KrakenR7

I'm Greg, a 3-point-something handicap in Durham, North Carolina. I played D3 college golf and after graduating, just didn't play for quite some time. I'm back and trying to cobble together some semblance of a game. In 2018, I upgraded by Ping i5's with some fresh i210s and availed myself of the offer of a free set of Arccos sensors, thinking that it would revolutionize my game. I'm not here to review Arccos, of course, but I'm always intrigued by the idea of data-informed decision-making and to do that, you, uh, have to have data. Plus they were "free." But what I'm realizing is that I'm basically only using it for club distance-tracking and what I need more help with is overall strategy, both in terms of bag makeup as well as course management.
So let's start off by saying that as a relatively long-time Arccos user, I'm ready to walk away from their platform. Arccos may have been free, but as they say, free like a free puppy, not free like a free beer. I've now paid two annual subscription fees totaling $200 and can't bring myself to get the Link for another $130 so I can leave my phone in my bag nor am I willing to pay several hundred more dollars to get their more in-depth insights. While Arccos' SGA gives me a breakdown of aspects of my game, what it doesn't do is give me tangible insights into how to work on each. For example, in a recent round I lost a couple strokes in Approach from the fairway. In reflecting on my round, I had a shanked PW, a thinned 7i, and a couple of wrong club selections that made my next shot very difficult (i.e. I missed in the wrong spot). I don't expect any system to pick up on two of those three, but when the insight is, "you need to work on shots from the fairway," I don't actually know how to operationalize that.
What I'm looking for from this product, which I admit I know very little about, is something that is less hassle than Arccos, doesn't charge me $100/year for the club distances I'm already pretty confident in, and gives me some insight into what aspects of my game need work and how to fix it.  I'm not nor will be a pro, I'm just a hack trying to be a little more competitive in my Saturday games and don't want to feel like I need a whole entourage of products, coaches, and trainers to make it happen. Am I asking too much? Maybe. But let's see what Shot Scope has to say first!
But I'm curious -- what do YOU want to see? What kinds of tests or wonderings do you have about this product?
Unboxing and First Thoughts
The product came quick and the packaging was sleek. I was pleasantly surprised at the overall presentation out of the box. Seemed really simple and straightforward.

 



I have pretty small wrists and wear a Garmin vivoactive 4 about 23 hours/day, so I was definitely interested in how this would feel. You can see the ShotScope is comparably sized but I will say it's quite a bit lighter. It does not, however, have a touch screen.

 
I received the package right before my Member-Guest tournament and decided that I should probably focus on the tournament and not trying new technology. But today I was able to get out for a round at a course I've never played to try and get as fresh a take on the watch as I could. Remember, these are first thoughts/hot takes and based on the fact that I haven't read anything about how this watch works other than its on-screen set-up prompts.
Initial Pros: Syncing courses could not be easier. Search for what you want and bam, it's ready to go. The watch is comfortable and I like not having my phone in my pocket anymore. Manual putting mode is really easy to use and 90+% of my shots through the day were picked up with absolutely no thought from me at all. The data analysis available in the app is excellent and arguably as good, if not better, than Arccos. I LOVE that it has leaderboard features! In reviewing my round later, the dashboard's GPS was unbelievably accurate. I have never had a single round on Arccos that didn't require shots to be moved and as best I could tell, all of my ShotScope GPS locations were exact. Very promising!
Initial Cons: Getting the watch connected (and later, re-connected) to my phone was PAINFUL. I had to restart both devices multiple times and it took probably 30 minutes to get it connected before the round to get the courses downloaded and then about the same after the round to get the round to show up in my phone's app. I have a SuperStroke putter grip, so no putter sensor for me. I also have a Cobra driver with Arccos built into the grip, so I couldn't install the driver sensor (I discovered that if I tap the loose sensor on the watch, it would register as a shot). Took 3 holes to figure out how to use manual putting consistently. Accidentally one-putted on #2 because I didn't realize once you mark the pin location, it advances you to the next hole. This is getting nitpicky, but I have 3 UI-related gripes: 1) the Android app is awful. Super clunky, inconsistently designed, and very difficult to navigate. 2) The front/middle/back default screen on the watch takes a fair amount of mental processing to interpret the data. This will decrease over time, but as a first-time user, it wasn't great. 3) The steps for confirming the round afterwards in the app desperately needs an overhaul. I was just tapping on random things to see what it wanted me to do. I didn't know what I needed to do, where I needed to tap, or how to close things out. I'm already not keen on the need for post-round confirmation and making it this complicated legitimately had me wondering if I should bow out of testing and let someone else try it out. But you can't get rid of me THAT easily... 🙂
UPDATE: Shout-out to Gavin from ShotScope who, upon reading this, sent me super helpful instructions about how to remove the Arccos sensor in my Cobra so that I can install the SS tag. Basically it just pops right out and you can screw in the tag like any other grip. Additionally, they sent us an additional tags including SuperStroke compatible tags that we can basically tape onto the putter through an adhesive backing on the tag. Clutch!

