Final Reviews: Shot Scope V3

Initial observations- September '21

Hi everyone, my name is Jerry.  I've been golfing only for about three months and just broke 100 for the first time in September.  My depth perception on most of my hits is horrendous.  I'm the guy muttering "sit" just before my approach lands 20 yards in front of the green, lol.

I'm excited to have the opportunity to test this out; I have no experience with anything like this before.  I have developed some impatience regarding pace of play.  I'm the type who walks up, addresses, and hits all within a few moments.  Because of this, I'm really interested to find out how it affects the regular process of my rounds.

One more thing I'd like to find out is what ways I can interpret the statistics.  As an example, if I regularly use my 7 iron for bump and runs around the green, will it distort my understanding of the 7 as a full club? (11/8 update- It won't!  You have the option to mark any shot as a "Positional shot."  Use this if you have to do something abnormal like punching back onto the fairway from the trees.)

 

Unboxing

The unboxing and initial setup process was pretty straightforward.  The box arrived quicker than anticipated (shout out to DHL!)  As to be expected, there is not much to the package- the watch, a charging cable, 16 screw-in ID tags, and a little start-up manual.

From opening the box to ready-to-go the process took about a half hour.  When I turned on the watch it was at about 50% battery.  It went through a firmware update; as that was happening I downloaded the app and started to screw in the tags.  Screwing the tags in didn't take too much effort.  I set up my account on the app started to mark down my clubs.  There is a large database of clubs available; I don't know the exact model of my Dunlop woods so I had to guess, but it really doesn't matter too much.  The tags are very small and light.  Once they're screwed in I do not notice them.

 

 

Shot Scope V3 – Official MGS Forum Review by JerryB (11/2021)

 

 

ABOUT ME

My name is Jerry and I’m a 39-year-old married father of three.  My oldest is now 20 and he expressed interest in golf earlier this year when the place we work had an informal outing.  We went out for the first time in late May and have been hooked ever since.  Living an hour west of Chicago, we try to get out as much as possible, roughly twice on weekends and once during the week with the occasional range session mixed in. 

As to be expected, my golf game is not great.  I’m wildly inconsistent, lose track of my ball easily, and oftentimes forget what shot I’m on.  In short, I have the mind of a goldfish!  My progress has been full of little “aha” moments that lead to incremental improvements in my game.  I’m lately shooting 95-110 and am starting to hit the ball in the required direction with more regularity. 

My clubs are all hand-me-downs.  They aren’t great but they do the job for me.  I like tech but wouldn’t consider myself tech savvy.  I can use things, but troubleshooting is not always my thing. 

 

 

LOOKS AND FEEL 9/10

I'm not a watch person but it seems like a straightforward watch.  Watch band is rubber which may be an issue when it’s hot outside.  Fits well on my wrist and is unobtrusive once on.  Clasp feels sturdy.  There are four color options for the band.  If I wore a watch regularly, I would likely wear this as a regular watch. 

 

SETUP 13/15

Setup instructions were clear and concise.  Watch was at 50% out of the box.  Initial setup took about thirty minutes.  Much of that time was an initial firmware update on the watch.  As the watch was updating, I began screwing the tags into the clubs.  Took a bit of pressure to get them in, but nothing too intense.  The effort to put them in makes me feel like they will be secure for a long time.  Took a few minutes to set up “My Bag.”  There are 16 tags that are included which covers the general setup for many golfers- D, 3W, H1, 4I-9I, PW, GW, SW, LW, P and two extras marked X1 and X2.  I don’t have a 4 iron but I do have a 5 wood; I used the X1 tag.  On a full charge, the watch was used on the course on Friday morning, left on all weekend and used again on Sunday midday.  After that round, the watch was at 2%.  Shotscope claims 10+ hour battery life, which seems about right.  Uses a proprietary cable to charge; would be nice if it used a normal USB-C cable or something similar. 

 

ACCURACY 14/15

Yardages seem accurate for my purposes.  I compared the yardages to my Garmin G80, and the differences ranged from spot-on to about 5-8 yard difference.  Might not be feasible due to the size of the screen, but an overhead display of the course would be nice.  Instead, it shows the distance to the front and carry distance of hazards as well as what side of the fairway it’s on.  Those distances seem pretty accurate. 

 

ON-COURSE 15/20

Takes a little getting used to when using something like this for the first time.  The Pin Collect feature took me a few holes to do correctly and just hitting the button when I picked up the ball from the cup is a little different.  Not bad, just a little something extra to remember to do.  When you get on the green, the Pin Collect feature automatically pops up on screen.  This is a bit problematic if it pops up a step or two off the green and you aren’t trying to putt.  Walking away from the green will bring up an X option to revert to the regular shot screen.  I wish the X option were always available as it’s a small hassle to have to wander around the green to get the correct screen. 

