GolfSpy_BOS

Before I begin, I want to give a big thank you to both MGS and Callaway for continuing to provide testing opportunities amidst the Supply Chain Crisis we are experiencing. When I'm not moonlighting as a tester here, my day job is a Supply Chain Consultant and it's been a hectic few months working with different clients to deploy solutions to accelerate and integrate their Supply Chain and Production technologies. Needless to say, I know that unlike potentially in years past these putters definitely would have ended up in the hands of a customer if they weren't in ours, so thank you again. Ok now on to the fun stuff:
This is my 3rd test (2nd club test: see my Ben Hogan Hybrid Review), and my first involving one of the big 4 OEMs. I'm a 5.5 handicap from Atlanta, Ga. I was down to a 3.8 at the end of last season, but this year work has been significantly busier and I haven't been able to get the practice or rounds in that I got last year. My game mainly consists of a consistent in play drive albeit usually between 255-270 with consistent mid-iron play and the strongest part of my game is by far my putting. This is why I was so excited to test a putter that has such rave reviews both from users and tested well in the Most Wanted. I currently game a spider mini from 2017 35" in length. My putting game is rock solid within 10 feet. I currently gain 7.1 Strokes compared to other ~6 handicaps from within 10 feet according to my Arccos dashboard. I struggle with mid-range putts and I'm more likely to 3 putt from 20 feet than I am from 50 currently which is needless to say frustrating. I'm hoping that if the testing goes well that the white-hot insert can potentially help me get a more consistent pace on those mid-length putts.
I'll start with the unboxing and specs. I am testing the OG #7 as I've always loved that head shape. I remember playing with the original version of this in the local Edwin Watts as a kid comparing it to the Ping Craz-E (what kid doesn't want a crazy putter). I got the #7 in 35" length and set to 1 degree flat with the stroke lab shaft. Like all testing, I was waiting anxiously following the live tracker on UPS for the putter to get in. 



I love the look of this putter from head to toe. The headcover is a little too early 2000s for me, but I rarely keep an OEM headcover in my bag. Currently my putter headcover is a Cherokee Town and Country Club cover, so I quickly replaced the headcover. The Silver pistol grip is another great touch that seamlessly transitions into the red stroke lab shaft.
 

After rolling 40 putts on my perfect practice putting mat from a variety of lengths, I missed 3 of 40 putts. I typically miss ~5-7 when putting with my current Spider Mini. The feel off the face was just pure and true. The morning after the putter arrived, I flew to Scottsdale for a bachelor party. On Friday, we played a round at Troon North and I played with the #7. I had 1 3-putt and didn't miss a single putt inside of 10 feet en route to a 77 (par 71). The 1 3 putt was more situational than an indictment on the putter. I ended up on a plateau about 20 feet past the cup and had to put straight down a hill left myself with about 12 feet left back up the hill. 
Some rain is pushing through the Southeast the next couple of days, but I'm going to continue to grind over some practice putts and have a few rounds planned for the next 2 weeks to test this even further. Come back for a more detailed analysis of the putter and to see if it can kick my putter of 4 1/2 years out of the bag!

Looks (9 out of 10)
I completely understand why the #7 head shape outlasted the WhiteHot putters originally and made a comeback with the reboot. Kevin Kisner still uses the #7 head shape and that + our below average driving distances are about the only things our golf games have in common. It's a comfortable head shape to line up and keeping the ball centered at the start by utilizing the prongs on the back. The standard pistol grip is definitely a great look too. 
The only reason I docked 1 point off the looks is that I prefer a single line on the center of the top of the putter face but as you can see below the #7 currently has 3 dots. If this was a single line it would've been a 10/10 for looks.
Sound and Feel (10 out of 10)
I wasn't sure about the white hot face sound during my first few practice sessions as it really is an extremely quiet face. I'm very much a feel putter, so feel and sound on mishits is really how I react and adjusting my lines during the round. After a few practice sessions and 9 holes, I noticed I became a little more focused on my line and stroke instead of how the ball was reacting. I started to notice my first putts were much more consistently ending up in the leather and just having tap ins for especially those mid range (10-30ft) putts that I previously struggled with. 
I've come to love the sound off the face, but it definitely takes some adjusting especially coming over from the Taylormade face which is a lot louder and firmer at impact. I would recommend getting a few 100 putts in during practice before playing a round. It will teach you a lot about the putter and the minute difference in the sound and feel on mishits.
Basic Characteristics (17 out of 20)
Normally when I'm testing a putter, I like to be able to test the putter from a variety of lengths and different sloping putts. Unfortunately (since my wife hasn't let me install a full putting green in our basement) the first week I had the putter the weather in Atlanta was really rough so I was putting purely on my perfect practice putting mat. I have a drill where I start from 2 ft away and take 5 putts and go back every 6 inches if I make 5 in a row. If I miss any, I go back to the beginning and start over. During my first time running this drill, I was able to complete the drill with the #7 without having to go back to the beginning. Having both strong accuracy and distance control from the beginning was the key component to me having confidence with the putter to begin.
Another drill I ran was one hand putting to test the stability of the face. This is really where I began to notice the stroke lab difference compared to the SpiderMini. The face stayed consistently straight through impact.
On-Course Performance (30 out of 30)
There is truly no better feeling than walking up to a green and knowing that you've got confidence in what's in your hand. My first round with the putter I had 1, 3 putt en route to a 6 over, 77, and during my second round at the Mclemore I had 2, 3 putts. I loved the putter feel through both rounds and you can see below that it performed extremely well. I played a scramble last weekend with friends and I anchored our putting crew, so I didn't often have many putts that mattered because the first guy would get the putt to within 2 putt range and then I would go for the make. Even on slower greens the putter continued to perform well.
 
Miscellaneous (6 out of 10)
Everything about this putter screams attention to detail and thoughtfulness. Bringing back a classic with modern milling and an upgraded multimaterial shaft. It really is hard to find something to complain about, but honestly the headcover is just hideous. I'm a huge fan of retro looks and I know that's what they were trying to go for, but it just missed the mark completely. I instantly replaced the headcover as soon as I started testing the putter. Also, I'd love to see the putter grip be all red or black instead of gray. It would blend better into the shaft if it were a different color.

Play it or Trade it (19 out of 20)
Anyone in the market for a 2017 Taylormade SpiderMini 35"? I'll be reselling it for best offer.* 
*Shipping not included
Really though this putter surpassed my expectations in almost every way I could've asked it to. It has eliminated my biggest struggle in dealing with mid range putts. It'll be staying in my bag no questions asked and I'm ready to take my buddies for free lunch on Saturday am using this weapon.
Final (91 out of 100)
I'd highly recommend getting fitted for any putter you try out. Check out the new MGS article on getting fitted for your putter. When you're testing out options, I'd highly recommend the White Hot line and specifically the #7. It's an amazing club that Odyssey has brought back in the right way. Reinventing a classic is a dangerous line to toe, but wow has Odyssey really done it this time.

Intro
Hello everyone! First a big thank you to Odyssey and MyGolfSpy for this wonderful opportunity!  I became passionate about golf 6 years ago and have worked hard to improve my game from a handicap of 20 to currently playing off a 7.1. Being from Maryland this time of year is always beautiful to get out and play with the changing of the leaves and season. The greens often play a little slower this time of year and  I also tend to play more "economic" courses so they often come with slower greens. The strength of my game is my short game around the green. I use Taylormade's MyRoundPro set to a 5 HCP baseline for my stat tracking and over my last 10 rounds my short game is a +0.65. After some recent adjustments in those same 10 rounds my putting comes through at a +0.11, which is an improvement from -1.02 last year.  The improvement comes from an adjustment of how I read putts.  You can see that improvement with my percentage of makes from 3-6-9 feet as well as my putts per round. My 3 foot putts have improved from 99.3% to 100%, my 6 foot putts have improved from 89% to 96.4%, my 9 foot putts has gone from 55.9% to 60.9% and my putts per round have decreased from 31 to 30.


As can be seen from my percentages the strength of my putting is from 9 feet and in, outside of 9 feet I really struggle with speed control which often leads to 3 putts. I putt left hand low, with a smooth tempo and like to maintain a straight-back-straight-through type stroke even though I believe it plays more as a slight arc putter stroke.  

20211028_110004_1.mp4 In my bag I play an assortment of brands and clubs. Driver-Taylormade R15, 3W-Callaway X2 Hot, Irons-Mizuno MP-20 HMB, Wedges-Cleveland Zipcore (was a tester for them last year and they have taken over that place in my bag) and Putter-Tommy Armour Impact No. 3.  I have been gaming the TA #3 since being a tester in 2019, it took the place of the Odyssey Works Versa #7.  

First Impressions
In the 90s Ely Callaway asked the question, "why not try using the same materials balls are covered in?" when referring to the putter insert. From that question came the White Hot Insert, now tabbed by Odyssey as the most iconic, most played and most decorated putter insert of all time.  The insert proved to be more consistent then steel, with exceptional softness and forgiveness.  After 20 years Odyssey has brought back the White Hot Insert and paired it with a PVD finish and surface milling to add to their beauty.  Add on the Stroke Lab putter shaft, which helps to improve the golfers stroke through weight distribution and this putter has enough tech to excite even the worst of putter.

I chose the Rossie design with the stroke lab shaft because I prefer a mallet putter and am intrigued by the stroke lab putter shaft. Also Rahm has putted pretty well with it. I was not fit for the putter nor have i ever been fit for a putter, yes I know how can I call myself a spy.  First thing I saw straight out of the box is every bulls worst nightmare, RED, the candy red stroke lab putter shaft is eye popping.

The color scheme of the whole club matches perfectly with Odysseys logo, a little bit of silver and black with a splash of red. The putter cover is well made with a magnetic closure, has an old school look to it which offsets the flashy shaft.


It has a silver premium grip, feels slightly firmer and larger then my TA#3. Putter head is slightly larger than my current gamer and looks a little thicker around the edges. There also seems to be an obscure extra turn in the hosel of the shaft of the Rossie.


At address it seems to be sitting slightly open and feels heavy compared to the TA#3.  

First putt I hit, I paused and said wow, the feel off the White Hot Insert is as soft as advertised!  Now the key will be to see if that buttery feel equals better production on the golf course. The plan is to hit at least 100 putts a week on my birdie ball mat, get out to the golf course and put Rossie into play and let the strokes gained do the talking. If any fellow spies have ideas for other ways to test it out or have any questions do not hesitate to send those along.
 
Stage Two – Odyssey White Hot OG Rossie Stroke Lab – Official MGS Forum Review by tchat07
(2,000 words or less)
Intro
Well as they say in showbiz that’s a wrap, did we have an old star make a return or should have that star stayed in retirement? Testing for me came down to putting on my Birdie Ball mat with both the Rossie and my current gamer TA#3. I hit and kept count of the makes for 100 putts a week during the testing frame with 20 from 3 feet, 40 from 6 feet and 40 from 9 feet. I also inserted the Rossie straight into the bag and was able to get 4 rounds of golf played. All and all I hit approximately 750 putts with the Rossie over a month period, how about that for some putting practice!
Looks (7 out of 10 points) 
This category is one that I would consider to be a passing grade but nothing to put up on the fridge. First for the things I did like. Highest on my list of likes was the alignment aids on the putter face, I like the two lines on either side of the middle dash as extra help to line up over the ball properly. This also helped with my hitting out of the toe technique that I will discuss more later. I thought the lack of reflection off the putter was also good. I did also like the red stroke lab shaft, I think that color scheme is an upgrade from the previous version.  The name plate on the bottom of the club seemed a little over the top but I would not say I disliked it. Now for things I disliked, biggest thing was the bulbous putter head.  The best word that comes to mind is clunky, and that is not the word you want to have in mind while hitting delicate putts.  I also did not like the milling along the edge of the putter head, it seemed to make it look busy and felt unneeded. Finally, the complete color scheme makes sense but as time went on I wish they would have gone with a more uniform looks, such as red and black or if they wanted to go with a great color, copper.

Sound & Feel (9 out of 10 points)
We will talk about sound or lack thereof first!  My playing partner my first round said they had no idea I had hit the putt when their back was turned.  It sounds like someone having a single axe strike at a piece of wood but you are listening through two pillows.  The sound off the putter face is firm but muted, and I would consider to be a pleasant sound. The feel off the face, o the feel off the face, smoother then butter!  Obviously with an insert it should be soft but this is incredible how soft it is. You have to travel way out to the end of the toe or heel to feel anything but smooth and buttery. Even then it is more of the club twisting then it being a poor feeling off the insert.  The reason I give it a 9/10 is because it felt very hot off the putter face. Now they called it hot for a reason but it affected my comfort over short putts, I was worried about hitting it too hard, which I did a few times.
Basic Characteristics (18 out of 20 points)
As I mentioned before I hit a lot of practice putts to get myself acquainted in the quickest way possible while having a little bit of a competition with the TA#3. At first I felt much more comfortable with the TA#3 but as time went on it was the Rossie that had me comfortable.  Below is a breakdown of how the competition went:
 
TA#3
 
Rossie
 
3 ft
80
100%
80
100%
6 ft
356
89%
348
87%
9 ft
348
87%
345
86%
What is extremely interesting is the numbers were very close but it was infrequent that I had the same numbers in a single session. Most of the missed putts came from burnt edges right or left, I feel Rossie is a little open at address which played the role in many of those burnt edges. Distance control was very difficult with how hot the ball felt off the face, this was evident during practice and at the course.  The path of the stroke was great with the problem coming from me personally. The clubface was somewhat forgiving, it is obviously great out of the center, slightly out of the toe takes a little off and slightly out of the heel a little heavier. Far right and far left on the clubface leads to a twisting feeling but is still able to maintain a similar distance.  Plays nicely from all surfaces, one area I would not advise to play from is off the green when the ball is wet or with bits of grass/mud.  Practiced once with a morning dew after a fresh cutting and it really affected the ability to have any feel.
On-Course Performance (26 out of 30 points)
Was able to play 4 times with Rossie on the course and I kept stats via Taylormade myRoundPro. My best round was my last with a strokes gained of +0.34. Overall through those 4 rounds I had a strokes gained of -0.82 with an average of 31 putts per round. The struggle came outside of 15 feet which is very typical for me. I did find this very surprising because I felt with how hot the face was I would see an improvement from farther away.  Due to the hot face I certainly did not feel comfortable over pressure putts, especially short pressure putts. I started using the technique of hitting more toward the toe to add more feel and deaden the speed. As I spoke about before I was pleased with the alignment aids on the putter head which gave me a lot of comfort whenever lining up my putts.  I felt this was exactly the type of quality I would expect from Odyssey.


Miscellaneous (7 out of 10 points)
Now for a bit of the things that don't matter from a performance stance but affect how we feel about the club.  The head cover was class, exactly the type you would find with a premium level putter cover.  The grip was also premium material but did feel a bit firm or stiff, I could see a golfer with arthritis finding it unforgiving.  Really weird thing I felt about Rossie was that she felt heavier then my TA#3 but in fact they both weighed exactly the same.  Lastly, what took away a lot of points was how difficult it was to pick up the ball with the back of the putter. I really appreciate that ability and is something that is important to me when looking for a putter.


Play it or Trade it? (17 out of 20 points)
Do I play it or trade it, I think I will continue to test it.  I like the alignment aids better then my current gamer.  I like the wonderful feeling I get from the softness off the insert.  I do not like how hot it comes off the putter face. I also do not like the feeling of it being open at address or the bulbous look behind the ball. I also do not like the lack of ease for picking up the ball up with the back of the club. The largest piece that makes me want to continue testing is that there is not a definitive performance difference between Rossie and TA#3.  If I had a big tournament coming up I would take the TA#3 because I feel I can control the speed better and would perform better under pressure.  I believe this putter would be best for those who are incremental with their putting stroke. By that I mean they know how far they want to go back for a specific distance, control speed less by feel and more by length of stroke. Something that I must iterate and should come as no surprise for someone who is a Spy, is how important it is to get fitted!  
Conclusion
Odyssey set a standard with the white hot insert, they went into the vault and brought it back out. Any questions about whether the feel remains softer then butter have been answered. Easily one of the best feeling putters I have ever hit. When they call it hot they are not kidding, the ball jumps off this putter face.  A premium grip and a premium head cover speak to the quality that Odyssey brings to their putters. If you go with the stroke lab shaft I hope your game is as loud as the candy red shaft! Love the alignment aids on the putter head, giving you confidence you have aligned exactly the way you need to cash in on those big putts.  There were pieces that I was not a fan of, the shape of the putter head and how it sat at address.  The results on the course and during practice were inconclusive compared to a 2-time winner of MGS Most Wanted.  Odyssey White Hot OG putters are top notch putters and one that I think everyone should test out.
Final Score: (84 out of 100 points)

How we doing y’all?!  Welcome to B.Boston’s official Rapsodo MLM review!  I am super excited about this one as I had literally commented to another member on instagram that if I had $1,000 to spend on golf equipment I would buy a personal launch monitor and get some lessons, then I saw that MGS was looking for testers for exactly that!  
No review would be started correctly without thanking both Rapsodo and MGS for offering up this launch monitor for review.  And thank you to the mods for selecting me.  It is always a humbling experience to be chosen to do a review and I know we have high expectations of our reviewers here.  Thank you, thank you, thank you! 
Who is this B.Boston guy anyway?
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk a little bit about me!  My name is Bryan, and I am from Bellingham, MA.  Based on my user name you might see that I identify with Boston as my “home” city.  I grew up about 40 minutes outside the city, went to school just outside the city, and have lived within those 40 minutes for my entire life.  If you don’t know me already, or heck even if you do based on my Cobra Connect posts last year you’d probably expect me to be your Dunkin’ and Sam Adams drinking cousin from Boston sports guy with a wicked accent and Tom Brady posters all over the place.  While some of that is true… my accent is apparently disappointing.
Obligatory family photo from our recent vacation:

I’ve been golfing since as long as I can remember, getting my first set and going to the executive par 3 near me from when I was about 7 years old, but I got much more serious about it (read: tried to eliminate my slice) as I got into college.  Now 34 years old and a happily married father of three I would say I am borderline obsessed with the game and I have an ultimate goal of reaching “scratch” status for my handicap.  I am currently a 5.8 based on my Arccos stats.  Strength of my game is putting and I’m really hopeful that I can dial in my approach and long game with the help of the Rapsodo MLM and Coaching.
State of my game:
Just for reference here is a current view of some Arccos data:




My gapping is pretty good and I really just need to work on consistency.  My worst stats come from Approach and Short Game shots.  I need to get better in my proximity to the hole on approaches, and get closer for an easy one putt if I don’t hit the green.
Here’s a recent swing clip.  This should be useful representative of a starting point for me before any changes or developments from the coaching aspect of this review:
My signature shows my current WITB, but in case you’re reading this on mobile and can’t see I’m playing here are the details:
Driver: Callaway Epic Max LS Fairway:  Cobra Speedzone 5-wood Hybrid:  Titleist TSi3 20* Irons:  Cobra Forged Tec (5-GW) Wedges:  Cobra MIM Black (52, 56, 60) Putter:  Evnroll ER2B Ball:  Titleist Pro V1x Tech:  Precision Pro NX9 Slope, Arccos Caddie I’m a tech nerd at heart so I’m always interested in ways to utilize technology to enhance my game.  I have been loving Arccos and its strokes gained information as it has been insightful in many cases and damn eye opening in others.  I’ll record my swing at the range and on the course to see if there’s anything I notice off on a particular day, and can not wait to pair it with a powerful tool in the Rapsodo MLM to get an even better understanding of my game.  
What will I be looking at in this test, and what am I hoping to get out of it?
I will primarily be using this device outside at the driving range, and hopefully getting some actual on-course data as well.  I know that from both last year’s forum testing and the most wanted articles that the Rapsodo MLM is top of its class and very comparable to professional grade units for good quality strikes.  I know all of these units can suffer on strikes that are at opposite ends of the bell curve, so I don’t expect perfection, but I will do my best to test out the accuracy claims.  I want to see what the Rapsodo shows as my carry gapping versus my Arccos stats total yardage.  Also to see if I am getting good ball speed gaps, peak heights, etc. to make sure that everything is looking in line.
However, the thing I’m most excited to take part in is the coaching feature as I have only ever had one golf lesson and while I would love to have a coach and consistently see them, it’s difficult for me to know which day I’ll be able to shoot to the range on lunch and scheduling something after work is challenging, and if I’m booking time on the weekend for golf, I’d much rather it be time playing on the course and enjoying the game.  I really feel that the coaching feature will help me maximize my range sessions by getting feedback and things to work on for the next bucket of balls.    
I’m also going to try and have some fun, and highlight some of the cool features for you all.  There will be a long drive contest and hopefully some other videos along the way.
Much more to come with the unboxing and review!  Please sound off in the comment section with anything else you’re hoping to see from my review or any of the other testers.  As much as this review is about my experience, I want to make sure the forums are learning everything they possibly want to about them to aid in future purchase decisions.
Make sure to give this thread a follow so you don’t miss out!
Initial Impressions! (September 10th Update):
I’ve had three range sessions in the books now with the Rapsodo MLM and have had an opportunity to try everything out except the coaching feature, so I’ll be adding more details about that later on.

Rapsodo claims that the MLM sets up in under 30 seconds and I have to agree.  The iPhone and iPad apps are super responsive to start a practice or game session and just as slick in reviewing rounds once the session has been uploaded.  Every time that I powered the unit on it connected quickly to my phone and I was able to get a session going without any issues.  Even swapping to the iPad to test went smoothly.  I had no issue going through my session after getting home, looking at swing videos, and viewing detailed data.  I had even forgotten to switch clubs at one point and that was easy in the app too.  I can’t stress enough how simple the app made it to get setup and start hitting shots.  This is important to me because I don’t want to be thinking about the set up and capture of swings to get the data to the point that I’m not thinking you know… about my golf swing and hitting the shots I want to hit.  
Here’s my typical range setup:

The iPad version of the app allows for more data to be shown and I think it looks cooler.

Side Note:  On the first day I did have to improvise as the MLM needs to generally be level with the ground you are hitting on, so I used a flipped over small bucket as the ground behind the mat I was on sloped down and away.  I have since used it slightly below the level of the ball (maybe 4 or 5 inches) and it seemed to work just fine.  But it was still level, which I think is more important.

Rapsodo highlights several features when talking about the MLM:
Shot Tracer
GPS Shot Map
Video Playback
Club Gapping
Interactive Games/Sharing
Shot Library
NET(Indoor/Outdoor)
Smart Club Recognition
They also highlight that accuracy matters, and so far the MLM seems to have done really well on good/average strikes.  Poor strikes have been less consistent, but yeah, it’s a poor strike and likely out of the focal range of the unit’s radar.  I’m not going to fuss that the unit was unable to show my topped drive was 30 yards before it hit the ground instead of a 42 yard carry (I mean if I were to have had a shot like that…. Which I NEVER do!).  
So far the clunkiest part of the app experience has been exporting swing videos to the camera roll.  For such a smooth app for everything else it takes way too many clicks, and too much time to do.
So what does this accuracy get you?  Here are the metrics the Rapsodo MLM captures:
Distance (Carry for irons, user selectable Carry or Carry + Roll for woods)
Ball Speed immediately after impact
Club Speed immediately prior to impact
Smash Factor for strike efficiency
Launch Angle
Launch Direction
So far, it seems to be a pretty accurate launch monitor, particularly with well struck balls.  I’ve had a few data issues with pull-hooks, my guess is because the ball gets lost behind my club or body and the reading gets messed up.  I can forgive that miss as I realize these are not perfect commercial sized radar units.  It’s also disappointing that there is no spin, but I read a rumor that they are working on that, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.  My club and ball speed numbers are right inline with what I saw earlier this year on a trackman and were well within my expectations.



(Very cool to have the visual satellite overlay view, but I’m not convinced the scaling is quite right.  More research needed.)
Not too shabby for the asking price right?  But wait, there’s more!
There are two main subscriptions offered with the MLM for golfers.  Basic (AKA Free), and Premium ($99 annually)..  There is also a Coach Connect subscription, but that is teaching professionals and is out of scope on this review.  With the Basic subscription you only get cloud storage for your last 100 shots included.  The premium subscription includes more:
Cloud storage for 10,000 shots
Slow motion swing replays at 4 speeds
Shot Apex data on your swings
Access to online golf lesions through the Coach Connect platform
I need some more time to think about it, but I don’t think we’re getting enough as consumers at the Free level.  100 shots isn’t even 10 good shots with each club in my bag, so the club gapping is much less appealing.  Heck, that’s not even two full buckets at the range.  I really think that something like 250 or 300 shots should be included, or I should be able to use my iPhone or iPad’s internal memory.  It is super portable with the included carry case, so it really would be a shame to not be able to see more than 2 range sessions of history since I can see myself always having it there available to use.

As for the upgraded features you do get with the premium, I DO enjoy the peak height indicator on the shot replays.  It’s not always easy to tell due to the angle of the camera and it is something that I do like to see.  The ability to play your swings in several levels of slow motion is neat, but I think the app needs to use a higher FPS on the camera’s phone to really take advantage of it.  Slow motion videos from the native iPhone app are much better.  I need to do a comparison there on the downswing as well as some more testing to show what I mean.
I should be getting into the online golf lessons soon, and will update here after I get to try that out.  Until then, it’s off to the range for some more hone my skills with the Rapsodo MLM in tow!
 
Final Scores! (November 23rd Update):
Looks & Feel (10 out of 10 points) 
The Rapsodo MLM is very well built and feels like a tank.  It feels very dense and solid, not hollow.  I like that feeling as it feels more high quality even if a lighter unit may be just as good.  It strikes a good balance with some softer feeling rubberized plastic.  Also the buttons and flap that you open for the phone/tablet stand have a satisfying smooth feeling to them. 
The case is a good standard feeling rangefinder style zip case.  With that storage for between uses and the high quality feeling unit itself I have no doubts that unit will hold up long term.
 
Setup (13 out of 15 points)
As I touched on in my initial impressions, the Rapsodo MLM and Rapsodo app could not be easier to set up and get going. Turn it on, place it down, open the app, select practice or the mode you want, set location and heading, verify you’re in your box and the ball is in its box, and Go.  Demos in the app are very good at showing you what to do step-by-step if it’s your first time setting it up.  
The unit charges fast enough through standard USB connections and I don’t doubt I can get through 2 or more range sessions on a charge, but I usually just charge it after a practice session anyway.  
Upon swinging the replay shows all your relevant data (more is shown on the iPad, and I prefer that view).  The data is all useful information for your shots and can help track your progress.  I find the ball speed to be the most useful (with driver at least) as a way of determining how solidly I’m hitting the ball.
While I won’t say any of it is useless, the least useful metric to me is the shot shape.  I’ve had several shots that were over or under curved, likely due to the device not capturing spin.  However, I don’t recall it being wildly off, but enough that I consider the tracer more of an estimate than a calculated or tracked overlay.
 
Accuracy (13 out of 15 points)
As far as accuracy is concerned I want to note that I used the Rapsodo MLM exclusively at the driving range outdoors..  I have no indoor or outdoor net experience so this is all based on Outdoor mode with range balls. 
I think the unit overall does a really good job on well struck shots.  Considering the condition of the range balls I was using I was expecting some variance, even if the data is normalized.  One area I did see some strange results was on shots that started more left and maybe got part of the ball flight lost behind me while swinging.  I also had several shots where the tracer did not start at the ball, and I am not sure if that means the numbers are good or not.  
Here is a chart of my Arrcos Smart Distance versus Rapsodo Lifetime Stats (Driver and woods are set to Carry+Roll setting in the app):
 

So now, let's take a look at the story here by club grouping:
Wedges (52*, 56*, and 60*) No surprise here.  At the range I hit my 52, 56, and 60 to some specific targets and on-course I end up with many different length shots.  The Rapsodo distances feel very accurate to the targets I am usually shooting at with them Irons (including PW and GW) These feel really accurate in aggregate as well.  Considering I don’t get much roll through the 9 iron I am happy to see they match my Arccos on-course performance.  It makes sense to me that I would see some gaps in the longer irons as Rapsodo does not account for roll on these shots.  If anything, the quality of ball I’m hitting may start to impact carry figures for the 6 and 5 irons by 3-5 yards. Hybrid Ok so this is the only one that I really don’t agree with.  It’s also one of the clubs I hit the least during practice, so it could be a sample size thing with a few bad shots pulling the numbers down.  I think I only have a dozen or so shots with it in the Rapsodo data, but once again when we account for roll, this may only be 5-8 yards off on carry.  Maybe it rolls a lot more for me than I’m thinking? 5-wood This looks pretty good to me.  At this point the range I practice at does back uphill, so it’s easier to gauge how close to the targets your landing and estimate total carry distance.  Also I don’t tee this club up at the range and my Arccos data would include tee shots which in theory would allow for some additional distance. Driver This one is tough for me to gauge.  I don’t like seeing a 20 yard gap here, but I have a hard time believing the range balls are not partially to blame here.  The last few sessions out I could see the ball traveling shorter overall distances even though the Rapsodo unit was showing a lot of the same swing speeds.  It also had my efficiency at about 1.42 so maybe with my gamer balls that number would be a little higher.  Or maybe it is because I was practicing a lot with the Epic Max LS as it was the newest club in my bag, and I was trying different shafts, and had a bunch of poor shots in the data.  I will note that I saw my biggest “Hmmmm” moments when looking at the Rapsodo readouts with the driver, particularly if my start line got pulled to the left at all.  But, more on that later… I’m docking a couple points here because the accuracy of the shot tracer and shot direction/path is just OK.  With no ability to edit for the landing point  it looks awkward if you’re not hitting on a flat surface and without spin measurements it’s only ever going to be a guess anyway, but overall the yardages seem solid in aggregate even if some individual shots are off.  I actually had purposely not looked at the summary stats until writing this section so I was pleasantly surprised to see the figures matching up and making sense.    
see here the tracer isn't starting at impact, or even within the range of the "hit zone" on this one.  I had more than a few shots like this:
 
 
On-Course (25 out of 30 points)
At the range getting ready to play is pretty simple.  Open the app, move the icon over the spot to where you’re hitting, and set your heading.  Then all you have to do is line up your unit and make sure the hitting area is within the box on the screen.  I can’t say that it interfered with my normal practice routine at all.  I could make my swing, watch the flight, and then turn around in time to see the some/all of the replay and see the numbers.  It worked out well because I could see if the MLM picked up the shot shape and get a gauge as to if I felt it was a good shot or not.  I didn’t really get along well with the “Smart Club Recognition” but it was simple to select the right one, or even edit post practice if I forgot  (I usually work through my bag with all even or odd clubs so it’s pretty clear when I changed based on the numbers.  
Compared to my old way of playing at the range I didn’t really change much.  I normally will use my rangefinder to get the distances to flags or markers and go from there.  One thing I did do differently with the MLM is set up in line with the middle of the range which has a 100 yard marker.  Then I would try to hit all my balls over that flag to get the distance as I was warming up, which was great with the unit for tracking accuracy and distance, then get to my target practice in the second part of my practice. 
However, I did run into some issues/limitations with the MLM while out on the range.  The unit does not like high contrast situations.  At one of my practice sessions it was hot and humid, and I was able to hit in a covered bay to keep myself, and the MLM a little cooler.  However the MLM failed to capture probably close to 25-30% of swings that session as the ball was starting in the shade and jumping out into a bright clear sunny day.  The unit was unable to track this so it must be using both its radar and your mobile phone to track and lost the ball from transition from shade to sun.
The unit also did not seem to like my Hybrid very much, missing a noticeable amount of shots with that club, including several that were just straight, medium trajectory, boring shots.  I still can’t quite figure out why, but it was enough to notice the trend.  
While I can’t say I play better or worse since including this in my practice, my range sessions or definitely more enjoyable.  It’s also fun to use the long-drive feature as @Lacassem and I did.  I recorded that with the intent of creating a video to share with everyone, but it was windy and the audio came out like absolute trash… and my competitor was trash that day too. 😉 
 
Miscellaneous (7 out of 10 points)
Speaking of the long drive/closest to the pin built in challenges…. They need to work on the UI for that a bit.  So I’m deducting 2 points.  First,  the results are not saved in your shots or sessions.  When Mark and I completed the long drive challenge we wouldn’t have been able to back and see the totals for each round had I not set up a screen record.  It is not saved in your session, and you cannot review the swings after.  On top of that, there is barely a final page or summary screen at the end.  I’d love to see Longest from each round and longest overall or something with the averages… something more than just our names in first and second and then once the page clears it’s gone forever.  Although that’s probably how Mark wanted it since it was a clean sweep for me.  *Side note: maybe next time you show up for a long drive competition don’t be wearing work boots.*
Nothing really much to mention otherwise.  Shipping was quick.  We were all hoping to get to try out the coaching feature, but were not able to get access to coaches during the testing period (-2 points) despite our mod’s best efforts (thanks Jamie!).  But we did get a full year of premium from Rapsodo (+1 point).  I may investigate the coaching feature in the Spring, or maybe over the winter if I find some indoor practice time, but with the prices varying wildly from coach to coach I may be better off getting in front of an actual coach the old-fashioned way, face-to-face, so they can see my particular inconsistencies IRL and not just a selection of my best and worst swings. 
Rapsodo INSIGHTS.  This has some real potential and now that I’ve seen what it is I feel like I can’t un-see the gap that was there before.  Insights in a new AI driven addition to the MLM app that gives you feedback (sort of like strokes-gained) on your practice sessions as a whole.  It takes the MLM from being a “toy” to being a real “tool” that can be used for improvement in my opinion.  Data like left/right misses and distance compared to other golfers of varying skill levels should help you focus your practice much like strokes gained analysis will point out your on-course weaknesses.  I’m excited about this addition and look forward to seeing more added to it for even better practice sessions.  
Here are some of the summary screens you get with Insights, it really does take the MLM to the next level:



 
Play it or Trade it? (15 out of 20 points)
This is a tough question for me to answer.  So I’m going to break it down into a few parts for the unit and the subscription.  I think that the unit is great, and see no reason to not continue using it.  Despite a few challenges with the technology working great my numbers are pretty spot on in aggregate and I think it’s one of the best personal launch monitors out there for its cost.
When we factor in the annual subscription things get a little less clean for me.  I think $99 per year is a bit much for cloud storage and some expanded analysis.  I also feel that the base level does not include enough storage for the asking price of the unit.  
Regarding coaching (which is not factored into the score here as I did not test it, but as an aside) the prices vary significantly from instructor to instructor, which you’d see just the same if you were looking at different coaches at a few places near you, but Rapsodo does a good job of having the coaches offer both standalone, lesson packs, or unlimited monthly offerings.  It also looks to have limited slots for coaches which is good, because it gives me the sense that the coaches will have the correct amount of time to dedicate to each student.
The most natural competitor I can think of to the Rapsodo MLM and other personal launch monitors using this base plus subscription model would be Arccos’s shot tracking system or Shot Scope.  I think both the PLM and On-Course data gathering are both means to the same end of improvement for golfers.  If we take a look at this as a three year investment the MLM will cost you around $800,  While 3 years of Arccos is going to run about half of that.  
Now I know they are not the same tools, but if someone came to me asking which one they should get FIRST, my answer would be Arccos or Shotscope.  I feel that the on-course data and strokes gained analysis is going to be money better spent for golfers.  However, if you’re like me and already have on-course shot tracking, well, then the Rapsodo MLM is a powerful tool that can partner with your on-course data to help measure improvements during practice.  I hope that in the next few years costs can come down, but the Rapsodo MLM is not high priced compared to some of the other units that it is competing against considering the accuracy of the results. 
 