 
Looks & Feel - 8 out of 10
I think it's a premium product. So I'm going to compare it to premium products. I wish the watch laid flat (notice in the side-by-side with the Garmin how the SS is slightly raised) but I love the band. It's really durable-feeling material and I haven't had any issues cleaning it with just water or, more realistically, spit-shine. The graphics are functional and pragmatic, somewhere between "an engineer sketched these" and "we hired a designer to create some slick graphics." The fine folks at ShotScope were nice enough to send us an extra band. I had some issues getting one of the screws out while trying to swap the bands and gave up and I certainly wouldn't change bands before each round based on my outfit, but if you wanted a one-time change or had a breakage and needed to replace a band, I'm sure it would be fine.
Setup - 7 out of 15
This is the one area where ShotScope has the most room for improvement. I spent the first week with the device constantly frustrated by how many little quirks and idiosyncrasies there are in the system. For some, this could be a benefit. You can generally get up and running without really needing to learn the system and probably get some benefit fairly quickly and then just keep peeling layers of the onion as you go, discovering more features for weeks to come. I generally prefer to be given a user-tour through the most important features and, often, I like a periodic email with new tips/features that a new user might not know. I think this could greatly improve user onboarding. I was a full 3 weeks in before I realized there was a web dashboard in addition to my phone dashboard and the web dashboard has different stuff. I've covered most of my onboarding woes above already, so I won't rehash them, but I can imagine many golfers getting frustrated and giving up/reselling/getting a refund after a round or two just based on my onboarding experience. Lack of clarity/interpretability on various buttons persisted through use, but that's for a different section.
Accuracy - 14 out of 15
Scary accurate on any kind of full swing. Shot locations were dead-on and, anecdotally, far more accurate than using Arccos (phone-based). My only deduction here is when you get anywhere near the green, it automatically goes into putting mode, even if you're not on the green. To take it out of putting mode, the only way I've found is to walk well away from the green. In one case, I had to walk 30 yards away before a little 'X' appeared and I could get out of putting mode. In another instance, I finally just gave up and decided I'd fix it after the round. The accuracy I noticed here gave me a lot of confidence in some of the other on-course features of the watch.
On-Course - 27 out of 30
The putting interface/options leave something to be desired. I do like the idea of the automatic putting mode, but in practice I wound up with lots of 2-putts from 2 feet where it didn't appropriately register my putts. I'd say the automatic mode worked about 80% of the time, which is to say, as long as you can mentally go back through your round and you're aware of the length of every putt, it's reasonably easy to adjust post-round. As an aside, I was listening to an episode of the Hack it Out podcast and they were talking about how vital it is to get your putt distances as accurate as possible for strokes-gained purposes, especially up close. There's a world of difference between a 5 foot putt and a 7 foot putt, though maybe less important when outside of 30 feet. In this regard, I don't think any system is going to get it right. At least not any time soon. It's way too tough to be precise within 6 inches when using wrist-based GPS in a consumer-grade product.
Manual putting mode, when I remember to tag my putts, is great. Overall, very accurate. However, if you're a self-conscious golfer who doesn't like to interrupt the general flow of your foursome or you're a forgetful golfer who doesn't remember to tap his watch 2-5 times per green (Shut up. It was a huge green. Leave me alone.) then manual putting mode is not for you. I was playing in a best-ball match play tournament this past weekend and forgot to switch to auto mode and I basically just gave up on recording putts by about hole 3. I wish there were a way to 'pick up' while still recording a score and/or having everything else count. When you tap 'pick up' it acts like the hole didn't happen. In reality, I just had a two-footer conceded and didn't want to walk up to where the ball was, tap the watch, move over to the hole, wait a second for the GPS to catch up, then tap it again to suggest I holed out. To be clear, either of these modes are preferable to my Arccos experience, even after the most recent update which added multiple putt recording.  
Easily my favorite feature of the watch, which wasn't readily apparent and took about a month before I found it, is getting yardages to hazards/landmarks. When I'm playing a course or tee box that I don't know well, this is invaluable. It doesn't give club selection like Arccos Caddie does, but truth be told, that's not an Arccos feature that I ever utilize. I know folks do, I just don't have a need for it 90+% of the time. (If I know the number and the conditions, I can make a reasonable decision.) Some screen shots:
You can see a bunker left and a couple bunkers on the right. But other than that, it's a blind dogleg left that goes sharp downhill to a creek then aggressively uphill to a green. If you don't know this hole, you're making double. At least.