Getting the tag to “wake up” requires you to waggle the club or take a practice swing or two before you hit your shot.  As a new golfer I don’t really have a pre-shot routine, but this is getting me on the path to one which feels helpful.  A small gripe is that the watch must be on your lead hand which is also my glove hand.  The buttons on the right side of the watch are then generally covered, a small nuisance. 

As a GPS watch it works great compared to my Garmin that is attached to the cart.  If I must stay on the cart path, the watch allows me to walk to my shot and give me an accurate reading as opposed to checking the Garmin and then making a guess as to the final distance.  Shot tracking compared to Arccos is better on course since you do not have to carry your phone with you as you play.  It would be nice if the watch could show your score in real time, but again this is a small nitpick.

You can add penalties (lost ball, water hazard, etc) as you go or manually add them in afterwards.

There is some debate regarding putting; whether to use the automatic or the manual putting tracking feature.  Automatic is the easier option…on the green you would putt then hit the “1” button at the hole to mark the pin for your one putt.  When I’m on the green, I would putt, then putt, then likely putt again and hit the “3” button at the hole to mark the pin and indicate that I took three putts.  These putting distances may not be completely accurate due to the small distances involved in putting so while the number of shots will be correct, the exact locations may be a little fuzzy.  Manual putting would just have you hit a button at each spot where you putt, and then a final button to mark the pin, to give you a more spot-on indication of where you were putting.  A beginner like me would likely be fine with some pretty accurate distances and the number of putts while a more experienced golfer might want things as accurate as possible. 

 

MISCELLANEOUS 16/20

I haven’t had to deal with them, but customer service is said to be good.  Shipping was prompt and arrived quickly.  If you notice something has changed on the course like a hole has been re-designed, you can shoot them an email and they respond with a correction quickly.

The big feature to this watch is obviously the shot tracking and the information you can access afterwards.  So much info!  Definitely some overload for me as a new golfer that generally is also not very observant.  You can see a course overview and a hole-by-hole overview, laid out over a GPS mapping, of all your rounds.

 

There is a lot of performance data broken down into sections: all shots by Club, Tee Shots, Approaches (shots beyond 50 yards or meters), Short Game (shots inside 50 yards or meters) and Putting.  All these sections have visual representations such as graphs and charts to give you a better idea of where you are doing well and where you need to improve.  For instance, my short game, while terrible, is quite a bit better if I can use my putter or PW.  My tee shots tend to miss right but when I miss left it means I REALLY screwed up.

 

I do wish the Score Breakdown was a little more helpful to us high handicappers.  Their example is on the left, while my actuals are on the right.  Notice the large amount of “Double Bogey+” and I would like to emphasize the “+.”  I get many triples, quads, and beyond and it would be nice to see them broken down as well.  

There are also fun little medals and leaderboards so you can see how you stack up to the rest of the world.  Much of the information is the same on both the app and the desktop, but there are some differences.  On the desktop version, for example, you can add clubs and move them to an Unassigned section whereas in the app you can only edit a club that has a tag assigned.  If you wanted to use and compare multiple drivers over the course of a season, you can add them all in the desktop and switch them in and out with the Driver tag.  The app doesn’t have that option. 

 

PLAY OR TRADE? 18/20

After a couple rounds, the use of the V3 is pretty seamless on the course.  The amount of information given can be incredibly useful for players of all abilities.  A good golfer can use it to really dial in aspects of their game, while a new player can really grow and take out some guesswork.  I can see myself using this watch for a long time.  With just a one-time purchase and no subscriptions to worry about, it’s a great buy for just about anyone. 

 

TL;DR

I have the mind of a goldfish.  Oftentimes if I’m not the last person to hit, I’ll forget where exactly my ball is.  Once a round is complete, I’ve forgotten pretty much everything about it.  The Shot Scope V3 allows me to go back and re-live my round and breaks it all down into data that is very easy to interpret, all with very minimal effort on my part.  Having a GPS watch means just a quick glance at my wrist gives me the yardage info I’ll need.  I can nitpick things all day (and I tend to do so...) but overall this can be a very useful device.

TOTAL: 85/100

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. 

 

 

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.

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 8^th 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

Congrats testers!!

Woohoo! Thanks team!!

Congrats guys! Looking forward to the reviews. Have any of you used Arccos to give a good compare?

 

@Chip Strokes make sure you got that watch on right… I don’t want any reviews on the watch head flying 300 yards down range because it couldn’t handle the swing speed!

Congratulations testers! If you guys have any questions, look at here: https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/45688-shotscope-users-group/#comments

Congratulations testers! 

Congrats guys, looking forward to this review.   Do paper and pencil kind of stats now and this is probably the only stat system would consider since there are no subscription fees.  

Thanks all, looking forward to testing just how far off line this thing will track! 

Congrats everyone and @Chip StrokesI expect to see your drives climbing up the leader boards here

Congrats guys! 

Congrats folks!

Congrats all! Great group of testers right here. Looking forward to your reviews!

Great mix of testers .. Congrats! to the winners!!!

I'm a V3 user myself so looking forward to seeing each new person's experience and comments

Congrats fellas...Have fun!

