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Final Reviews: Shot Scope V3

Ratings Distribution

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50%
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Detailed Ratings

Accuracy
Looks & Feel
Miscellaneous
On the Course
Play it Or Trade it
Setup
Testers
Equipment Type: GPS Tracking
Vendor: Shot Scope

TESTERS WANTED (4) INTL WELCOME
OUR TESTERS!

@JerBooth
@greggarner
@JerryB
@Chip Strokes
 

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From day one, Shotscope changed on-course data collection. The company developed technology that lets RFID club tags communicate automatically with a wrist band to capture shots. However, the wrist band itself was a problem. Shotscope’s original V1 band featured no GPS functionality, just data collection. It was also roughly the size of one of Her Majesty’s aircraft carriers.

Shotscope V2 was a considerable improvement. Unfortunately, while considerably smaller, V2 was still the size of a Royal Destroyer.

Now with the V3 GPS band, Shot Scope offers a full slate of stat-tracking and peformance management features, including strokes-gained analytics.

With that, we'd like to get feedback from MyGolfSpy readers. We are looking for 4 dedicated, hard working testers to try out the newest version including the RFID tags! Added bonus - V3 comes in fancy new colorways to match your golfing outfit! A feature I know all of you are most excited about 😉

 

Looks & Feel
Setup
Accuracy
On the Course
Miscellaneous
Play it Or Trade it

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.)

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.  

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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

Cobra Aerojet Max driver

Cobra Aerojet Max 3 wood and 7 wood

Cobra Aerojet 4/5/6 hybrids

Cobra Aerojet 7-PW, GW

Cobra Snakebite 52° and 58° wedges

Cobra King Stingray 20 putter

Link to review
Looks & Feel
Setup
Accuracy
On the Course
Miscellaneous
Play it Or Trade it

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 itI'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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

tee box of Falls Village hole 12

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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. 

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Driver: :srixon-small: ZX5 LS MkII 9.5* (@ 9.0*) with 46.5" Ventus Blue 6X
3-wood: :taylormade-small: SIM 15* with Diamana Limited 75S
5-wood: :cobra-small: RADspeed 18.5* with Motore X F3 60S
2i: :srixon-small: ZX with SteelFiber i95 Stiff

4hy: :titleist-small: TS3 23* with Tensei AV Blue 70 S
4i-7i :srixon-small: ZX7, 8i-PW Z-Forged, Modus3 Tour 120 S
50*, 55* :cleveland-small: RTX 6 Modus3 Tour 125
60* :cleveland-small: RTX Full Face ZipCore DG Spinner S400
Putter: :callaway-small: Toulon Chicago with a :garsen: Quad Tour or :cleveland-small: HB SOFT Milled 10.5S with UST All-in

Ball: :callaway-small: Chrome Tour (but I might still have some :titleist-small: Left Dashes hanging around)
Bag: :srixon-small: Ltd Edition Tartan, blue/green/yellow

Using :ShotScope: to keep track of my shots

Tested:
:wilson_staff_small: D7 Forged 3i-PW, KBS Tour-V 110S - Official Review
:titelist-small: Blind Ball Test (Ball #3 vs Ball #4) - Unofficial Review
:ShotScope:
 V3 GPS Watch + Tags - Official Review
:OnCore:
 Vero X2 - Official Review

The Stack System - Official Review

Link to review
Looks & Feel
Setup
Accuracy
On the Course
Miscellaneous
Play it Or Trade it

 

 

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.

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***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.

 

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

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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.

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Driver - :callaway-small: Mavrik w/ Aldila Rogue White 130MSI 60X

3-Wood - :taylormade-small: RocketBallz 3 HL

Hybrid - :callaway-small: Apex 2 w/ Kuro Kage 65g Stiff

Irons - :callaway-small: Steelhead XR's w/ KBS Tour-V 90 - 5-PW, AW - Stiff

Wedges - Kirkland Signature 52*, 56*, 60*

Putter -   default_taylormade-small.jpg.f51b0863b47c9f7d3e2ffc3583a5d3da.jpg  Spider S #1 Platinum/White

Grips - Golf Pride Tour Velvet Midsize

Ball - Srixon Z-star.....Q-Star in Spring and Fall

 

Jeremy Booth

Swing easy.

