hendog

The thing that baffles me is that it is just Bluetooth and that is a specification that is independent from the OS or hardware. What is most likely happening is that Apple adds features or slightly modifies the spec to keep some accessory market share for itself and partners. This then forces companies like Garmin to either pick one or potentially over extend themselves from an IT perspective to support both. Regarding the original question, I have seen no where on the internet that explicitly confirms the support (first hand user experience), even on Garmin's site. The best I found was this page: http://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?caseId=%7bbbfc9660-8f77-11e3-d5f4-000000000000%7d This would lead most fair minded people to believe the Approach S4 WILL work on Android for the listed devices. In the end I opted to go with the Bushnell Neo XS. I decided simpler was better. I don't need a smart watch, just a number to the center. (If I want a smart watch I'll grab a Samsung watch which I am tempted to do...) Thanks for the discussion.

Searched all over the forums but could not find a definitive answer. I have a Galaxy S4 phone running Android 4.4.4. Will the Garmin S4 talk to it? Make or break for me on this device. Thx!

Mathematical average is rarely a useful stat for the reasons being expressed here. Standard Deviation, Median and other methods yield much better results (for example removing outliers such as topped drives, drives into a hazard or even extra long drives down wind or in unusual conditions). Remember that there are lies, damned lies and statistics. Numbers can be sliced and diced many ways to help prove whatever point you're trying to make.

Curious how people do this Easiest is just to mentally take note of things that have been costing you strokes and working on them. I've seen and currently use the Short Game / Long Game Handicaps to split it into those two areas. Lately I've been going all OCD on it and breaking it into 6 areas: Tee Shots, Putting, Iron Accuracy, Iron Ball Striking, Club Selection and Chipping/Pitching. I'll go back through a round and attribute each dropped stroke to one category and then see if one particular area stands out over several rounds. For example the last couple rounds my Iron Accuracy and Ball Striking has cost me the most strokes (push/pull or hook, thin or fat etc) so tonight I headed to the range and focused on those two things the most. Of course all these areas can always get better but I am trying to keep everything moving steadily in the right direction and don't want one particular area to get way out of whack (e.g. my game is great but I just can't putt or I just can't get off the tee in good shape etc).

I think for the most part we are agreeing. I don't have the greatest mechanics but I am pretty good at making adjustments during a round. But if my tempo is all over the place then the results are all over the place and its harder for me to make an adjustment. If my tempo overall is consistent then the results start to normalize and if I am doing something mechanically wrong the evidence piles up and I can make an adjustment. So I guess I am saying that my tempo or lack there of can distort my results thus preventing me from understanding what is going on. Of course I don't work with an instructor so I have to rely on my feel and ultimately the results where as an instructor could see through the inconsistent results and identify a root cause. Perhaps that is the real point of contention here.

This made me laugh. Your head has a mind of its own :) I know the feeling.

I certainly won't sit here and tell you Tempo is the difference between a 20 handicap and a 10 but I know personally for me that a poor tempo can get in the way of what I am trying to do and add 3-5 strokes if the mistakes are big enough. Perfect example last weekend. Two almost identical par 3s. First one my tempo was perfect and I hit a 4i hole high and made birdie. Next one I got a little quick with my body and wiped it and was lucky it didn't get wet. Chipped it on and 2 putted for a Bogey. So I guess my point is that a good tempo won't fix bad mechanics but a bad tempo can mess up good mechanics. (edit) Phan52 said it well

Try the Tour Tempo stuff. They have some nice tempo beats and songs for several different tempo ratios. As was said before, you can listen on your phone or ipod while you practice and just follow the beats. They have some good theory too on the ratio of the back swing and down swing. I have not used it religiously but I will come back to it from time to time or even just make the sounds myself if I get in a funk. Bump, BumpBump. Bump, BumpBump. Check it out and the Bumps will make more sense :)

"Stay There" "Be Right" "Come Back" "Keep Coming" "Hang On" "Go!" "STOP!!!" "Get Down!" "Get Up!" "Be Nice" "Sit Down" These are but a few of the choice phrases that my ball and I use to communicate.

Ok I am out of your range but it was not long ago that I was in it. The way I made the jump was by eliminating the blow ups. Play smarter. Take my medicine when I hit a bad shot and get it back into the fairway rather than taking any more chances. Club down off the tee. And yes, short game is big especially if you are up in the upper 30's in putts but I almost found it better to worry less about it and just roll the ball instead of hovering over it and stressing about it. Get out of your own my. Finally, when you play, play. Your only focus should be "make ball go towards target". Work on your swing at the range and play golf on the course.

IMHO, if you have played enough golf then this should be clear. Your best rounds don't come because you suddenly had 20 putts compared to your normal 34 or chipped in 5 times. The variances just aren't that big. Your best rounds are (usually) when you were in the zone off the tee. I play with a guy (around 18-19 HI) who hits a huge slice. Always gets him in trouble and he's got an uphill battle on just about every hole. One round he just wasn't slicing it as bad and it was more of a fade. He hit fairway after fairway and that same swing translated to his approaches and he hit green after green. Ironically he missed a bunch of putts that he could have made and still shot a 77. Not because his short game got better but because his terrible long game took a day off. By the way, the next round the slice was back and he didn't break 100.

I keep all-time stats (353 rounds over 10 years) and then stats for only those rounds that contribute to my handicap (so best 10 of last 20). Here are the stats from the latter with all-time in ( ): Handicap: 9.3 Average GIR: 6.4 (5.18) Putts per hole: 1.73 (1.83) Putts per GIR: 1.92 (2.08) Average score: 82.1 (89.88) Par 3 avg: 3.66 (3.84) Par 4 avg: 4.69 (5.08) Par 5 avg: 5.18 (5.99) Fairways: 41% (38%) Birdies: 1.6 (.76) Pars: 7.3 (5.93) Bogies: 6.8 (6.52) Double Bogies: 1.6 (2.99)

The last couple of days I have been giving my R9 one last chance at range to see if I can save some money. I've been gripping down on it about an inch and just focusing on hitting straight. I've had pretty good success and I think I could survive with it but what I can't tell at the range is if those shots would be any longer than my 3W. They come out so low that they are very "safe" but will require quite a bit of roll out to get extra distance beyond the 3W. I'll have to go and find a vacant hole tonight and hit a couple of each to see. If the distance is basically equivalent then I am going to have to make a change and I will start over with a good fitting.

In short yes. I only play in these things for charity events so I don't care. The guys in my group will usually cheat also but its usually just taking an extra mulligan that you didn't "buy" which already negates anything you do out there. The only time I ever played in what I would consider a "real" tournament that was a scramble format was a 3-man event and you had two groups together policing each other. Mulligans were allowed but they were strictly limited per player and you had to declare them and the other team kept track. In that event I did not assume cheating by the winner and not surprisingly we didn't see any ridiculous scores. I'm not saying there is always cheating in scrambles and I know that 4 good golfers can go crazy low but I just assume there will be pencil whipping, accept it and have fun.