Arccos shot tracking review

[iacas]

5 minutes ago, natureboy said:

Sure they use the same sattelite system, but can ArcCos use cell tower info as extra triangulation points for enhance accuracy and GG can't? Don't know, but that was what I was wondering.

No. And GG can use your cell phone too. And it's not "ArcCos."

[natureboy]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

No. And GG can use your cell phone too. And it's not "ArcCos."

The GG belt unit uses cell tower signals as well as GPS sattelites, cool? Or did you mean you can also use your cell phone to edit GG rounds / view info?

Edited June 29, 2016 by natureboy

[iacas]

Just now, natureboy said:

The GG belt unit uses cell tower signals as well as GPS sattelites?

They have phone software. That's all I'm saying. Both units, AFAIK, just use their GPS and I believe cell triangulation is less accurate.

Let's not get sidetracked into that though.

[boogielicious]

9 hours ago, IanW said:

Hehe. I have always been a bit of a lurker. After a year off golf I am getting back into it this year. I decided to post for the first time after years of mooching off all the great information here :)

 

Ian

I can understand that my experience would have more weight if I posted more regularly. I am hoping to do so in the future.

 

I would be willing to try anything out, take any pictures, screenshots, etc... of the Arccos system now that I have it for a few more days. If there is anything specifically you would like to see about it, I will do my best to provide it. Please do just let me know.

 

Ian

 

 

Thanks for posting the review. I received the system to review for the site as did @mchepp. I has some issues early on with the system stopping. I contacted Arccos and they recommended deleting the app on my iPhone and then downloading the app again. They had issues with the latest iOS and the new version had a patch.

After loading the new app, the system functioned much better. Give that a try.

My review is below.

 

[dzclarkcpa]

I have both because the technology fascinates me. I am fortunate enough to have the financial resources that allow me to explore gadgets, practice aids, etc. I am about as "normal" golfer as there is. I am not a club guru, I can't tell you what my swing speed is, I can't tell you what shafts my clubs have in them, etc., but I love golf. I love to play golf (I hate to practice, which is why the practice aids make nearly no sense for me, yet buy them I do). 

I noticed that both GG and Arccos had the same limitations on GPS tracking, no real difference. I used GG for probably 25 rounds and am probably just over 25 rounds now with Arccos and I just don't notice the Arccos being any more or less accurate on positions. 

I don't recall having an issues with adding shots or relocating them with GG, and yes, it is sometimes a pain to go back in and edit a shot on my phone, then wait for it to show up on the website. But, honestly, even that, just is not a big deal.

For sure this is more than a scorekeeping software (one thing I don't own is a clicker to keep track of strokes) and I would expect GG has made some significant improvements since my initial usage with the original version.  

One thing I wish Arccos had, that GG didn't have at the time and not sure they do yet, is an ability to tag the flag. It gets pretty close when I have a tap in, but when I make a long one (rare indeed), I have to remember to go in and tag the flag. I know it would be off by whatever the GPS limitations are, but it would be nice to be able to double tap my putting handle, or something, and get the flag location. Seems that should not be that hard for either system to do.

OP, how does one use GG without the tags?

[IanW]

20 hours ago, dzclarkcpa said:

 

OP, how does one use GG without the tags?

I just quickly played with the phone app, but it looks like you can start the app, click start a round, then the phone locks. When you go to unlock, rather than your normal unlock screen you get a new game golf unlock screen that let's you either + or unlock. If you push + it asks you for the club you used.

 

Beyond that I haven't played much with the app. yet :)

 

[RandallT]

On 6/28/2016 at 8:28 PM, IanW said:

Unfortunately, the breakingeighty.com and the mygolfspy.com are two of the reviews I read when I suggested my wife purchase me the Arccos. Sadly I have learned those those two reviews are, in my opinion, the non-objective ones :(  

First, that was a GREAT review @IanW. Thanks for the write-up.

I've stumbled onto the breakingeighty site a while ago, and it smells off. I remember looking into the guy who posts everything there, because he makes life seem so easy- just blog and get ad revenue. Start your business and travel. Lalala, life is so grand... it just seemed like he was pushing products, more than sharing his story on breaking 80. He did a review on Game Golf as well- perhaps even contrasting GG v. Arccos. I quickly turned away and thought it was fishy. Just my recollection, anyway- I could be wrong.

But welcome to TST. Look forward to other insights you may share on this crazy sport.

[RandallT]

22 hours ago, dzclarkcpa said:

One thing I wish Arccos had, that GG didn't have at the time and not sure they do yet, is an ability to tag the flag. It gets pretty close when I have a tap in, but when I make a long one (rare indeed), I have to remember to go in and tag the flag. I know it would be off by whatever the GPS limitations are, but it would be nice to be able to double tap my putting handle, or something, and get the flag location. Seems that should not be that hard for either system to do.