Conclusion (TL;DR):
Rapsodo has an absolute hit with the MLM unit and slick operating iPhone/iPad app.  It works well in most conditions, and if you know where it doesn’t work well you can generally avoid setting it up that way.  I’m not sure there is a more accurate unit available in its price bracket, and while I’d like to see either a reduced annual subscription fee, or more features for the base plan, I can see that Rapsodo is putting the money into R&D as the new INSIGHTS platform is a welcome addition to post-practice analysis.
Overall, I like it, but I don’t love it.  However I think it will be a very useful tool for my future practice sessions and I’m excited to see if I can improve my game a little bit from the insights analysis and my on-course tracking during normal rounds.  Insights is a massive release for analyzing your practice sessions and I also feel that many of my issues with it can be address via software updates.  I am confident that the folks over at Rapsodo are working hard to stay ahead of the competition with constant improvement and updates.
 
B. Boston’s Final Score: 83!

 

hey everyone! i'm beyond stoked to be afforded this opportunity from MGS and ShotScope.
my name is joe, and i've been playing golf for a little over a year.  hard to believe, i know, because it probably seems like i've been annoying you all on here for a lot longer.  i picked the game up last summer during covid when my dad and brother in law convinced me to join them for a round.  
a little about my game: i was blessed with club head speed...a lot of club head speed.  this has been a blessing and a curse so far in my short golf career.  when i'm finding the center of the face, things are pretty easy.  when i'm not, well let's just say misses are amplified.  i've managed to get my handicap down to around a 12 this year.  last summer i was struggling to break 100, and now i'm shooting in the mid-high 80s most times out.  
i've always been into stats and data, no matter what sport i was playing, so i've been interested in ShotScope for a while.  i currently use the GHIN app, which tracks fairways, greens, and putts and compiles them into some meaningful data to review after your rounds.  i'm excited to add some club tracking data to that and start to get a picture of where i'm really losing strokes.  
i feel like i'm a good pick to test the SS v3 because technology and gadgetry aren't really my strong suit.  if it works well and is user friendly, i'll be the world's biggest advocate.  but if the user interface is clumsy, or if it requires a lot of work to make the device useful, then i'll get frustrated with having to take on part time job just to know how far my 8i is going.  
all in all, i'm extremely excited to test this out.  any excuse to get out for a few more rounds as the season gets shorter in the northeast is good in my book.
if you have any specific insights that you'd like me to look into or highlight in my test, let me know! i'd be happy to try and accommodate useful information into my review.  otherwise just sit back and enjoy my rambling, often incoherent thoughts on what i think is going to be a great product.  
 
UNBOXING AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS
i got home from vacation on Saturday and my ShotScope was waiting for me.  i didn't waste much time in getting it unboxed and checking it out.  
here's how it arrived:

really nice packaging with everything clearly marked and easily accessible inside.  here's everything you get in the box:

you've got the watch itself, your charger, 16 tags for your clubs, and a quick start guide which even i didn't need (and i need to call the neighbor's kid if my tv input gets switched somehow).
the watch itself is made of quality materials and is really comfortable to wear.  i'd say its about the size of an apple watch but with a more comfortable and secure band.

it sits tight to your wrist, and the clasp and closure are metal, so everything feels really secure once it's on.  my only pet peeve is that as a right handed golfer, you have to wear it on your left (glove) hand.  that means i'll have to sit the watch up a little higher on my arm.  not the biggest deal in the world, but we'll see how i feel about it when i play tomorrow.
once everything was unboxed, i downloaded the app and connected my watch to my phone.  again, this was super simple to do.  once you're connected, you can pick your home course, and then the app walks you through the rest of the setup.  i headed down to the basement to place the tags on my clubs and build out "my bag" in the app.
it takes a little bit of elbow grease to get the sensors into the butt end of your grips.  i guess that's a good sign that they won't fall out on the course.  here's where i ran into my second (extremely minor) issue.  i use midsized grips on my driver and woods, and they have a domed grip end.  this causes some seating issues with the flat sensors.

it's screwed in as tightly as it will go and i don't think the sensor is gonna go anywhere.  it's just not as clean of a look as i'd like.  this all got resolved when i got to my irons, which have a flat end on their grips:

i'm vainal (vain and anal - don't try to use that or my lawyers will be in touch) enough about my stuff that if i really like using ShotScope, this will influence my grip selection when i replace them at the start of next season.
from there, everything was smooth sailing.  i put sensors on all of my clubs except for the putter.  i plan to use the "manual putting" mode as people seem to find it easier.  you can build your bag in the app right down to your exact club model, which could make club comparison easier if you switch things around a lot.
i'd say total time from unboxing to being ready to go out and play was just over 30 minutes, and almost half of that was actually screwing the sensors in to my grips.  once i was done, i put the watch on the charger so it'll be ready for its first round tomorrow.
 
LOOKS AND FEEL
10 out of 10
 
the shotscope watch is great looking and very comfortable to wear.  I had some reservations since the watch itself is pretty square, but I didn’t notice any issues with the corners of the watchface.  I also worried about wearing it on my glove hand, but those effects were honestly minimal.
Shotscope offers multiple watch bands that can be switched out if you feel like customizing your watch, which is a nice bonus.  They were actually nice enough to send an extra watch band out after we received our initial packages.  Ill cover that more in miscellaneous.
As I said in my initial impressions, I think the watch is build to last.  The face itself has held up well to the wear and tear youd expect something to go through when it’s on your hand during a round of golf.  I can’t keep track of all the things I’ve banged it against, but it still looks brand new.  The band is thick rubber and all of the clasp and closure parts are metal, which gives it a premium feel overall.
SETUP
13 out of 15
 
Allow me to preface this section by saying that I’m a tech dunce.  It’s actually a miracle that I’m on MGS and can navigate the forums at all.  With that being said, setting up the shotscope was an absolute breeze.  Download the app, pair your watch, and you’re off to the races.  All of the setup is done via the app on your phone and the step-by-step instructions are incredibly easy to understand.  Out of the 30ish minutes it took me to set the system up, more than half of it was the manual act of screwing the sensors into my grips.
The watch doesn’t use a micro-usb charging cord, so if you lose the charging cable, you’re a bit out of luck.  Shotscope was nice enough to send us out a backup, but not everyone will get that luxury.  I found that after playing 18, I still had well over half battery life.  My routine is that after the round, I power the watch off and hang it from my bag.  The charger stays in my car, and I charge the watch up when I drive to the course for my next round.  I’ve had no issues with the battery.
Throughout my test, I had one customer service interaction and I was blown away by shotscope’s customer support.  The course I play most often shortened the 8th hole from a long par 5 to a short par 4 to protect some houses that line the fairway.  Shotscope still had the hole as a par 5.  I send them a quick email with the name of the course, the hole number, and what changes needed to be made.  They not only made the changes, but sent me clear step by step instructions to make sure that the next time I played that course, the hole would read correctly.
ACCURACY
12 out of 15
 
I’ve been using a precision pro range finder  a year now, and I found the distances on shotscope to match up really well.  They weren’t exact, of course, because with the laser I was shooting the flag and the watch gives you front/middle/back distances.  They were accurate enough, however, that I’ve become comfortable leaving my laser in the bag and just playing based off of the watch.
The distances to, and to clear, hazards is a really nice touch and comes in handy especially when a hole plays uphill or downhill and you can’t quite judge how far out bunkers and water are.
The feature everyone is most interested in with regards to shotscope is the distance tracking for each club.  I really like that I can look at data from 6 or 7 rounds and know what distances my clubs are going out on the course.  It was pretty eye opening to me how much distance I was losing on mis-hits, and how severe an effect the cold weather has on distance. 
The only downside I see to shotscope is the lack of a birds-eye hole view.  That’s something I’d like to see them incorporate because it’s helpful on doglegs and with other blind shots. 
ON-COURSE
27 out of 30
 
I honestly have to say that using shotscope on the course is incredibly easy and intuitive.  I thought I’d have to adjust to wearing a watch, but unless I’m looking at it for yardages, I barely know it’s on my wrist. 
It disrupted my normal routine, but in a good way.  Normally, if I’m hitting an approach shot, I’m pulling my laser and shooting the flag.  This is a hotly disputed pace-of-play issue, but no matter your stance on it, grabbing your laser, shooting the flag, shooting again to confirm, putting it away, and then hitting your shot can become a little bit tedious over the course of 18 holes.  Now I get up to my ball, check the distances on my watch, pick a club that covers the front and should carry the middle, and proceed to come up 20 yards short anyway.  That’s got nothing to do with the watch though.
My advice to anyone who wants to use shotscope is to use manual putting mode.  It took about a round to get into the habit of pressing the button to mark each putt, but eventually it became part of my putting routine.  Looking back at each round, I was impressed by how accurately the watch tracked my putts.
One spot where the watch struggles a little bit is with how quickly it puts you into putting mode when you approach the green.  If you’re someone who likes to walk up past your ball when you’re in the greenside rough to see what the green looks like, you’ll find yourself on the putting screen when you get back to hit your chip.  It’s easy enough to get back to the normal shot tracking screen, but still a minor annoyance.
MISCELLANEOUS
10 out of 10
 
Shotscope really shined with how completely they took care of the testing crew.  I know that some of the courtesies extended to us won’t make their way to every consumer, but it was still really impressive how well they treated us. 
Shortly after we received our packages, I got an email from Gavin, the CCO of shotscope.  He expressed how excited he was for the reviews, and said he’d be sending out some goodies.  A few days later, I received a package from shotscope containing an extra watch band, an extra charger, and a few extra putter sensors. 
Unfortunately, the watch band was for one of their older models.  We decided amongst the testers in the testing group private message that someone would let Gavin know, and the next day we all received a tracking email for another package containing the correct watch band.
This little gesture, coupled with the amazing customer support left me with the warm and fuzzies with regards to shotscope and how they handle themselves as a company.
PLAY OR TRADE?
20 out of 20
Play it for sure.  I’ll be keeping shotscope for the forseeable future.  I think it’ll be a really valuable when it comes to testing clubs on the course and seeing what actually works best for my game.  Fittings are great, but having club data at your fingertips from the actual rounds you play allows you to extend your fitting out on to the course. 
CONCLUSION
If a luddite like me can appreciate the ease of use and data shotscope provides, I can only imagine what someone who is more tech savvy and data driven can get out of it.  I really like products that are low maintenance “set it and forget it” gadgets, and shotscope is definitely that.

For the hobbyist, you can look over some simple numbers after your round and see what’s working and what’s costing you.  For the more serious golfer, you can dive deeply into your statistics and figure out where you can grind those 2 or 3 strokes out.
Final Score: 92/100

Intro
 
Currently I am re-learning a lot in my game. I had surgery last year on my wrist to fix an issue that was causing me to not have any or very little feeling in my left hand. I was compensating a lot to “feel” a golf club in my hand to swing.
At this point, my goal is to get to single digit handicap. I work on my game a lot (lessons, range session, etc.) and practice at home. Currently playing 2-3 times a week when the sunshine allows it to record videos of my journey on my YouTube channel.
 I currently play golf in North Eastern Ontario just outside of North Bay, ON. 4 hours North of Toronto. I am originally from Niagara Falls, so I play there a few times a year as well. I started playing golf when I was 13, so 36 years off and on. Very steady the last 2 years. (Covid related of course)
I am a social and competitive golfer who tinkers a lot with very small changes but love to perfect those changes to a fault.
I currently play off around a 12 Handicap. Since having the surgery, my iron play and short game have become my strengths in my game. Its amazing what happens to your golf game when you can feels what the club feels like when you hit a nice shot and the outcome is amazing. That said, my long game has suffered a bit and has always been a bit of a weakness. Never been consistent enough. I'm trying to change this as I get better at the game.
Currently: All clubs Except driver are Stiff Shafts. Driver is X-Stiff
Driver – Callaway Mavrik Set at 9.5* - Guy in town won it and hates Callaway clubs and sold it to me brand new for half of new 3W – TaylorMade M5 – 14* - Got it at global golf as basically brand new club for half the price new 2H – Callaway Apex – 18* - Great price on a used Golf site. Received and didn’t look like it had been hit Irons – Callaway Steelhead XR – 5 – PW, AW – Got them for half price as they had the wrong sale tag on them Wedges – 52, 56 and 60 – Kirkland Signature Putter – Currently playing a Cobra Blade from a complete set  
I am very tech savvy. Love technology and tinkering. This is going to be a lot of fun for me. Having an iPhone has been kind of cool for some apps I use while on the golf course. I currently use 2 apps. SwingU and 18 Birdies. They have been very uselful but find them to be a little inaccurate at time. I'm going into this test with the hope of the Shot Scope watch changing what I use on the course. It's going to be nice to be able to put my phone in my bag or leave it in the truck while I'm on the course.
September 21, 2021
SO I just wanted to give everyone a heads up of what's going on here seeing that I have already received mine.
In Northern Ontario, we are currently on Day 4 of it looks like 7 or 8 days straight of rain.
I drove by my regular course and a different one. You could swim from tee to green on some fairways and greens. Last I heard we were up to approximately 80mm of rains. That's 3.2 inches for those of you using the imperial system.
 
 I am playing in a charity golf tournament on Tuesday just outside Toronto so Im hoping we will actually get to play and I'll get to use my new watch.
I'd like to say a very big thank you to Shot Scope and My Golf Spy for the opportunity to do this test. I has been a lot of fun and a learning experience in itself of my personal golf game!!!
First Impressions
I'm not going to lie. At first I was skeptical about how accurate can this golf watch be!! Can it be as accurate as a large GPS in a cart or a Laser rangefinder?
Apple says you can use an apple watch on a golf course and it will be accurate. (I've never used one personally)
Android says you can use Wear OS (I currently use one) and it will be accurate if you pay for an app that is supported by this technology.
 
The packaging alone says its quality and is very informative. You know what you're getting if you ever received this as a gift and never knew what it was.

 


 
***November 5, 2021 - The last and final surgery has ended my golf season. I'll be adding to this review as I go along as I didn't get that many rounds in with it as I would have liked to with golf courses closing earlier than normal because of all of the rain we got here.
 
Looks and Feel   9/10
I love how it fits and doesn’t inhibit movement in the wrist. It is comparable in size to my regular everyday watch. The only reason for the 9/10 was because the initial box didn’t come with maybe a different coloured watchband. On the other side of that, the box it shipped in will work well as a storage case for now. 
It is not bulky at all. It is a little bigger then my everyday watch but not sizably large.
 
Setup   13/15
The quick view guide is super easy to get you started and the guide online was very concise. I had to go to the website to figure a few additional things out but once I did, it was super easy to setup and get working. I arrived at the course and was ready to go. Hit the track and GPS and didn’t have to worry about anything. Looked down at my next shot and had an instant yardage.
I lucked out on the course as you have to take a cart and the carts are outfitted with GPS units in them so I had something to compare with. This watch was right on the money. I’d say within a yard is impressive.
 
On Course   25/25
Once I was on the course, there was nothing to think about.
All I literally had to do is look at my watch when I got to my next shot. No more getting my phone out of my bag to get a yardage and while I was there look at the message sitting there or email came in, I missed.
 Literally, pick up your next club and hit your shot!!! Love it!!
 
Accuracy   14/15
I lucked out on the course I played for my first round with it, as you have to take a cart and the carts are outfitted with GPS units in them.
 As this was my first time using it I thought I'd compare what the watch was giving me compared to me the GPS in the cart. This watch was right on the money. I’d say within a yard is impressive.
I also have a Laser rangefinder from Shot Scope to have something to compare yardages with and it was almost within a few feet of where I'd zap my shot.
The information the watch provide is super easy to read and is laid out so it is an easy glance.  A nice feature that came as plus for me was the hazard identification on the watch. I was impressed with how accurate that was and where it was on the screen relative to where it was on the golf course. I played my home course back home in Niagara Falls, and that was really impressive to see all of the hazards for that course on the watch. 
 
Miscellaneous   14/15
Yesterday, 2 weeks after receiving the product, I received an email from a fella at Shot Scope. He offered to send me an extra charger, spare RFID tags, and a different coloured watch band at no cost to me. That’s class!!!!
As for my playing partners, they kept asking me for a yardage because it is so accurate. Even they couldn’t get over how accurate the watch was.
In the grand scheme of things, I almost wondered if this was going to get to me in time. Winter is coming soon here so I didn’t want to have to give up my opportunity. It arrived in 3 days after I received my confirmation email.
 
When you log into your account online, the interface is very overwhelming at first. There is a lot of information. Once you sift through it all and figure out where you want to focus your time and energy, it is easy to find everything you need to know. It will help identify where your weaknesses and strengths are if you have chosen for the watch to track your stats.
 

When I first saw this I was so surprised. I thought I did ok. This was eye opening to me. Definite weakness.

Play It or Trade It   20/20
This will be on my wrist every time I walk on the course. Doesn’t matter if it’s in a tournament or just a round with friends being social. It helped me shoot a best of all time score of 2 over. It helped me identify where my strengths are and my weaknesses are in my game so I know where to practice more and score better.
Having something that gives you the confidence to hit a good shot every time makes golf that much easier. Of course you have to know how far you hit your clubs. 🙂
 
Conclusion  95/100
This product is something I’d suggest to any golfer at any skill level in Golf. Whether you’re just starting out or have been playing the sport your whole life. This will make golf easier and take a lot of overthinking out of your game.

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. 

Odyssey White Hot OG putter 
Introduction
I want to say thank you to MyGolfSpy and Odyssey for trusting me to give a review of the Odyssey White Hot OG 2 Ball Putter. This is an amazing opportunity to try out an iconic piece of golf history that’s been brought back for it's 20th anniversary and see if the icon can still roll them true.

I’m not going to go into a deep dive on my game, but since it’s been a while that I initially introduced myself in a review I want to give you a brief overview of who I am, how my game is, and mostly talk about my putting.
My name is Jason and I play most of my rounds at Chatata Valley Golf Course in Cleveland TN. It’s a fairly open course with most of the hazards being high grass and an occasional group of trees.

The greens are usually fast but not too tricky. I’m playing at a 25.7 handicap that’s mostly inhibited by my driving and approach play. Compared to my handicap, I’m a fairly decent putter with a handicap of 17.
I’m more of a weekend warrior golfer, as my work schedule historically hasn’t been too accommodating to my golf addiction. I’m working on my swing at the moment and haven’t played as much, but with the cooler weather and less people on the course we’re coming up on my favorite time of the year to get out there. I’ve been playing the game for 28 years and it took a while before I became obsessed with it.  I fell in love with the game after becoming active in the forum where I discovered all the technical aspects and artistry of the game. It can be both one of the most frustrating and most wonderful of games from shot to shot.
My bag consists of a Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero driver, Cobra F9 fairways (3, 5), Cobra F8 irons, and Vokey wedges (52, 56, 60).


My current gamer is an Odyssey White Ice Sabertooth my wife bought me around 10 years ago. I had played with one my cousin used to have and fell in love with it. Before that, I played with a Ping B60 that was given to me by my ex father-in-law in the late 90’s. I’m not one to change out my putter too often and I find a mallet style compliments my attempt at a SBST putting stroke. I would say I have a smooth putting tempo.

Untitled - Sequence 01 23.mp4 Confidence on the greens is one of my strong suits, I believe I’m going to make every short putt and have loads of faith in my ability to lag anything over 10 feet into a makeable range. My misses are mostly short and I do have a tendency to pull them left. I try to die the ball at the hole because I find that running one 8 feet past can kill a round.
What’s it going to take to knock the Sabertooth out of the bag? I’m looking for better distance control on the longer putts and wanting to see if a combination of the 2 Ball alignment and the Stroke Lab shaft have me starting more balls on a consistent line.
First Impressions
I’m going to start this part of the review with an apology. I tried making an unboxing video and due to poor lighting, it was terrible. That also means I didn’t get any photos of how well it was packaged and I’m sorry about that. It did come in secured very well in a brown box, secured in by a long piece of cardboard that held it in place nicely. The head was shrink wrapped to keep it from picking up any scratches and the putter was in perfect condition when it arrived.


I really like the headcover I received with the putter. You can tell from the feel of the leather, the thickness overall, and the fleece lining it’ll protect the head from dings in the bag. I love the magnetic closure that’ll make it easy to use. Plus, the black and white color scheme with red accents looks nice!



There’s some milling on the face around the White Hot insert and underneath the alignment aid that give it a real premium look.


It looks good to my eye at address, I was iffy about the 2 Ball alignment at first because I’m used to putters with a line. After hitting some putts with it, I can see why some players like it. It does a good job of framing the ball and seems to be an instinctual way to align on the green.



Let’s get down to the reason this test appealed strongly to me: the Stroke Lab shaft and the return of White Hot. The shaft looks phenomenal!



Looks don’t sink putts, but it does inspire confidence. Odyssey claims that the shaft helps control tempo and length of stroke by removing 40 grams of weight and redistributing it to the head and grip. The urethane White Hot insert returning is also a big reason, its reputation for feel is appealing to me.
Odyssey has always been a brand of putters I’ve gravitated to, their reputation is stellar and they have a heavy presence on tour.
I chose the 2 Ball for my preference of a SBST putting style and forgiveness. My specs are 34 inches long and standard loft and lie. It’s an inch shorter than my gamer, I’ve always felt I needed something shorter due to having to grip down closer to the shaft with the Sabertooth.
I invite you to follow along with me and my fellow testers put the range of Odyssey White Hot OG putters to the test and see if they might be able to help you on the greens. This should be fun.
 
Official Member Review Odyssey White Hot OG Putter Stage 2
By sirchunksalot
I would like to say thank you again to MyGolfSpy and Odyssey for the opportunity to test and review the Odyssey White Hot OG 2 Ball Putter. The big question is “can 20 year old technology still be relevant in today’s game?”, let’s dig in to the review and find out.

The last few weeks have been a great learning experience for me. I’ve never done a review on a putter and to be honest, I was intimidated just a tiny bit. Most of you reading this are leaps and bounds ahead of me as far as knowledge of golf equipment go. I’ve enjoyed digging into what Odyssey claims with this line of equipment and being able to test if their claims are true, or if they’re just marketing nostalgia.
I’ve been able to do a mixture of testing over the last month, from PuttOut work at home, using the 2 Ball during my last 5 rounds, and performing simulated rounds on the putting green. I have had fun testing to see if the White Hot insert lives up to its feel reputation, how the 2 Ball alignment works for me, and whether the Stroke Lab shaft is worth the price of the upgrade.
Looks 10/10
What can I say? Odyssey has hit a home run when it comes to the revival of the White Hot lineup. I’ll start out by saying that what they call their “rich silver PVD finish” looks premium. The muted silver top paired with the white 2 Ball alignment at address inspires confidence in this golfer. I’ve played and practiced in bright sunlight and the lack of glare at address is so pleasing to my eyes.

The milling around the insert and on what I’m going to call the bottom shelf adds a premium touch to this putter.

The graphics on the bottom of the head are understated and perfect for the style of head I’m testing. The addition of a weight at the rear of the putter head looks good and gives me a feeling that Odyssey has been able to pack some forgiveness into this putter.

I wasn’t sure how the red of the Stroke Lab shaft would appeal to me, but once I had it in hand, I love it. It really pops with the whole design and makes for one good looking club.
The biggest surprise for me has been the grip. I was expecting the DFX gray, which on the website is the stock grip. Opening the box and seeing a predominantly gray grip with black, white, and red accents was delightful. I originally planned on removing the stock option, but after seeing and using this grip, it has me second guessing that decision.

Sound and Feel 9/10
One of the big selling points of the White Hot insert is how well regarded the sound and feel are. Let me tell you, it doesn’t disappoint. The sound of the urethane insert hitting the golf ball is just so pure.
Here's the 2 Ball:

Untitled - Sequence 01 27.mp4 Comparing to the Sabertooth:

Untitled - Sequence 01 28.mp4  
The 2 Ball has a nice, crisp sound that lets you know you’ve hit the sweet spot. It’s confidence inspiring whether you’re standing over a tap in or a lag putt. For a softer insert, it sounds solid with a nice moderate click that lets you know it’s a good strike. It also gives good feedback on those hits off the heel and toe where it’s just a bit more muted.
I am going to deduct a point due to the test I ran with sound dampening headphones because I didn’t receive the amount of feedback through the putter and into my hands compared with the Sabertooth.
 
Basic Characteristics 17/20
One of the biggest things I love about this putter is the ability to hit my aim point. I’ve spent a lot of evenings working on my stroke at home on the PuttOut mat. From each distance, I was consistently hitting shots I would consider to be holed putts. I wasn’t always able to get the perfect putt, but they would have been drained if I was hitting to a hole. The balance of the Stroke Lab Shaft has my putting stroke feeling like it’s the most stable it’s ever been. Its performance hitting shots the length of a metal ruler is also very impressive.
The head is very forgiving on mis-hits. Between hitting off center on course and running tests intentionally striking the toe and heel, I found some loss of distance and accuracy but it wasn’t bad enough to really criticize. I love the fact that the revival of the White Hot line included a weight placed back in the head to increase MOI.

Distance control on short to mid range shots is easy. I ran tests on the PuttOut from 6 feet and attempted to get the ball to die between each marker. On average, it took 9 attempts to land it within the 6 marks.
My biggest issue with distance control was with longer putts. I’ll go more into detail in the performance part of the review, but I left myself with way too many second putts with over 10 feet remaining. Another area that gave me problems was severe downhill shots. I just haven’t yet figured out the right amount of speed to keep the ball from running out too far. I think it might have something to do with the additional head weight compared to my gamer (355 to 340 grams), although the overall weight is close.

The 2 Ball is a good performer from any lie on or around the green. During my first round, I sank an 18 footer from off the green and had a couple of other shots like this I was able to get close. I’ll usually hit a wedge from the fringe, but I’m starting to rethink that strategy.
On Course Performance 25/30
Ok guys, now we’re on the the part of the review where the rubber meets the road. Looks and feel play a big part in what equipment we use, but performance is king. I kept stats during my round and had a strokes gained calculator to see where my performance was at. I separated the numbers into blocks of 0-8 feet, 9-15, 16-22, and 23+ feet and compared to a putting handicap of 17.
0-8 feet: +1.0
9-15: +2.99
16-22: +1.74
23+: -1.26
Total strokes gained: +4.47
The scoring in this section was difficult for me. On one hand, I’m gaining 4.47 strokes a round with the Odyssey, It should be a no brainer to give it a perfect score. To be honest, I don’t hit a lot of greens and my proximity to the hole is due to having a chip shot left into the green. My average proximity during this test is 14.98 feet, while a tour pro averaged 18 feet 10 inches in 2021 from 50-100 yards. I average 107 feet for all approaches and 36 feet on the shots that hit the green. I said all that to say this, I do weigh longer putts as important so that’s a big reason for the 5 point deduction.
What impresses me about the 2 Ball is the fact I’m gaining 5.73 strokes from 0-22 feet. That’s big. I’ve always held Odyssey as a manufacturer in high regard and this test just solidifies my confidence in them.
One thing I was hesitant about was the 2 Ball alignment. I’ve always used a line on my putter to aim and was worried that something different would mess with my aim. The 2 Ball is instinctual and gives me loads of confidence that I have a chance if the pressure mounts.
Miscellaneous 9/10
When I received the putter, the first thing I noticed is how well it came packaged. It was secured tightly in the box using pieces of cardboard to hold it in place. I knew before I got a good look at it that it would be pristine once it was unwrapped.
The headcover is nice, it’s fairly thick and softly lined to protect the club from dings in the bag. The upgrade from the standard grip was a nice touch and I’ll continue to use it for the foreseeable future.
The only ding I can give this putter is the fact you can’t pick up a ball from the green without bending over. I know it’s part of the design, but it’s nice just to be able to scoop up a ball and flick it into your hand.
Play it or trade it 20/20
It’s solidly in the bag, I’ve had my best round on the green in my life with it and even during the worst rounds with it, it’s performed better than the Sabertooth. I thought coming into this test it would have a hard time replacing the putter I’ve used for the last 8+ years, it didn’t take long to prove me wrong.
I think anyone who likes a face balanced mallet should give this a roll. I would highly recommend they try it out with the option of a Stroke Lab shaft because it feels easier to control the face. It’s worth the upgrade, in my opinion.
Conclusion
Can 20 year old technology still compete in modern times? Odyssey took a chance with one of their most iconic clubs and reintroduced a retro putter with modern touches. The Stroke Lab shaft shaves weight from the traditional steel shaft and redistributes that weight into the head and grip in order to make the putting stroke smoother. The addition of a weight low and toward the rear of the had to make the club more forgiving is a nice touch.
Performance wise, I’m gaining strokes on the green and feel confident that I have a chance to make every putt. Having a round where I was draining everything I was hitting seems to have that effect. The alignment has me starting more balls on line and if the read is right, watch out.
It’s not all roses, I do have some issues with anything over 23 feet and severe downhill putts. I believe those issues can be resolved over time. It’s only been in the bag over a month and I feel we’re still in the “getting to know you phase”, but it’s impressed me so far. I can’t wait to see how it performs this winter and look forward to any time I can use it.
Overall score 90/100
 

****FINAL REVIEW****
This whole process is a little different for me. I am not deciding whether the clubs are staying in the bag or not, handing over my hard earned cash has already decided that. Instead I am looking at if I made the right decision in buying the T100S irons with a little T200 on the side....
Looks 
When I saw the first pictures of these clubs come out, I knew that Titleist had nailed the looks almost perfectly. This impression was confirmed when I got them in hand. The topline is slim and sexy, the back of the clubs is simple and no longer has a flashy, almost tacky look like the previous model. Don't get me wrong, the old model were great clubs but, to me, they just didn't have the shelf appeal of some of their rivals. Now everyone who looks at them in my bag is envious, so it's a resounding 5 stars from me.
Feel 
For me these clubs feel exceptional. Sure they aren't "buttery" but they are still so soft out of the centre. They also have a firm feel that I like, you really feel like you have struck the ball well. The other side of the coin is if you miss hit a shot you immediately can tell exactly which part of the face you used and that to me is a real positive. I has allowed me to adjust during a round, make a bad start into a reasonable score. The T200 4 iron feels firmer but powerful. The ball comes off the face like a rocket but it still feels softer than my old Cobra Forged Tecs from 2016. All of this combined brings me to give them 5 stars for feel.
Forgiveness 
Some people will disagree but to me these clubs are forgiving. I have hit plenty of shots that were thin or out of the toe or even very close to the hosel that have flown straight and true. Yes they come up a bit short but right on line. The bottom line is I don't have to be the worlds best ball striker to get the best out of these clubs and it's just as well because my bad swings can strike fear into any stout hearted golfer. 
Distance 
This category has been a great surprise for me. The clubs up till the 8 iron are about 2* weaker than my previous set and yet they are just as long if not longer. I was very happy to see this as I was prepared for a drop in distance with these irons but it looks like I don't have to adjust at all. I haven't hit enough shots yet to get accurate numbers but for instance my wedge used to be a 110 yard club, it's now a 120 yard. I had been struggling to hit my old 5 iron 180 yards but now its a 190 yard club and it just goes on like this through the whole set. 5 Stars
On-Course Performance 
These clubs are fantastic on course, as you can tell from my previous comments, and have shown me what I have been missing while playing GI Irons (see the CCC3 threads). the new sole design seems to suit my game. I really like the way they get through the turf and chipping with them is easier for me (much to my relief). My rounds with them have been very consistent, 82, 79 and 83 and my handicap has dropped by a shot since using them. It seems that all I have to do is put a good swing on then and everything is good in the world. 
Now I will say here that if you are looking at these clubs, don't be afraid to try the T200s for the top of your set. I have never had a 4 iron that has been so easy to hit. In fact it is well on it's way to becoming my favorite club in the bag. The T200 4 and 5 are the same loft as the T100S irons so why not try the combo. And you're not losing anything when it comes to looks so do yourself a favor and give them a try.
Pressure
This is where these clubs have come into their own. Since getting them I have played three matchplay rounds, the first of which was the first time I had even swung the clubs. It took me 9 holes to get going but since then I haven't looked back. One example from that round was the first shot I hit with the 6 iron. I had pulled my drive and left myself around 174 yards, ball below my feet, needing a draw into a sloping green. Oh and did I mention it was a blind shot? I stood over it and hit it just how I envisioned it. My opponent almost looked like he gave up at that point. I went on to win 3 & 1. the other two games have been a 6 & 5 win and an 8 & 7 win. What made these wins even better is the first two were away from home. It has become a case of "Pressure? What pressure"
Yet again 5 glowing hydrogen balls.
Overall 
Finally the answer to my question, did I buy the right irons?
Well it's an emphatic YES!! from me. These clubs are exactly the combination of looks, feel and performance I was looking for and are worth every cent I paid. Thank you Titleist, you've made me a very happy golfer 😍
 
 
 
 
Hello folks and welcome to the next part of my journey to replace my irons 😁

My name is John and I have been on the forum since 2017. Some of you may know me from my Shot Scope review, Cobra Connect Challenge 3 or just hanging around the forum. If you are wondering my user name is pronounced "None For None" from an old cricket nickname. I live in the distant realm of New Zealand where Kiwis roam, Hobbits and Orcs were filmed and the ground shakes a lot. 

