Arccos Accuracy and Caddie

[inthecup]

I have been playing with Arccos for a couple years.  I like the data it gives me.  I do have to monitor what it is doing on the course because it misses shots, mostly putts or adds shots.  Bring 2 wedges to the green, drop one and it might record it as a shot.

I saw that they had an Apple Watch app that would give you the front middle back distances and allow you to modify putts, you still have to have your phone in your front pocket which does not bother me.  My thinking was, this is great, it ties all the data together and allows me to monitor the score on each hole and correct putts from the watch.  I have played 3-4 rounds using the apple watch for distance.  What I have found is that distances it gives are inconsistent and or incorrect.  I used to play with a Garmin watch and found it to be very accurate.  Comparing distances to the middle with a Garmin watch I was getting erratic distances.  Sometimes they were the same sometimes they were different by a lot.

An example would be standing 10 yards behind the 150 yard marker and it saying 145 when Garmin gets it right.  So the whole thing is a bust as far as the Apple watch portion for me.  As for Arccos in general I think the data is still good because it does not count outliers and the general distances are right.  I gave the app ample time to find the satellite but it still got some distances wrong.

Another thing I tried over the last few rounds was to use the Arccos Caddie function.  That is pretty interesting.  For the most part I decided to hit the club it suggested.  It takes into account the weather and prevailing wind if the green is up or down.  It definitely called for some clubs I would not have chosen and the results were generally good.  There were some instances where it was using erroneous distances mentioned earlier and I ignored the club selection.  It also does not know the course and does not take things you learned over time into account.  Some holes play short, over time I found playing to the front of the green is the best play because the ground is hard and the first bounce is big.  It does not know your lie so if you have a bad lie int he rough or a side hill lie that is going to produce a fade and shave distance you have to adjust.  It also can be a distraction pulling out your phone so much.  One of the interesting things is what club it tells you to pull from the tee.  It might say 3H and it will give you other choices.  As an example it will suggest 3H and say your predicted score will be 4.6.  you can choose 2H or D and it will say the predicted 2H score is 4.7 D 4.9.  It also does not know if you are having a great driving day and driver is the better choice from a confidence standpoint.  Overall I found Arccos caddie interesting and something to consider.  Knowing the prevailing wind is a big advantage.  There was a hole where it clubbed me up and I was dubious.  But it called out a good helping breeze that you couldn't really feel.  I took the suggestion and hit the green.  The three people I was playing with all hit it over.

 

This is not an Arccos endorsement.  I would suggest that having Arccos or Game golf is a good idea, it will help your score.  I did not like the idea of tagging clubs, I did not want to draw attention to what I was doing.

Edited July 11, 2018 by inthecup
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