I have a feeling GAME GOLF will continue to improve… with some involvement from two people I know really well.

[Shindig]

23 hours ago, iacas said:

 If you don't already own a GAME GOLF, but you care enough about golf to be on this site, you might want to consider picking one up.

This is probably my "put up or shut up" moment ... sale is good through June 19?  I'm moving in two weeks, but I'll find somewhere else I can ship it.  IIRC, it's web based, so my "does it work with Linux?" excuse can't even fly here. 

[iacas]

11 minutes ago, Shindig said:

This is probably my "put up or shut up" moment ... sale is good through June 19?  I'm moving in two weeks, but I'll find somewhere else I can ship it.  IIRC, it's web based, so my "does it work with Linux?" excuse can't even fly here. 

GG Live is web based if you use your phone to upload your rounds, yes. The desktop software obviously doesn't have a Linux app.

The sale begins on the 23rd. And through the 19th, yes.

[Shindig]

6 minutes ago, iacas said:

GG Live is web based if you use your phone to upload your rounds, yes. The desktop software obviously doesn't have a Linux app.

The sale begins on the 23rd. And through the 19th, yes.

I can upload from my phone (Android) after the round, right?  I'd prefer to not have mine out during the round (especially since my club prohibits them at tournaments).  

Looks like I'm buying it once I get my new place. 

[Lihu]

20 minutes ago, Shindig said:

This is probably my "put up or shut up" moment ... sale is good through June 19?  I'm moving in two weeks, but I'll find somewhere else I can ship it.  IIRC, it's web based, so my "does it work with Linux?" excuse can't even fly here. 

Oh, stop WINEing.

[Shindig]

2 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Oh, stop WINEing.

Yeah, that's probably a good fall back, too.  In the worst case, my work machine has a Windows partition, I just hate booting into it.

[Lihu]

4 minutes ago, Shindig said:

Yeah, that's probably a good fall back, too.  In the worst case, my work machine has a Windows partition, I just hate booting into it.

No, don't run a windows partition! Run windows in a VM where it belongs.

[Shindig]

I'm ready to make this purchase -- are there multiple versions of the GAME Golf system I have to worry about, or will the one I see at Roger Dunn for $199 be the right one?