Good Devices or Apps for Measuring Distance of my Shots

[TheGoose]

Hi guys n gals,

I'm wondering on what people are using for tracking distances on shots made, Etc.

I'm trying to figure out how my shots turn out and a good way to track these. Looking for possible suggestions on inexpensive GPS' or a good App to use. I'm in Canada, and if anyone has any good suggestions that would be greatly appreciated!

 

[BuckeyeNut]

Goose....get a laser.  Apps are bullsh!t..........If you want to know real yardages, there is no substitute.  

[Pretzel]

I'm with @BuckeyeNut on suggesting a laser rangefinder. Smartphone GPS currently can locate your position to within 2-3 meters of your actual location, but that accuracy drops to being 10 meters or more away from your position depending on the signal strength. If a course has any dead zones it becomes useless, and it isn't legal in most tournaments or competitions to use a phone app to measure distance.

I'm personally not a fan of regular GPS devices simply because of the long satellite acquisition times and the inability to measure distances to specific objects. A laser lets me measure to the top of a bunker, or to a specific tree, or find the carry required to take a certain path over a hazard. The best I ever got from a GPS device was the measurement to the front whatever bunkers they felt like marking when they surveyed the course. 

Decent laser rangefinders can be had for a bargain price nowadays too, with a new Bushnell 201550 costing only $99 new from Amazon, or similar items priced even cheaper on the used market. My rangefinder is definitely the most used tool in my golf ball, moreso than a golf ball or any single club, so it definitely makes sense to get one if you're in the market for a distance measuring device. 

[BuckeyeNut]

My home course has GPS in the carts and I hardly pay attention to it. LOL.....  Only on rare occasions... The only time I even bother to look at a GPS reading is on the rare occasion when I have a long carry over a hazard for a 2nd shot on a par5 and I am too lazy to shoot it with my laser when a "ballpark" yardage is good enough.  95% of the time.....I opt to use my laser to get my yardages. 

Edited March 15, 2017 by BuckeyeNut

[Club Rat]

5 hours ago, TheGoose said:

I'm trying to figure out how my shots turn out and a good way to track these.

Get the Game Golf app. It's free and can be used to track distance of every club in your bag.
You will need to create a user profile which is cloud based storage of each game.
Also, if you decide you like the application, the Game Golf Classic is a great deal. They sell new around $100 or pick up a used item, $50ish.

To see an example, look for the logo on members profiles.

[klineka]

28 minutes ago, Club Rat said:

Get the Game Golf app. It's free and can be used to track distance of every club in your bag.
You will need to create a user profile which is cloud based storage of each game.
Also, if you decide you like the application, the Game Golf Classic is a great deal. They sell new around $100 or pick up a used item, $50ish.

To see an example, look for the logo on members profiles.

How is just having the game golf app different than having the actual belt loop thing that you tap to each club? Is the app free to use by itself, and then you can add the belt loop and club pieces separately? Would you still get the same level of detail and stats without using the belt loop piece, or does just using the app by itself only get you your score?

[Club Rat]

1 minute ago, klineka said:

How is just having the game golf app different than having the actual belt loop thing that you tap to each club?

You can use the app to track shots.

 

3 minutes ago, klineka said:

Is the app free to use by itself,

Yes

3 minutes ago, klineka said:

then you can add the belt loop and club pieces separately?

Yes again, if you care to purchase the receiver and tags.

 

5 minutes ago, klineka said:

Would you still get the same level of detail and stats without using the belt loop piece,

Yes again, simply create a user profile on the website. You can also create your profile using your phone but on a PC or tablet is easier.

7 minutes ago, klineka said:

does just using the app by itself only get you your score?

You get the full benefit without the receiver.

[No Mulligans]

5 hours ago, klineka said:

How is just having the game golf app different than having the actual belt loop thing that you tap to each club? Is the app free to use by itself, and then you can add the belt loop and club pieces separately? Would you still get the same level of detail and stats without using the belt loop piece, or does just using the app by itself only get you your score?

With just the app you'll be entering in your club used before each shot.  That's a bit of fiddling with the phone, but it's a good way to see if you like the data GameGolf accumulates.

I found the GameGolf app to be unusable as I don't like fiddling with my phone while playing (out of the pocket, turn on, indicate to the app what club you are going to use, turn off, back in the pocket, hard to read the screen in the sunlight, especially hard with dark glasses, and even more so if they are prescription dark glasses).  Still, it's a free and good but tedious way to test the product. 

With the belt clip all you do is tap the butt of the club you are using to the device before each shot.  It becomes second nature and you eventually become hardly aware you are doing it.  If you like the app and data you'll probably want to buy the hardware.