 I was drawn here while researching my last set of irons that I bought, the JPX900 Hot metals. I was just like a lot of people, I saw the bright lights of testing and immediately joined. Of course my first post was to try to get a test and funny enough I didn't get it but then I began to dig into the forum and became hooked.

Since then it has been a glorious ride of fun, learning, vigorous debate and Gifs. Anyway I suppose I better give you some personal details...
I am lefty who has been playing since I was about 7 but joined my golf course when I was 11. My father got me into golf after I showed an interest and some small ability. I have many fond memories of playing golf with my dad, watching the Majors each year with him and just being with him at the club. We lost dad 25 years ago now but I still feel his presence at the club and his memory is kept alive there. I am lucky enough to have my brother there too, he joined after he gave up playing Rugby League ( it's like Rugby but harder, faster and better in my opinion.)
 
Speaking of Rugby League,

 
I played when I was 8 and 9 years old until a lovely disease called perthes decided to pay me a visit. It caused my left hip to lose the rounded shape of the "ball" and needed surgery to fix it. This left me with a permanent limp and meant I couldn't play contact sport. This is why Dad started my golf addiction.
Fast forward 37 years and i finally had to have a full replacement of my hip. This had a couple of effects, a lot less pain, my limp has diminished and my golf swing changed. Suddenly I can rotate a lot better and faster.

Back when I joined MGS I listened to all of the advice and got fitted for the Mizunos. This put me in very light regular XP95 shafts and 2* upright lies. I kept the same set up for the Cobra F9s that I got to test. Those two sets served me well and got me back from a 15 handicap to a 9 and I thought I had found my "solution" so to speak. Then the shiny new hip decided that I no longer needed upright lies and I started to hook my irons. I bought a cheap set of 2016 Cobra Forged Tecs in standard lie, A: to try a flatter lie set up and B: to move away from game improvement irons. Well the experiment worked and I have been hitting the ball much better. The Forged Tecshave never really felt "right" so I decided to bite the bullet and get fitted again and buy a whole new Iron set.
I have tried so many different irons I have almost lost count, I have had three fittings and had a lot of fun. The softest irons I hit were the Wilson CBs but really the distance loss was too big. Taylormade are only sold at one store here in NZ and fitter there just confused me with too many shaft options plus I didn't want to drop over $3000 on them. The Pings just don't agree with me. The Srixons were nice but just not quite right. Callaway were a bit "meh"
 
Then we had a Titleist fitting day at the club. I went to it thinking about the T200s and hit them really well but the T100 irons caught my eye, I was surprised how easy they were to hit and how nice they felt. Not super soft but solid. Also he reconfirmed what had come out in the other fittings, I now need stiff shafts not the old regs!! At the end of the fitting he even let me try the Cncpt irons. They were rockets but not what I was looking for, Besides in NZ they are $850 per club.

Just after the fitting day we had some trial sets of the T series irons arrive at the club and there just so happened to be a set of T100 lefties with the AMT white stiff shafts in them. I took them out for a wee hit, not expecting anything, and after nine holes I was deeply in love 😍. The consistency, flight and spin was a joy to behold. I thought "this is just too good to be true" but it just carried on. After 4 rounds with them I had made my decision, the T100 were for me 🤩. Or so I thought....
I made another booking to finalize my fitting and order the clubs and sat back all excited, next thing there's an email from MGS saying "Look at this, Titleist are seeding the new T100 range on tour this week". 

I thought I was back to square one but then I saw the pictures. They have the "It" factor that the previous model lacked. The looks of a blade with the benefits and forgiveness of CBs. I was 200% sold. Now I just have to do my final fitting and hand the cash over. I should be buying a set of the T100s irons (for just that little bit extra distance), 4 to 48* with the AMT white Stiff shafts. But you never know, maybe a combo set could be an option or maybe the T100 standard irons 4 to wedge. The world is my oyster so to speak.
As soon as I've had my fitting I will update so once again this post is TBC.....
 

Final Review
After a little over a month of testing, I feel confident that I have put these irons through a full run through.  With 7 rounds and a lot of range sessions, I played as much as I could throughout the process to give you all the best feedback.  These irons were fantastic and a joy to hit. Crisp feel with dynamite looks in a forgiving player’s package.  I would give this 4.5 Stars if I could. 
I’ll apologize now for how often I bring up my Mizunos during the test, but I felt they were a terrific comparison to the type of irons these are.   I did a bit of a hybrid with the new and old scoring system in an effort to be more thorough. 
Reminder of my set make up (similar to @chiefmikeofficer)
T200 Utility Build (Graphite Design AD IZ 85X)
T100 – S   5 – GW (KBS Tour 130 X)
Looks (5/5) 
Describe the following:
Coloring / Graphics
·        Subtle looks, but eye popping.  I do not remember having this many people come up to my bag and take a look at my irons. The finish does not scream out “look at me” but there is something about them, which draws attention. 
·        They really do remind me of the AP2’s of old, you can still see that DNA in there.  Also, as you saw the shape and size is very close to the split cavity Mizuno irons. 
·        Shape is exactly what I would look for, the top line is great and it flows so well overall.  During a few of my side by side experiments, the Mizuno irons looked clunky and nowhere near as pleasing as the T100-S.
·        I know it shouldn’t matter as long as you are playing the best equipment for your game, but as with the Mizuno’s, with Titleist, you are proud to answer the question “what irons do you play?”.  Take that for what it’s worth, but they definitely make an impression when you see them in the bag that you are a good player.  Performance on the course is up to you, but you will certainly look the part.  I had more glances and people ask about these irons than anything else I’ve played.  It’s just surprising because they are definitely not flashy.
I wanted to add a few more recent photos so that you could see how they look after a bit of use and the wear patterns thus far.  Obviously only has been a short time
 
 

 
Feel (4/5
Describe how the iron sounds and feels
How is the weight? Balance? Can you feel the clubhead in your swing?
I feel a bit more weight in the club head in the Titleist than I do with the Mizunos.  I prefer this feeling overall, but with it being a change, there are still some adjustments to be made.  I can actually take a smoother swing and have the feeling that the club is doing the work. Feel off the face
·        The million dollar question when it comes to a forged iron.  I can tell you, I do get the feedback that I’m looking for as to whether I’ve made a good strike or not. That is certainly an important aspect.  However, the feel is a bit “dead” when I compare to Mizuno.  To give another reference, they feel extremely similar to the latest Callaway X Forged CB irons and Srixon ZX7 if anyone has tried out those. The T200 4 iron is a rocket launcher with a bit of a hollow feel but not awful.  A bit better than the Srixon ZX for feedback.
Forgiveness (5/5)
·        Very good.  I think one reason that my scores have been very solid with these irons is that I am flying the ball to my yardage almost every time on mishits.   I can swing confidently even though the topline and looks are a players shape.  Honestly, a 15 handicap could play these with ease in my opinion if you want more feel.  The T200 definitely does provide more in this category, but it really just depends what you are looking for.  Do you want even more added distance and more forgiveness with a larger profile, or do you want just a tiny bit less of both, but added feel and a players shape?  You’ll have to decide on that one. 
 
Distance (5/5)
Nearly a club longer!  A little bit less than that on the shorter clubs, but on 8 iron down to 5 iron, I’ve noticed the difference.  The T200 can hit some bombs.  I know the averages were only about a club longer with this one, but if I had to had one 250, I feel like I could do it with this 4 iron.  Just crazy long. Ball Speed definitely has increased.  I would say by around 4 mph on average with many clubs.  Distance mirrors that to around a club longer.  Launch angle is a touch higher, but the total height and descent angle are much better numbers.  Dispersion however, has gotten a bit worse.  Just bringing a few more pulls and draws into the mix when I usually do not have to worry much about that miss.  On the flip side, I do not think that I’ve had a fade miss, so I’m still just missing on one side of the course, which is good. Pressure –
Tough to answer – I still feel like I’m grooving my swing with these.  At this exact moment in time (September 30, 2021) it is probably a toss-up, but just give the slight edge to the mizunos because of accuracy.  However, that is changing more and more with each practice session and round with the Titleist.  Trajectory –
I know I’ve gotten into this, but definitely noticed a higher ball flight.  I think this was due to both a less tip stiff shaft as well as all of the tungsten in this club.  If you have trouble getting the ball up in the air, I think the T series will assist with that. Accuracy –
Still a work in progress.  I think a combination of the clubs being a tad more upright and the different shafts are taking a bit of getting used to.  I think it will correct itself.  It has honestly helped me to feel like a can take a smoother swing and still increase my distance, which I don’t hate.  Also, workability is not quite as easy as I find with the Mizunos.  Possibly from the extra tungsten?  I’m not sure.  But I do find it easier with my previous set.  
On-Course / LM Performance (4.5 out of 5)
·        I would say that I hit a few less greens than normal, but on the flip side, it seemed like when I did groove a nice swing, I was giving myself a 12 foot or less birdie chance more often than I remember this summer.  I dropped from 11.8 to 11.2 on average over the last 6 rounds with each.  Granted I have been playing well during this time frame, but I had a couple real chances to break par and I cannot say that I’ve had that this summer.  I recently played in an annual outing that I’ve been playing in for the past 5 years.  I had my best score to date with the T100-S by several strokes and much was because of iron play.  Turf interaction was also very good, it seemed to glide through on divots if that makes sense. 
Did it help improve your scores? By how much?
·        I must admit, part of the scoring coincides with adding a new putter to the bag and getting along well with it.  But, my highest score with these irons was a 77.  That definitely beats my mizunos, some of that has to do with off the tee performance and not having as many penalty shots lately.   
·        I played 9 holes with both sets and hit iron off the tee except for the par 5’s.  I ended up shooting even par with both.  However, I had a birdie and 3 putt bogey with the Titleist and overall would say, I had less club into every green by one or two clubs each time.  However, I feel like I control my old clubs slightly better because I hit a slight fade with them rather than a draw.  But I’m now to the point where my misses are still catching the green.  With the added distance across all of the irons, I still felt confident only hitting 4 iron from the tee.  This could help in future rounds and playing smarter and less risky shots off the tee.
·        Below are some stats from several irons.  Note that Ball Speed is up, as well as carry and angle of descent with each iron.  I might shy some low spin players from these, but a shaft could help with that and the height will still help you hold greens.
 

Overall (4.5/5)
·        I think in the grand scheme of things, these irons allow me to play better.  More trust is still necessary as I move forward.  I have to believe that with a smooth swing, I will still be able to hit the distance that these irons have shown thus far.  On the course, I’ll still have the feeling that I need to swing out of my shoes to get my 6 iron 203 or whatever it may be.
·        I really enjoyed my previous irons more than anything I’ve had before by a mile.  These surpassed several aspects of them because they really are that good.  I will miss the feel of my Mizunos to some extent, but it quickly washes away when I see the towering ball flight, great top line and extra distance the Titleist T100-S provide without swinging out of my shoes. As I grow more comfortable with these irons, they will help me play better golf – simple as that. 
I have hit some other irons like the ZX7 and the Apex TCB, which did remind me of these.  I think there are a lot of good options out there, but these seem to be a cut above with all factors in mind.
 
Now, if I could tame my driver and have one less hazard per round, I’d be on to something.  Oh and a few less 3 putts would be nice, while we’re at it.
Thanks again to MGS and Titleist for choosing me to participate in this test.
 
First Impressions
Wow are these things clean. The lines are great on them. One of my biggest pet peeves was the large topline on some of my Mizuno irons and these alleviate that.  I am in no way a photographer, so please excuse the poor lighting and quality. 



Specs if anyone is curious - Not picture below but the 4 iron is a T200 with Graphite Design IZ 85 X flex shaft

Feel
Not quite as buttery soft as my Mizunos.  Not harsh by any means, but I don’t get quite as amazing of feel by really flushing one.  On the flipside, with a bit of a mishit, feels much better in the hands.  No worries in the cold this season for me (well still some worry, but not as bad).  Still getting used to them so more on this throughout the test.
Looks
Really like the satin finish of the T100-S, but if I’m honest, I think I prefer the chrome look of the T200 in the 4 iron a bit more.  More to come as I see them in the bag on a regular basis. The back has minimal look with a lot of technology packed in behind the scenes.  Topline is right where I want it to be.  The offset is very minimal and maybe even less so that my mizuno – will have to research that.  Also, the transition from shaft to club head is very smooth, the mizuno has a bit of extra meat right there while the Titleist is more flowing.
The Titleist has the blade like look, but does not make me scared in the least at hitting them. You can see the top line of my mizuno 8 iron on the right looks rather bulky compared to the Titliest.  I think it gets it just right here on the Titleist.  Blade Length may be ever so slightly longer in comparison as well.

Immediate Differences to my current Gamers
Much higher ball flight!  The tungsten in these are no joke.  The flight is not spinny by any means, but gets through the air easily and stops pretty quickly.  Numbers on a trackman only tell you so much, but seeing the ball flight in person, it’s very noticeable how high I’m hitting these.  I’m not changing anything else in my swing and it’s just higher.  Also, small mishits are forgiven much better than the Mizunos so far and feel better like I said above.  I won’t go into this too much here, but have noticed that I’m hitting a bit more of a draw with these compared to the Mizunos.  Likely the swing, but planning on taking both out to the course and playing a hole with each to find out.
Below is a straight on shot of the 5 irons of both sets.  The hosel looks shorter on the T100-S, but in person is about the same.  Honestly, they are very close in shape.  The main difference is under the hood and the cavity being larger on the T100-s compared to the smaller split cavity on the Mizuno.

Below is the gap wedge compared to my current vokey SM6 Gap wedge. More of the traditional teardrop shape from the wedge, but the T100-S 48* is more pleasing that I would have imagined.  Top lines are pretty close to my eye, but sole is definitely a bit smaller over the Vokey.

Comarison of the Srixon ZX and the T200 4 Iron.  No surprise here that the sole width is wider on the ZX.  Thus far, I'm finding the T200 4 iron forgiving and easy to get airborne.  Maybe not quite as easy to hit as the ZX, but still getting used to the clubs.

Loft Comparison
I could have went with the T100 and been pleased, but knowing where my lofts currently are for my mizuno’s, I thought it’d be an easier transition to go with these.  I was right and wrong

The Fitting
I knew about these irons from seeing pictures online on Instagram.  I watched the TXG video and a couple other Youtube videos to see initial impressions.  I even went to my local shop to take a look at the iron head because I knew I would be interested in trying them out for potential purchase this fall/winter.  Fast forward a week and I was chosen for the test!
I’m accustomed now to seeing all of the data from Trackman, so I knew what I was looking for out of my 7-iron demo club.  (Off topic, but when did we go to a 7 iron instead of a 6 iron during a fitting? I guess with hybrids these days, a 7-iron is a closer representation of your middle iron in a set, but still am left wondering when that truly happened. )  I tried out 6 different shafts through a few days of testing. As Follows:
KBS Tour X-Stiff
Project X 6.5
Project X 6.0
KBS $ Taper X Stiff
DG Tour X100
DG AMT White X100 (Current Shaft)
I’ve been to enough demo days and fittings that I had a good idea of the iron shaft that would work best.  The KBS Tour and the Project X 6.5 were neck and neck.  I could have picked either and been good.  At first I selected the KBS because it felt less stiff and I didn’t feel like I had to swing 98% every time.  I started to find a groove with that shaft and it continued when I went to Project X, but that was a point where I was swinging my best and quickest during the fitting at around 96 mph. 
Unfortunately due to shut downs across the world, Titleist had issues sourcing the KBS shafts in time.   Thus, I went with my back up and very close second the Project X 6.5’s.  A bit more stout with a hair less feel than the KBS but numbers were terrific with this shaft.
 ******Update, my irons came in with the KBS Tour shafts.  I don't know what sorcery someone at Titleist had to pull to grab these, but thank you. They feel incredible.
Also, I went with MCC Midsize grips as it feels best and what I have in most other clubs.  I tried the MCC +4 and have had those in my irons since 2017, but they’ve always felt a bit small. Glad we were able to get the grips that would work best.  Also the MCC hold up extremely well for me. I usually am getting several years of play with them with no issues.
Next thing I noticed is that I was getting amazing ball speed numbers for my swing.  I had a few 7 irons over 130 mph ball speed on trackman.  When I was last fitted to my Mizunos – I was in the 125mph range, but that was with a 6 iron.  Even with that being said my distances stayed close for standard deviation.  Shots that I felt weren’t struck great, were still around 124 for ball speed and flying only about 5 yards short so I could see the forgiveness.
Last thing that was crazy to me was that going in I thought I’d be hitting these fairly low due to the stronger lofts.  I’m hoping the trend continues on course, but I was getting average land angles of 51*.  To put that in perspective the fitter said anything 45 – 50 is good and PGA is 48 – 50.

 
Stats from Current Gamers (MP 18 SC)


 
Initial Post
Thanks for somehow picking my name out of the incredibly large hat that made up the nearly 16,000 entries to this test. THANK YOU TO TITLEIST AND MGS for the opportunity!

I’ve been active on MyGolfSpy since 2017 and this has been an incredible outlet for me to take a deep dive into all golf has to offer.  Sometimes I get the eye roll from my buddies for going into some crazy technical speak so it’s nice to be able to share my opinions and thoughts here. 
I’m 34 and have been playing golf just over 20 years.  I turned to golf initially to spend more time with my grandparents since I’ve always been close to them and my grandpa even shot his age a few years back (84). Growing up, it was always a way to get away from the other sports I was playing competitively and while I wanted to play well – I could get over a bad round more easily than a bad game/match in another sport.
I truly got addicted to golf in college and would get out as often as my limited bank account would allow.  I started to improve and went from shooting mid 80’s to shooting high 70’s.  My buddies joke that I knew all of the break on the carpet in our college house since I was always putting.
I’ve fluctuated a bit over the years but have managed to stay anywhere from a 3 to a 7 handicap over the past 12 years.  My wife and I have been together nearly 10 years and have 3 amazing kids (Alaina 6, Olivia 5, and Lawson 3).  I’m trying to play golf with the kids, but they aren’t all that interested yet.  Which is ok because we don’t need a ball/club to the shin type situation.



Current Game
This year has had some ups and downs for me physically.  I tore my Achilles playing basketball in January but didn’t have surgery until February.  I was able to start golfing again about 2 months after surgery but wasn’t completely confident in swinging until May.  Luckily, my swing did not suffer that much and have gone from a 5.1 to a 2.7 at one point this summer. Hovering at a 3.5 right now, but can shoot anywhere from a 74 to 84 on a given day.  Before switching to work from home permanently, my golf rounds were down to around 15 per year.  Now, I’m able to add in more 9-hole rounds over lunch or go to the range to keep the swing loose.  I’ve actually only played one golf round over a weekend this year. 
Biggest Questions Going into this test - 
Can my iron game get noticeably better?
My iron game is probably my biggest strength and I’ve noticed an improvement since I’ve had my Mizunos.  There definitely is room for improvement, but will these make that impact?  For reference I average 11.8 GIR and would say proximity is 35 feet on average when I do hit the green.

Are Titleist Irons still as good?
My first set of “players irons” were a pre-owned set of the 2010 AP2’s.  Made a huge difference for me in terms of GIR and dispersion. Also, I think they helped my ball striking going from a game improvement iron in the Cobra SSI Oversize to the AP2’s.

Do they feel as good as Mizunos?
With having my irons for 4 years now, I can say that nothing has felt like a Mizuno thus far.  Like many others on the forum, I always like to try the new stuff that comes out and nothing has contended with my Mizunos for a while.  This will be interesting to see if the Titleist can contend.

Is the progressive bounce design noticeable?!
You hear about the importance of bounce with wedges, but I’ve not heard of it in your irons.  Stay tuned…

Well, nothing else left to it, but to do it!  So let's get this going! 
8/12/2021
Day 1 
Introduction
Eric Seay and I reside in the great football town of Knoxville, Tennessee.  (great football town, not great football anymore) 34 years old with two kids, 4 years old and 8 months and i've been married for 8 years. For the most part my golf opportunities have become corporate outings/charity tournaments and about once a month on the weekend I lead Business Development for a large construction company so in the summer/fall, there tends to be a lot of company outings, so I play my fair share of golf and even sneak out on a few Friday's to go to the range.   My wife will tell you have too many hobbies so spreading my time around appropriately to which sport can sometimes be hard!  Between playing basketball, softball, golf, and even a kickball league this year, sometimes golf gets put on the back burner lately.  
This game called golf
You know the scene in the movie My Cousin Vinny where Marisa Tomei is explaining why she knows about cars?  "My father was a mechanic, his father was a mechanic, my brothers are all mechanics...", You get the idea.  Well, that is my family and golf.  My grandfather was a pro, my uncle won everything there was to win at a local level, my grandfather's brother was a pro...but me, my first love was baseball. Then in 7th grade my baseball coach started coaching the golf team for the middle school and asked if I wanted to play.  To that point, I had not ever played.  Really enjoyed playing in 7th grade but was AWFUL.  Played on a points system - 3pts for par, 2pts for bogey, etc.  I would have around 6-8 points per 9 holes.  After 7th grade my grandfather asked if I planned to keep playing which I did.  He told me in these exact words, "If your last name is Seay and you want to keep playing, you can't play like that" so the plan was put in motion.  That summer, he took me to his course 3 days a week and sent me to the range and out on the course and the other two days I played with him and his buddies.  In 8th grade, i was around 22 points per 9 nine, became the 1 player in high school and played college golf at University of the Cumberlands.   Fast forward to now - The game has gotten a little lost, mostly because of my driver.  MGS has been generous enough to select me for multiple driver testing opportunities which has only confirmed it's not the  clubs fault.  There isn't a golf course wide enough to keep me in play when i'm going poorly which has me playing to around an 8 these days.  If you forced me to play a stroke play tournament today I would hit 4 iron off every tee and would feel confident I would shoot in the 70s.   For the rest of the game.  Really good iron player, good scrambler (because I'm always in the trees), good wedge player, so-so chipper, and very average putter.  A little about the Putter and what i'm looking for
I am a very conservative putter.  The goal is to never 3 putt which means I tend to not be aggressive on putts even inside of 20 feet.  Miss far too many birdie putts so that I can ensure the par.  My current gamer is a Odyssey Red Two Ball Fang.  Love the alignment of the two ball.  Played one through college, had a Rife for a bit that I really liked (so very excited about this EVNROLL), tried some other things and went right back to a two ball.  I like the weight and swing of the larger head While I love the alignment of the two ball, I am not a consistent striker of the putter with regards to speed and stroke.  I'll come in with firm hands and a firm strike on one and the next is a longer stroke with a much softer impact - I just lack consistency there.  I tend to start most putts on the line I intend and speed is usually acceptable.   I also have not made a left to right putt in probably 9 years.  For this review  I went with the ER7V with the smooth flex shaft & long plumber neck I wanted a more "straight back straight thru" path and liked the alignment on the head.  Fujikura says the smooth shaft maintains stability for off-center strikes, geared more towards players with long strokes and want to feel the head more.  ding ding ding!  Ultimately, I want a more consistent feel and strike to my putts and hoping a putter shaft technology is just the change I need! To close...I cant wait to get out onto the course to try this out and make some putts.  Plenty of corporate outings in September to try it out and I'm sure I'll be playing plenty in the fall.  Thank you to MGS, @Fujikura Golf , and EVNROLL for this opportunity!  
Stage Two - [Fujikura Putter Shaft] – Official MGS Forum Review by Eric Seay (eseay32)
 
Intro
Thanks again to MyGolfSpy, Fujikura, and EVNROLL for this opportunity!  I thoroughly enjoyed this testing opportunity!  With that said, let's get right into it!  After not being able to get out much to test this bad boy out, things finally opened up and I played 4 times in about 10 days!  It was quite nice and could certainly get used to that type of life but alas, it doesnt last forever.  I was able to play in 4 SWAT outings which in my opinion is not a bad way to test a club or putter!  It allowed me to be aggressive with putts, not worry about lagging them up, confident in strokes and have an opportunity on pretty much every hole to have a makeable putt.  Add to that, leaving work early for these tournaments to socialize, eat lunch, and hit the putting green - Makes for a real solid test.  There was some complexity in my opinion to this test because I tried to be focused on the shaft, not the putter itself.  Of course this is a package deal but I did not want to get too high or too low on something because of the total package.   As a reminder to everyone, I chose the ER7V with the "soft" shaft, 34 inches long and white pistol grip.  I'm comparing this to my Odyssey 2 Ball Fang Putter with a Super Stroke 1.0 Grip
Looks 10 out of 10 points)  - She's a BEAUT, Clark!
So, i'm starting with the looks of the shaft and will move towards the entire putter.  First impression, it's sleek and has a great look to it.  The black and silver tones add some nice graphics so it's eye catching.  I went with the white Pistol grip and EVNROLL has done a great job with this one.  Love the feel, size, and the 3 rectangles on the front do a great of helping me consistently grab and hold the putter.  it sits great and has great balance.  Love the alignment on the ER7V.  The 3 line track with and two dots on the top really help me see my spot and the line i'm trying to hit it on.  
Overall, I dont think I would change anything from the setup or the looks of it.  TEN! TEN!

 
Sound & Feel (9 out of 10 points)
This was the biggest component of the test in my opinion.  How does the graphite shaft feel compared to a traditional steel shaft?  So as a reminder i went with the "soft" shaft and what I  would compare as certainly softer than a steel shaft.  The first thing I did after opening the box was wiggled the putter and this soft shaft has some real flexibility to it.  However, you dont notice it in the stroke assuming you are the right shaft for your stroke.  I would categorize my putter swing as a smooth, slower motion.  I dont get quick or pop at it so I think this is an appropriate shaft for me.  
So how does it feel?  SO SWEET AND DIVINE!  This was one of the game changers for me that made me really enjoy this putter.  The feel of the ER7V head was so solid.  It has kind of a soft, smooth strike to it and the ball comes off so well and stays right on line.  If I were trying to describe it's like you are pushing the ball off the putter face without taking the putter back.  You dont feel the "hit" and it's like you are catching the ball on the putter face.  I was really impressed with the strike i was able to make.  The best part is, it's consistently whether that strike comes from the toe or heel or center -- the feel is still smooth.  Obviously, as with any club, it does not correct mishits so there will be some disance loss with a mishit but in my opinion it feels great regardless of where you are striking the ball. 
So I have basically raved about this putter and the feel you get from it..."it catches the ball, you have not mishit feeling" so why score it a 9 out of 10...Here's why...it's almost too good!  i've had a little bit of a hard time dialing in my distance control with this putter because the strike feels so good and the ball comes off the putter so well with that proper topspin that I ran my fair share of putts by the hole! Mentally, I've had to adjust my thinking with distance wanting to FEEL like i'm trying to leave the ball a little short.  I firmly believe that all gets corrected with a few more rounds though.  
Great feel, great strike!

Basic Characteristics (19 out of 20 points)
I spent less time running the putter through the paces around the putting green but certainly put in some effort here.  Again, i was very pleasantly surprised.  My focus on the putting green is just getting a feel for the speed and seeing if the practice is over or under breaking.  From an accuracy perspective, this putter really helps me line things up so I was confident when taking it to the course that I was able to hit my spot over and over again.  Running it through long and short putts the distance control is really there in the sense that I was consistently having the ball travel the same distance.  As I mentioned above, I knocked one point off because the putter is TOO good so i'm staying consistent here...One point off for distance control because i'm sending the ball past the hole on a regular basis.  Typically, I want to die the ball in the hole so this can affect my mentality going forward.  
I made sure to hit the ball off the toe and heel quite a few times on the practice green just getting a feel and similar to as I mentioned, it does well in this respect.  So last thing to do was take it to the COURSE!!
 
On-Course Performance (30 out of 30 points)
So this is what everyone is waiting for... sure, the other things are all important BUT the most important thing is...did you hole more putts?    I will save you the anticipation and anxiety of reading through this portion of the review and give you my answer right now...YES!  As Stephen A. Smith might say "Unequivocally, inspirationally, unapologetically, YES!"  During my 4 rounds of SWAT golf, I was not the guy that hit the first put so everyone else could see the line.  I was the holer of the putts!  I usually prefer to putt 2nd in Captain Choice tournaments - I want to see the first guy to make sure we read it right, then I want to hit it.  I dont learn much from 4 guys hitting the putt with different speed and break.  However, my most recent tournament where we lapped the field and won by 4 - the 3rd and 4th guy didnt have to hit too many putts!
The ball really starts off on the intended line and has a good amount of top speed that helps it consistently get off the putter face and keep it's speed up.  I forward press my hands some also to create even more.  It holds it's line and limits the hops well.  But if you stopped me on the course and asked "Eric, how do you know this putter is really helping you out and you just didnt happen to hole more putts?"  I would be able to give you a very, VERY simple answer...You know how I know this putter is different?  Because I rolled in not 1, not 2, not 3 but 4 LEFT to RIGHT putts.   I've played golf for 20 years and i'm not sure i've made that many.  It's been a problem for me for YEARS.  i'm almost always low or so high it never stands a chance.  I attribute making these to the alignment aids and consistently solid strikes that gets the ball rolling and on the ground quickly. 
I do have one complaint but it's not enough to affect the scoring in my opinion.  I like to putt whenever possible.  Tight lies, shortsided, etc.  i'm a firm believer a bad putt puts you closer than a decent chip 99% of the time.  Two different times I putted from off the green in a little bit of rough and both times the ball popped a foot into the air.  Certainly not something i'm used to seeing with a lot of practice of this shot under by belt.  Again, I dont feel like that's something that should affect any scoring but moving forward, I will think about that shot a little more before choosing my approach. 
 
Miscellaneous (10 out of 10 points)
Similar to Mark's post, i'm going to make my post about two things that do not really affect the Putter/shaft or my review.  The grip and the head cover.  I really appreciate EVNROLL not cheaping out on a grip and going with a standard option.  We had 4 choices I believe and all of them were quality options.  I talked about the grip earlier but it has a great tacky feel, a little oversized which I love, and the boxes have helped me repeat my grip over and over.  I wont be changing the grip any time soon.  
The other is the head cover.  I went with the white head cover and it's quality again.  Great closure, white leather, feels great, soft inside, hangs on the putter well.  (picture to follow)
 

Play it or Trade it? (20 out of 20 points)
I was curious how I would like this putter and this "soft" shaft combination.  It's been years since  I was playing anything other than a 2 Ball.  I've always loved the setup and aim that the 2 ball presented.  After testing the Fujikura shaft and ER7V this decision was relatively easy.  This bad boy will STAY in the bag.  I without a doubt holed more putts.  I love the alignment, i feel like I have two ways to ensure accuracy, and the feel is great but again, at the end of the day, I holed more putts and that's something I have really struggled with.  So this was as easy as an answer as I can give you...YES

 
Conclusion
So wrapping everything up and putting a bow on this review I was obviously VERY impressed with the total package of this testing opportunity and it is definitely staying in the bag.  BUT did I really answer the question that I was picked to answer which is "does a graphite shaft make a difference?"  My answer...I dont think so.  I tried my best to not turn this into an EVNROLL test opportunity but the feedback that you get from a shaft on a putter is minimal.  While it's obviously a more flexible shaft, the weight and swing do not feel different compared to a steel shaft and can't think of a way that the shaft impacted the stroke negatively or positively.  So in my final, FINAL conclusion to this test - I love the putter, I love making more putts, and i'm not going to change the graphite shaft out for a steel and I will keep everything the exact same and I cant wait to play with it more! 
 