OP, how does one use GG without the tags?

1. Yes, GG now lets you tag the flag by editing your round later. You can move every shot's starting and end point. The final shot's end point is the flag hopefully    Agreed re: flag location. If Arccos is weak on setting the flag location, then its data is somewhat meaningless. I've cranked through the numbers manually, and seriously- if the flag is not accurate for approaches, short game, and putts.... forget it. You might as well get a random number generator to assign yourself a skill level for each area.

2. There is an app that runs like a traditional phone golf app (GolfLogix, SwingBySwing, GolfShot, etc). It defeats the purpose of the simplicity of the GG tags, of course. I was a gadget guy for a couple years as the market started to mature, but over time, I have grown to appreciate a device-free round. Part of why I like golf is to be device free, frankly- and my sense is that more people are becoming that way. We fiddle with our phones enough in life, so who wants to be pulling out the phone every time you take a shot to squint at the screen and make some keystrokes (even if they're simple ones).

[dzclarkcpa]

2 hours ago, RandallT said:

1. Yes, GG now lets you tag the flag by editing your round later. You can move every shot's starting and end point. The final shot's end point is the flag hopefully    Agreed re: flag location. If Arccos is weak on setting the flag location, then its data is somewhat meaningless. I've cranked through the numbers manually, and seriously- if the flag is not accurate for approaches, short game, and putts.... forget it. You might as well get a random number generator to assign yourself a skill level for each area.

Arccos has that same type thing where you can move the flag. I would like to be able to track how many feet of putts I make, as that seems to be a better indication of how I am putting. But I don't think it uses any of the that information (I could be wrong).

[IanW]

A gentleman from the Arccos quality assurance team reached out to me and provided me with some 'tips' and some updates as to a few of the issues I was experiencing. 

 

He stated that using the Web UI to edit a round was a very common feature. It is in their feature pipeline. IMO, this should be at the front of the pipeline. I reiterated this to him. If I could edit my round online I could overlook all the other issues (or they would have been non-issues because they would be trivially fixed).

 

He also stated there is a known bug that could be causing my +10 approach handicap. They are pushing a new release out today/tonight to fix it. I will be using this new version for my round this weekend and my regular Monday round.

 

Apparently there is a lag between updates on the phone app and updates on the web UI. Being a software developer myself for the last 17 years I find this quite bizarre. I would expect updates on the phone app would simply push to a REST api on their servers. I would then expect both the web UI and the phone app to use this same REST api. But it sounds like they have a different architecture going on or other constraints that I am not aware of. I accept this and will, later today, do a comparison of what I see on the phone app versus the web UI.

 

Lastly, he suggested my issues with the starting tee box could be a result of me selecting the incorrect set of 9 holes on the course selector. I do have an extremely good memory but can't be 100% sure I selected the exact courses properly. I will be extra cautious with this for my next few attempts.

 

Ian

18 minutes ago, dzclarkcpa said:

Arccos has that same type thing where you can move the flag. I would like to be able to track how many feet of putts I make, as that seems to be a better indication of how I am putting. But I don't think it uses any of the that information (I could be wrong).

Yep. It does. The problem I find is it is very hard to move it with any accuracy on the phone app. Again, one of the reasons I would like an edit feature on the web ui :) Or, perhaps the imagery of my course is just poor :(

 

 

[natureboy]

1 hour ago, IanW said:

A gentleman from the Arccos quality assurance team reached out to me and provided me with some 'tips' and some updates as to a few of the issues I was experiencing. 

 

He stated that using the Web UI to edit a round was a very common feature. It is in their feature pipeline. IMO, this should be at the front of the pipeline. I reiterated this to him. If I could edit my round online I could overlook all the other issues (or they would have been non-issues because they would be trivially fixed).

 

He also stated there is a known bug that could be causing my +10 approach handicap. They are pushing a new release out today/tonight to fix it. I will be using this new version for my round this weekend and my regular Monday round.

 

Apparently there is a lag between updates on the phone app and updates on the web UI. Being a software developer myself for the last 17 years I find this quite bizarre. I would expect updates on the phone app would simply push to a REST api on their servers. I would then expect both the web UI and the phone app to use this same REST api. But it sounds like they have a different architecture going on or other constraints that I am not aware of. I accept this and will, later today, do a comparison of what I see on the phone app versus the web UI.

 

Lastly, he suggested my issues with the starting tee box could be a result of me selecting the incorrect set of 9 holes on the course selector. I do have an extremely good memory but can't be 100% sure I selected the exact courses properly. I will be extra cautious with this for my next few attempts.