[Hacker James]

this topic is often bantered back and forth with proponent's enthusiasm on both sides. Although I would agree that the range finders are superior in many respects, I simply do not like having to stop and scope and have often witnessed many doing so for just about every shot and not even coming close. If I want to know how far a particular shot went, I use my Garmin Approach GPS Watch. I just hit the menu for shot distance, take the shot, walk up to the ball and glance at my wrist. It is accurate within a few yards as compared with range finders. I can also see distances for 150 and 200 yard layups, distance to front, center, and back of the green, and keep a running score which is automatically uploaded to the cloud for future reference and/or comparison with others'.  However,most of the time, I just leave it in distance to the green mode and not have to do anything as it adjusts to each hole as you approach the tee box. OTOH, the laser range finder can not be beat for exact measurements to specific spots i.e. mound, tree, hazard, whatever...

It makes a darned good digital watch also.

Costco had them on sale a short while ago. 

summary:  Better than an app, argueably not as good as a rangefinder but maybe more versatile.  Opinions vary.

Edited March 15, 2017 by Hacker James

[baller7345]

One argument for the use of a gps app over a range finder is price.

I use, Free Caddie Pro, and you can have a basic version that shows the distance to the middle of the green for free. Pay $1.99 and you get access to middle of the green, bunkers, water hazards, etc.  Also lets you track strokes, measure shot distances, and has a disembodied voice that will tell you yardages (can be muted).  Its not perfect, as there are a couple of holes where the GPS points for the front or back of the greens are a little off and the back of the green marker for #18 on my home course is off by about 40 yards, but with the map view you can quickly drag a marker to anywhere on the course and get a yardage.  Of course as some have stated it is probably not allowed in competitions, but otherwise I've never been able to justify paying for a laser range finder while I generally can get it with a few yards my phone.  Also, did I mention it's only $1.99.

[No Mulligans]

This is going off topic.

The title is misleading, please read the first post.

The OP is asking about tracking and accumulating shot data.  It is not about getting distances before a shot but getting the distance of the shot, after.

The original Post:

11 hours ago, TheGoose said:

Hi guys n gals,

I'm wondering on what people are using for tracking distances on shots made, Etc.

I'm trying to figure out how my shots turn out and a good way to track these. Looking for possible suggestions on inexpensive GPS' or a good App to use. I'm in Canada, and if anyone has any good suggestions that would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

[chilepepper]

For distances of each shot I hit I just use a phone app. I feel it's pretty accurate. I'm generally within two yards when standing side by side of someone with a laser when measuring to the pin, middle of green. I'm comfortable with the accuracy. With a laser I imagine you would have to walk to your ball , you just hit, then shoot a good target at exactly where you last shot was hit from

Edited March 15, 2017 by chilepepper

[PhraseUniverse]

Game Golf is what you're looking for. If you have an Apple Watch, Track My Golf also works. It uses the watch the track the distance of each shot you take. 

Edited March 15, 2017 by PhraseUniverse

[baller7345]

35 minutes ago, No Mulligans said:

This is going off topic.

The title is misleading, please read the first post.

The OP is asking about tracking and accumulating shot data.  It is not about getting distances before a shot but getting the distance of the shot, after.

The original Post:

 

Whoops.

I guess I can stand by my original post as it does let you do all that the OP asked.  It's by no means the best at that though.

[RichWW2]

I use the Swing By Swing app on my phone for distances and score keeping.  Not sure if there are any better or worse apps out there, but it happened to be the first free one I found on the app store when I was looking.  Seems to be pretty accurate on distance.  They try to get you to pay for the premium version by holding back a few of the features, but it is good enough for what I use it for.

[CMartis]

I use Swing by Swing as well. Seems to work pretty good. I plan on purchasing The Garmin Approach x40 sometime in the near future so I'm sure I'll switch to their app when I do.  

[TechnologyGolfer]

If you're going to get a shot tracker to measure the distance of your shots, why not get one that can do much more. Some of the new ones record your swing data on every shot, such as swing speed, swing path and even tempo. That's great info to see on a shot per shot basis after your round and you can see it right on your smartphone. (IE: Why did I hook my drive OB on 18. Oh, I see.. my tempo was too fast.)

[Club Rat]

2 hours ago, TechnologyGolfer said:

If you're going to get a shot tracker to measure the distance of your shots, why not get one that can do much more. Some of the new ones record your swing data on every shot, such as swing speed, swing path and even tempo.

In reference to what type of device?

2 hours ago, TechnologyGolfer said:

(IE: Why did I hook my drive OB on 18. Oh, I see.. my tempo was too fast.)

If it could only tell you before you swing.