Final Score: (Add up all categories and present a total score out of 100) 98/100!!!!!
 
 
 
 

How we doing y’all?!  Welcome to B.Boston’s official Rapsodo MLM review!  I am super excited about this one as I had literally commented to another member on instagram that if I had $1,000 to spend on golf equipment I would buy a personal launch monitor and get some lessons, then I saw that MGS was looking for testers for exactly that!  
No review would be started correctly without thanking both Rapsodo and MGS for offering up this launch monitor for review.  And thank you to the mods for selecting me.  It is always a humbling experience to be chosen to do a review and I know we have high expectations of our reviewers here.  Thank you, thank you, thank you! 
Who is this B.Boston guy anyway?
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk a little bit about me!  My name is Bryan, and I am from Bellingham, MA.  Based on my user name you might see that I identify with Boston as my “home” city.  I grew up about 40 minutes outside the city, went to school just outside the city, and have lived within those 40 minutes for my entire life.  If you don’t know me already, or heck even if you do based on my Cobra Connect posts last year you’d probably expect me to be your Dunkin’ and Sam Adams drinking cousin from Boston sports guy with a wicked accent and Tom Brady posters all over the place.  While some of that is true… my accent is apparently disappointing.
Obligatory family photo from our recent vacation:

I’ve been golfing since as long as I can remember, getting my first set and going to the executive par 3 near me from when I was about 7 years old, but I got much more serious about it (read: tried to eliminate my slice) as I got into college.  Now 34 years old and a happily married father of three I would say I am borderline obsessed with the game and I have an ultimate goal of reaching “scratch” status for my handicap.  I am currently a 5.8 based on my Arccos stats.  Strength of my game is putting and I’m really hopeful that I can dial in my approach and long game with the help of the Rapsodo MLM and Coaching.
State of my game:
Just for reference here is a current view of some Arccos data:




My gapping is pretty good and I really just need to work on consistency.  My worst stats come from Approach and Short Game shots.  I need to get better in my proximity to the hole on approaches, and get closer for an easy one putt if I don’t hit the green.
Here’s a recent swing clip.  This should be useful representative of a starting point for me before any changes or developments from the coaching aspect of this review:
My signature shows my current WITB, but in case you’re reading this on mobile and can’t see I’m playing here are the details:
Driver: Callaway Epic Max LS Fairway:  Cobra Speedzone 5-wood Hybrid:  Titleist TSi3 20* Irons:  Cobra Forged Tec (5-GW) Wedges:  Cobra MIM Black (52, 56, 60) Putter:  Evnroll ER2B Ball:  Titleist Pro V1x Tech:  Precision Pro NX9 Slope, Arccos Caddie I’m a tech nerd at heart so I’m always interested in ways to utilize technology to enhance my game.  I have been loving Arccos and its strokes gained information as it has been insightful in many cases and damn eye opening in others.  I’ll record my swing at the range and on the course to see if there’s anything I notice off on a particular day, and can not wait to pair it with a powerful tool in the Rapsodo MLM to get an even better understanding of my game.  
What will I be looking at in this test, and what am I hoping to get out of it?
I will primarily be using this device outside at the driving range, and hopefully getting some actual on-course data as well.  I know that from both last year’s forum testing and the most wanted articles that the Rapsodo MLM is top of its class and very comparable to professional grade units for good quality strikes.  I know all of these units can suffer on strikes that are at opposite ends of the bell curve, so I don’t expect perfection, but I will do my best to test out the accuracy claims.  I want to see what the Rapsodo shows as my carry gapping versus my Arccos stats total yardage.  Also to see if I am getting good ball speed gaps, peak heights, etc. to make sure that everything is looking in line.
However, the thing I’m most excited to take part in is the coaching feature as I have only ever had one golf lesson and while I would love to have a coach and consistently see them, it’s difficult for me to know which day I’ll be able to shoot to the range on lunch and scheduling something after work is challenging, and if I’m booking time on the weekend for golf, I’d much rather it be time playing on the course and enjoying the game.  I really feel that the coaching feature will help me maximize my range sessions by getting feedback and things to work on for the next bucket of balls.    
I’m also going to try and have some fun, and highlight some of the cool features for you all.  There will be a long drive contest and hopefully some other videos along the way.
Much more to come with the unboxing and review!  Please sound off in the comment section with anything else you’re hoping to see from my review or any of the other testers.  As much as this review is about my experience, I want to make sure the forums are learning everything they possibly want to about them to aid in future purchase decisions.
Make sure to give this thread a follow so you don’t miss out!
Initial Impressions! (September 10th Update):
I’ve had three range sessions in the books now with the Rapsodo MLM and have had an opportunity to try everything out except the coaching feature, so I’ll be adding more details about that later on.

Rapsodo claims that the MLM sets up in under 30 seconds and I have to agree.  The iPhone and iPad apps are super responsive to start a practice or game session and just as slick in reviewing rounds once the session has been uploaded.  Every time that I powered the unit on it connected quickly to my phone and I was able to get a session going without any issues.  Even swapping to the iPad to test went smoothly.  I had no issue going through my session after getting home, looking at swing videos, and viewing detailed data.  I had even forgotten to switch clubs at one point and that was easy in the app too.  I can’t stress enough how simple the app made it to get setup and start hitting shots.  This is important to me because I don’t want to be thinking about the set up and capture of swings to get the data to the point that I’m not thinking you know… about my golf swing and hitting the shots I want to hit.  
Here’s my typical range setup:

The iPad version of the app allows for more data to be shown and I think it looks cooler.

Side Note:  On the first day I did have to improvise as the MLM needs to generally be level with the ground you are hitting on, so I used a flipped over small bucket as the ground behind the mat I was on sloped down and away.  I have since used it slightly below the level of the ball (maybe 4 or 5 inches) and it seemed to work just fine.  But it was still level, which I think is more important.

Rapsodo highlights several features when talking about the MLM:
Shot Tracer
GPS Shot Map
Video Playback
Club Gapping
Interactive Games/Sharing
Shot Library
NET(Indoor/Outdoor)
Smart Club Recognition
They also highlight that accuracy matters, and so far the MLM seems to have done really well on good/average strikes.  Poor strikes have been less consistent, but yeah, it’s a poor strike and likely out of the focal range of the unit’s radar.  I’m not going to fuss that the unit was unable to show my topped drive was 30 yards before it hit the ground instead of a 42 yard carry (I mean if I were to have had a shot like that…. Which I NEVER do!).  
So far the clunkiest part of the app experience has been exporting swing videos to the camera roll.  For such a smooth app for everything else it takes way too many clicks, and too much time to do.
So what does this accuracy get you?  Here are the metrics the Rapsodo MLM captures:
Distance (Carry for irons, user selectable Carry or Carry + Roll for woods)
Ball Speed immediately after impact
Club Speed immediately prior to impact
Smash Factor for strike efficiency
Launch Angle
Launch Direction
So far, it seems to be a pretty accurate launch monitor, particularly with well struck balls.  I’ve had a few data issues with pull-hooks, my guess is because the ball gets lost behind my club or body and the reading gets messed up.  I can forgive that miss as I realize these are not perfect commercial sized radar units.  It’s also disappointing that there is no spin, but I read a rumor that they are working on that, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.  My club and ball speed numbers are right inline with what I saw earlier this year on a trackman and were well within my expectations.



(Very cool to have the visual satellite overlay view, but I’m not convinced the scaling is quite right.  More research needed.)
Not too shabby for the asking price right?  But wait, there’s more!
There are two main subscriptions offered with the MLM for golfers.  Basic (AKA Free), and Premium ($99 annually)..  There is also a Coach Connect subscription, but that is teaching professionals and is out of scope on this review.  With the Basic subscription you only get cloud storage for your last 100 shots included.  The premium subscription includes more:
Cloud storage for 10,000 shots
Slow motion swing replays at 4 speeds
Shot Apex data on your swings
Access to online golf lesions through the Coach Connect platform
I need some more time to think about it, but I don’t think we’re getting enough as consumers at the Free level.  100 shots isn’t even 10 good shots with each club in my bag, so the club gapping is much less appealing.  Heck, that’s not even two full buckets at the range.  I really think that something like 250 or 300 shots should be included, or I should be able to use my iPhone or iPad’s internal memory.  It is super portable with the included carry case, so it really would be a shame to not be able to see more than 2 range sessions of history since I can see myself always having it there available to use.

As for the upgraded features you do get with the premium, I DO enjoy the peak height indicator on the shot replays.  It’s not always easy to tell due to the angle of the camera and it is something that I do like to see.  The ability to play your swings in several levels of slow motion is neat, but I think the app needs to use a higher FPS on the camera’s phone to really take advantage of it.  Slow motion videos from the native iPhone app are much better.  I need to do a comparison there on the downswing as well as some more testing to show what I mean.
I should be getting into the online golf lessons soon, and will update here after I get to try that out.  Until then, it’s off to the range for some more hone my skills with the Rapsodo MLM in tow!
 
Final Scores! (November 23rd Update):
Looks & Feel (10 out of 10 points) 
The Rapsodo MLM is very well built and feels like a tank.  It feels very dense and solid, not hollow.  I like that feeling as it feels more high quality even if a lighter unit may be just as good.  It strikes a good balance with some softer feeling rubberized plastic.  Also the buttons and flap that you open for the phone/tablet stand have a satisfying smooth feeling to them. 
The case is a good standard feeling rangefinder style zip case.  With that storage for between uses and the high quality feeling unit itself I have no doubts that unit will hold up long term.
 
Setup (13 out of 15 points)
As I touched on in my initial impressions, the Rapsodo MLM and Rapsodo app could not be easier to set up and get going. Turn it on, place it down, open the app, select practice or the mode you want, set location and heading, verify you’re in your box and the ball is in its box, and Go.  Demos in the app are very good at showing you what to do step-by-step if it’s your first time setting it up.  
The unit charges fast enough through standard USB connections and I don’t doubt I can get through 2 or more range sessions on a charge, but I usually just charge it after a practice session anyway.  
Upon swinging the replay shows all your relevant data (more is shown on the iPad, and I prefer that view).  The data is all useful information for your shots and can help track your progress.  I find the ball speed to be the most useful (with driver at least) as a way of determining how solidly I’m hitting the ball.
While I won’t say any of it is useless, the least useful metric to me is the shot shape.  I’ve had several shots that were over or under curved, likely due to the device not capturing spin.  However, I don’t recall it being wildly off, but enough that I consider the tracer more of an estimate than a calculated or tracked overlay.
 
Accuracy (13 out of 15 points)
As far as accuracy is concerned I want to note that I used the Rapsodo MLM exclusively at the driving range outdoors..  I have no indoor or outdoor net experience so this is all based on Outdoor mode with range balls. 
I think the unit overall does a really good job on well struck shots.  Considering the condition of the range balls I was using I was expecting some variance, even if the data is normalized.  One area I did see some strange results was on shots that started more left and maybe got part of the ball flight lost behind me while swinging.  I also had several shots where the tracer did not start at the ball, and I am not sure if that means the numbers are good or not.  
Here is a chart of my Arrcos Smart Distance versus Rapsodo Lifetime Stats (Driver and woods are set to Carry+Roll setting in the app):
 

So now, let's take a look at the story here by club grouping:
Wedges (52*, 56*, and 60*) No surprise here.  At the range I hit my 52, 56, and 60 to some specific targets and on-course I end up with many different length shots.  The Rapsodo distances feel very accurate to the targets I am usually shooting at with them Irons (including PW and GW) These feel really accurate in aggregate as well.  Considering I don’t get much roll through the 9 iron I am happy to see they match my Arccos on-course performance.  It makes sense to me that I would see some gaps in the longer irons as Rapsodo does not account for roll on these shots.  If anything, the quality of ball I’m hitting may start to impact carry figures for the 6 and 5 irons by 3-5 yards. Hybrid Ok so this is the only one that I really don’t agree with.  It’s also one of the clubs I hit the least during practice, so it could be a sample size thing with a few bad shots pulling the numbers down.  I think I only have a dozen or so shots with it in the Rapsodo data, but once again when we account for roll, this may only be 5-8 yards off on carry.  Maybe it rolls a lot more for me than I’m thinking? 5-wood This looks pretty good to me.  At this point the range I practice at does back uphill, so it’s easier to gauge how close to the targets your landing and estimate total carry distance.  Also I don’t tee this club up at the range and my Arccos data would include tee shots which in theory would allow for some additional distance. Driver This one is tough for me to gauge.  I don’t like seeing a 20 yard gap here, but I have a hard time believing the range balls are not partially to blame here.  The last few sessions out I could see the ball traveling shorter overall distances even though the Rapsodo unit was showing a lot of the same swing speeds.  It also had my efficiency at about 1.42 so maybe with my gamer balls that number would be a little higher.  Or maybe it is because I was practicing a lot with the Epic Max LS as it was the newest club in my bag, and I was trying different shafts, and had a bunch of poor shots in the data.  I will note that I saw my biggest “Hmmmm” moments when looking at the Rapsodo readouts with the driver, particularly if my start line got pulled to the left at all.  But, more on that later… I’m docking a couple points here because the accuracy of the shot tracer and shot direction/path is just OK.  With no ability to edit for the landing point  it looks awkward if you’re not hitting on a flat surface and without spin measurements it’s only ever going to be a guess anyway, but overall the yardages seem solid in aggregate even if some individual shots are off.  I actually had purposely not looked at the summary stats until writing this section so I was pleasantly surprised to see the figures matching up and making sense.    
see here the tracer isn't starting at impact, or even within the range of the "hit zone" on this one.  I had more than a few shots like this:
 
 
On-Course (25 out of 30 points)
At the range getting ready to play is pretty simple.  Open the app, move the icon over the spot to where you’re hitting, and set your heading.  Then all you have to do is line up your unit and make sure the hitting area is within the box on the screen.  I can’t say that it interfered with my normal practice routine at all.  I could make my swing, watch the flight, and then turn around in time to see the some/all of the replay and see the numbers.  It worked out well because I could see if the MLM picked up the shot shape and get a gauge as to if I felt it was a good shot or not.  I didn’t really get along well with the “Smart Club Recognition” but it was simple to select the right one, or even edit post practice if I forgot  (I usually work through my bag with all even or odd clubs so it’s pretty clear when I changed based on the numbers.  
Compared to my old way of playing at the range I didn’t really change much.  I normally will use my rangefinder to get the distances to flags or markers and go from there.  One thing I did do differently with the MLM is set up in line with the middle of the range which has a 100 yard marker.  Then I would try to hit all my balls over that flag to get the distance as I was warming up, which was great with the unit for tracking accuracy and distance, then get to my target practice in the second part of my practice. 
However, I did run into some issues/limitations with the MLM while out on the range.  The unit does not like high contrast situations.  At one of my practice sessions it was hot and humid, and I was able to hit in a covered bay to keep myself, and the MLM a little cooler.  However the MLM failed to capture probably close to 25-30% of swings that session as the ball was starting in the shade and jumping out into a bright clear sunny day.  The unit was unable to track this so it must be using both its radar and your mobile phone to track and lost the ball from transition from shade to sun.
The unit also did not seem to like my Hybrid very much, missing a noticeable amount of shots with that club, including several that were just straight, medium trajectory, boring shots.  I still can’t quite figure out why, but it was enough to notice the trend.  
While I can’t say I play better or worse since including this in my practice, my range sessions or definitely more enjoyable.  It’s also fun to use the long-drive feature as @Lacassem and I did.  I recorded that with the intent of creating a video to share with everyone, but it was windy and the audio came out like absolute trash… and my competitor was trash that day too. 😉 
 
Miscellaneous (7 out of 10 points)
Speaking of the long drive/closest to the pin built in challenges…. They need to work on the UI for that a bit.  So I’m deducting 2 points.  First,  the results are not saved in your shots or sessions.  When Mark and I completed the long drive challenge we wouldn’t have been able to back and see the totals for each round had I not set up a screen record.  It is not saved in your session, and you cannot review the swings after.  On top of that, there is barely a final page or summary screen at the end.  I’d love to see Longest from each round and longest overall or something with the averages… something more than just our names in first and second and then once the page clears it’s gone forever.  Although that’s probably how Mark wanted it since it was a clean sweep for me.  *Side note: maybe next time you show up for a long drive competition don’t be wearing work boots.*
Nothing really much to mention otherwise.  Shipping was quick.  We were all hoping to get to try out the coaching feature, but were not able to get access to coaches during the testing period (-2 points) despite our mod’s best efforts (thanks Jamie!).  But we did get a full year of premium from Rapsodo (+1 point).  I may investigate the coaching feature in the Spring, or maybe over the winter if I find some indoor practice time, but with the prices varying wildly from coach to coach I may be better off getting in front of an actual coach the old-fashioned way, face-to-face, so they can see my particular inconsistencies IRL and not just a selection of my best and worst swings. 
Rapsodo INSIGHTS.  This has some real potential and now that I’ve seen what it is I feel like I can’t un-see the gap that was there before.  Insights in a new AI driven addition to the MLM app that gives you feedback (sort of like strokes-gained) on your practice sessions as a whole.  It takes the MLM from being a “toy” to being a real “tool” that can be used for improvement in my opinion.  Data like left/right misses and distance compared to other golfers of varying skill levels should help you focus your practice much like strokes gained analysis will point out your on-course weaknesses.  I’m excited about this addition and look forward to seeing more added to it for even better practice sessions.  
Here are some of the summary screens you get with Insights, it really does take the MLM to the next level:



 
Play it or Trade it? (15 out of 20 points)
This is a tough question for me to answer.  So I’m going to break it down into a few parts for the unit and the subscription.  I think that the unit is great, and see no reason to not continue using it.  Despite a few challenges with the technology working great my numbers are pretty spot on in aggregate and I think it’s one of the best personal launch monitors out there for its cost.
When we factor in the annual subscription things get a little less clean for me.  I think $99 per year is a bit much for cloud storage and some expanded analysis.  I also feel that the base level does not include enough storage for the asking price of the unit.  
Regarding coaching (which is not factored into the score here as I did not test it, but as an aside) the prices vary significantly from instructor to instructor, which you’d see just the same if you were looking at different coaches at a few places near you, but Rapsodo does a good job of having the coaches offer both standalone, lesson packs, or unlimited monthly offerings.  It also looks to have limited slots for coaches which is good, because it gives me the sense that the coaches will have the correct amount of time to dedicate to each student.
The most natural competitor I can think of to the Rapsodo MLM and other personal launch monitors using this base plus subscription model would be Arccos’s shot tracking system or Shot Scope.  I think both the PLM and On-Course data gathering are both means to the same end of improvement for golfers.  If we take a look at this as a three year investment the MLM will cost you around $800,  While 3 years of Arccos is going to run about half of that.  
Now I know they are not the same tools, but if someone came to me asking which one they should get FIRST, my answer would be Arccos or Shotscope.  I feel that the on-course data and strokes gained analysis is going to be money better spent for golfers.  However, if you’re like me and already have on-course shot tracking, well, then the Rapsodo MLM is a powerful tool that can partner with your on-course data to help measure improvements during practice.  I hope that in the next few years costs can come down, but the Rapsodo MLM is not high priced compared to some of the other units that it is competing against considering the accuracy of the results. 
 
Conclusion (TL;DR):
Rapsodo has an absolute hit with the MLM unit and slick operating iPhone/iPad app.  It works well in most conditions, and if you know where it doesn’t work well you can generally avoid setting it up that way.  I’m not sure there is a more accurate unit available in its price bracket, and while I’d like to see either a reduced annual subscription fee, or more features for the base plan, I can see that Rapsodo is putting the money into R&D as the new INSIGHTS platform is a welcome addition to post-practice analysis.
Overall, I like it, but I don’t love it.  However I think it will be a very useful tool for my future practice sessions and I’m excited to see if I can improve my game a little bit from the insights analysis and my on-course tracking during normal rounds.  Insights is a massive release for analyzing your practice sessions and I also feel that many of my issues with it can be address via software updates.  I am confident that the folks over at Rapsodo are working hard to stay ahead of the competition with constant improvement and updates.
 
B. Boston’s Final Score: 83!

 

Introduction
I’m Michael and I’m a first-time tester for MGS. I play most of my golf at Werribee Park Golf Club, which is west of Melbourne, Australia (Down Under!). It’s a brilliant part of the world to play golf and has one of the best views from the clubhouse of any course I’ve been to. I also venture out to other golf courses about 4-8 times per year; one of the best was playing Curlewis (close to where my in-laws live) after being invited by @Peaksy68.


A typical view of Australian golf in the middle of winter.

View from the clubhouse
I have been playing golf since I was 14, so have been playing for 20 years. Up until the last 3 years I haven’t had a regular playing schedule, but now it’s weekly. I’ve been able to go from an 18 handicap down to 8 in those 3 years. Typically, I gain strokes from driving, lose a little from approach and short, then putting is a small gain. Lately I’ve been driving terribly but my short game has been better than normal; skewing my recent averages.
                                 
  
Current 10 round averages - Overall stats are vs 8 Handicap, Putting vs 5 handicap (gives a testing baseline of 0.0)
 
My golfing is mainly on Saturday mornings, and I don’t usually have much of an opportunity to practice during the week. With the PuttOUT equipment I’ll be able to practice putting at home without having to go to a dedicated facility. It looks like a good range of equipment to make sure my putting is top notch. This should combine well with an AimPoint session I did recently. I’ve found it useful for reading greens.
 
First Impressions
In our box of goodies we received a Premium Pressure Putt Trainer (titanium white and dark grey – a colour combo that doesn’t seem to be on the online shop), a large putting mat (3.7m x 0.66m or 12ft x 3ft), and a Putting Plane Alignment Stick Set. I haven’t seen the packaging on the other colours of the Pressure Putt Trainers, but the silver band at the bottom of the packaging would be a nice colour pop to match the different colours of the trainers.
 
Packaging - The packaging is quite nice, with clear indications about what each item is for and links to ideas for how to use the equipment. I noticed how the packages could be merchandised both on a shelf standing up, or on a hook – a nice touch. There aren’t excessive amounts of packaging so it’s easy to get everything out. One minor issue is on the top of the Alignment Stick Set’s packaging. The closing tab detaches with an unsatisfying tear rather than a clean detachment. It’s an incredibly minor criticism, but it would make the user’s experience a little nicer.

Pressure Putt Trainer Packaging - I hope the silver band at the bottom changes with the colour of the product.

Alignment Stick Set Packaging with carry bag

Top of the Alignment Stick Set packaging - has unsatisfying tearing
 
Storage - Living in an apartment, I can’t permanently setup any golfing equipment, so the thought the designers have put into easily putting away each product seems to be very useful. I have a 4 x 4 set of Kallax shelves in my office and a golf area in the wardrobe for storing my gear. I think that I will be able to easily take out and put away all elements of the kit. The mat comes with a storage bag to keep it neatly rolled up when not in use. The way the Pressure Putt Trainer and the Putting Plane Alignment Stick Set fold up is ideal to fit into my golf storage area. A big tick for consideration of storage.

Easy to find places to store both the Pressure Putt Trainer and the Alignment Stick Set
 
Unrolling mat - For the test period I’ll be continually rolling and unrolling the mat to use it. First impressions are that the mat is thick, has plenty of different markings for different activities, and the edges are highly reinforced. It looks like it will last a long time. Only issue is that the centre of the roll doesn’t lie flat. Maybe that’s because it’s brand new and needs to relax (who am I to criticise for not relaxing), or maybe it’s just physics of rolling up a mat. It’s doesn’t really affect the performance of the matt, but I’ll see how it goes over time.

Matt rolled out - plenty of markings and a decent length that can fit in my living room

The centre of the mat doesn't lay flat. Will see if it just takes some time to relax
 
Assembling Alignment Stick Set - There are plenty of pieces that look like will enable a variety of different putting activities. All the parts disassemble and have a dedicated storage area in the bag, so it’s easy to pack away and keep all the bits. The small rubber tube that enables the two alignment sticks to be joined is a nice touch. I like the idea of the gates to give immediate feedback about starting line, but having the alignment sticks to ensure that the equipment is lined up properly is a nice feature.

The Alignment Stick Set allows many options and disassembles for storage. Pocket is for the gate parts.

Use of extended alignment stick ensures ball, gate, and target are aligned (sticks sag but are straight along putt line)
 
Goals for testing
My 10 round average for strokes gained putting is currently sitting at 0.0 against a 5 handicap, so I think a good goal for putting success would be to get it to +1.0, but any improvement will be worth it. I’ll post updated stats after any round I play to see how I’m progressing.
 
 
With my practice I want to make improve my ability to start my ball on my intended line, with appropriate pace. I really want to try out the variety of possible activities that can be done with the gear, as this will help with keeping practice fresh (putting practice can easily get stale) and evaluating how the gear can help you to develop a repeatable, accurate stroke. If there are any drills you want me to try out to see if they’re possible with the gear, please let me know in a comment.
 

 
With my reviewing, I used all of the different elements of our sets over different weeks. I started with just the mat and the Pressure Putt Trainer, then used the Alignment Stick Set with more regularity later on.
 
Quality of components (10 out of 10 points)
For all 3 elements of the set, the products are made well, have quality materials, and are well put together. As identified in my initial impressions, I could only fault some very minor packaging experience issues.
 
Ease of use (10 out of 10 points)
With the Pressure Putt Trainer and the putting mat, it was obvious what the purposes of each product were. With the Alignment Stick Set, it’s a more complex product. There are many more applications and combinations the product can be used in, so some were not initially obvious. This was solved with informative packaging with examples of the different ways the products can be setup.
 
Basic Characteristics (17 out of 20 points)
Starting with the mat, it does everything you would want from an indoor practice mat. It rolls at a green-like speed, has assorted targets and alignment lines for practice. It makes a great base to build putting practice from.
 
With the Pressure Putt Trainer, having the smaller target meant I was able to focus with greater detail. It also meant that I had a more difficult goal that a standard hole size; great for rehearsing putts inside 6 feet. By having the goal of the perfect speed and line to nestle in the target, it was rehearsing starting the ball on line, with appropriate pace, and made practice interesting with the satisfying “plop” into the small target.
 
With the Alignment Stick Set, its fundamental purpose is to rehearse starting the ball on line. Sadly, with all the arrangements there was only loose feedback that I was starting my putts on line. The gates were much wider than a golf ball and can’t be narrowed for making tighter pass/go for starting putts on line. As I stated in the mid-review comments, by having multiple slots in the round rubber feet, the difficulty for starting on line could be changed.
 
On-Course Performance (## out of 30 points)
For my review, it’s impossible to evaluate on course performance; public health orders where I live prevented golf being played during the review period. I had one round on the 31st of August, but with 50km/h winds (31 miles) my poor putting stats were influenced more by the conditions than any practice I had done with the products.
So sadly, I’m going to have to ignore this part in my scoring of the products. I’ll revisit this in about a month and update this.
 
Miscellaneous (10 out of 10 points)
The strongest characteristic of all the products in our set is the quality of materials and finish. They don’t really affect the ability of the products to help your golf game but if you’re spending money on products, it’s better if they’re well-presented. For example, the Pressure Putt Trainer’s materials have a nice matt finish, the putting mat has reinforcement around the perimeter of the mat and a thicker base layer than others I’ve seen on the market, and the stainless steel in the Alignment Stick Set gives it a premium feel.
 
The other area of strength for all products was the thought put into how they are packed away for easy and small storage. The bag with multiple pockets on the Alignment Stick Set where every part had a place is well thought out. As a result, all the products take up minimal space in a closet.
 
Keep it or Trade it? (14 out of 20 points)
 
Putting Mat – keep. It does everything a putting mat should. Rolls up, rolls truly, can be vacuumed occasionally to keep it clean, and has a range of useful markings. Technically I’m not going to keep this one, but a friend is buying a Medium mat and then we are trading. The medium mat will fit my home better.
 
Pressure Putt Trainer – keep. This is a unique product in the putting practice market; providing a little reward for making a perfect putt but also indicating made putts. With the added convenience of it being able to fold away neatly when not in use, the different colour options, and its suitability for people who aren’t “golfers”, it’s a real winner.
 
Alignment Stick Set – trade. I really wanted to like this product, but I just didn’t find it useful. I tried all the different setups that it can do, and none of them convincingly aided starting the putt on line, and the product is not designed to train correct speed. I’m sure there will be someone who thoroughly disagrees with me who will love it though. It is a well-made product that you can tell has been thought about in design, but it just doesn’t gel with me.
 
Conclusion
I thank both PuttOUT and MGS for giving me the opportunity to review these products. The process really got me thinking about putting practice, and was the trigger for some enlightening discussions with the professionals at the facilities I go to. Overall, I commend PuttOUT for the quality of materials, construction, finish, and storage of their products. You can tell they have gone to great effort to get this right. For the Putting Mat and Pressure Putt Trainer, these are great products that I think help to keep my practice fresh and improve my putting. I want to practice more with these two products. Whilst the Alignment Stick Set is a well-made product, I didn’t find it useful to get my putts starting on line. I'm thinking of modelling and 3D printing some custom feet for my Alignment Stick Set.
Final Score: (61 out of 70 points)

Hello fellow spies. Here we go ... starting my PuttOUT testing and review.
First, a big thank you to MyGolfSpy and PuttOUT for this opportunity! I will give it my best.
Some background: I began my golf journey 7 years ago and my current handicap is 19. Putting is both my favorite and the best part of my golf game. From the beginning putting seemed easy. Although I’m right hand dominant, I began putting left handed because it felt more natural. I do some things left handed and some right and but easily switch back and forth for many things without even thinking about it. After 3.5 years lining up as a lefty, I allowed myself to be talked into a right handed Edel putter fitting. It works but it also feels like more work. Until last year, I typically 2-putted with a few 1-putts and 3-putts each round.
A couple years ago I started working on putting in earnest. Last year @downlowkey gave me a PuttOUT Pressure Trainer that I’ve used regularly and experienced success with in lowering my number of putts.

(On the left is my original PuttOUT Trainer cup; on the right is the newer version included in out testing kit.)
A few months ago @downlowkey also gave me the Bettinardi SS38 Armlock putter that he reviewed for MGS. With the armlock, PuttOUT and a lot of practice I've managed to further lower my average putts per round to ~31. But in the past few weeks I was delighted to play two rounds with 29 putts and one with 27 putts. For me to consider this new comprehensive PuttOUT setup a success, I want my average putts per round to be sub 30 and make more 10-12 foot putts. I feel more confident at the 15 foot range than facing a 2 footer and hopefully PuttOUT can fix that.
Being a fairly good putter, leaves fairway hits, or miss hits, as my weakness. That is where I seem to put myself in difficult spots that add strokes. I regularly find bunkers, deep rough and water, plus I seem to be an expert at smashing into trees. I’m rarely on the green in regulation, but once there I relax and putting is good. It’s not unusual for me to score a 6+ on a hole but with only 1 or 2 putts. I can leave my playing partners shaking their heads, but they like me as a scramble partner.
When my PuttOUT shipment arrived I was impressed how well everything was secured in the boxes.

(Above top photo is the Putting Mat wrapped in protective plastic inside the shipping box. Bottom photo is the box containing the Putting Plane Alignment Stick Set and Pressure Putt Trainer cup minus the stuffing to keep stuff from moving around.)
The PuttOUT packaging design and quality is superb (more about that later). At first I thought I must be missing the instructions but it’s all there with steps and illustrations printed right on the packaging.

(Above are some of the instructions printed on the packaging. More cumbersome than a booklet would be, but don't throw it out!)
 
The mat is larger than I anticipated 12’ ½” x 26¼” and very well made.


(Above top photo is the PuttOUT Mat setup in my den. Bottom photo shows the heavy stitching on the edges, like a well made throw rug that keeps the corners from flipping up.)
It is easy enough to roll out for practice and roll back up for storage. I have identified 6 places in my house with hard floors that I can set it up. I plan to leave it setup in my den for most of the duration of this test so it will be ready to use every day. I will move it to a carpeted area for at least a week to see if that makes any difference.
I enjoy the challenge of the Pressure Putt Trainer but so far I’m not thrilled with the Putting Plane Alignment Stick Set. I’m a visual learner and don’t like the clutter between my ball and target. But if it helps me improve, I will learn to love it.