           
Note that it doesn't delineate what bunkers, just the numbers. In this instance, I know that 240 will cover both of them. But I can see 3. So which 2 of the three are we talking about here? One left and one right? So I scroll to the next screen. At this point, you know that 240 covers two of the bunkers but 248 puts the third back in range. But which one?? Go to third screen. HOLY CRAP THERE'S ANOTHER BUNKER? C'mon man. I can't even see that one! Where is it?! Next screen. Ah. Ok, so now you're saying if I can hit 275 or so, I'll clear everything and maybe get to 100 out. What the watch doesn't show you is that if you go past 150 in, you're in the rough with a downhill/sidehill lie and very likely going in the water at 316. Not sure how to capture that kind of info, but again, this is better than nothing. I hate this hole. Fine. Whatever. Bomb driver.
        


Mis-hit it. Good thing. Still made it past the bunkers and into the rough. 97 clears the water that I actually can't see because it's down the hill and then there are two bunkers. Again, I don't immediately know which is which but at least now I can see the flag. And for good measure (ha!), a picture looking back at the hole from the green. I hate this hole. I'm glad it's over.
A few holes later, you're presented with a risk-reward par 5 where you can decide how much to chew off. Thankfully, there's a yardage plate next to the tee markers.
  
Checking the watch and comparing to the hole ahead of me, I can sorta figure out what's what. Water straight ahead, bunkers left. Maybe some more bunkers way down there?
 