Link to review
Looks & Feel
Setup
Accuracy
On the Course
Miscellaneous
Play it Or Trade it

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:

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

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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.

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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.

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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:

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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.

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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

image.png.926c5dbfc594427870bc33c43f290630.pngSIM2 8º | KuroKage XD 70TX 

  image.png.4f15ae5144722103242556b2db6d1033.pngSIM 3W 14º | Fujikura Atmos Black Tour Spec 9TX

image.png.bce9eebd9a20266703b359d88959bbcb.pngSIM2 5W 18º | Fujikura Ventus Black 10X
Titleist logo | Logo gallery, Golf birthday party, Logo designU500 2i | Fujikura Ventus HB Black 10TX
Titleist logo | Logo gallery, Golf birthday party, Logo design T100 4-PW | Dynamic Gold X7
Vokey Design Vector Logo | Free Download - (.SVG   .PNG) format - VTLogo.com SM6 52* SM8 56* SM8 60* | Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
SIK Golf Partners with GolfPlus to Host Entry Level Professional Events!  DW | BGT Stability Tour

Link to review

91 Comments




I'm bugging with questions (thanks for the responses), but are there haptics when it's recognised you're holding a club tag close enough to the watch to register a shot?

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11 minutes ago, Blueberry_Squishie said:

I'm bugging with questions (thanks for the responses), but are there haptics when it's recognised you're holding a club tag close enough to the watch to register a shot?

nope. you’ve just gotta check the watch and make sure it’s reading the club in your hand. 

no buzz or chime or jolt for the correct club. 

Link to comment
14 hours ago, Blueberry_Squishie said:

So the trigger isn't hitting the ball like Arccos, but proximity to the watch?

It's something with the motion of the sensors in the watch. I've found in using mine, even though it wants you to take a practice swing or two before each shot, if I catch a little too much turf, or while waiting, a few too many practice swings, and extra shot will show up in the round review.

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10 hours ago, Chip Strokes said:

nope. you’ve just gotta check the watch and make sure it’s reading the club in your hand. 

no buzz or chime or jolt for the correct club. 

Especially if you pull multiple clubs from the bag, like wedge and putter to go to the green. It tends to read the club closest to the band sensor.

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Just now, GregB135 said:

Especially if you pull multiple clubs from the bag, like wedge and putter to go to the green. It tends to read the club closest to the band sensor.

that’s one of the reasons i don’t use a putter tag. 

but if i ever pull two wedges, or walk to a par 3 tee box with two irons, i’ll be sure to keep them in my right hand away from the watch. 

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21 minutes ago, Chip Strokes said:

that’s one of the reasons i don’t use a putter tag. 

but if i ever pull two wedges, or walk to a par 3 tee box with two irons, i’ll be sure to keep them in my right hand away from the watch. 

The putting interface is really the only thing I 'less than like'. I still frequently forget to collect the pin location. It's not always accurate even when I do. There was a comment earlier in the thread about losing a sensor, I had to trim down the screw on the putter sensor so it would fit into the counter weighted grip on the putter I was using when I first purchased. I haven't had any issues with sensors dropping out though.

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3 minutes ago, GregB135 said:

The putting interface is really the only thing I 'less than like'. I still frequently forget to collect the pin location. It's not always accurate even when I do. There was a comment earlier in the thread about losing a sensor, I had to trim down the screw on the putter sensor so it would fit into the counter weighted grip on the putter I was using when I first purchased. I haven't had any issues with sensors dropping out though.

i noticed a few of mine backed out a half a turn, but no big deal. 

i agree, putting has been the only part of using the watch that hasn’t been totally seamless, but i’m getting the hang of it  

i opted to not use the putter tag and instead rely on manual putting mode. the tag looked and felt weird with my putter grip and manual mode seems more intuitive. 