(As you can see, the top alignment stick obscures being able to see the center alignment line on my putter. The Pressure Putt Trainer cup is on the left end, a metal gate to putt through is in the center, and two alignment sticks are connected in a row above the white center line on the mat.)
If you have questions or ideas you would like me to try, let me know and I’ll do my best to provide answers.
My LGA gives an award each year for the best putter. The score is determined by keeping up with our number of putts on each hole throughout the year when we have monthly play days. The end score is achieved by adding up the lowest putts we had for each hole. My goal is to win that in December with some help from the PuttOUT practice package!
Stage 2 Review
Time for scoring my PuttOUT kit experience. Albeit inconsistently, I have practiced many hours since setting up the PuttOUT package. I was hitting 150 – 200 putts a day for long stretches and then nearly a week would pass without finding time to practice. Some nights I would wake up and unable to fall back asleep, I would get up and putt. Trying to score those "perfect putts" can be quite addictive.
 
 
Quality of components: 10 out of 10 points
Everything from PuttOUT is well made and seems quite durable. From the informative packaging to the different components the quality and attention to detail is evident - i.e. the heavy stitching on the mat edges which helps keep it flat.

 
rubber tips on the ends of the alignment sticks to help keep them secured in the gates

 
nubs on the bottom of the Perfect Putt trainer to keep it from moving around

 
printed markings on the mat to encourage proper alignment, distance control and creative practice

 
and the knap on the mat is short and dense, similar to real grass greens... I only wish the greens at my home course were this thick.
Ease of Use: 7 out of 10 points
The package we received was easy to figure out/setup and included a large practice mat. I left the mat setup for the duration of our review period but did test how easily it can be rolled up and stowed in the storage tube. I had to reroll it a few times to make it fit. One point deducted for the difficulty getting it back in the storage tube. I imagine the small and medium size mats are probably a little easier to manage.
If you have sufficient space, the large mat is nice. That said, the medium size would probably be my first choice because I would be more likely to keep it setup full time. I think being able to just walk over and use it for a few minutes encouraged me to practice more.
(Note: In one of the above photos from my first review stage of my review, you can see and compare a 7 ft throw rug next to the PuttOUT mat. Prior to being selected for this review, that rug was my practice putting mat and the surface on which I practiced extensively with my original PuttOUT Pressure Trainer. It worked for me.)
Setting up the different components is fairly straightforward although a little awkward getting the parts of the Putting Plane, sticks and gates properly aligned/oriented. I'm deducting 2 points for this issue.
Basic Characteristics:  16 out of 20 points
I like putting through the gates but didn’t find the alignment sticks and putting plane particularly helpful. Depending on what part of your putting needs work, the alignment sticks and plane guide could be useful. The putting plane has hash marks one inch apart for visual feedback on the length of your back stroke and follow through.
 
I tend to rise to a challenge and making "perfect putts" was no exception. I practiced until I could make them semi-regularly. But the reality is that "perfect putts" are not mandatory. PuttOUT states that if a putt rolls back to you from the Pressure Trainer cup, it would have likely dropped in the hole – that’s what matters most to me.
 
Each practice session, it would take me a few minutes to get a feel for my putting. As I would get in the groove, more putts would be “made” putts but not necessarily "perfect putts". I would liken it to spending some time on a practice green prior to round of golf. Practicing for a few minutes on the PuttOUT mat before heading out for a proper round of golf has become my typical routine.
I deducted 4 points because my mat had a distinct ripple that adversely impacted putts. And it wasn’t only one mat. I oddly received 4 mats in my shipment. I gave one to another Spy and the other two to local high school golf teams. But I checked out all the mats and each one had a distinct ripple in the same place. The other Spy, laid a heavy flat board on his mat for a few days which helped. The ripple in my mat did not completely smooth out even after being setup for 4 weeks.
On Course Performance: 27 out of 30 points
Scoring in this area was difficult for me determine. This new PuttOUT practice package did not make much difference in my putts per round during our short testing time, but my prior experience with the original PuttOUT Pressure Trainer made a significant difference. I feel like if I had not already been using that original Pressure Trainer for the past year, this new version would have been much more impactful. So I counted my past Pressure Trainer history and putting improvements in my on course scoring category. Rather than be repetitive, you can read above in my First Stage Review how my average putts per round improved.
I deducted 3 points because I did not find all of the components in our kit significantly helpful.
I track my stats with a Shot Scope V3 every time I play, although recently I haven’t had time to analyze all of my rounds. In the past it indicated that of my missed putts, 60% were short. I’ve always had difficulty judging distance. I don’t have new figures yet, but I do feel like I am leaving fewer putts short since practicing on the PuttOUT mat. That in and of itself is worth it. In my most recent round, I had 3 one-putts and the rest two-putts. More putts than I want but of those two-putts, 9 of my initial putts (10 - 20 feet) finished inside 18” and most were not short. So I feel like the PuttOUT mat has probably helped with pace.
Miscellaneous: 5 out of 10 points
I originally deducted 10 points because the instructions are only printed on the packaging. This is a significant oversight to me. Keeping up with all of the product packaging in order to reference the instructions and tips is rather cumbersome. A small booklet/brochure would have been my preference. Including info on all of the available components in the booklet might also entice consumers to order more parts of the complete package.
Then I added 5 bonus points back in for the ways, beyond only practice putting, that PuttOUT can be creatively used. The putting games you can create using PuttOUT are limited only by your imagination. The coach for one of the high school golf teams I gave PuttOUT to is very excited about creating competitive games to get her players to practice pressure putting. Plus, following the lead of @DStar, I’m excited to continue using PuttOUT for practicing short chip shots in my house.
 
Trade It or Keep It: 20 out of 20 points
I will definitely keep the PuttOUT practice package - it has encouraged me to practice more and I have seen improvement in certain segments of my putting performance (i.e. distance control).
Conclusion: 85 out of 100 points
If you want to become a better putter, I would absolutely encourage you to purchase the PuttOUT Pressure Trainer. While I feel like the same quantity of putting practice on an actual green will improve your stats, the Pressure Trainer is so addicting and easy to use that it encourages you to rack up more practice time. The Pressure Trainer folds up small and flat for storing/traveling. When the practice green at our club was closed for several months and inclement weather kept me indoors, I could still work on my putting. The putting mat is very nice but not essential. Happy putting!

PuttOUT - Official MSG Forum Review by Steve Davies (DStar) 
 
2nd August 2021
 
Into
I’ve been testing the PuttOUT large mat, pressure putt & alignment stick set for nearly a month. After a few evenings of initial testing to see what worked for me I came up with six tests/practice routines that I would use to complete the review.
These included using the gates & alignment sticks and the dreaded ‘Perfect Putt’.
The results can be found here: PuttOUT Test Results
Each session took around an hour to do and my aim was three sessions a week. 
I have also recorded my progress when playing on the course but these numbers only give an indication of my number of putts per hole/round as I don’t have any data on putt distances but we have some really tough greens and, on some, a 2-putt is a welcome number. 

 
Quality of components - 9
All of the products on test were very nicely packaged, clear/crisp graphics with instructions on use printed on each item. The individual items all felt well made and, as a set, blended really nicely together. 

On opening the packaging the parts felt really nice. As an engineer by trade I am particularly interested in quality of fit and finish and, overall, this was excellent. The only issue in this area was with the alignment plane - when the sticks were inserted I found that they did not line up perfectly with the holes in the gates, it would fit but needed a little persuasion. 

I had no issues with any items breaking or becoming unusable and I had my mat set up in our conservatory which gets very hot and I experienced no issues with the mat losing shape.
I really liked the bag for the alignment stick set as all of the components fitted well with a pocket on either side for a gate/feet set - very nicely thought out! 

 
 
Ease of Use - 9
I’m a typical man! New stuff, take it out of the box and try to put it together..
The pressure putt is simple to use, folds out nicely and I liked the aluminium button for the perfect putt target. 

The gates & feet go together and it’s obvious how these fit.
The alignment set took a little time to work out but then I read the instructions - easy peasy! 
The mat rolled out flat 1st time and stayed flat throughout the test. I did hoover it before use, every time. 
 
Basic Characteristics - 18
 
I found that as soon as the PuttOUT kit arrived I couldn't wait to try it. Having never used any training aids before I was keen to get it set up ASAP.
I still really enjoy the challenge of improving my putting and I am seeing some really good improvements in my game as a result of using the PuttOUT set regularly which means I will continue to use this equipment. 
The tests I devised are working for me and, going forward, I will look to add in different tests to keep the practice interesting. I can see that doing the same thing over and over may lead to less use but I think there are enough options to keep me coming back.
I found that the mat is quite good for short chip shot practice too although I would use an old mat or piece of astroturf to chip off as I'm not sure how much use the mat could take.
 

20210801_104259_001.mp4 I may add in a mirror as an alternative aid and will take the gates & pressure putt to the course to use on the practice greens to help improve further.
After a few hours of use I could really feel and see how my stroke and distance control was improving - this was backed up by my results on the course too. 
It started to become obvious which putts were good and which were bad. The repetition has really made a difference to my putting stroke. 
On the whole I found the kit easy to use and quite intuitive in how it can help improve my game. 
I did find that the alignment plane didn’t really work for me but others may find that it does. I can appreciate the idea but found a better way, for me, to use the gates/sticks to help with my alignment. 
 
On Course Performance - 30
 
I really do think that doing this test/review has made a huge difference to my confidence with the putter. 
I now stand over the ball without the dread of not really knowing what I’m doing. I can line up the putt, make a good stroke and have faith that I’m doing it right. 
I may not get the read right but the stroke is feeling so much better. 
The numbers in my data don’t really show the full story as it’s hard to achieve a perfect putt. As long as I was scoring 5 or more on each test I was happy as that meant I had, effectively, holed the putt I was aiming for - a perfect putt was a bonus. 
All of the kit on test performed flawlessly and I think that PuttOUT have produced a well thought out system that works well together (or on their own too).
One thing I would change would be to have two different sized gates as this could further increase the difficulty to help improve accuracy. 
Personally, I wouldn’t buy the alignment plane. I would be happy with a pair of gates and sticks as, for me, these were the best aids in that particular set. 
Did it help improve my scores? Even if the figures don’t show it I would say, without doubt, that this has improved my scores. Putting is a hard thing to quantify as it could be 2 putts from 8 feet or 2 putts from 30. We have large, undulating greens and I’m finding I am much less likely to 3-putt than I was before. I’m lagging long putts to a couple of feet for easy tap-ins much more regularly and I feel confident that I can do that on most putts. 
 
Miscellaneous - 8
 
I thought the whole package was a very well thought out set. All of the items can be used together or separately which gives a lot of scope for finding the best way to use them for different people. 
Everything came well packaged and presented and feels high quality.
 
Keep it or trade it - 18
 
On the whole I believe the improvements in my putting make this a sound buy. I will definitely be keeping it as part of my ongoing practice as I try to improve my game. 
The items represent good value for money, maybe a little highly priced if I was buying but it is all very good quality kit. The mat, in particular, seems very durable and consistent as a putting mat should be.
I think the gates and sticks go well together but would add the plane as an option as it didn’t work for me. 
I would also have two different sized gates rather than both the same size as that would give some variation on difficulty and further help with accuracy practice. 
I would also change the printing on the mat slightly. As most people would probably use known distances I would change the small lines (either side of the 1’ markers) to have rings that are the same size as the gate feet. This would make it easier to line up the gates with the central line.

Who would benefit from this set? Me for a start! I think that any golfer looking to improve their putting would find these products very useful. 
 
Conclusion
 
Overall this has been a great test. I’ve found the products easy and fun to use and will continue to use them. They can be tucked away fairly easily and the reinforced mat bag is a great touch as is the alignment stick set with pockets to keep all the bits safe.  
The perfect putt is so hard to get but so satisfying when you do and it’s showing it’s worth on the course which is where it matters.
Thanks to MGS for choosing me for this test/review and if you need any information do get in touch. 
 
Final Score - 92 
 
Well done PuttOUT on a great product...
 

How we doing y’all?!  Welcome to B.Boston’s official Rapsodo MLM review!  I am super excited about this one as I had literally commented to another member on instagram that if I had $1,000 to spend on golf equipment I would buy a personal launch monitor and get some lessons, then I saw that MGS was looking for testers for exactly that!  
No review would be started correctly without thanking both Rapsodo and MGS for offering up this launch monitor for review.  And thank you to the mods for selecting me.  It is always a humbling experience to be chosen to do a review and I know we have high expectations of our reviewers here.  Thank you, thank you, thank you! 
Who is this B.Boston guy anyway?
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk a little bit about me!  My name is Bryan, and I am from Bellingham, MA.  Based on my user name you might see that I identify with Boston as my “home” city.  I grew up about 40 minutes outside the city, went to school just outside the city, and have lived within those 40 minutes for my entire life.  If you don’t know me already, or heck even if you do based on my Cobra Connect posts last year you’d probably expect me to be your Dunkin’ and Sam Adams drinking cousin from Boston sports guy with a wicked accent and Tom Brady posters all over the place.  While some of that is true… my accent is apparently disappointing.
Obligatory family photo from our recent vacation:

I’ve been golfing since as long as I can remember, getting my first set and going to the executive par 3 near me from when I was about 7 years old, but I got much more serious about it (read: tried to eliminate my slice) as I got into college.  Now 34 years old and a happily married father of three I would say I am borderline obsessed with the game and I have an ultimate goal of reaching “scratch” status for my handicap.  I am currently a 5.8 based on my Arccos stats.  Strength of my game is putting and I’m really hopeful that I can dial in my approach and long game with the help of the Rapsodo MLM and Coaching.
State of my game:
Just for reference here is a current view of some Arccos data:




My gapping is pretty good and I really just need to work on consistency.  My worst stats come from Approach and Short Game shots.  I need to get better in my proximity to the hole on approaches, and get closer for an easy one putt if I don’t hit the green.
Here’s a recent swing clip.  This should be useful representative of a starting point for me before any changes or developments from the coaching aspect of this review:
My signature shows my current WITB, but in case you’re reading this on mobile and can’t see I’m playing here are the details:
Driver: Callaway Epic Max LS Fairway:  Cobra Speedzone 5-wood Hybrid:  Titleist TSi3 20* Irons:  Cobra Forged Tec (5-GW) Wedges:  Cobra MIM Black (52, 56, 60) Putter:  Evnroll ER2B Ball:  Titleist Pro V1x Tech:  Precision Pro NX9 Slope, Arccos Caddie I’m a tech nerd at heart so I’m always interested in ways to utilize technology to enhance my game.  I have been loving Arccos and its strokes gained information as it has been insightful in many cases and damn eye opening in others.  I’ll record my swing at the range and on the course to see if there’s anything I notice off on a particular day, and can not wait to pair it with a powerful tool in the Rapsodo MLM to get an even better understanding of my game.  
What will I be looking at in this test, and what am I hoping to get out of it?
I will primarily be using this device outside at the driving range, and hopefully getting some actual on-course data as well.  I know that from both last year’s forum testing and the most wanted articles that the Rapsodo MLM is top of its class and very comparable to professional grade units for good quality strikes.  I know all of these units can suffer on strikes that are at opposite ends of the bell curve, so I don’t expect perfection, but I will do my best to test out the accuracy claims.  I want to see what the Rapsodo shows as my carry gapping versus my Arccos stats total yardage.  Also to see if I am getting good ball speed gaps, peak heights, etc. to make sure that everything is looking in line.
However, the thing I’m most excited to take part in is the coaching feature as I have only ever had one golf lesson and while I would love to have a coach and consistently see them, it’s difficult for me to know which day I’ll be able to shoot to the range on lunch and scheduling something after work is challenging, and if I’m booking time on the weekend for golf, I’d much rather it be time playing on the course and enjoying the game.  I really feel that the coaching feature will help me maximize my range sessions by getting feedback and things to work on for the next bucket of balls.    
I’m also going to try and have some fun, and highlight some of the cool features for you all.  There will be a long drive contest and hopefully some other videos along the way.
Much more to come with the unboxing and review!  Please sound off in the comment section with anything else you’re hoping to see from my review or any of the other testers.  As much as this review is about my experience, I want to make sure the forums are learning everything they possibly want to about them to aid in future purchase decisions.
Make sure to give this thread a follow so you don’t miss out!
Initial Impressions! (September 10th Update):
I’ve had three range sessions in the books now with the Rapsodo MLM and have had an opportunity to try everything out except the coaching feature, so I’ll be adding more details about that later on.

Rapsodo claims that the MLM sets up in under 30 seconds and I have to agree.  The iPhone and iPad apps are super responsive to start a practice or game session and just as slick in reviewing rounds once the session has been uploaded.  Every time that I powered the unit on it connected quickly to my phone and I was able to get a session going without any issues.  Even swapping to the iPad to test went smoothly.  I had no issue going through my session after getting home, looking at swing videos, and viewing detailed data.  I had even forgotten to switch clubs at one point and that was easy in the app too.  I can’t stress enough how simple the app made it to get setup and start hitting shots.  This is important to me because I don’t want to be thinking about the set up and capture of swings to get the data to the point that I’m not thinking you know… about my golf swing and hitting the shots I want to hit.  
Here’s my typical range setup:

The iPad version of the app allows for more data to be shown and I think it looks cooler.

Side Note:  On the first day I did have to improvise as the MLM needs to generally be level with the ground you are hitting on, so I used a flipped over small bucket as the ground behind the mat I was on sloped down and away.  I have since used it slightly below the level of the ball (maybe 4 or 5 inches) and it seemed to work just fine.  But it was still level, which I think is more important.

Rapsodo highlights several features when talking about the MLM:
Shot Tracer
GPS Shot Map
Video Playback
Club Gapping
Interactive Games/Sharing
Shot Library
NET(Indoor/Outdoor)
Smart Club Recognition
They also highlight that accuracy matters, and so far the MLM seems to have done really well on good/average strikes.  Poor strikes have been less consistent, but yeah, it’s a poor strike and likely out of the focal range of the unit’s radar.  I’m not going to fuss that the unit was unable to show my topped drive was 30 yards before it hit the ground instead of a 42 yard carry (I mean if I were to have had a shot like that…. Which I NEVER do!).  
So far the clunkiest part of the app experience has been exporting swing videos to the camera roll.  For such a smooth app for everything else it takes way too many clicks, and too much time to do.
So what does this accuracy get you?  Here are the metrics the Rapsodo MLM captures:
Distance (Carry for irons, user selectable Carry or Carry + Roll for woods)
Ball Speed immediately after impact
Club Speed immediately prior to impact
Smash Factor for strike efficiency
Launch Angle
Launch Direction
So far, it seems to be a pretty accurate launch monitor, particularly with well struck balls.  I’ve had a few data issues with pull-hooks, my guess is because the ball gets lost behind my club or body and the reading gets messed up.  I can forgive that miss as I realize these are not perfect commercial sized radar units.  It’s also disappointing that there is no spin, but I read a rumor that they are working on that, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.  My club and ball speed numbers are right inline with what I saw earlier this year on a trackman and were well within my expectations.



(Very cool to have the visual satellite overlay view, but I’m not convinced the scaling is quite right.  More research needed.)
Not too shabby for the asking price right?  But wait, there’s more!
There are two main subscriptions offered with the MLM for golfers.  Basic (AKA Free), and Premium ($99 annually)..  There is also a Coach Connect subscription, but that is teaching professionals and is out of scope on this review.  With the Basic subscription you only get cloud storage for your last 100 shots included.  The premium subscription includes more:
Cloud storage for 10,000 shots
Slow motion swing replays at 4 speeds
Shot Apex data on your swings
Access to online golf lesions through the Coach Connect platform
I need some more time to think about it, but I don’t think we’re getting enough as consumers at the Free level.  100 shots isn’t even 10 good shots with each club in my bag, so the club gapping is much less appealing.  Heck, that’s not even two full buckets at the range.  I really think that something like 250 or 300 shots should be included, or I should be able to use my iPhone or iPad’s internal memory.  It is super portable with the included carry case, so it really would be a shame to not be able to see more than 2 range sessions of history since I can see myself always having it there available to use.

As for the upgraded features you do get with the premium, I DO enjoy the peak height indicator on the shot replays.  It’s not always easy to tell due to the angle of the camera and it is something that I do like to see.  The ability to play your swings in several levels of slow motion is neat, but I think the app needs to use a higher FPS on the camera’s phone to really take advantage of it.  Slow motion videos from the native iPhone app are much better.  I need to do a comparison there on the downswing as well as some more testing to show what I mean.
I should be getting into the online golf lessons soon, and will update here after I get to try that out.  Until then, it’s off to the range for some more hone my skills with the Rapsodo MLM in tow!
 
Final Scores! (November 23rd Update):
Looks & Feel (10 out of 10 points) 
The Rapsodo MLM is very well built and feels like a tank.  It feels very dense and solid, not hollow.  I like that feeling as it feels more high quality even if a lighter unit may be just as good.  It strikes a good balance with some softer feeling rubberized plastic.  Also the buttons and flap that you open for the phone/tablet stand have a satisfying smooth feeling to them. 
The case is a good standard feeling rangefinder style zip case.  With that storage for between uses and the high quality feeling unit itself I have no doubts that unit will hold up long term.
 
Setup (13 out of 15 points)
As I touched on in my initial impressions, the Rapsodo MLM and Rapsodo app could not be easier to set up and get going. Turn it on, place it down, open the app, select practice or the mode you want, set location and heading, verify you’re in your box and the ball is in its box, and Go.  Demos in the app are very good at showing you what to do step-by-step if it’s your first time setting it up.  
The unit charges fast enough through standard USB connections and I don’t doubt I can get through 2 or more range sessions on a charge, but I usually just charge it after a practice session anyway.  
Upon swinging the replay shows all your relevant data (more is shown on the iPad, and I prefer that view).  The data is all useful information for your shots and can help track your progress.  I find the ball speed to be the most useful (with driver at least) as a way of determining how solidly I’m hitting the ball.
While I won’t say any of it is useless, the least useful metric to me is the shot shape.  I’ve had several shots that were over or under curved, likely due to the device not capturing spin.  However, I don’t recall it being wildly off, but enough that I consider the tracer more of an estimate than a calculated or tracked overlay.
 
Accuracy (13 out of 15 points)
As far as accuracy is concerned I want to note that I used the Rapsodo MLM exclusively at the driving range outdoors..  I have no indoor or outdoor net experience so this is all based on Outdoor mode with range balls. 
I think the unit overall does a really good job on well struck shots.  Considering the condition of the range balls I was using I was expecting some variance, even if the data is normalized.  One area I did see some strange results was on shots that started more left and maybe got part of the ball flight lost behind me while swinging.  I also had several shots where the tracer did not start at the ball, and I am not sure if that means the numbers are good or not.  
Here is a chart of my Arrcos Smart Distance versus Rapsodo Lifetime Stats (Driver and woods are set to Carry+Roll setting in the app):
 

So now, let's take a look at the story here by club grouping:
Wedges (52*, 56*, and 60*) No surprise here.  At the range I hit my 52, 56, and 60 to some specific targets and on-course I end up with many different length shots.  The Rapsodo distances feel very accurate to the targets I am usually shooting at with them Irons (including PW and GW) These feel really accurate in aggregate as well.  Considering I don’t get much roll through the 9 iron I am happy to see they match my Arccos on-course performance.  It makes sense to me that I would see some gaps in the longer irons as Rapsodo does not account for roll on these shots.  If anything, the quality of ball I’m hitting may start to impact carry figures for the 6 and 5 irons by 3-5 yards. Hybrid Ok so this is the only one that I really don’t agree with.  It’s also one of the clubs I hit the least during practice, so it could be a sample size thing with a few bad shots pulling the numbers down.  I think I only have a dozen or so shots with it in the Rapsodo data, but once again when we account for roll, this may only be 5-8 yards off on carry.  Maybe it rolls a lot more for me than I’m thinking? 5-wood This looks pretty good to me.  At this point the range I practice at does back uphill, so it’s easier to gauge how close to the targets your landing and estimate total carry distance.  Also I don’t tee this club up at the range and my Arccos data would include tee shots which in theory would allow for some additional distance. Driver This one is tough for me to gauge.  I don’t like seeing a 20 yard gap here, but I have a hard time believing the range balls are not partially to blame here.  The last few sessions out I could see the ball traveling shorter overall distances even though the Rapsodo unit was showing a lot of the same swing speeds.  It also had my efficiency at about 1.42 so maybe with my gamer balls that number would be a little higher.  Or maybe it is because I was practicing a lot with the Epic Max LS as it was the newest club in my bag, and I was trying different shafts, and had a bunch of poor shots in the data.  I will note that I saw my biggest “Hmmmm” moments when looking at the Rapsodo readouts with the driver, particularly if my start line got pulled to the left at all.  But, more on that later… I’m docking a couple points here because the accuracy of the shot tracer and shot direction/path is just OK.  With no ability to edit for the landing point  it looks awkward if you’re not hitting on a flat surface and without spin measurements it’s only ever going to be a guess anyway, but overall the yardages seem solid in aggregate even if some individual shots are off.  I actually had purposely not looked at the summary stats until writing this section so I was pleasantly surprised to see the figures matching up and making sense.    
see here the tracer isn't starting at impact, or even within the range of the "hit zone" on this one.  I had more than a few shots like this:
 
 
On-Course (25 out of 30 points)
At the range getting ready to play is pretty simple.  Open the app, move the icon over the spot to where you’re hitting, and set your heading.  Then all you have to do is line up your unit and make sure the hitting area is within the box on the screen.  I can’t say that it interfered with my normal practice routine at all.  I could make my swing, watch the flight, and then turn around in time to see the some/all of the replay and see the numbers.  It worked out well because I could see if the MLM picked up the shot shape and get a gauge as to if I felt it was a good shot or not.  I didn’t really get along well with the “Smart Club Recognition” but it was simple to select the right one, or even edit post practice if I forgot  (I usually work through my bag with all even or odd clubs so it’s pretty clear when I changed based on the numbers.  
Compared to my old way of playing at the range I didn’t really change much.  I normally will use my rangefinder to get the distances to flags or markers and go from there.  One thing I did do differently with the MLM is set up in line with the middle of the range which has a 100 yard marker.  Then I would try to hit all my balls over that flag to get the distance as I was warming up, which was great with the unit for tracking accuracy and distance, then get to my target practice in the second part of my practice. 
However, I did run into some issues/limitations with the MLM while out on the range.  The unit does not like high contrast situations.  At one of my practice sessions it was hot and humid, and I was able to hit in a covered bay to keep myself, and the MLM a little cooler.  However the MLM failed to capture probably close to 25-30% of swings that session as the ball was starting in the shade and jumping out into a bright clear sunny day.  The unit was unable to track this so it must be using both its radar and your mobile phone to track and lost the ball from transition from shade to sun.
The unit also did not seem to like my Hybrid very much, missing a noticeable amount of shots with that club, including several that were just straight, medium trajectory, boring shots.  I still can’t quite figure out why, but it was enough to notice the trend.  
While I can’t say I play better or worse since including this in my practice, my range sessions or definitely more enjoyable.  It’s also fun to use the long-drive feature as @Lacassem and I did.  I recorded that with the intent of creating a video to share with everyone, but it was windy and the audio came out like absolute trash… and my competitor was trash that day too. 😉 
 
Miscellaneous (7 out of 10 points)
Speaking of the long drive/closest to the pin built in challenges…. They need to work on the UI for that a bit.  So I’m deducting 2 points.  First,  the results are not saved in your shots or sessions.  When Mark and I completed the long drive challenge we wouldn’t have been able to back and see the totals for each round had I not set up a screen record.  It is not saved in your session, and you cannot review the swings after.  On top of that, there is barely a final page or summary screen at the end.  I’d love to see Longest from each round and longest overall or something with the averages… something more than just our names in first and second and then once the page clears it’s gone forever.  Although that’s probably how Mark wanted it since it was a clean sweep for me.  *Side note: maybe next time you show up for a long drive competition don’t be wearing work boots.*
Nothing really much to mention otherwise.  Shipping was quick.  We were all hoping to get to try out the coaching feature, but were not able to get access to coaches during the testing period (-2 points) despite our mod’s best efforts (thanks Jamie!).  But we did get a full year of premium from Rapsodo (+1 point).  I may investigate the coaching feature in the Spring, or maybe over the winter if I find some indoor practice time, but with the prices varying wildly from coach to coach I may be better off getting in front of an actual coach the old-fashioned way, face-to-face, so they can see my particular inconsistencies IRL and not just a selection of my best and worst swings. 
Rapsodo INSIGHTS.  This has some real potential and now that I’ve seen what it is I feel like I can’t un-see the gap that was there before.  Insights in a new AI driven addition to the MLM app that gives you feedback (sort of like strokes-gained) on your practice sessions as a whole.  It takes the MLM from being a “toy” to being a real “tool” that can be used for improvement in my opinion.  Data like left/right misses and distance compared to other golfers of varying skill levels should help you focus your practice much like strokes gained analysis will point out your on-course weaknesses.  I’m excited about this addition and look forward to seeing more added to it for even better practice sessions.  
Here are some of the summary screens you get with Insights, it really does take the MLM to the next level:



 
Play it or Trade it? (15 out of 20 points)
This is a tough question for me to answer.  So I’m going to break it down into a few parts for the unit and the subscription.  I think that the unit is great, and see no reason to not continue using it.  Despite a few challenges with the technology working great my numbers are pretty spot on in aggregate and I think it’s one of the best personal launch monitors out there for its cost.
When we factor in the annual subscription things get a little less clean for me.  I think $99 per year is a bit much for cloud storage and some expanded analysis.  I also feel that the base level does not include enough storage for the asking price of the unit.  
Regarding coaching (which is not factored into the score here as I did not test it, but as an aside) the prices vary significantly from instructor to instructor, which you’d see just the same if you were looking at different coaches at a few places near you, but Rapsodo does a good job of having the coaches offer both standalone, lesson packs, or unlimited monthly offerings.  It also looks to have limited slots for coaches which is good, because it gives me the sense that the coaches will have the correct amount of time to dedicate to each student.
The most natural competitor I can think of to the Rapsodo MLM and other personal launch monitors using this base plus subscription model would be Arccos’s shot tracking system or Shot Scope.  I think both the PLM and On-Course data gathering are both means to the same end of improvement for golfers.  If we take a look at this as a three year investment the MLM will cost you around $800,  While 3 years of Arccos is going to run about half of that.  
Now I know they are not the same tools, but if someone came to me asking which one they should get FIRST, my answer would be Arccos or Shotscope.  I feel that the on-course data and strokes gained analysis is going to be money better spent for golfers.  However, if you’re like me and already have on-course shot tracking, well, then the Rapsodo MLM is a powerful tool that can partner with your on-course data to help measure improvements during practice.  I hope that in the next few years costs can come down, but the Rapsodo MLM is not high priced compared to some of the other units that it is competing against considering the accuracy of the results. 
 
Conclusion (TL;DR):
Rapsodo has an absolute hit with the MLM unit and slick operating iPhone/iPad app.  It works well in most conditions, and if you know where it doesn’t work well you can generally avoid setting it up that way.  I’m not sure there is a more accurate unit available in its price bracket, and while I’d like to see either a reduced annual subscription fee, or more features for the base plan, I can see that Rapsodo is putting the money into R&D as the new INSIGHTS platform is a welcome addition to post-practice analysis.
Overall, I like it, but I don’t love it.  However I think it will be a very useful tool for my future practice sessions and I’m excited to see if I can improve my game a little bit from the insights analysis and my on-course tracking during normal rounds.  Insights is a massive release for analyzing your practice sessions and I also feel that many of my issues with it can be address via software updates.  I am confident that the folks over at Rapsodo are working hard to stay ahead of the competition with constant improvement and updates.
 