 

Ian

Yep. It does. The problem I find is it is very hard to move it with any accuracy on the phone app. Again, one of the reasons I would like an edit feature on the web ui :) Or, perhaps the imagery of my course is just poor :(

 

 

Thanks for the update.

[dzclarkcpa]

Thanks @IanW for the update. 

I have noticed a big lag in the updating from phone to web. I usually set with my phone, and review the web and make changes. Honestly, I have quit expecting it to be anywhere near instant update, and just come back the next day.

Interesting about the approach handicap. Mine is always higher than I felt like it should be, based on how I hit the ball and never changed as much as I expected it too from one round to the next for really different days approaches. Maybe this fixes it.

PS.....thanks for becoming my Arccos help and information desk!!

[IanW]

Another update :)

As mentioned, I had a conversation with an Arccos quality assurance person (ie: not support people). I was asked to update the app and try again. So I did :)

I played a links style course called Tarandowah. Pulled up to the first tee, fired up the app and away we went. Everything looked good. Found me on the tee, found my approach shot, got my pitch, tracked my two putts. Nice! Off and running.

 

I pretty much fixed every pin position on the front nine. Which isn't a big deal, I just wanted it to be perfect as I want to get useful stats. I don't get to play or practice that much, so when I do I want to be practicing the right stuff.

 

Everything was going perfectly until 11. On route to the green I decided to have a quick look at the app (usually reserved for after the hole). I was met with the following screenshot:

 

 

Well that's not great. For some reason, every hole beyond 11 had this black screen :( Even worse, going backwards now all the holes back to 6 had this same black screen :(

 

I have an email in to the QA representative I had mentioned. Given the July 4th weekend I am hoping for a response middle of this week. I will report back when I have more information.

 

Ian

 

On 01/07/2016 at 10:15 AM, dzclarkcpa said:

Thanks @IanW for the update. 

I have noticed a big lag in the updating from phone to web. I usually set with my phone, and review the web and make changes. Honestly, I have quit expecting it to be anywhere near instant update, and just come back the next day.

PS.....thanks for becoming my Arccos help and information desk!!

I find this lag to be a bit frustrating as I would typically update as soon as I get home while everything is fresh in my head. 

 

[IanW]

I finally had a chance to look at my round from Friday on the web UI. Unfortunately, straight away on the first hole I see discrepancies between the phone app (where I applied some corrections) and the web UI. I have let the folks at Arccos know but thought I would post this here for completeness.

 

Attached are screenshots of the app and the web ui for hole 1. Please no comments on my extremely poor back 9 :)

 

 

I should also point out that on the web UI the holes that are currently black on my phone actually show up fine. Of course I need to do a bunch of correcting on them. Hopefully the phone app will get fixed up before I forget where the shots went :)

[IanW]

Just a quick update here. I am still in discussion with the folks at Arccos. There are a few problems that are still ongoing. They are working on fixes for various things. I have been added to the list of beta testers for some new refactoring they are going to be doing.

 

In the meantime I am going to play around with a few other shot tracking systems. I believe Sky Golf has one, as well as game golf. My brother has begun testing the GameGolf system using just the tags and his phone. He has had some issues with it and is in contact with the folks at GameGolf to resolve them. It sounds like it is likely an issue with his phone. I will likely let him continue with the game golf system.

 

Cheers

Ian

[BeemerK12S]

I, too, am looking for a swing analyzer and finding it difficult to find  truly objective, comprehensive comparisons between the various devices/systems.

On the point of butt-mounted (sounds painful!) devices, is there any danger that they will get damaged as I carefully(!) throw my clubs into the bag after each shot?

Any links to comparisons with other devices (Zepp, SkyPro, etc.) would be appreciated.

[iacas]

2 hours ago, BeemerK12S said:

I, too, am looking for a swing analyzer and finding it difficult to find  truly objective, comprehensive comparisons between the various devices/systems.

…

Any links to comparisons with other devices (Zepp, SkyPro, etc.) would be appreciated.

Arccos is not a swing analysis tool.

[IanW]

3 hours ago, BeemerK12S said:

I, too, am looking for a swing analyzer and finding it difficult to find  truly objective, comprehensive comparisons between the various devices/systems.

On the point of butt-mounted (sounds painful!) devices, is there any danger that they will get damaged as I carefully(!) throw my clubs into the bag after each shot?

Any links to comparisons with other devices (Zepp, SkyPro, etc.) would be appreciated.

As @iacas said, the Arccos is not a swing analysis tool, but a pseudo shot statistic tool. It lets you track where your shots landed and what club was used to get it there.

With regards to the Arccos and danger that it will get damaged, I do not personally believe that to be the case. The butt mounted device seems very robust. I am not concerned at all with damaging it with typical use in my bag.