Striker Golf, Revisited...

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Hi gang --

 

Just curious - is anyone using the Striker Golf GPS app?  We discussed it here last year with some pretty positive results.

 

I used it several times last summer and fall and found it very easy to use - particularly like the real-time scorekeeping and the social aspect.   My company is having a golf outing this summer and I plan to make sure the whole group has it locked and loaded.  

 

Apparently they're starting their full product launch - iPhone and Android - as we speak.  Last year was beta testing - anxious to see what they've been able to come up with.

 

Peace out...

[dru_]

I still use it fairly often.  all of my solo rounds.  At this point, the only weakness I have with it that limits my usage is the inability to keep score for a group when the other players are not also users.  I understand why it works that way, but it means that I often fall back to other options for a group that isn't all users.

[furu]

For tournaments and groups I'd take a look at the Gamebook app. 

[Golfgal]

I have used a Sky Caddie since 2008 and although it served its purpose in terms of calculating front, middle, back distances to the green, it didn't give me the yardage info I needed from arbitrary areas on the course.  And annual course subscription of $65 was a ripoff IMHO.

I also bought a Bushnell Rangefinder, but it was useless when the pin/target wasn't within my line of site (i.e. when I was communing with nature in the woods ).  It never worked well for me (found it flakey and unreliable) even after I sent it back for repairs that took two months out of my golf season.

 

So I started looking around for a golf app for my iPhone.  I had heard about Striker and discovered that it not only provided all that Sky Caddie does, it allowed me to choose a spot where I wanted to lay up, give me the exact yardage to that point and then the yardage from that point to the pin.

 

It also provided a lot of bonus features I didn't realize existed, such as the ability to play more types of games beyond stroke play, such as match play, best ball, etc.  It automatically updates my handicap and keeps track of all my stats like GIR, # of putts, fairways hit, etc. 

 

I'd heard that GPS apps can drain your phone battery often before your round is over. I can't speak for the other apps, but I had no problems with Striker in terms of battery drain.

 

I think it's a cool app, fun to use, helpful with club selection and course management and for showing me where I need to focus on improvement in my game.

 

I recommend trying it out.

 

[furu]

Skycaddie has incredibly accurate measurements. They walk the course, I've interviewed one of them when he was mapping a local course. Comparing an app gps based on google maps to the best gps system is just unfair to the app. Skycaddie wins, and if you want the best service you pay for it. They have different plans, cheap/simple and advanced. And Skycaddie doesn't just give you front/center/back. It depends on the device. 

 

Talking a product up by talking someone down - and hitting them while they're on the ground - is always the wrong way to do it.

 

Over here gps apps are losing ground to first of all gps watches.

[BK in TEXAS]

Talking a product up by talking someone down - and hitting them while they're on the ground - is always the wrong way to do it.

 

Over here gps apps are losing ground to first of all gps watches.

Ya..that first post kinda sounds like a shill...but whatever......that's neither here nor there.

 

If all you need is F-C-B the watch is hands down the quickest and most convenient.  I wear the GPS watch and carry a laser on my push-cart.  The laser has been coming out less and less frequently......especially as I get to know a course.

[RoverRick]

I was one of the original volunteers to try this app out, however, because of the renovations my course was going through, the Striker Golf App was not up to date. I had agreed to test out the score keeping and social part of the app, but about that time there was a cell tower problem and I kept loosing cell reception at the course.  This was corrected in a week or so but by then, I was not in the app testing mood.

 

As far as the inability to update the course quickly, it turns out that some apps use Google maps and some Yahoo maps or something like that and it is dependent on the mapping company.  Not Skycaddie, because they came out and rewalked the course when I called them.

 

Mobitee and Bushnell were able to update within 14 days of me calling them and explaining that my course had been renovated and the information they had was not current.  After numerous attempts with Striker. they simply could not update their info on my course because the mapping company they use.  I could understand that.  Well, last week I was going to play a different course and attempted to use the Striker.  After 4 attempts I left it alone and went to Mobitee.

 

It kept asking me if I wanted to begin my round now, and would go no further.  That night I attempted to see if they had updated my course yet, and same problem.  It also asked me if I wanted to upgrade my membership, which as part of the test group I thought I had the premium membership, but then again, since I was not able to test.

 

I use my old SkyCaddie with the basic package for my course, and Mobitee for course I visit and Gamebook for social scoreboard on those occasion where I may wish to use it.  I really do not want to use a phone base app on a daily basis.