B. Boston’s Final Score: 83!

 

How we doing y’all?!  Welcome to B.Boston’s official Rapsodo MLM review!  I am super excited about this one as I had literally commented to another member on instagram that if I had $1,000 to spend on golf equipment I would buy a personal launch monitor and get some lessons, then I saw that MGS was looking for testers for exactly that!  
No review would be started correctly without thanking both Rapsodo and MGS for offering up this launch monitor for review.  And thank you to the mods for selecting me.  It is always a humbling experience to be chosen to do a review and I know we have high expectations of our reviewers here.  Thank you, thank you, thank you! 
Who is this B.Boston guy anyway?
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk a little bit about me!  My name is Bryan, and I am from Bellingham, MA.  Based on my user name you might see that I identify with Boston as my “home” city.  I grew up about 40 minutes outside the city, went to school just outside the city, and have lived within those 40 minutes for my entire life.  If you don’t know me already, or heck even if you do based on my Cobra Connect posts last year you’d probably expect me to be your Dunkin’ and Sam Adams drinking cousin from Boston sports guy with a wicked accent and Tom Brady posters all over the place.  While some of that is true… my accent is apparently disappointing.
Obligatory family photo from our recent vacation:

I’ve been golfing since as long as I can remember, getting my first set and going to the executive par 3 near me from when I was about 7 years old, but I got much more serious about it (read: tried to eliminate my slice) as I got into college.  Now 34 years old and a happily married father of three I would say I am borderline obsessed with the game and I have an ultimate goal of reaching “scratch” status for my handicap.  I am currently a 5.8 based on my Arccos stats.  Strength of my game is putting and I’m really hopeful that I can dial in my approach and long game with the help of the Rapsodo MLM and Coaching.
State of my game:
Just for reference here is a current view of some Arccos data:




My gapping is pretty good and I really just need to work on consistency.  My worst stats come from Approach and Short Game shots.  I need to get better in my proximity to the hole on approaches, and get closer for an easy one putt if I don’t hit the green.
Here’s a recent swing clip.  This should be useful representative of a starting point for me before any changes or developments from the coaching aspect of this review:
My signature shows my current WITB, but in case you’re reading this on mobile and can’t see I’m playing here are the details:
Driver: Callaway Epic Max LS Fairway:  Cobra Speedzone 5-wood Hybrid:  Titleist TSi3 20* Irons:  Cobra Forged Tec (5-GW) Wedges:  Cobra MIM Black (52, 56, 60) Putter:  Evnroll ER2B Ball:  Titleist Pro V1x Tech:  Precision Pro NX9 Slope, Arccos Caddie I’m a tech nerd at heart so I’m always interested in ways to utilize technology to enhance my game.  I have been loving Arccos and its strokes gained information as it has been insightful in many cases and damn eye opening in others.  I’ll record my swing at the range and on the course to see if there’s anything I notice off on a particular day, and can not wait to pair it with a powerful tool in the Rapsodo MLM to get an even better understanding of my game.  
What will I be looking at in this test, and what am I hoping to get out of it?
I will primarily be using this device outside at the driving range, and hopefully getting some actual on-course data as well.  I know that from both last year’s forum testing and the most wanted articles that the Rapsodo MLM is top of its class and very comparable to professional grade units for good quality strikes.  I know all of these units can suffer on strikes that are at opposite ends of the bell curve, so I don’t expect perfection, but I will do my best to test out the accuracy claims.  I want to see what the Rapsodo shows as my carry gapping versus my Arccos stats total yardage.  Also to see if I am getting good ball speed gaps, peak heights, etc. to make sure that everything is looking in line.
However, the thing I’m most excited to take part in is the coaching feature as I have only ever had one golf lesson and while I would love to have a coach and consistently see them, it’s difficult for me to know which day I’ll be able to shoot to the range on lunch and scheduling something after work is challenging, and if I’m booking time on the weekend for golf, I’d much rather it be time playing on the course and enjoying the game.  I really feel that the coaching feature will help me maximize my range sessions by getting feedback and things to work on for the next bucket of balls.    
I’m also going to try and have some fun, and highlight some of the cool features for you all.  There will be a long drive contest and hopefully some other videos along the way.
Much more to come with the unboxing and review!  Please sound off in the comment section with anything else you’re hoping to see from my review or any of the other testers.  As much as this review is about my experience, I want to make sure the forums are learning everything they possibly want to about them to aid in future purchase decisions.
Make sure to give this thread a follow so you don’t miss out!
Initial Impressions! (September 10th Update):
I’ve had three range sessions in the books now with the Rapsodo MLM and have had an opportunity to try everything out except the coaching feature, so I’ll be adding more details about that later on.

Rapsodo claims that the MLM sets up in under 30 seconds and I have to agree.  The iPhone and iPad apps are super responsive to start a practice or game session and just as slick in reviewing rounds once the session has been uploaded.  Every time that I powered the unit on it connected quickly to my phone and I was able to get a session going without any issues.  Even swapping to the iPad to test went smoothly.  I had no issue going through my session after getting home, looking at swing videos, and viewing detailed data.  I had even forgotten to switch clubs at one point and that was easy in the app too.  I can’t stress enough how simple the app made it to get setup and start hitting shots.  This is important to me because I don’t want to be thinking about the set up and capture of swings to get the data to the point that I’m not thinking you know… about my golf swing and hitting the shots I want to hit.  
Here’s my typical range setup:

The iPad version of the app allows for more data to be shown and I think it looks cooler.

Side Note:  On the first day I did have to improvise as the MLM needs to generally be level with the ground you are hitting on, so I used a flipped over small bucket as the ground behind the mat I was on sloped down and away.  I have since used it slightly below the level of the ball (maybe 4 or 5 inches) and it seemed to work just fine.  But it was still level, which I think is more important.

Rapsodo highlights several features when talking about the MLM:
Shot Tracer
GPS Shot Map
Video Playback
Club Gapping
Interactive Games/Sharing
Shot Library
NET(Indoor/Outdoor)
Smart Club Recognition
They also highlight that accuracy matters, and so far the MLM seems to have done really well on good/average strikes.  Poor strikes have been less consistent, but yeah, it’s a poor strike and likely out of the focal range of the unit’s radar.  I’m not going to fuss that the unit was unable to show my topped drive was 30 yards before it hit the ground instead of a 42 yard carry (I mean if I were to have had a shot like that…. Which I NEVER do!).  
So far the clunkiest part of the app experience has been exporting swing videos to the camera roll.  For such a smooth app for everything else it takes way too many clicks, and too much time to do.
So what does this accuracy get you?  Here are the metrics the Rapsodo MLM captures:
Distance (Carry for irons, user selectable Carry or Carry + Roll for woods)
Ball Speed immediately after impact
Club Speed immediately prior to impact
Smash Factor for strike efficiency
Launch Angle
Launch Direction
So far, it seems to be a pretty accurate launch monitor, particularly with well struck balls.  I’ve had a few data issues with pull-hooks, my guess is because the ball gets lost behind my club or body and the reading gets messed up.  I can forgive that miss as I realize these are not perfect commercial sized radar units.  It’s also disappointing that there is no spin, but I read a rumor that they are working on that, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.  My club and ball speed numbers are right inline with what I saw earlier this year on a trackman and were well within my expectations.



(Very cool to have the visual satellite overlay view, but I’m not convinced the scaling is quite right.  More research needed.)
Not too shabby for the asking price right?  But wait, there’s more!
There are two main subscriptions offered with the MLM for golfers.  Basic (AKA Free), and Premium ($99 annually)..  There is also a Coach Connect subscription, but that is teaching professionals and is out of scope on this review.  With the Basic subscription you only get cloud storage for your last 100 shots included.  The premium subscription includes more:
Cloud storage for 10,000 shots
Slow motion swing replays at 4 speeds
Shot Apex data on your swings
Access to online golf lesions through the Coach Connect platform
I need some more time to think about it, but I don’t think we’re getting enough as consumers at the Free level.  100 shots isn’t even 10 good shots with each club in my bag, so the club gapping is much less appealing.  Heck, that’s not even two full buckets at the range.  I really think that something like 250 or 300 shots should be included, or I should be able to use my iPhone or iPad’s internal memory.  It is super portable with the included carry case, so it really would be a shame to not be able to see more than 2 range sessions of history since I can see myself always having it there available to use.

As for the upgraded features you do get with the premium, I DO enjoy the peak height indicator on the shot replays.  It’s not always easy to tell due to the angle of the camera and it is something that I do like to see.  The ability to play your swings in several levels of slow motion is neat, but I think the app needs to use a higher FPS on the camera’s phone to really take advantage of it.  Slow motion videos from the native iPhone app are much better.  I need to do a comparison there on the downswing as well as some more testing to show what I mean.
I should be getting into the online golf lessons soon, and will update here after I get to try that out.  Until then, it’s off to the range for some more hone my skills with the Rapsodo MLM in tow!
 
Final Scores! (November 23rd Update):
Looks & Feel (10 out of 10 points) 
The Rapsodo MLM is very well built and feels like a tank.  It feels very dense and solid, not hollow.  I like that feeling as it feels more high quality even if a lighter unit may be just as good.  It strikes a good balance with some softer feeling rubberized plastic.  Also the buttons and flap that you open for the phone/tablet stand have a satisfying smooth feeling to them. 
The case is a good standard feeling rangefinder style zip case.  With that storage for between uses and the high quality feeling unit itself I have no doubts that unit will hold up long term.
 
Setup (13 out of 15 points)
As I touched on in my initial impressions, the Rapsodo MLM and Rapsodo app could not be easier to set up and get going. Turn it on, place it down, open the app, select practice or the mode you want, set location and heading, verify you’re in your box and the ball is in its box, and Go.  Demos in the app are very good at showing you what to do step-by-step if it’s your first time setting it up.  
The unit charges fast enough through standard USB connections and I don’t doubt I can get through 2 or more range sessions on a charge, but I usually just charge it after a practice session anyway.  
Upon swinging the replay shows all your relevant data (more is shown on the iPad, and I prefer that view).  The data is all useful information for your shots and can help track your progress.  I find the ball speed to be the most useful (with driver at least) as a way of determining how solidly I’m hitting the ball.
While I won’t say any of it is useless, the least useful metric to me is the shot shape.  I’ve had several shots that were over or under curved, likely due to the device not capturing spin.  However, I don’t recall it being wildly off, but enough that I consider the tracer more of an estimate than a calculated or tracked overlay.
 
Accuracy (13 out of 15 points)
As far as accuracy is concerned I want to note that I used the Rapsodo MLM exclusively at the driving range outdoors..  I have no indoor or outdoor net experience so this is all based on Outdoor mode with range balls. 
I think the unit overall does a really good job on well struck shots.  Considering the condition of the range balls I was using I was expecting some variance, even if the data is normalized.  One area I did see some strange results was on shots that started more left and maybe got part of the ball flight lost behind me while swinging.  I also had several shots where the tracer did not start at the ball, and I am not sure if that means the numbers are good or not.  
Here is a chart of my Arrcos Smart Distance versus Rapsodo Lifetime Stats (Driver and woods are set to Carry+Roll setting in the app):
 

So now, let's take a look at the story here by club grouping:
Wedges (52*, 56*, and 60*) No surprise here.  At the range I hit my 52, 56, and 60 to some specific targets and on-course I end up with many different length shots.  The Rapsodo distances feel very accurate to the targets I am usually shooting at with them Irons (including PW and GW) These feel really accurate in aggregate as well.  Considering I don’t get much roll through the 9 iron I am happy to see they match my Arccos on-course performance.  It makes sense to me that I would see some gaps in the longer irons as Rapsodo does not account for roll on these shots.  If anything, the quality of ball I’m hitting may start to impact carry figures for the 6 and 5 irons by 3-5 yards. Hybrid Ok so this is the only one that I really don’t agree with.  It’s also one of the clubs I hit the least during practice, so it could be a sample size thing with a few bad shots pulling the numbers down.  I think I only have a dozen or so shots with it in the Rapsodo data, but once again when we account for roll, this may only be 5-8 yards off on carry.  Maybe it rolls a lot more for me than I’m thinking? 5-wood This looks pretty good to me.  At this point the range I practice at does back uphill, so it’s easier to gauge how close to the targets your landing and estimate total carry distance.  Also I don’t tee this club up at the range and my Arccos data would include tee shots which in theory would allow for some additional distance. Driver This one is tough for me to gauge.  I don’t like seeing a 20 yard gap here, but I have a hard time believing the range balls are not partially to blame here.  The last few sessions out I could see the ball traveling shorter overall distances even though the Rapsodo unit was showing a lot of the same swing speeds.  It also had my efficiency at about 1.42 so maybe with my gamer balls that number would be a little higher.  Or maybe it is because I was practicing a lot with the Epic Max LS as it was the newest club in my bag, and I was trying different shafts, and had a bunch of poor shots in the data.  I will note that I saw my biggest “Hmmmm” moments when looking at the Rapsodo readouts with the driver, particularly if my start line got pulled to the left at all.  But, more on that later… I’m docking a couple points here because the accuracy of the shot tracer and shot direction/path is just OK.  With no ability to edit for the landing point  it looks awkward if you’re not hitting on a flat surface and without spin measurements it’s only ever going to be a guess anyway, but overall the yardages seem solid in aggregate even if some individual shots are off.  I actually had purposely not looked at the summary stats until writing this section so I was pleasantly surprised to see the figures matching up and making sense.    
see here the tracer isn't starting at impact, or even within the range of the "hit zone" on this one.  I had more than a few shots like this:
 
 
On-Course (25 out of 30 points)
At the range getting ready to play is pretty simple.  Open the app, move the icon over the spot to where you’re hitting, and set your heading.  Then all you have to do is line up your unit and make sure the hitting area is within the box on the screen.  I can’t say that it interfered with my normal practice routine at all.  I could make my swing, watch the flight, and then turn around in time to see the some/all of the replay and see the numbers.  It worked out well because I could see if the MLM picked up the shot shape and get a gauge as to if I felt it was a good shot or not.  I didn’t really get along well with the “Smart Club Recognition” but it was simple to select the right one, or even edit post practice if I forgot  (I usually work through my bag with all even or odd clubs so it’s pretty clear when I changed based on the numbers.  
Compared to my old way of playing at the range I didn’t really change much.  I normally will use my rangefinder to get the distances to flags or markers and go from there.  One thing I did do differently with the MLM is set up in line with the middle of the range which has a 100 yard marker.  Then I would try to hit all my balls over that flag to get the distance as I was warming up, which was great with the unit for tracking accuracy and distance, then get to my target practice in the second part of my practice. 
However, I did run into some issues/limitations with the MLM while out on the range.  The unit does not like high contrast situations.  At one of my practice sessions it was hot and humid, and I was able to hit in a covered bay to keep myself, and the MLM a little cooler.  However the MLM failed to capture probably close to 25-30% of swings that session as the ball was starting in the shade and jumping out into a bright clear sunny day.  The unit was unable to track this so it must be using both its radar and your mobile phone to track and lost the ball from transition from shade to sun.
The unit also did not seem to like my Hybrid very much, missing a noticeable amount of shots with that club, including several that were just straight, medium trajectory, boring shots.  I still can’t quite figure out why, but it was enough to notice the trend.  
While I can’t say I play better or worse since including this in my practice, my range sessions or definitely more enjoyable.  It’s also fun to use the long-drive feature as @Lacassem and I did.  I recorded that with the intent of creating a video to share with everyone, but it was windy and the audio came out like absolute trash… and my competitor was trash that day too. 😉 
 
Miscellaneous (7 out of 10 points)
Speaking of the long drive/closest to the pin built in challenges…. They need to work on the UI for that a bit.  So I’m deducting 2 points.  First,  the results are not saved in your shots or sessions.  When Mark and I completed the long drive challenge we wouldn’t have been able to back and see the totals for each round had I not set up a screen record.  It is not saved in your session, and you cannot review the swings after.  On top of that, there is barely a final page or summary screen at the end.  I’d love to see Longest from each round and longest overall or something with the averages… something more than just our names in first and second and then once the page clears it’s gone forever.  Although that’s probably how Mark wanted it since it was a clean sweep for me.  *Side note: maybe next time you show up for a long drive competition don’t be wearing work boots.*
Nothing really much to mention otherwise.  Shipping was quick.  We were all hoping to get to try out the coaching feature, but were not able to get access to coaches during the testing period (-2 points) despite our mod’s best efforts (thanks Jamie!).  But we did get a full year of premium from Rapsodo (+1 point).  I may investigate the coaching feature in the Spring, or maybe over the winter if I find some indoor practice time, but with the prices varying wildly from coach to coach I may be better off getting in front of an actual coach the old-fashioned way, face-to-face, so they can see my particular inconsistencies IRL and not just a selection of my best and worst swings. 
Rapsodo INSIGHTS.  This has some real potential and now that I’ve seen what it is I feel like I can’t un-see the gap that was there before.  Insights in a new AI driven addition to the MLM app that gives you feedback (sort of like strokes-gained) on your practice sessions as a whole.  It takes the MLM from being a “toy” to being a real “tool” that can be used for improvement in my opinion.  Data like left/right misses and distance compared to other golfers of varying skill levels should help you focus your practice much like strokes gained analysis will point out your on-course weaknesses.  I’m excited about this addition and look forward to seeing more added to it for even better practice sessions.  
Here are some of the summary screens you get with Insights, it really does take the MLM to the next level:



 
Play it or Trade it? (15 out of 20 points)
This is a tough question for me to answer.  So I’m going to break it down into a few parts for the unit and the subscription.  I think that the unit is great, and see no reason to not continue using it.  Despite a few challenges with the technology working great my numbers are pretty spot on in aggregate and I think it’s one of the best personal launch monitors out there for its cost.
When we factor in the annual subscription things get a little less clean for me.  I think $99 per year is a bit much for cloud storage and some expanded analysis.  I also feel that the base level does not include enough storage for the asking price of the unit.  
Regarding coaching (which is not factored into the score here as I did not test it, but as an aside) the prices vary significantly from instructor to instructor, which you’d see just the same if you were looking at different coaches at a few places near you, but Rapsodo does a good job of having the coaches offer both standalone, lesson packs, or unlimited monthly offerings.  It also looks to have limited slots for coaches which is good, because it gives me the sense that the coaches will have the correct amount of time to dedicate to each student.
The most natural competitor I can think of to the Rapsodo MLM and other personal launch monitors using this base plus subscription model would be Arccos’s shot tracking system or Shot Scope.  I think both the PLM and On-Course data gathering are both means to the same end of improvement for golfers.  If we take a look at this as a three year investment the MLM will cost you around $800,  While 3 years of Arccos is going to run about half of that.  
Now I know they are not the same tools, but if someone came to me asking which one they should get FIRST, my answer would be Arccos or Shotscope.  I feel that the on-course data and strokes gained analysis is going to be money better spent for golfers.  However, if you’re like me and already have on-course shot tracking, well, then the Rapsodo MLM is a powerful tool that can partner with your on-course data to help measure improvements during practice.  I hope that in the next few years costs can come down, but the Rapsodo MLM is not high priced compared to some of the other units that it is competing against considering the accuracy of the results. 
 
Conclusion (TL;DR):
Rapsodo has an absolute hit with the MLM unit and slick operating iPhone/iPad app.  It works well in most conditions, and if you know where it doesn’t work well you can generally avoid setting it up that way.  I’m not sure there is a more accurate unit available in its price bracket, and while I’d like to see either a reduced annual subscription fee, or more features for the base plan, I can see that Rapsodo is putting the money into R&D as the new INSIGHTS platform is a welcome addition to post-practice analysis.
Overall, I like it, but I don’t love it.  However I think it will be a very useful tool for my future practice sessions and I’m excited to see if I can improve my game a little bit from the insights analysis and my on-course tracking during normal rounds.  Insights is a massive release for analyzing your practice sessions and I also feel that many of my issues with it can be address via software updates.  I am confident that the folks over at Rapsodo are working hard to stay ahead of the competition with constant improvement and updates.
 
B. Boston’s Final Score: 83!

 

How we doing y’all?!  Welcome to B.Boston’s official Rapsodo MLM review!  I am super excited about this one as I had literally commented to another member on instagram that if I had $1,000 to spend on golf equipment I would buy a personal launch monitor and get some lessons, then I saw that MGS was looking for testers for exactly that!  
No review would be started correctly without thanking both Rapsodo and MGS for offering up this launch monitor for review.  And thank you to the mods for selecting me.  It is always a humbling experience to be chosen to do a review and I know we have high expectations of our reviewers here.  Thank you, thank you, thank you! 
Who is this B.Boston guy anyway?
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk a little bit about me!  My name is Bryan, and I am from Bellingham, MA.  Based on my user name you might see that I identify with Boston as my “home” city.  I grew up about 40 minutes outside the city, went to school just outside the city, and have lived within those 40 minutes for my entire life.  If you don’t know me already, or heck even if you do based on my Cobra Connect posts last year you’d probably expect me to be your Dunkin’ and Sam Adams drinking cousin from Boston sports guy with a wicked accent and Tom Brady posters all over the place.  While some of that is true… my accent is apparently disappointing.
Obligatory family photo from our recent vacation:

I’ve been golfing since as long as I can remember, getting my first set and going to the executive par 3 near me from when I was about 7 years old, but I got much more serious about it (read: tried to eliminate my slice) as I got into college.  Now 34 years old and a happily married father of three I would say I am borderline obsessed with the game and I have an ultimate goal of reaching “scratch” status for my handicap.  I am currently a 5.8 based on my Arccos stats.  Strength of my game is putting and I’m really hopeful that I can dial in my approach and long game with the help of the Rapsodo MLM and Coaching.
State of my game:
Just for reference here is a current view of some Arccos data:




My gapping is pretty good and I really just need to work on consistency.  My worst stats come from Approach and Short Game shots.  I need to get better in my proximity to the hole on approaches, and get closer for an easy one putt if I don’t hit the green.
Here’s a recent swing clip.  This should be useful representative of a starting point for me before any changes or developments from the coaching aspect of this review:
My signature shows my current WITB, but in case you’re reading this on mobile and can’t see I’m playing here are the details:
Driver: Callaway Epic Max LS Fairway:  Cobra Speedzone 5-wood Hybrid:  Titleist TSi3 20* Irons:  Cobra Forged Tec (5-GW) Wedges:  Cobra MIM Black (52, 56, 60) Putter:  Evnroll ER2B Ball:  Titleist Pro V1x Tech:  Precision Pro NX9 Slope, Arccos Caddie I’m a tech nerd at heart so I’m always interested in ways to utilize technology to enhance my game.  I have been loving Arccos and its strokes gained information as it has been insightful in many cases and damn eye opening in others.  I’ll record my swing at the range and on the course to see if there’s anything I notice off on a particular day, and can not wait to pair it with a powerful tool in the Rapsodo MLM to get an even better understanding of my game.  
What will I be looking at in this test, and what am I hoping to get out of it?
I will primarily be using this device outside at the driving range, and hopefully getting some actual on-course data as well.  I know that from both last year’s forum testing and the most wanted articles that the Rapsodo MLM is top of its class and very comparable to professional grade units for good quality strikes.  I know all of these units can suffer on strikes that are at opposite ends of the bell curve, so I don’t expect perfection, but I will do my best to test out the accuracy claims.  I want to see what the Rapsodo shows as my carry gapping versus my Arccos stats total yardage.  Also to see if I am getting good ball speed gaps, peak heights, etc. to make sure that everything is looking in line.
However, the thing I’m most excited to take part in is the coaching feature as I have only ever had one golf lesson and while I would love to have a coach and consistently see them, it’s difficult for me to know which day I’ll be able to shoot to the range on lunch and scheduling something after work is challenging, and if I’m booking time on the weekend for golf, I’d much rather it be time playing on the course and enjoying the game.  I really feel that the coaching feature will help me maximize my range sessions by getting feedback and things to work on for the next bucket of balls.    
I’m also going to try and have some fun, and highlight some of the cool features for you all.  There will be a long drive contest and hopefully some other videos along the way.
Much more to come with the unboxing and review!  Please sound off in the comment section with anything else you’re hoping to see from my review or any of the other testers.  As much as this review is about my experience, I want to make sure the forums are learning everything they possibly want to about them to aid in future purchase decisions.
Make sure to give this thread a follow so you don’t miss out!
Initial Impressions! (September 10th Update):
I’ve had three range sessions in the books now with the Rapsodo MLM and have had an opportunity to try everything out except the coaching feature, so I’ll be adding more details about that later on.

Rapsodo claims that the MLM sets up in under 30 seconds and I have to agree.  The iPhone and iPad apps are super responsive to start a practice or game session and just as slick in reviewing rounds once the session has been uploaded.  Every time that I powered the unit on it connected quickly to my phone and I was able to get a session going without any issues.  Even swapping to the iPad to test went smoothly.  I had no issue going through my session after getting home, looking at swing videos, and viewing detailed data.  I had even forgotten to switch clubs at one point and that was easy in the app too.  I can’t stress enough how simple the app made it to get setup and start hitting shots.  This is important to me because I don’t want to be thinking about the set up and capture of swings to get the data to the point that I’m not thinking you know… about my golf swing and hitting the shots I want to hit.  
Here’s my typical range setup:

The iPad version of the app allows for more data to be shown and I think it looks cooler.

Side Note:  On the first day I did have to improvise as the MLM needs to generally be level with the ground you are hitting on, so I used a flipped over small bucket as the ground behind the mat I was on sloped down and away.  I have since used it slightly below the level of the ball (maybe 4 or 5 inches) and it seemed to work just fine.  But it was still level, which I think is more important.

Rapsodo highlights several features when talking about the MLM:
Shot Tracer
GPS Shot Map
Video Playback
Club Gapping
Interactive Games/Sharing
Shot Library
NET(Indoor/Outdoor)
Smart Club Recognition
They also highlight that accuracy matters, and so far the MLM seems to have done really well on good/average strikes.  Poor strikes have been less consistent, but yeah, it’s a poor strike and likely out of the focal range of the unit’s radar.  I’m not going to fuss that the unit was unable to show my topped drive was 30 yards before it hit the ground instead of a 42 yard carry (I mean if I were to have had a shot like that…. Which I NEVER do!).  
So far the clunkiest part of the app experience has been exporting swing videos to the camera roll.  For such a smooth app for everything else it takes way too many clicks, and too much time to do.
So what does this accuracy get you?  Here are the metrics the Rapsodo MLM captures:
Distance (Carry for irons, user selectable Carry or Carry + Roll for woods)
Ball Speed immediately after impact
Club Speed immediately prior to impact
Smash Factor for strike efficiency
Launch Angle
Launch Direction
So far, it seems to be a pretty accurate launch monitor, particularly with well struck balls.  I’ve had a few data issues with pull-hooks, my guess is because the ball gets lost behind my club or body and the reading gets messed up.  I can forgive that miss as I realize these are not perfect commercial sized radar units.  It’s also disappointing that there is no spin, but I read a rumor that they are working on that, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.  My club and ball speed numbers are right inline with what I saw earlier this year on a trackman and were well within my expectations.



(Very cool to have the visual satellite overlay view, but I’m not convinced the scaling is quite right.  More research needed.)
Not too shabby for the asking price right?  But wait, there’s more!
There are two main subscriptions offered with the MLM for golfers.  Basic (AKA Free), and Premium ($99 annually)..  There is also a Coach Connect subscription, but that is teaching professionals and is out of scope on this review.  With the Basic subscription you only get cloud storage for your last 100 shots included.  The premium subscription includes more:
Cloud storage for 10,000 shots
Slow motion swing replays at 4 speeds
Shot Apex data on your swings
Access to online golf lesions through the Coach Connect platform
I need some more time to think about it, but I don’t think we’re getting enough as consumers at the Free level.  100 shots isn’t even 10 good shots with each club in my bag, so the club gapping is much less appealing.  Heck, that’s not even two full buckets at the range.  I really think that something like 250 or 300 shots should be included, or I should be able to use my iPhone or iPad’s internal memory.  It is super portable with the included carry case, so it really would be a shame to not be able to see more than 2 range sessions of history since I can see myself always having it there available to use.

As for the upgraded features you do get with the premium, I DO enjoy the peak height indicator on the shot replays.  It’s not always easy to tell due to the angle of the camera and it is something that I do like to see.  The ability to play your swings in several levels of slow motion is neat, but I think the app needs to use a higher FPS on the camera’s phone to really take advantage of it.  Slow motion videos from the native iPhone app are much better.  I need to do a comparison there on the downswing as well as some more testing to show what I mean.
I should be getting into the online golf lessons soon, and will update here after I get to try that out.  Until then, it’s off to the range for some more hone my skills with the Rapsodo MLM in tow!
 
Final Scores! (November 23rd Update):
Looks & Feel (10 out of 10 points) 
The Rapsodo MLM is very well built and feels like a tank.  It feels very dense and solid, not hollow.  I like that feeling as it feels more high quality even if a lighter unit may be just as good.  It strikes a good balance with some softer feeling rubberized plastic.  Also the buttons and flap that you open for the phone/tablet stand have a satisfying smooth feeling to them. 
The case is a good standard feeling rangefinder style zip case.  With that storage for between uses and the high quality feeling unit itself I have no doubts that unit will hold up long term.
 
Setup (13 out of 15 points)
As I touched on in my initial impressions, the Rapsodo MLM and Rapsodo app could not be easier to set up and get going. Turn it on, place it down, open the app, select practice or the mode you want, set location and heading, verify you’re in your box and the ball is in its box, and Go.  Demos in the app are very good at showing you what to do step-by-step if it’s your first time setting it up.  
The unit charges fast enough through standard USB connections and I don’t doubt I can get through 2 or more range sessions on a charge, but I usually just charge it after a practice session anyway.  
Upon swinging the replay shows all your relevant data (more is shown on the iPad, and I prefer that view).  The data is all useful information for your shots and can help track your progress.  I find the ball speed to be the most useful (with driver at least) as a way of determining how solidly I’m hitting the ball.
While I won’t say any of it is useless, the least useful metric to me is the shot shape.  I’ve had several shots that were over or under curved, likely due to the device not capturing spin.  However, I don’t recall it being wildly off, but enough that I consider the tracer more of an estimate than a calculated or tracked overlay.
 
Accuracy (13 out of 15 points)
As far as accuracy is concerned I want to note that I used the Rapsodo MLM exclusively at the driving range outdoors..  I have no indoor or outdoor net experience so this is all based on Outdoor mode with range balls. 
I think the unit overall does a really good job on well struck shots.  Considering the condition of the range balls I was using I was expecting some variance, even if the data is normalized.  One area I did see some strange results was on shots that started more left and maybe got part of the ball flight lost behind me while swinging.  I also had several shots where the tracer did not start at the ball, and I am not sure if that means the numbers are good or not.  
Here is a chart of my Arrcos Smart Distance versus Rapsodo Lifetime Stats (Driver and woods are set to Carry+Roll setting in the app):
 

So now, let's take a look at the story here by club grouping:
Wedges (52*, 56*, and 60*) No surprise here.  At the range I hit my 52, 56, and 60 to some specific targets and on-course I end up with many different length shots.  The Rapsodo distances feel very accurate to the targets I am usually shooting at with them Irons (including PW and GW) These feel really accurate in aggregate as well.  Considering I don’t get much roll through the 9 iron I am happy to see they match my Arccos on-course performance.  It makes sense to me that I would see some gaps in the longer irons as Rapsodo does not account for roll on these shots.  If anything, the quality of ball I’m hitting may start to impact carry figures for the 6 and 5 irons by 3-5 yards. Hybrid Ok so this is the only one that I really don’t agree with.  It’s also one of the clubs I hit the least during practice, so it could be a sample size thing with a few bad shots pulling the numbers down.  I think I only have a dozen or so shots with it in the Rapsodo data, but once again when we account for roll, this may only be 5-8 yards off on carry.  Maybe it rolls a lot more for me than I’m thinking? 5-wood This looks pretty good to me.  At this point the range I practice at does back uphill, so it’s easier to gauge how close to the targets your landing and estimate total carry distance.  Also I don’t tee this club up at the range and my Arccos data would include tee shots which in theory would allow for some additional distance. Driver This one is tough for me to gauge.  I don’t like seeing a 20 yard gap here, but I have a hard time believing the range balls are not partially to blame here.  The last few sessions out I could see the ball traveling shorter overall distances even though the Rapsodo unit was showing a lot of the same swing speeds.  It also had my efficiency at about 1.42 so maybe with my gamer balls that number would be a little higher.  Or maybe it is because I was practicing a lot with the Epic Max LS as it was the newest club in my bag, and I was trying different shafts, and had a bunch of poor shots in the data.  I will note that I saw my biggest “Hmmmm” moments when looking at the Rapsodo readouts with the driver, particularly if my start line got pulled to the left at all.  But, more on that later… I’m docking a couple points here because the accuracy of the shot tracer and shot direction/path is just OK.  With no ability to edit for the landing point  it looks awkward if you’re not hitting on a flat surface and without spin measurements it’s only ever going to be a guess anyway, but overall the yardages seem solid in aggregate even if some individual shots are off.  I actually had purposely not looked at the summary stats until writing this section so I was pleasantly surprised to see the figures matching up and making sense.    
see here the tracer isn't starting at impact, or even within the range of the "hit zone" on this one.  I had more than a few shots like this:
 
 
On-Course (25 out of 30 points)
At the range getting ready to play is pretty simple.  Open the app, move the icon over the spot to where you’re hitting, and set your heading.  Then all you have to do is line up your unit and make sure the hitting area is within the box on the screen.  I can’t say that it interfered with my normal practice routine at all.  I could make my swing, watch the flight, and then turn around in time to see the some/all of the replay and see the numbers.  It worked out well because I could see if the MLM picked up the shot shape and get a gauge as to if I felt it was a good shot or not.  I didn’t really get along well with the “Smart Club Recognition” but it was simple to select the right one, or even edit post practice if I forgot  (I usually work through my bag with all even or odd clubs so it’s pretty clear when I changed based on the numbers.  
Compared to my old way of playing at the range I didn’t really change much.  I normally will use my rangefinder to get the distances to flags or markers and go from there.  One thing I did do differently with the MLM is set up in line with the middle of the range which has a 100 yard marker.  Then I would try to hit all my balls over that flag to get the distance as I was warming up, which was great with the unit for tracking accuracy and distance, then get to my target practice in the second part of my practice. 
However, I did run into some issues/limitations with the MLM while out on the range.  The unit does not like high contrast situations.  At one of my practice sessions it was hot and humid, and I was able to hit in a covered bay to keep myself, and the MLM a little cooler.  However the MLM failed to capture probably close to 25-30% of swings that session as the ball was starting in the shade and jumping out into a bright clear sunny day.  The unit was unable to track this so it must be using both its radar and your mobile phone to track and lost the ball from transition from shade to sun.
The unit also did not seem to like my Hybrid very much, missing a noticeable amount of shots with that club, including several that were just straight, medium trajectory, boring shots.  I still can’t quite figure out why, but it was enough to notice the trend.  
While I can’t say I play better or worse since including this in my practice, my range sessions or definitely more enjoyable.  It’s also fun to use the long-drive feature as @Lacassem and I did.  I recorded that with the intent of creating a video to share with everyone, but it was windy and the audio came out like absolute trash… and my competitor was trash that day too. 😉 
 
Miscellaneous (7 out of 10 points)
Speaking of the long drive/closest to the pin built in challenges…. They need to work on the UI for that a bit.  So I’m deducting 2 points.  First,  the results are not saved in your shots or sessions.  When Mark and I completed the long drive challenge we wouldn’t have been able to back and see the totals for each round had I not set up a screen record.  It is not saved in your session, and you cannot review the swings after.  On top of that, there is barely a final page or summary screen at the end.  I’d love to see Longest from each round and longest overall or something with the averages… something more than just our names in first and second and then once the page clears it’s gone forever.  Although that’s probably how Mark wanted it since it was a clean sweep for me.  *Side note: maybe next time you show up for a long drive competition don’t be wearing work boots.*
Nothing really much to mention otherwise.  Shipping was quick.  We were all hoping to get to try out the coaching feature, but were not able to get access to coaches during the testing period (-2 points) despite our mod’s best efforts (thanks Jamie!).  But we did get a full year of premium from Rapsodo (+1 point).  I may investigate the coaching feature in the Spring, or maybe over the winter if I find some indoor practice time, but with the prices varying wildly from coach to coach I may be better off getting in front of an actual coach the old-fashioned way, face-to-face, so they can see my particular inconsistencies IRL and not just a selection of my best and worst swings. 
Rapsodo INSIGHTS.  This has some real potential and now that I’ve seen what it is I feel like I can’t un-see the gap that was there before.  Insights in a new AI driven addition to the MLM app that gives you feedback (sort of like strokes-gained) on your practice sessions as a whole.  It takes the MLM from being a “toy” to being a real “tool” that can be used for improvement in my opinion.  Data like left/right misses and distance compared to other golfers of varying skill levels should help you focus your practice much like strokes gained analysis will point out your on-course weaknesses.  I’m excited about this addition and look forward to seeing more added to it for even better practice sessions.  
Here are some of the summary screens you get with Insights, it really does take the MLM to the next level:



 
Play it or Trade it? (15 out of 20 points)
This is a tough question for me to answer.  So I’m going to break it down into a few parts for the unit and the subscription.  I think that the unit is great, and see no reason to not continue using it.  Despite a few challenges with the technology working great my numbers are pretty spot on in aggregate and I think it’s one of the best personal launch monitors out there for its cost.
When we factor in the annual subscription things get a little less clean for me.  I think $99 per year is a bit much for cloud storage and some expanded analysis.  I also feel that the base level does not include enough storage for the asking price of the unit.  
Regarding coaching (which is not factored into the score here as I did not test it, but as an aside) the prices vary significantly from instructor to instructor, which you’d see just the same if you were looking at different coaches at a few places near you, but Rapsodo does a good job of having the coaches offer both standalone, lesson packs, or unlimited monthly offerings.  It also looks to have limited slots for coaches which is good, because it gives me the sense that the coaches will have the correct amount of time to dedicate to each student.
The most natural competitor I can think of to the Rapsodo MLM and other personal launch monitors using this base plus subscription model would be Arccos’s shot tracking system or Shot Scope.  I think both the PLM and On-Course data gathering are both means to the same end of improvement for golfers.  If we take a look at this as a three year investment the MLM will cost you around $800,  While 3 years of Arccos is going to run about half of that.  
Now I know they are not the same tools, but if someone came to me asking which one they should get FIRST, my answer would be Arccos or Shotscope.  I feel that the on-course data and strokes gained analysis is going to be money better spent for golfers.  However, if you’re like me and already have on-course shot tracking, well, then the Rapsodo MLM is a powerful tool that can partner with your on-course data to help measure improvements during practice.  I hope that in the next few years costs can come down, but the Rapsodo MLM is not high priced compared to some of the other units that it is competing against considering the accuracy of the results. 
 