Oooook. Well. that's kinda unexpected. Why are there two water hazards? Is 214 to clear what it's reading as the shortest path over the water, which would align with the yardage plate? What if I go straight across? And where is this water hazard at 133 out, 152 fly? Ah, bunker left is 254. I'll just aim at that to be safe...
All of that to say, the on-course features of the watch are absolutely killer if you're a stat-tracker and you're just wanting some quick at-a-glance info about the hole. If you're wanting a course map like what you get on the phone in Arccos, keep moving. There's nothing to see here. I really wish there was a live-sync with the phone so I could look at it if I needed. But 99.9% of the time, I was thrilled to not have to pick up my phone several times per hole, I was thrilled to not have my phone in my pocket, and I was thrilled to have a phone battery not on red at the end of every round. (FWIW, I easily get 36 holes out of a single charge with the watch.)
I'll roll in my post-round commentary to the On-Course section.
I've already mentioned that I don't care for the required post-round review process, so I'll mostly skip rehashing that. I'll just say, if the review were to help me metacognitively reflect on my performance and what I could've done better, it would be a huge benefit to me as a player. Instead, it just feels like I'm confirming that the technology worked as it was supposed to. In that regard, the post-round review feels like I'm just picking up any possible slack/gaps in the product platform. 95% of the time, I'm just clicking check-check-check and moving on, but sometimes I do need to adjust a couple shots here and there. It would so sick if, during this process, there was like a 'ghost mode' like from Mario where it showed previous shot patterns and gave me things to think about like, "when you hit driver here, your scoring average is X but when you hit 3-wood, it goes here and your scoring average is Y." That would make the post-round review both enjoyable and useful.
I really like the stat tracking Shot Scope provides. I think it's every bit as good as Arccos with exactly two exceptions:
1) As best I can tell, you can't look at SGA for a single round. You can look at "Last One" in the filter, but if you wanted to look at your morning round and compare it to yesterday afternoon's round, I don't think you can. (Please let me know if this is incorrect!)
2) The SGA in Shot Scope is normed to a full 18 and doesn't have near the granularity of handicaps that Arccos has. This is not immediately intuitive and I was confused how I lost 4 shots in 9 holes vs scratch while shooting 37. And there were a few times when I wanted to compare to, say, a +2 instead of Scratch or Tour Pro, which are the only two options for better players. I know, I know, it's a tiny segment of the market. But IMHO, Shot Scope is a better device for better players vs Arccos. It's less obtrusive and more readily USGA rules-compliant (my Arccos has randomly turned itself OFF of tournament mode, which is NOT COOL and cost me strokes). But if I'm a +2 (in my dreams), I can really only compare myself to Tour Pro, which is still miles better than me and probably an unrealistic goal to chase until I'm +5 or better. One thing that neither platform really delivers are actionable insights. I wish it would pop up little notifications (or even emails!) like, "it looks like your 5 iron and 6 iron are going about the same distance, even on your best shots. Do you need both?" something like this would at least make me pause and consider if that's an area of my game that needs tweaking. (And yes, I'm getting rid of my 5 iron soon. Sucker.)
The browser-based dashboard really is a killer app here. The phone app is fine, but if you really want to dig into your game, you need to use the browser. I really didn't get to explore as much of these stats as I would have liked in the short amount of time I had (since I didn't know they existed until much later...) but I snagged some screenshots so you could at least see it. Tee shots first then approach then putting. And I threw in a Leaderboard down there as well, which is a fun addition to the platform. Some of you Spies are stupid good golfers, btw. FWIW, I never used the 'mark as positional' that other reviewers are mentioning. A) I don't know what that means and B) also not covered in user onboarding as to when that would or would not be advantageous. I suppose it would affect the Approach dots that were or weren't "successful"? What does "successful" mean, you ask? No idea. Also not readily apparent to me.

  
  
 

 
Miscellaneous - 10 out of 10
Shot Scope customer service is REMARKABLY good. Almost Sub70-level good. I've had three interactions with Arccos and none have left me 'wowed' like Shot Scope did. Shot Scope really cares about their customers. Charging is fast and the battery lasts long enough that I typically leave it in my bag (since I typically play 9 holes 3-4 times/week and only get out for 18 about once/week). The tags are small and unobtrusive (MUUUUUUCH better than the Arccos tags). Nothing else worth deducting that hasn't been accounted for already 🙂 
Play it or Trade it? - 19 out of 20
I'm playing it. I'm going to cancel my Arccos membership when it runs out next month and game Shot Scope full-time. I love that it's a one-and-done purchase and I can buy extras if I want them, but I feel like I'm getting the full use of the product with this "basic" kit. With Arccos, I just feel nickel-and-dimed. The tags are already more expensive than the whole Shot Scope system PLUS there's an annual fee PLUS if you don't want to use your phone, you need to buy Link PLUS if you wanted advanced data/analytics, it's hundreds of more dollars. Simply put, Shot Scope is the best value on the market for golfers ready to understand their game and get a deeper look into areas of strength and improvement. I subtracted a single point here only because I'm a Garmin user and I really wish I could get the best of both worlds. Basically I just want step tracking and data interoperability between the platforms. I know, I'm needy. If there were a Shot Scope app on my Garmin somehow (I know... it wouldn't work with the RFID tags) then I'd be done. I wouldn't look anywhere else. (I know there are Garmin tags available. Don't tempt me. I already have a problem with buying things and I really can't imagine that Garmin would do as good a job as Shot Scope in all other areas of game analysis.) I did work out a compromise though. I just put my Garmin watch in my front pocket. Boom. Step tracking and calorie adjustments.
Conclusion and Final Score - 85/100
TL;DR - Stick with it, learn the interface and the features, and this will absolutely be a favorite for anyone serious about improving their game.