Congrats testers.

@JerBooth
@greggarner
@JerryB
@Chip Strokes

congrats to the tester ! 

Way to go testers!

Congrats to the testers, will be interested in this one as I just ordered my upgrade from V2.

Congrats testers!  Enjoy the test!

Congratulations to those chosen!  Looking forward to your review!

 

MDGolfHacker

Congrats to the testers...this should be fun!

Congrats to the testers.  Will be following this one closely to see if maybe I should change over from Arccos when the battery in my sensors run out....

Huge congrats guys

Congrats testers. I’ve had my shotscope since their promo early this year(last year maybe?). The latest update with strokes gained has been amazing. Only down side I’ve experienced is losing a few tags from my clubs. 

Congrats everyone!

Congrats everyone!!!  Can't wait to compare and contrast with the Accros test running too

 

Would love the opportunity to test this out.  I currently have Arccos and shoot detection had always been a problem for me.  I bought the link specifically to address the issue and it helped but putts still are a huge issue so is like to see if shot scope is an improvement.

I’ve had my eye on the V3 ever since the pre-release hype started coming out. From what I’ve learned about it so far, it seems like the best value out of the entire pool of wearable shot tracking systems. 

I rely much on accuracy from 100 yards in, so I´d love to test this Shot Scope V3!

 

Currently use a Garmin S62, have used the Game Golf system. Would love to put this one through it's paces.

Would love to test V3!

On 6/26/2021 at 11:18 PM, naesoong said:

really excited to see how this plays out. putting is easily my worst part of my game lol

I've been thinking of getting one of these for a long time.

I play well over 200 rounds of golf each year and am always looking for the most accurate and complete GPS system.  I have tried many GPS and Laser range finders. I presently use several including the older Bushnell 500 slope laser, Voice Caddie VC300SE, Voice Caddie VC200, and most recently the Golfwith Smart Caddie app. Without using any distance help, it can be quite annoying trying to find 200, 150 and 100 on course distance markers. But even they are not very accurate as using a GPS range finder to get the exact distance without guessing. I also presently use a Bushnell 500 range finder, but not easy to use as I don't have a steady hand. 

So, I would very much love to test a Shot Scope V3 GPS. Hoping it will put an end to everything else I have tried. 

Already use the v2 system but the V 3 is a big upgrade sure would like to try it

I've never used a GPS system like this. I'd love to see what it could do for my game.

Would love the opportunity to test this. I have been using GolfShot GPS for the past few years. 

Always wondered how wearing a gps watch would feel like on the wrist while playing and how it would help in lowering my scores and hcp. Had game golf tags long ago but found it cumbersome having to redo shots on the app. The earliest golf buddy owned had issues with hole recognition and was basically distances to front middle and back only, not very accurate though. Have always been wondering about these wearable devices. Would be a great opportunity to try one. Been using iPhone gps apps since but not much info per se. Current club hcp is 14, usga index 10.2. 
Good luck to everyone who applied.

Another awesome opportunity!

Would be great to test out.

Good luck everyone and thanks to MGS for another awesome opportunity!

I need help!

Very interesting and I will definitely be looking into buying the V3 anyway since it looks promising, would be nice to test it this way.

Thanks for the opportunity Shotscope. Currently have the Garmin S10. Would love to combine a GPS with Arccos for more refined distances and shot tracking. Good luck all.

Would like to test this. Currently Arccos somewhat user haven’t been pleased with the system and removed it. Due to multiple issues with the shot input. I currently manually input and track through swingU. 

Perfect timing for me on this. I literally have the V3 in my shopping cart from the local shop, just waiting for the next sale to start. 

I'm a big data nerd, and have been tracking my shots for the last 5 years or so. I use a combo of excel, R (or Python depending on mood), and Google Earth to crunch the numbers, then port them into a dashboard in MS Power BI to plot every shot on a map of the course, strokes gained and some macro trends. It works pretty well but takes time on the course, and then maybe an hour after word to enter, crunch and update the database. I kinda enjoy doing it, as it forces me to review every shot, but lately I've been wanting something much more streamlined and shotscope looks to be the top contender in the space. 

I've used Skycaddie Gametracker Smart tags, Arccos Caddie Smart Sensors, Garmin S60 watch. I currently have the Swing Caddie SC200, Bushnell Pro7 Jolt, Sky Caddie SX500, and Garmin s60. I would love to give The Shot Scope V3 a serious vetting to see if it makes my bag. Thank you and, Peace!

I've used SkyCaddie watches for years and currently the Links. But I've never used the golf tags (Arccos, etc...), so I'd love to give it a try.

 

Would love the opportunity to test out the Sot Scope V3. Looks like a better GPS than some. 

Would be cool to see how easy it is to keep track of stats and how it compares to Arcos.

Would love for a chance to try and test, never having used any kind of GPS tracking system. Really curious as to how much of a difference it would be..!

What a great opportunity - good luck everyone!