Conclusion (TL;DR):
Rapsodo has an absolute hit with the MLM unit and slick operating iPhone/iPad app.  It works well in most conditions, and if you know where it doesn’t work well you can generally avoid setting it up that way.  I’m not sure there is a more accurate unit available in its price bracket, and while I’d like to see either a reduced annual subscription fee, or more features for the base plan, I can see that Rapsodo is putting the money into R&D as the new INSIGHTS platform is a welcome addition to post-practice analysis.
Overall, I like it, but I don’t love it.  However I think it will be a very useful tool for my future practice sessions and I’m excited to see if I can improve my game a little bit from the insights analysis and my on-course tracking during normal rounds.  Insights is a massive release for analyzing your practice sessions and I also feel that many of my issues with it can be address via software updates.  I am confident that the folks over at Rapsodo are working hard to stay ahead of the competition with constant improvement and updates.
 
B. Boston’s Final Score: 83!

 

How we doing y’all?!  Welcome to B.Boston’s official Rapsodo MLM review!  I am super excited about this one as I had literally commented to another member on instagram that if I had $1,000 to spend on golf equipment I would buy a personal launch monitor and get some lessons, then I saw that MGS was looking for testers for exactly that!  
No review would be started correctly without thanking both Rapsodo and MGS for offering up this launch monitor for review.  And thank you to the mods for selecting me.  It is always a humbling experience to be chosen to do a review and I know we have high expectations of our reviewers here.  Thank you, thank you, thank you! 
Who is this B.Boston guy anyway?
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk a little bit about me!  My name is Bryan, and I am from Bellingham, MA.  Based on my user name you might see that I identify with Boston as my “home” city.  I grew up about 40 minutes outside the city, went to school just outside the city, and have lived within those 40 minutes for my entire life.  If you don’t know me already, or heck even if you do based on my Cobra Connect posts last year you’d probably expect me to be your Dunkin’ and Sam Adams drinking cousin from Boston sports guy with a wicked accent and Tom Brady posters all over the place.  While some of that is true… my accent is apparently disappointing.
Obligatory family photo from our recent vacation:

I’ve been golfing since as long as I can remember, getting my first set and going to the executive par 3 near me from when I was about 7 years old, but I got much more serious about it (read: tried to eliminate my slice) as I got into college.  Now 34 years old and a happily married father of three I would say I am borderline obsessed with the game and I have an ultimate goal of reaching “scratch” status for my handicap.  I am currently a 5.8 based on my Arccos stats.  Strength of my game is putting and I’m really hopeful that I can dial in my approach and long game with the help of the Rapsodo MLM and Coaching.
State of my game:
Just for reference here is a current view of some Arccos data:




My gapping is pretty good and I really just need to work on consistency.  My worst stats come from Approach and Short Game shots.  I need to get better in my proximity to the hole on approaches, and get closer for an easy one putt if I don’t hit the green.
Here’s a recent swing clip.  This should be useful representative of a starting point for me before any changes or developments from the coaching aspect of this review:
My signature shows my current WITB, but in case you’re reading this on mobile and can’t see I’m playing here are the details:
Driver: Callaway Epic Max LS Fairway:  Cobra Speedzone 5-wood Hybrid:  Titleist TSi3 20* Irons:  Cobra Forged Tec (5-GW) Wedges:  Cobra MIM Black (52, 56, 60) Putter:  Evnroll ER2B Ball:  Titleist Pro V1x Tech:  Precision Pro NX9 Slope, Arccos Caddie I’m a tech nerd at heart so I’m always interested in ways to utilize technology to enhance my game.  I have been loving Arccos and its strokes gained information as it has been insightful in many cases and damn eye opening in others.  I’ll record my swing at the range and on the course to see if there’s anything I notice off on a particular day, and can not wait to pair it with a powerful tool in the Rapsodo MLM to get an even better understanding of my game.  
What will I be looking at in this test, and what am I hoping to get out of it?
I will primarily be using this device outside at the driving range, and hopefully getting some actual on-course data as well.  I know that from both last year’s forum testing and the most wanted articles that the Rapsodo MLM is top of its class and very comparable to professional grade units for good quality strikes.  I know all of these units can suffer on strikes that are at opposite ends of the bell curve, so I don’t expect perfection, but I will do my best to test out the accuracy claims.  I want to see what the Rapsodo shows as my carry gapping versus my Arccos stats total yardage.  Also to see if I am getting good ball speed gaps, peak heights, etc. to make sure that everything is looking in line.
However, the thing I’m most excited to take part in is the coaching feature as I have only ever had one golf lesson and while I would love to have a coach and consistently see them, it’s difficult for me to know which day I’ll be able to shoot to the range on lunch and scheduling something after work is challenging, and if I’m booking time on the weekend for golf, I’d much rather it be time playing on the course and enjoying the game.  I really feel that the coaching feature will help me maximize my range sessions by getting feedback and things to work on for the next bucket of balls.    
I’m also going to try and have some fun, and highlight some of the cool features for you all.  There will be a long drive contest and hopefully some other videos along the way.
Much more to come with the unboxing and review!  Please sound off in the comment section with anything else you’re hoping to see from my review or any of the other testers.  As much as this review is about my experience, I want to make sure the forums are learning everything they possibly want to about them to aid in future purchase decisions.
Make sure to give this thread a follow so you don’t miss out!
Initial Impressions! (September 10th Update):
I’ve had three range sessions in the books now with the Rapsodo MLM and have had an opportunity to try everything out except the coaching feature, so I’ll be adding more details about that later on.

Rapsodo claims that the MLM sets up in under 30 seconds and I have to agree.  The iPhone and iPad apps are super responsive to start a practice or game session and just as slick in reviewing rounds once the session has been uploaded.  Every time that I powered the unit on it connected quickly to my phone and I was able to get a session going without any issues.  Even swapping to the iPad to test went smoothly.  I had no issue going through my session after getting home, looking at swing videos, and viewing detailed data.  I had even forgotten to switch clubs at one point and that was easy in the app too.  I can’t stress enough how simple the app made it to get setup and start hitting shots.  This is important to me because I don’t want to be thinking about the set up and capture of swings to get the data to the point that I’m not thinking you know… about my golf swing and hitting the shots I want to hit.  
Here’s my typical range setup:

The iPad version of the app allows for more data to be shown and I think it looks cooler.

Side Note:  On the first day I did have to improvise as the MLM needs to generally be level with the ground you are hitting on, so I used a flipped over small bucket as the ground behind the mat I was on sloped down and away.  I have since used it slightly below the level of the ball (maybe 4 or 5 inches) and it seemed to work just fine.  But it was still level, which I think is more important.

Rapsodo highlights several features when talking about the MLM:
Shot Tracer
GPS Shot Map
Video Playback
Club Gapping
Interactive Games/Sharing
Shot Library
NET(Indoor/Outdoor)
Smart Club Recognition
They also highlight that accuracy matters, and so far the MLM seems to have done really well on good/average strikes.  Poor strikes have been less consistent, but yeah, it’s a poor strike and likely out of the focal range of the unit’s radar.  I’m not going to fuss that the unit was unable to show my topped drive was 30 yards before it hit the ground instead of a 42 yard carry (I mean if I were to have had a shot like that…. Which I NEVER do!).  
So far the clunkiest part of the app experience has been exporting swing videos to the camera roll.  For such a smooth app for everything else it takes way too many clicks, and too much time to do.
So what does this accuracy get you?  Here are the metrics the Rapsodo MLM captures:
Distance (Carry for irons, user selectable Carry or Carry + Roll for woods)
Ball Speed immediately after impact
Club Speed immediately prior to impact
Smash Factor for strike efficiency
Launch Angle
Launch Direction
So far, it seems to be a pretty accurate launch monitor, particularly with well struck balls.  I’ve had a few data issues with pull-hooks, my guess is because the ball gets lost behind my club or body and the reading gets messed up.  I can forgive that miss as I realize these are not perfect commercial sized radar units.  It’s also disappointing that there is no spin, but I read a rumor that they are working on that, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.  My club and ball speed numbers are right inline with what I saw earlier this year on a trackman and were well within my expectations.



(Very cool to have the visual satellite overlay view, but I’m not convinced the scaling is quite right.  More research needed.)
Not too shabby for the asking price right?  But wait, there’s more!
There are two main subscriptions offered with the MLM for golfers.  Basic (AKA Free), and Premium ($99 annually)..  There is also a Coach Connect subscription, but that is teaching professionals and is out of scope on this review.  With the Basic subscription you only get cloud storage for your last 100 shots included.  The premium subscription includes more:
Cloud storage for 10,000 shots
Slow motion swing replays at 4 speeds
Shot Apex data on your swings
Access to online golf lesions through the Coach Connect platform
I need some more time to think about it, but I don’t think we’re getting enough as consumers at the Free level.  100 shots isn’t even 10 good shots with each club in my bag, so the club gapping is much less appealing.  Heck, that’s not even two full buckets at the range.  I really think that something like 250 or 300 shots should be included, or I should be able to use my iPhone or iPad’s internal memory.  It is super portable with the included carry case, so it really would be a shame to not be able to see more than 2 range sessions of history since I can see myself always having it there available to use.

As for the upgraded features you do get with the premium, I DO enjoy the peak height indicator on the shot replays.  It’s not always easy to tell due to the angle of the camera and it is something that I do like to see.  The ability to play your swings in several levels of slow motion is neat, but I think the app needs to use a higher FPS on the camera’s phone to really take advantage of it.  Slow motion videos from the native iPhone app are much better.  I need to do a comparison there on the downswing as well as some more testing to show what I mean.
I should be getting into the online golf lessons soon, and will update here after I get to try that out.  Until then, it’s off to the range for some more hone my skills with the Rapsodo MLM in tow!
 
Final Scores! (November 23rd Update):
Looks & Feel (10 out of 10 points) 
The Rapsodo MLM is very well built and feels like a tank.  It feels very dense and solid, not hollow.  I like that feeling as it feels more high quality even if a lighter unit may be just as good.  It strikes a good balance with some softer feeling rubberized plastic.  Also the buttons and flap that you open for the phone/tablet stand have a satisfying smooth feeling to them. 
The case is a good standard feeling rangefinder style zip case.  With that storage for between uses and the high quality feeling unit itself I have no doubts that unit will hold up long term.
 
Setup (13 out of 15 points)
As I touched on in my initial impressions, the Rapsodo MLM and Rapsodo app could not be easier to set up and get going. Turn it on, place it down, open the app, select practice or the mode you want, set location and heading, verify you’re in your box and the ball is in its box, and Go.  Demos in the app are very good at showing you what to do step-by-step if it’s your first time setting it up.  
The unit charges fast enough through standard USB connections and I don’t doubt I can get through 2 or more range sessions on a charge, but I usually just charge it after a practice session anyway.  
Upon swinging the replay shows all your relevant data (more is shown on the iPad, and I prefer that view).  The data is all useful information for your shots and can help track your progress.  I find the ball speed to be the most useful (with driver at least) as a way of determining how solidly I’m hitting the ball.
While I won’t say any of it is useless, the least useful metric to me is the shot shape.  I’ve had several shots that were over or under curved, likely due to the device not capturing spin.  However, I don’t recall it being wildly off, but enough that I consider the tracer more of an estimate than a calculated or tracked overlay.
 
Accuracy (13 out of 15 points)
As far as accuracy is concerned I want to note that I used the Rapsodo MLM exclusively at the driving range outdoors..  I have no indoor or outdoor net experience so this is all based on Outdoor mode with range balls. 
I think the unit overall does a really good job on well struck shots.  Considering the condition of the range balls I was using I was expecting some variance, even if the data is normalized.  One area I did see some strange results was on shots that started more left and maybe got part of the ball flight lost behind me while swinging.  I also had several shots where the tracer did not start at the ball, and I am not sure if that means the numbers are good or not.  
Here is a chart of my Arrcos Smart Distance versus Rapsodo Lifetime Stats (Driver and woods are set to Carry+Roll setting in the app):
 

So now, let's take a look at the story here by club grouping:
Wedges (52*, 56*, and 60*) No surprise here.  At the range I hit my 52, 56, and 60 to some specific targets and on-course I end up with many different length shots.  The Rapsodo distances feel very accurate to the targets I am usually shooting at with them Irons (including PW and GW) These feel really accurate in aggregate as well.  Considering I don’t get much roll through the 9 iron I am happy to see they match my Arccos on-course performance.  It makes sense to me that I would see some gaps in the longer irons as Rapsodo does not account for roll on these shots.  If anything, the quality of ball I’m hitting may start to impact carry figures for the 6 and 5 irons by 3-5 yards. Hybrid Ok so this is the only one that I really don’t agree with.  It’s also one of the clubs I hit the least during practice, so it could be a sample size thing with a few bad shots pulling the numbers down.  I think I only have a dozen or so shots with it in the Rapsodo data, but once again when we account for roll, this may only be 5-8 yards off on carry.  Maybe it rolls a lot more for me than I’m thinking? 5-wood This looks pretty good to me.  At this point the range I practice at does back uphill, so it’s easier to gauge how close to the targets your landing and estimate total carry distance.  Also I don’t tee this club up at the range and my Arccos data would include tee shots which in theory would allow for some additional distance. Driver This one is tough for me to gauge.  I don’t like seeing a 20 yard gap here, but I have a hard time believing the range balls are not partially to blame here.  The last few sessions out I could see the ball traveling shorter overall distances even though the Rapsodo unit was showing a lot of the same swing speeds.  It also had my efficiency at about 1.42 so maybe with my gamer balls that number would be a little higher.  Or maybe it is because I was practicing a lot with the Epic Max LS as it was the newest club in my bag, and I was trying different shafts, and had a bunch of poor shots in the data.  I will note that I saw my biggest “Hmmmm” moments when looking at the Rapsodo readouts with the driver, particularly if my start line got pulled to the left at all.  But, more on that later… I’m docking a couple points here because the accuracy of the shot tracer and shot direction/path is just OK.  With no ability to edit for the landing point  it looks awkward if you’re not hitting on a flat surface and without spin measurements it’s only ever going to be a guess anyway, but overall the yardages seem solid in aggregate even if some individual shots are off.  I actually had purposely not looked at the summary stats until writing this section so I was pleasantly surprised to see the figures matching up and making sense.    
see here the tracer isn't starting at impact, or even within the range of the "hit zone" on this one.  I had more than a few shots like this:
 
 
On-Course (25 out of 30 points)
At the range getting ready to play is pretty simple.  Open the app, move the icon over the spot to where you’re hitting, and set your heading.  Then all you have to do is line up your unit and make sure the hitting area is within the box on the screen.  I can’t say that it interfered with my normal practice routine at all.  I could make my swing, watch the flight, and then turn around in time to see the some/all of the replay and see the numbers.  It worked out well because I could see if the MLM picked up the shot shape and get a gauge as to if I felt it was a good shot or not.  I didn’t really get along well with the “Smart Club Recognition” but it was simple to select the right one, or even edit post practice if I forgot  (I usually work through my bag with all even or odd clubs so it’s pretty clear when I changed based on the numbers.  
Compared to my old way of playing at the range I didn’t really change much.  I normally will use my rangefinder to get the distances to flags or markers and go from there.  One thing I did do differently with the MLM is set up in line with the middle of the range which has a 100 yard marker.  Then I would try to hit all my balls over that flag to get the distance as I was warming up, which was great with the unit for tracking accuracy and distance, then get to my target practice in the second part of my practice. 
However, I did run into some issues/limitations with the MLM while out on the range.  The unit does not like high contrast situations.  At one of my practice sessions it was hot and humid, and I was able to hit in a covered bay to keep myself, and the MLM a little cooler.  However the MLM failed to capture probably close to 25-30% of swings that session as the ball was starting in the shade and jumping out into a bright clear sunny day.  The unit was unable to track this so it must be using both its radar and your mobile phone to track and lost the ball from transition from shade to sun.
The unit also did not seem to like my Hybrid very much, missing a noticeable amount of shots with that club, including several that were just straight, medium trajectory, boring shots.  I still can’t quite figure out why, but it was enough to notice the trend.  
While I can’t say I play better or worse since including this in my practice, my range sessions or definitely more enjoyable.  It’s also fun to use the long-drive feature as @Lacassem and I did.  I recorded that with the intent of creating a video to share with everyone, but it was windy and the audio came out like absolute trash… and my competitor was trash that day too. 😉 
 
Miscellaneous (7 out of 10 points)
Speaking of the long drive/closest to the pin built in challenges…. They need to work on the UI for that a bit.  So I’m deducting 2 points.  First,  the results are not saved in your shots or sessions.  When Mark and I completed the long drive challenge we wouldn’t have been able to back and see the totals for each round had I not set up a screen record.  It is not saved in your session, and you cannot review the swings after.  On top of that, there is barely a final page or summary screen at the end.  I’d love to see Longest from each round and longest overall or something with the averages… something more than just our names in first and second and then once the page clears it’s gone forever.  Although that’s probably how Mark wanted it since it was a clean sweep for me.  *Side note: maybe next time you show up for a long drive competition don’t be wearing work boots.*
Nothing really much to mention otherwise.  Shipping was quick.  We were all hoping to get to try out the coaching feature, but were not able to get access to coaches during the testing period (-2 points) despite our mod’s best efforts (thanks Jamie!).  But we did get a full year of premium from Rapsodo (+1 point).  I may investigate the coaching feature in the Spring, or maybe over the winter if I find some indoor practice time, but with the prices varying wildly from coach to coach I may be better off getting in front of an actual coach the old-fashioned way, face-to-face, so they can see my particular inconsistencies IRL and not just a selection of my best and worst swings. 
Rapsodo INSIGHTS.  This has some real potential and now that I’ve seen what it is I feel like I can’t un-see the gap that was there before.  Insights in a new AI driven addition to the MLM app that gives you feedback (sort of like strokes-gained) on your practice sessions as a whole.  It takes the MLM from being a “toy” to being a real “tool” that can be used for improvement in my opinion.  Data like left/right misses and distance compared to other golfers of varying skill levels should help you focus your practice much like strokes gained analysis will point out your on-course weaknesses.  I’m excited about this addition and look forward to seeing more added to it for even better practice sessions.  
Here are some of the summary screens you get with Insights, it really does take the MLM to the next level:



 
Play it or Trade it? (15 out of 20 points)
This is a tough question for me to answer.  So I’m going to break it down into a few parts for the unit and the subscription.  I think that the unit is great, and see no reason to not continue using it.  Despite a few challenges with the technology working great my numbers are pretty spot on in aggregate and I think it’s one of the best personal launch monitors out there for its cost.
When we factor in the annual subscription things get a little less clean for me.  I think $99 per year is a bit much for cloud storage and some expanded analysis.  I also feel that the base level does not include enough storage for the asking price of the unit.  
Regarding coaching (which is not factored into the score here as I did not test it, but as an aside) the prices vary significantly from instructor to instructor, which you’d see just the same if you were looking at different coaches at a few places near you, but Rapsodo does a good job of having the coaches offer both standalone, lesson packs, or unlimited monthly offerings.  It also looks to have limited slots for coaches which is good, because it gives me the sense that the coaches will have the correct amount of time to dedicate to each student.
The most natural competitor I can think of to the Rapsodo MLM and other personal launch monitors using this base plus subscription model would be Arccos’s shot tracking system or Shot Scope.  I think both the PLM and On-Course data gathering are both means to the same end of improvement for golfers.  If we take a look at this as a three year investment the MLM will cost you around $800,  While 3 years of Arccos is going to run about half of that.  
Now I know they are not the same tools, but if someone came to me asking which one they should get FIRST, my answer would be Arccos or Shotscope.  I feel that the on-course data and strokes gained analysis is going to be money better spent for golfers.  However, if you’re like me and already have on-course shot tracking, well, then the Rapsodo MLM is a powerful tool that can partner with your on-course data to help measure improvements during practice.  I hope that in the next few years costs can come down, but the Rapsodo MLM is not high priced compared to some of the other units that it is competing against considering the accuracy of the results. 
 
Conclusion (TL;DR):
Rapsodo has an absolute hit with the MLM unit and slick operating iPhone/iPad app.  It works well in most conditions, and if you know where it doesn’t work well you can generally avoid setting it up that way.  I’m not sure there is a more accurate unit available in its price bracket, and while I’d like to see either a reduced annual subscription fee, or more features for the base plan, I can see that Rapsodo is putting the money into R&D as the new INSIGHTS platform is a welcome addition to post-practice analysis.
Overall, I like it, but I don’t love it.  However I think it will be a very useful tool for my future practice sessions and I’m excited to see if I can improve my game a little bit from the insights analysis and my on-course tracking during normal rounds.  Insights is a massive release for analyzing your practice sessions and I also feel that many of my issues with it can be address via software updates.  I am confident that the folks over at Rapsodo are working hard to stay ahead of the competition with constant improvement and updates.
 
B. Boston’s Final Score: 83!

 

To get this started I would love to thank MGS for the opportunity to test something I have always seen but wondered if it was worth it to try. 
  So first off let me tell you a little bit about me and my game. I am a scratch golfer and I play 3-5 times per month when I am not in training or on deployment. I play all types of courses in the San Diego area.  I played one year of college golf before deciding that college just wasn't for me and I joined the Navy. Since joining I have played in several tournaments and done pretty well. 2018-2019 were the best years for me. I won several tournaments and shot some great rounds. I spend most of my time now with my 2 boys that are 9 and 5.   
When it comes to my game I have always been a long hitter and pretty accurate considering how far I hit the ball. I am currently playing the Taylormade SIM2 with a UST Mamiya LINQ Purple 7F5. This driver has been the best driver I have hit in years. 
 
I absolutely love to tinker with equipment it is a passion of mine. When I retire from the Navy I plan to open a fitting and building studio. I currently have a full build shop in my garage and do all my own builds along with most of my buddies builds. 
 
The Dollar Driver Club(DDC) is a really great idea for the person that loves to change and test different drivers for a long period of time without having to pay full price for every driver. I have a few drivers I have been wanting to test but didn’t want to buy without being able to play them first. I couldn’t commit to buying them as the Taylormade SIM2 has been a game changer. The Titleist TSi3 has had me drooling since the release and every time I have hit one it’s taken everything in my power not to buy one. I have always had great success with the Ping drivers since the G400 LST and G410 LST. So these are the top of my list to try in this review. 

Dollar Driver Club: Final Review (4-12-22): “Move Fast and Break Things”
So, maybe those of you familiar with technology are familiar with that phrase above. You see, when asked about his now super-company known know as Meta, Mark Zuckerberg said that was the motto the company needed to abide by. Don’t wait, make mistakes and figure out how to catch up to those mistakes after the fact. A modern version of “you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.” It’s easy to see for early adopters where that has gotten them and also where there are flaws in that thinking.
Personally, I remember the rise and subsequent bottoming out of Movie Pass, a service where for $9.95 a month, and later even cheaper, you could see 1 film a day, bringing people to films in droves. However, those wings built on dreams and Icarian belief later cratered into immeasurable financial difficulty and eventual bankruptcy.
So, why I am I saying these things in the lead in to my final review of the Dollar Driver Club? Well, it is a way to bring some historical context to the issues and praises I have to this business model, and since this is more a review of a service and not a particular equipment based a review, a way to edu-tain you without the usual pictures, statistical analysis, and pure numbers that a club or ball review may provide. We’re looking at 5 factors on which to grade DDC, they have the star ratings next to them at the top of the post, but I’ll list them here as well
Speed of Shipping
Selection of Equipment
Return/Exchange Process
Customer Service
Purchase Process (if applicable)
 
Speed of Shipping: 4.25 stars out of 5
There are benefits to being in a central local for service providers. You don’t need to harvest from different warehouses across the country to make shipments happen, and if you focus on one specific product you can make shipments happen very quickly. Luckily DDC has that going for them. The company is located in Texas and was able to ship me both drivers I requested for this review in about an average of a week’s time, which for someone in New York is very good, especially considering one of those exchanges was made in the winter where it was only delayed due to a bomb cyclone in the northeast by a day.
However, there is a drawback to favoring speed in some circumstances, and it comes with handling in care. As mentioned in my initial post when I received my Cobra, the box had taken some damage in transit and as mentioned when I received the current G425 Max, the driver was shipped in a box with the headcover and the tool, no extra packing materials to ensure the club made it in one piece. I appreciate the commitment to fast turn-around times, but if I had to wait a couple of extra days to make sure I could receive my driver in one piece, I’d take it.
Selection of Equipment: 3.5 Stars out of 5
If you see that star rating and think it a big harsh for this company, I’m not going to sugarcoat. The selection is decent, but nothing more. Sure, you get the major companies, your Callaway, Titleist, Taylormade, Cobra, Ping, and Srixon for something a little exotic. The shaft choices are pretty standard as to the non-upcharge stock options, but that’s about as big the selection gets. I know, you shouldn’t be going in expecting to get the latest from Oban, Accra, Autoflex, etc… but this is more about the late release of 2022 drivers.
As of right now, no 2022 drivers are available to order for testing purposes and it’s a bit of a disappointment. In talking to the folks in the DDC chat, they’ve indicated to me that there are supply chain issues in them getting clubs, and while I’m understanding of that, all the major 2022 releases so far I would have expected were released in store 6 weeks ago with preorders a month before that. It’s not a total deal breaker, but it’s a definite hit.
 
Return/Exchange Process: 3.5 Stars out of 5
Again, this is not a knock on the service here. So as either a yearly member, like we were for the test, or a monthly member, you are entitled to test and receive 3 drivers every 12 months. The actual process to go through for the returns and exchange are actually quite easy. You enter the driver you wish to exchange or “upgrade” for or the shaft you wish to swap, complete a few pages of drop down menus and get yourself a pre-printed shipping label to send the club back to Texas.
What drops a star and a half off this easy process? The fact that it costs you each time you do. For me to get my new Ping driver upgrade, it cost me $20, and the initial Cobra ran me $16.95. Again, for someone who ‘paid’ upfront $360, I should be able to send what I want for either a reduced price to a month to month member or get a few free switches, or at least have those funds used toward a potential purchase. Perhaps that’s me wanting the service to be something it’s not, but if the idea is to make it advantageous to be able to switch and try different set-ups, it should be more financially viable.
 
Customer Service: 4.75 Stars out of 5
Look, I loved dealing with the staff at DDC. The people they have with the chat function to be the up-front people for folks looking to answer questions are friendly enough, and they were helpful enough in answering some questions we had of the service. It’s also worth noting that the package we got in our initial drivers of the tees, the ball marker, and the letter from the head of the company was a very nice touch. It’s hard to be up front about supply chain issues and getting back to us with answers to our questions so that’s why it’s not a perfect five as we have gotten a bit of radio silence as a group recently, but they have good people that work there and they try to go that extra step for the customers, which is all you can ask for.
 
Purchase Process: N/A Stars out of 5
Simply put, I don’t know if I’m going to purchase whatever driver I finish with, so I can’t grade this part of the review. I am planning on a personal fitting for woods this fall, but I could be convinced by great performance by the G425 Max or any other potential driver.
 
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you guys ever heard of the saying format “X walked so Y could fly,” I think that’s what we’re in a case with Dollar Driver Club. Much like how Moviepass died and systems like Regal Unlimited, AMC Stubs A-List, and Cinemark Movie Club sprung up, I think you’ll see something similar if Dollar Driver Club falters in any fashion. You’re already seeing it with the Stealth Demo program attached to TaylorMade’s My TM+ service and if that proves popular, golf is one thing where it’s follow the leader. I could easily see Callaway and Cobra following suit soon after and potentially DDC might get played out of their own market.
I guess in summation, DDC is one heck of idea, a great proof of concept that it can and will work for some golfers. For Spies who tinker, I think you’ll find it a little threadbare for what it is we are looking for, but for the regular golfer with money to burn and a need to have the latest and greatest, Dollar Drive Club is one heck of a service.
FINAL SCORE: 77.5% (15 Stars out of 20)
 
Introduction for Posterity
"Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most"  - Dostoevsky
I often wonder some times if famous people or thinkers were golfers or not in a past life. In a way, I want to believe that ol' Fyodor Dostoevsky would have been one, and would have been one hell of a tinkerer, always trying new things in the search to get better.
Oh yeah, me. I'm Ryan Bergman, aka forum member Berg Ryman, commissioner of fantasy leagues, seeker of putters, tester of products, and writer of really intricate reviews that make multiple pop culture references that range from explanative to bizarre.
In that above quote, Dostoevsky puts forth the thesis that the one thing that man fears most is change, and he has a point. We are creatures of habit or routine, and for something as cataclysmic as change to come in and be a constant is scary. The idea of "evolve or die" comes to mind. Again, the parallels are there for us a golfers. We have our old reliable, we have our own superstitions, we have our way of doing things and it's hard for some of us to get out of there.
Interestingly, the same can be said of business and the golf industry. This is where Dollar Driver Club comes into play here. It takes a change in the way business is done to shift the golf world forward and Dollar Driver Club is attempting to be that shot in the arm. For a new company to come in and offer a subscription model for drivers is a welcome change to the typical big box model or even green grass model.
So, what can you expect from my version of this test? Well, I'm going into this as a general golfer, not as a Spy, not as a former worker in the industry. I'm not going to get fit in a big box store or a fitter before making my orders. The reason for this is two fold. One, I feel like this is a service built for those of use who want tinker and try for ourselves, so I do plan on using the options available and the people that DDC have on staff as my resources, as well as info from the companies themselves to direct me toward things I know I like. Two, I feel like beside the tinkerer in us, this service also really appeals to that "basic golfer", the one who may not dabble in the finer points of equipment differences, exotic shaft selections, kickpoints, etc. So I'm going to try and take some information about these clubs to again, color the choices. Namely, I'm looking at the measurements from the MGS Most Wanted testing.
Now, I've already signed up for the service and made my first selection. First, I want to talk to you guys about early interactions with DDC. They had us all fill out an intake form that basically set us up a profile. They asked us your basics, name address and then we got into golf specific questions. We gave them our current driver set up, preferred ball flights, lofts, etc. So I entered my info about my Mizuno ST180 with my Kuro Kage Silver TiniDual Core in Stiff flex in 60 grams (net weight 69 grams)
So, then we get into the search and as noted the selection is not all-encompassing, but is substantial. You have the Main five driver companies on offer with the newest lines from Taylormade, Cobra, Callaway, Ping, and Titleist, as well as one generation old Callaway and Taylormade in limited offerings. Again, using the info in the Most Wanted testing for mid speed swings and current feelings about drivers, there was one club that caught my eye and checked all the boxes to be the first driver I requested... and I guess I need to find out if it truly does suck.
That's right, I have a RadSpeed coming my way, 10.5 in the Peacoat Blue with the MotoreX F1 60 in Stiff. It was the longest at midspeed testing and I'm all after bombs right now. It should be here Wednesday. I am psyched.
So that's where we start from, there will be change, there will be questions, and we'll be there for the better part of a year to answer them and help you guys understand what DDC can be for you. As always, thanks to the MGS Staff for the opportunity and for the community for putting it's trust in me, I'm going to give you everything I got.

Well first things first I want to thank MYGOLFSPY for the opportunity to participate in this testing. I’m sure it’ll be one like no other being that this testing will last a year. 
 Next up my name is David Lopez I live in the DFW area in the somewhat great state of Texas. As my screen name states I’m a father of boy/girl twins(6), and 2 more boys (5&3) for a grand total of 4 kids under the age of 7. This family is held together by my amazing wife who never complains on how much golf I play which is typically 1-2.5 times a week year round thanks to our not too cold winter with the exception of the 1 week we had this year. 
 
This testing was appealing to me for many reasons. First being it’ll allow me to try something different step outside of my typical Callaway comfort products. Next is being a lefty I’m curious to see how many options in driver and shafts are offered for LH golfers. So far at first glance there are quite a few Lh  drivers available possibly more than RH. 
 
I am a bit of a researcher when it comes to making purchases so my process of selecting driver will not be without a lot of thought. Im currently doing Super Speed training so my club head speed is consistently mid but trending to high. With that being said I plan on gathering data from the MGS Mid swing speed & High swing speed most wanted  to determine my 1st choice. 
 

The final review!!
When I was first selected for the DDC review, I was so thrilled. Driver has been a trouble club for me in the past. We’ve all had the fitting experience…you go in and your swing is an absolute mess, or you feel like Tiger Woods. By the time you leave you are (hopefully) confident in your set-up and order your new driver. 
Fast forward to the course…
Shank city. Slice-o-potomous. Frustration. 
Having a company that allows you to test out drivers on the course without any penalty is a needed model in the industry. I think about it akin to Apple’s program that allows you to upgrade your phone every year while paying a subscription fee. People want new drivers, and want to mix and match until they feel comfortable taking in that tight par five. Dollar Drive Club allows you to test out up to 3 drivers per year for $1 per day. If you find your perfect match, you can purchase the driver for MSRP minus the cost of your subscription.
When I first got my driver, we did not get along. Shout out to @dlow206 for helping me upgrade the shaft to Ventus, which really helped me get confident. 
Fast forward to now, I feel like I can reliably hammer this thing. I do not know if it is the one for me, but it is an improvement over my old driver. Being able to have time on course with the club knowing I could swap it out is a great feeling. The model can work. 
Let’s get to the scoring. 
Speed of Shipping: 4/5 Stars
Shipping was fast and easy. I had my club about a week later. Living in CA I am used to getting a pretty fast turnaround as I’m only a couple hours away from Carlsbad, so I docked one star for the extra couple days. Shipping also costs money, which was an unwelcome surprise. I’d like to see the model adjusted that the subscription fee covers everything. 

Selection of Clubs: 2/5 Stars
This was a disappointment. When I first began the review we were fairly late in the season of 2021. Pickings were slim, especially when it came to shaft options. I use an X-Flex, so I typically have trouble with off the rack options and was hoping there would be more than I found. Some heads were lefty only. I recommend finding a shaft you love and putting an All-Fit adapter on it so you can swap it out with different driver heads, removing the need to worry about shaft selection. 
What I was most excited about was being able to jump on new releases in 2022, which never came to fruition. There are still no new driver options on the DDC website. Without an update to inventory, it makes the model a bit of a head scratcher as to how it will be sustainable. 
Return/Exchange Process: 3/5 Stars
Full disclosure…I never did this. I had been looking forward to it, but without new clubs showing up on the site I never went for it. I was going to get fitted and order the top two contenders as my last two drivers, but that never happened. I was tempted to try a swap for the sake of the review, but the shipping costs are not cheap (roughly $20 range). As I mentioned earlier, it is disappointing this is not included in the cost of the membership. What really stopped me, however, was having to ship my driver back before they’d send me a new one. That would leave me driverless for over a week, which is not something I was wanting to do. I would prefer the model gives you a two to three week window to get your old driver shipped back. That way you were never without a driver, and could test two side by side and send back the new one if you decided it didn’t compare. 
Customer Service: 5/5 stars
I did not have much interaction with DDC customer service, outside of initially setting up my account. They were very helpful, timely in their responses and aided me in feeling confident navigating everything. They also have a great FAQ section which answers a lot of questions members might have. In my limited experience, I have no complaints!
Purchase Process: N/A
I have not tried this. I assume it is a simple enough process, but cannot fairly comment on it having not completed the transaction. 
Total Score: 14/20 Stars
Dollar Drive Club can work. There is a need for the service, and they are off to a good start. It will be interesting to see how this evolves, and if companies will begin a subscription of their own much like Taylormade appears to be. Until the kinks are worked out, however, I would recommend tabling it as a wait and see option. 
Thanks to MGS and DDC for the opportunity!
Jordan
 
Greetings everyone!
My name is Jordan Daigneault, and I have been lucky enough to be amongst an amazing group of testers to provide some insight into Dollar Drive Club. What an opportunity! Thanks to MGS and the folks over at DDC for providing us access to this amazing service. 
A little about myself...
I currently reside in Southern California, just north of Los Angeles. It is an amazing area for golf, with a variety of well maintained courses that you can play just about every day of the year (we maybe lose 5-8 days to rain and extreme wind every year, it is a burden). I teach high school and am fortunate to coach the boy's golf team. I work with an amazing group of golfers, most of whom are substantially better than me (and thoroughly enjoy reminding me of such). I got my handicap down to an 11, but that was before disc replacement in my lumbar spine. It popped back up to a 13 in the time since, and I'm working on getting it back down. It can be frustrating to have it one day and completely stink the next, but that's golf! I was finally able to play two days in a row for the first time in 8 months, so I expect the scores to come down. Outside of golf, I was fortunate to finally marry my amazing wife this summer! We had to postpone a year because of COVID. We managed to have our wedding occur right as things opened up, prior to them quickly closing again thanks to Delta. It was an amazing day! Better than breaking 80! We have two dogs, one of whom is a COVID puppy, so they keep us on our toes.
Though my short game is my biggest weakness, I know that it also an area I have improved a lot and will always be working on. What has me really excited about with this test is that I get to attack another weakness of my game...driving! I can absolutely hammer the ball. My swing speed is up around 120 on a good day, and I hope to get there more consistently as I will be working the superspeed training system with my golfers starting in a couple weeks. When I keep the ball in a good spot off the tee, I get far more greens and shoot great scores. Mind blowing stuff, I know. The difficulty with hitting it far, however, is that little misses end up missing by a lot. Where someone who hits 225-240 might be in the rough, I'm OB or in the trees. Distance can be a big advantage, but also ratchet the scores up quickly!
Enter Dollar Drive Club. With this membership, I'll be able to try out clubs on the course. We all know how huge this can be. You pepper the fairway in the fitting studio, but when you get exactly one swing on the course to make it count, it isn't always there. Finding a club I feel very confident with is something I am really looking forward to. The M5 I have right now has given me some great results, but you really need to find the middle if you don't want to get punished. 
I plan to begin my test with the MGS Most Wanted Callaway Epic Max LS. I will be going to the local golf shop to test it out and make sure it isn't a complete mismatch for what I like, but I used to have an Epic Sub Zero so I feel pretty good about this option. From the reviews, it seems like Callaway really found something special this year, and the forgiveness factor is a big one for me. I'm not sure if it is just the time of year, or COVID, but DDC also seems to have limited offerings right now, so that also helps me make the Callaway decision. There are only 3 X flex options available, so I might take @dlow206s advice and put the Allfit adapter on my Accra and see how that works out across different heads. I do still plan on swapping shafts, but the Accra is definitely one that has worked well for me so keeping it in the rotation will help me compare new shafts as I go. I may also throw a Ventus Black in the mix to see how that compares. 
I'm particularly interested to see what shipping times look like. Do I send the old stuff back before they send new? Vise versa? Does inventory increase as we get into new stock at the turn of the year? (I must admit, I am incredibly excited about the prospect of trying the latest and greatest as it comes out this winter). What are peak shaft offerings? All stock? Upcharge? I hope to answer all of the these questions, and any that the community would like to know about as well!
I cannot wait to get started on this ride with my fellow testers! If any of you have information you'd like during this test, please let me know and I will make sure to find out whatever I can. 
Jordan

First off, thanks to MGS and Voice Caddie for my first testing opportunity!
I took up the game when I was in my early 30s and living in Rochester, MN in the late 80s - really inexpensive to play ($7.95 for 9 holes), but a rather short season.  Then for the first 15 years of the new millennium, we were busy raising our two daughters, so I didn't have the time or $ to play -- Bumper sticker - Driver carries no cash, has wife and two daughters. 😆
About 5 years ago, I got into a job that had a few golf outings per year, so got back into the game.  That and I had hurt my shoulder so gave up water-skiing. Both daughters are now out of college and off the payroll, so I now have more time and $ to play our great game.  Don't have an official HC, but it is about 11, and I get to play year-round as we now reside in the SF Bay area (with a few trips to Santa Barbara where the in-laws and out-laws live). Front door of my in-laws place is 700 yards from the 10th green of SB muni (per The Grint app on my phone).
I usually get out to play a couple of times a week now, and like to play the back nine early mornings. I currently use Shot Scope V2 which gives FMB, and also The Grint app that gives center of green distance; which for my level of expertise has seemed to suffice.  Will be very interested to integrate the VC SL2 into my game, and report back to everyone on the features and benefits.
 
FINAL REVIEW
Intro Under the title of “Timing Is Everything” I was short a couple of rounds from what I anticipated being able to test this on, as I had two vehicles go kaput on me at the same time, and had to concentrate time to getting back on the road. I utilized the SL2 while playing a total of 8 times - two 18 hole rounds and six back nines. But I believe I was able to get out enough with it to give a fair comparison with my current device/app that I have been using now for a couple years. Looks & Feel (10 out of 10 points)  The packaging is really well done.  Laser-cut styrofoam to protect everything, and keep it all in its place during shipping. High end all the way - The size is about average I’d say (from my somewhat limited experience) and feels good in the hand with the leather making for an excellent grip. - The build quality appears top notch, it looks BEAUTIFUL ! - Storage case is very nice thick black leather with a 1 ⅛” triangular metal VoiceCaddie emblem attached to the front flap, with a light gray suede interior - There are two loops sewn into one side which look to be tee holders. I wouldn’t ever use these as I’d have to spit-shine the tee before putting it anywhere near the case, for fear of "inserting impurities" -- From the penultimate page of the USER MANUAL, under the title CAUTION; item number 6 gives some particularly sage advice -- Be careful not to drop, throw, insert impurities or arbitrarily modify by dismantling or burning the device.   Setup (14 out of 15 points) - The 4 ¼” x 3 ¼” x 30” multi-folded 16 page printed user manual that comes included has printed on the front page (in quite a small font) that “detailed instructions for this product are available from the VOICE CADDIE website: www.voicecaddie.com  The instructions seemed clear and easy to understand, with representative pictures of the display to show the various features. - Mine came with 3 of 4 bars worth of charge. I didn’t time how long it took to get to full capacity, but seemed pretty quick. I never tested how long the battery would last, and just re-charged it after each round, since I do that with my Shot Scope watch anyway. Standard C connector / USB cable is provided, that accepted a charge from a couple of different USB chargers I have for other devices (a charger is NOT included, just the cable). - I did search their website for information on whether the courses I usually play were mapped and whether they had the greens mapped. - Looking at the chart presented was quite confusing as there is NO LEGEND.  All the boxes on the first page shown, have a capital O in each box.  Scrolling down further you find some with a dash “-” in the box, and you finally figure out this means that is NOT mapped.  The search function works great.  Courses are listed by Country / State / City / Club / Course / Front,Back / Green Undulation / Green Shape / Slope Data / Course Layout and it tells you "showing # of # filtered from 30,394 total entries".   Accuracy (15 out of 15 points) - The yardages to the center of the green are accurate as compared to my V2 Shot Scope watch and The Grint app on my phone - within a yard usually at anything about 150 yards and in, with some 3 yard differences at distances over 200 yards.  Certainly close enough for me ! - The courses I played while testing don’t have too dramatic slopes involved, so the most I saw was a nine yard calculation for the “plays like” distance.  Certainly more accurate than my usual intuition for how far above or below the target I am, and how that would equate to a yardage number. - I’m not in the habit of “shooting” intermediate targets on the courses I normally play, but can see that this would be great knowledge to have when playing a course for the first time(s).   On-Course (20 out of 40 points) - I would have to remember to hit unlock and swipe the screen to get from fairway information to the detailed green information, as I am so used to just glancing down at my wrist for the FMB distances shown by my Shot Scope watch. - For my level of expertise in distance control, I had relied on FMB info from Shot Scope, and then figured out what the distance to the flag was based on where I could see it was placed (as well as the color of the flag for additional insight), so I had to remember to shoot the flag with the SL2. - There was a bit of a learning curve for me as far as shooting the flag position.  Initially I was getting wildly different readings from what I knew should be the relative distance.  I had to shoot the bottom six inches of the flag to get accurate yardages.  The slope info that comes up in that display was an added bonus, which I didn’t have before in either of my devices. - My favorite feature is the green undulation information, as it gives me an additional reference point to add to what I am reading with my eyes.  The fact that it rotates the image of the green to your position is brilliant. - Compared to the two other devices/apps that I was currently using, this gives me more information, and will be particularly useful when playing a new course.  The ability to input your average driving distance and have that red arc presented on each tee which shows the hazards that are within that range is very beneficial to know, so you can decide whether you need to ease up a bit to be short of the hazard, or perhaps even take a different club. Those of you that have an extra gear might be able to pull your Bryson hat down tightly and get beyond the shown hazard; but I don't have that gear, and will always opt to go shorter. - I think I can lower my scores by taking an extra minute to shoot the distances of hazards at which I’m just guessing at this point.  That and the green undulation info which I love. - Now I do have one major issue that has happened twice during my testing:  I normally play the back nine early mornings on either Saturday or Sunday at one of the courses close to me in San Jose, CA. I have played the front nine there twice recently (a couple weeks ago, and yesterday) and had the exact same problem both times - the GPS froze on hole 5 and would not progress any further, no matter where I went on the rest of the course.  No matter what combinations of buttons I tried NOTHING WORKED.  When I played the back nine this past Saturday, I thought I was having the same issue after 5 holes, but once I was standing on the 15th tee it shifted to that hole. Once is a glitch, failing twice the same way is a PROBLEM.  This is in comparison to my Shot Scope that during a couple of years of use has NEVER had any GPS issues whatsoever (and it was one quarter the price of the SL2). I was still able to shoot the flag distance as that function is separate from the GPS. IMHO rock-solid GPS function ought to be a given, particularly at the price point of the SL2 ! - I have emailed our contact at Voice Caddie regarding this issue, but have not heard back as of yet. I shall update the forum on what I hear back from VC. - This makes it a failing grade for me in this area, as it has turned into an exquisite looking paperweight for 13 of 18 holes on multiple occasions. I was damn glad to have the other two devices/apps with me that I was comparing this to, to get me home to the 18th.   Play it or Trade it? (20 out of 20 points) If you are in a big tournament or money game I believe the information provided by the Voice Caddie SL2 can absolutely help you play your best. Any golfer that likes as much information about the hole they are playing as they can get, will love the Voice Caddie SL2. The green undulation info is a unique addition to the arsenal, which I find incredibly beneficial to have, so it is a definite “Play It” for me.  This is with the caveat, that the GPS freeze I have encountered twice, can get fixed by either a software or firmware update (or new unit perhaps).    Conclusion If you like as much data/information as you can get about the hole you are playing, the SL2 can give it to you.  Of particular interest to me is the green undulation information, which I found very beneficial; and since putting makes up about 40% of your score, any help here is crucial to the final number written on your score card. Final Score: 79
 
Below are some pics. Note: the last pic is NOT a 430 yard par 3 ! It is me standing in the parking lot after the original round where the GPS froze on hole 5 and never moved along to the following holes (but as you can see, I was always kept apprised of the distance I was from the 5th green).
 
UPDATE: I did hear back from Jonathan, our contact at Voice Caddie; he arranged for a new unit to be sent to me, and provided return postage for the original unit.  I'll update on whether the new unit can make it past hole 5.
FURTHER UPDATE:
Replacement unit has had no issues with the GPS freezing on a hole, so this one works as designed.  Glad to have a fully functional unit now!
FURTHER UPDATE II (10-20-21):
Replacement unit had worked fine for a few rounds, and then last week it "lost it's mind" and froze on Hole #12 and also showed my usual tee shot arc off to the right side and vertical.  One of the other testers had seen this before, it was my first time for that little foible.
Then it froze on hole #2 on a subsequent round at a different course.  Voice Caddie REALLY NEEDS TO ADD A RESET BUTTON on these units, because once it freezes there is NOTHING that can be done to jog it to get to the next hole.  That, or put an option in the displayed screen to manually advance the hole -- maybe if I can tell it where it is, it might be able to take it from there. 
Played a round yesterday at the course on which it had frozen before and had NO PROBLEMS, worked for the full 18 holes. 
Don't know what GPS Voice Caddie is using in these, but it is wholly unreliable and glitchy; they need to adopt technology from somebody that has figured this out IMHO.
They ought to call Shot Scope and license whatever they utilize, as I have NEVER had so much as one hiccup using either Shot Scope V2 or now V3, in what now numbers in the hundreds of rounds.
NOTE: The rangefinder function still works, even when the GPS function is frozen.

What's up everyone!  Let's start this intro by saying how bummed I am for @kanoito for having to back out of this one.  That said I am super excited to join my fellow testers for the Voice Caddie SL2 Rangefinder.  I would also like to extend an enormous THANK YOU to MGS and Voice Caddie for this opportunity.
 
For those that don't know me, I go by blackngold_blood, BNG, or just plain old Mark.  I live in north central Iowa in the small rural town of Wesley.  I am a bit of a fantasy sports nut and trade aficionado!  I have bee lucky enough to turn 2 golden tickets into 2 amazing testing opportunities (Lynx Prowler VT irons and Titleist T200 irons) over the last couple of years.  I have been been enjoying this crazy game for the last 25 years. Up until a few years ago I was a big believer in the bomb and gouge concept in golf.  As I age the distance, while still there for the most part, is of less importance.  That is probably the main reason my game has improved like it has lately.  I consider my short game to be the most consistent part of my game but at the same time putting dictates my score more often than not.  I no longer carry an official handicap but as of april last year I was an 8.3.  It is most certainly closer to a 5 now due to the change in philosophy and playing more often.
 
I currently use a generic hunting rangefinder.  It does not lock onto the flag and picks up trees more often than not but gets the job done, sort of! lol  If I am playing a course I don't know or don't play often, I use the GPS feature on the Grint.  I do a lot of guessing of my yardages and have wondered lately if that is the final piece to the puzzle for me to finally shoot par or better over 18 holes.  
As this test unfolds, I will be giving the SL2 an honest evaluation.  I will be sure to check number accuracy but will not be comparing it to anything else on the market.  All SL2 all the time!  I will say I am very intrigued by the green undulation function.  I also now have a built in excuse to travel and play some new courses!
Will the Voice Caddie SL2 Rangefinder be the answer for me or possibly you? I can't wait to get this in hand so we can find out together!
I will try to get some pics of my course and what not soon.  I just wanted to get this intro up and going!
Please feel free to post any questions, comments, or testing interests in the comments section!
 
Voice Caddie SL2 Active Hybrid GPS Laser Rangefinder with Green Undulation
Official Review by Blackngold_blood August 31, 2021
 
This review was an interesting one for me.  I don't use a rangefinder all that often.  I do have an older hunting one that I take with me to new or less played courses but otherwise I usually know my distances at my normal course.  For this review I used the SL2 for every shot during the 12 rounds I have had it.  I also took a measuring wheel to the course with me for some accuracy readings, more on that later.  I also wanted to mention the box the SL2 came in.  The magnetic closure is a really neat feature and allows for easy storage during the off season.
 
Looks & Feel           10 out of 10
When I first looked at the SL2 online I thought it looked amazing but once I had it in hand, I was blown away.  It fits perfectly in my hands and the combo of white leather mixed with the oak grain pattern and aluminum is simply stunning.
 
Setup                    12 out of 15
This section would have been higher had the unit came in English instead of Korean.  As I don't understand Korean, I sent an email to our contact Jonathan Diaz.  He replied quickly with a couple videos showing how to switch the language as well as changing holes manually.  It will switch holes automatically as you go along but if you skip holes you will need to change manually.  I would include them here but the file size is too large.  I do have them saved should anyone want or need them.  Jonathan also reached out a few weeks later to see if there was any other questions, which I thought was really cool of him and something he definitely didn't have to do.
Right out of the box I used the SL2 for 4 rounds before finally needing a charge.  When I went to charge it I noticed the USB cable doesn't include a wall outlet.  I had to use one I had laying around the house and in just over an hour it was fully charged.
 
Accuracy        14 out of 15
For this test I used the measuring wheel mentioned earlier as well as the GPS from the Grint.  My camera crapped out on me so pictures weren't captured and wouldn't you know it, to top it off the SL2 finally needed charging lol.  After a charge I returned the next weekend to write down my findings.  Let me preface this with the fact that some of you will look at these numbers and think my score doesn't reflect the findings.  I will do my best to explain why I graded the way I did.
First the rangefinder using the flag vs the measuring wheel
Hole 1                                                                              Hole 4                                                                       Hole 9
Wheel 100yds                                      Wheel 100yds                                    Wheel 100yds
SL2     100yds                                      SL2     100yds                                    SL2     100yds
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Wheel 200yds                                      Wheel 200yds                                   Wheel 200yds
SL2     198yds                                       SL2     198yds                                   SL2     197yds
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Wheel 300yds                                      Wheel 300yds                                   Wheel 300yds
SL2      295yds                                     SL2      295yds                                  SL2      296yds
 
As you can see once outside 100yds the wheel and SL2 never hit the same number.  Allowing for tolerances and user error, I would say that those numbers are pretty darn good.  As I mentioned before some will say that those numbers should be closer if not exact.  I look at it this way, at 300 yards, The measuring wheel and the SL2 were different by a 15 feet average!
As for the SL2 GPS and the Grint GPS, they were exactly the same every time, which quite frankly surprised me more than anything!
The slope function is hard to quantify for accuracy but when I did use it, it seemed to be right on the money.
 
On Course                 38 out of 40
As someone who rarely uses a rangefinder at my home course, I did have to remind myself constantly to use the SL2.  When I played a round at a course I knew less about, it was much easier to remember.  When I did use it the numbers were super clear and easy to read. (I had a photo to show it but when I went to resize it to post it blurred.  I am working on getting a new one asap) I do have to say that the combination of a rangefinder and gps in one unit is very welcomed.  Anything that will allow me to throw the cell phone in the bag and leave it there is alright in my book!
I am gonna touch briefly on the Green Undulation feature here.  This was something that I was really looking forward to.  This feature is the reason for the less that perfect score.  It isn't the easiest to read.  After speaking with Jonathan, he stated they are working on improvements to it, such as arrows to show fall.  While it may work for others, the colors on the screen blur together for me and my terrible eyes.
The biggest advantage for me as it relates to my scores using the SL2 have come when I hit wayward drives, which does happen more than I care to admit!
 
Play it or Trade it           20 out of 20
Not much to say here.  This is staying in my bag and don't see it leaving until it craps out.  While it may not get used on every hole, it will always be with me should I need it.
 
Conclusion
The Voice Caddie SL2 Hybrid GPS Rangefinder with Green Undulation is an absolute must for anyone that uses GPS and/or a rangefinder.  While it is expensive($599.99) and does have its limitations/issues, being able to get multiple types of measurements in one unit is awesome and what this Spy hopes to be the future of rangefinders.
 
Total Score         94 out of 100

Official Review: Voice Caddie SL2
Introduction:
Hi, I’m Bucky CC.  You may remember me from such reviews as #CobraConnect Challenge 3, Nippon Modus GOST hybrid shaft, and The Big Beertha (I wish).

First off, a huge thank you to Voice Caddie and MGS for giving us the opportunity to review another top notch product.
I’ve been messing around with golf for 30+ years now.  Started as a kid in my backyard and currently play about 50 rounds a year in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area.  There are a ton of absolutely stunning courses in Wisconsin but the downside is we only have 6-7 months of decent weather each year.  This year the state is hosting the 2020 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits with Wisconsin native Captain Steve Stricker.  I'm volunteering as a hole marshal and will be there each date of the event.
And what’s this?  Steve Stricker also uses Voice Caddie?  Perfect!
 
My handicap has been in the 3-6 range the last couple of years.  Over the last 20 rounds Arccos shows I lose the most strokes off the tee compared to a scratch handicap.
Driver smart distance is 278 so the main issue is hitting too many penalties off the tee.  Maybe the built in GPS function of the SL2 will help improve that?
 
Approach, Short game, and Putting all come and go depending on the round.  I’m probably most confident with my putter even though our greens looked like this most of the last year:
 
They blamed the conditions on excessive rain that led to root rot but no other course in the area experienced problems.  The greens are better now but still inconsistent from week to week as they are understandably shy about cutting them too short.
I’m least confident off the tee when there is danger on both sides of the fairway.  I often hesitate on what club to use knowing that iron may be the best choice on shorter holes but also knowing that most strokes gained analysis shows driver is the correct choice the majority of the time.

 
Expectations
For this test I’ll be comparing the Voice Caddie SL2 against a Bushnell Tour V4, Arccos on my iPhone, and I’ll try to find my old Garmin Approach G3 as well.  I don’t use Arccos very much off the tee since I’ve been at my current course for the last 7 years but I do shoot the pin on all approach shots.
         
My hopes for the SL2 are that it will be as quick as the Bushnell to find the pin on approach shots and as accurate as my Arccos iPhone GPS for tee shots and layups.  I love the fact that the design was inspired by yacht sailing and the use of aluminum in premium speakers, but at the end of the day the performance is what will determine if it earns a spot in my bag or not.  If they can somehow pull off the 2 in 1 combo that is accurate and easy to use this could be a perfect product.
Can’t wait to get started!
 
FINAL REVIEW – Voice Caddie SL2 – Official MGS Forum Review by Bucky CC, 09/01/2021
Intro
After three weeks of having the Voice Caddie SL2 in play I’m ready to give my full impressions of the product.  For this test I compared the SL2 against my a Bushnell Tour V4, Arccos running on an iPhone X, and an old Garmin Approach G3 GPS.
Looks & Feel (10 out of 10 points) 
Voice Caddie describes the SL2 as “Class on Class”; inspired by the deck of a yacht sailing the ocean and use of aluminum in premium speakers.  I would have to agree on first impressions alone.  Simply put, the range finder is beautiful.
 
Just before I received the rangefinder I was at my in-laws lake house for a week long summer vacation.  While they don’t have a yacht, they do have an extremely nice Chaparral boat.  I would say the rangefinder fits right in with the white leather and aluminum speaker look.
 
Size wise it’s very similar to my Bushnell and I had no issues getting used to it.
Setup (10 out of 15 points)
I was lucky in that my SL2 came set to English instructions (not everyone’s did), which is a good thing because the user manual included was very sparse.  There were a few tips on how to get started but it was definitely not the most robust manual I’ve ever read.
The unit comes with a battery life claiming to last 45 hours in laser mode and 20 hours for the GPS Pin Assist.  A USB-C cable came for charging, but no plug was included.  Seems strange to charge $600 for a rangefinder but then skimp on a sub $5 plug.  Oh well.
Charging didn’t take too long but it was long enough that you couldn’t plan to use your car charger on the way to a nearby course.
Customer service was great for the testers as we had a directly email and phone to a VoiceCaddie rep.  I wonder if the same level of service would be available for the general public though.  I submitted a request to have two resort courses in Wisconsin mapped and did not hear a word from anyone for 2+ weeks until our rep said he would push it through.
Getting the unit was updated was also an adventure as there is nothing in the included manual about it and the SL2 is not yet listed on the Voice Caddie Manager Download page.
 
Accuracy (10 out of 15 points)
To test out the accuracy I compared the SL2 against a Bushnell Tour V4, Arccos running on an iPhone X, and an old Garmin Approach G3 GPS.  I ended up using all four devices on six separate holes.  I was hoping to do it on the full 18 but my playing partners were starting to get angry with me (rightfully so) when I was checking four different devices on each hole.
I tried to use a variety of distances and made sure to include one from the 150 yard stake in the center of the fairway.
SL2 Rangefinder vs Bushnell (pin location)
- 3 of 6 locations were exact
- largest gap was only 2 yards
-Bushnell easier to hit flag on most shots
-SL2 picked up flag more quickly on 223 yard shot; could be the GPS tech helping out with this
SL2 GPS vs Garmin
- Average difference for front/middle/back was 2.4 yards
- Largest difference was measurement to Back of green at 7 yards; 3.7 yards avg difference for back of green location
 -150 yard location : SL2 showed 145 to center of green, Garmin 151
- 18 data points: SL2 was shorter on 15 of them
SL2 GPS vs Arccos
- Average difference for all measurements 2.6 yards
- Largest difference was to Back of green at 7 yards; 5.2 average difference to back of green
 -150 yard location: SL2 showed 145 yards, Arccos 150
- 18 data points: SL2 was shorter on 14 of them
Garmin vs Arccos
Though neither was officially part of the test I also did a quick comparison of the Garmin and Arccos GPS devices.
- Average difference 0.2 yards
- Largest difference was 4 yards to middle and back of green on one hole
 -150 yard location: Arccos showed 150, Garmin 151 to center
- 18 data points: equal split between which was longer/shorter

I would have no problem trusting the SL2’s rangefinder function, but it scares me to see the constant short numbers for the GPS locations.
On-Course (25 out of 40 points)
As stated the device is comfortable to use and relatively quick to get your numbers with.  I was disappointed to see the driving distance ring occasionally show incorrect images.  I preset the distance ring to 275 and the first time out on the course it showed me this:

The GPS screen is very small to use compared to other GPS devices or a phone app.
The thing I was most excited to try out was the green undulation feature on the GPS screen.  I have been playing the same course for about 8 years now and I was very eager to see if my personal experience matched the 11 different heat zones that SL2 would show me.
Unfortunately my course does not seem to be mapped because when I booted up the product the only images I saw were these:
 
I can 100% verify that my course’s greens are not perfectly flat.  The website even shows it was updated earlier this year.
 
Play it or Trade it? (10 out of 20 points)
If I did not own a distance measuring device the SL2 would be something very intriguing in that it combines a laser rangefinder with a GPS map and a green undulation feature (assuming your course is mapped).  It takes multiple great ideas and combines them into one product.
The problem I had is none of the features seem any better than what I currently use.  Yes each feature is in one product, but none of them really seem top notch above a competitor’s single use device.  And then you factor in this:
SL2: $600
Bushnell: $300 or less
Phone GPS app: potentially free
Unless you are fascinated with the “class on class” marketing of how the device looks I don’t see how the list price is justified right now. 
Conclusion
The Voice Caddie SL2 rangefinder/GPS combo device is marketed as capturing the highest essence of technology in one, state-of-the-art laser rangefinder.  Unfortunately my testing showed it to be a beautiful device without the substance to match.  The rangefinder matched a Bushnell Tour V4 for distance and ease of use, but the GPS seemed to constantly under report distances versus a Garmin and an iPhone GPS app.  If the product came in at a reasonable price I could definitely see a bigger market, but it just doesn’t make sense to me to spend $600 on something and have it not perform at a top level.
My final score reflects how the product performs today.  The good news is this is an absolute floor and with a few updates to correct the GPS and Green Undulation features I could easily see it rise 10-20 points.
Final Score: 65 out of 100 right now; potential of 75-85 with some software updates