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1 hour ago, Chip Strokes said:

i noticed a few of mine backed out a half a turn, but no big deal. 

i agree, putting has been the only part of using the watch that hasn’t been totally seamless, but i’m getting the hang of it  

i opted to not use the putter tag and instead rely on manual putting mode. the tag looked and felt weird with my putter grip and manual mode seems more intuitive. 

It really takes sometime to get into the habit to get the manual putting to be part of the routine. I am just not getting the hang of it, just in time for winter so next spring I will start forgetting again.

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16 hours ago, Blueberry_Squishie said:

So the trigger isn't hitting the ball like Arccos, but proximity to the watch?

This might be something to confirm with someone who actually knows the product and isn't just messing around with it, but I just noticed that it was registering the club (there's a little icon on the watch screen) before I made a swing, which led me to believe it was marking before I got to the ball. In that same round, I had a couple of shots that seemed to be off from where they were, but not wildly off and that was a round where my cart partner would park halfway between our shots and then we'd walk to our balls. In my rounds since, I've been walking, so I haven't seen the same deviation.

I'll try something tomorrow... I'll pick up a club and have it register when I'm ~30 yards away from my ball and then when I get to my ball, I'll pick up/swing a different club. If the watch does indeed mark based on proximity and not swing, I'll have a few extra shots randomly in the fairway that I'll pretty easily be able to identify and remove. (Why did I pull a PW from 170 out? Ohhhhh....)

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17 hours ago, Blueberry_Squishie said:

So the trigger isn't hitting the ball like Arccos, but proximity to the watch?

If it is proximity - it's got to be very close. There are times, it's cart path only play at our club, in looking at the stats, the shot was captured it at the point I het the club vs. when I grabbed it out of my bag.   

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3 hours ago, Chip Strokes said:

 the tag looked and felt weird with my putter grip and manual mode seems more intuitive. 

FYI, I glued the Putter tag onto my CB SS grip with contact cement and so far it's held up all summer. Note I did trim the screw portion of the tag so there was only a small stub remaining which fit right into the CB weight. 

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i played 9 holes yesterday using “manual putting mode” and man, what a difference! 

walk up to your ball on the green. hit the “+” button on the watch, then hit your putt. that just counted your first putt from your approach location. 

walk up to where your ball came to rest, 3 feet short of the hole. hit the “+” button again, and hit your next putt. that just counted your second putt. 

walk up to where you blew the 3 footer 2 feet past the cup. hit the “+” button…again. 😭😭😭

i think you all get the point. manual is super easy to operate. 

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another win for shotscope:

the course i play most often used to have a long par 5 on number 8. 

at some point in the last year, it was shortened to a driveable par 4 because two houses were in the danger zone off the tee. 

shotscope still had it listed as a par 5, so i emailed them. 

two days later i had a response saying that not only did they re-map the course, but they left me detailed instructions for how to sync my app up with the changes they made. 

image.gif.0fe2050b57fc03fc4d3e0c69cdff7c17.gif

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I continue to be really impressed by the accuracy of the tracking. I know this shouldn't be multiple-post-worthy, but when you're used to your Arccos tracking being off by 50+ yards sometimes (basically any time my phone loses service, which is the approach of 13 through the tee of 16 on my home course), looking post-round and realizing that everything is within a yard of where you actually hit is pretty awesome.

I did have one small issue this morning. Had a short-sided chip where I was between a greenside bunker and the pin (#skillz) and I could not get the watch to recognize that I wasn't on the green. I walked away, moved it out of putting mode with the little 'X' in the corner, and then went back to my ball and it immediately went back into putting mode. Repeated this loop three times before finally deciding I'd just fix it post-round. I wish the little 'X' would just stay there all the time; can't figure out if there's a way to get out of putting mode unless that X shows up. Not a huge deal, but basically the only time today I even thought about my watch. The rest was becoming pretty routine and mindless, which is high praise when you just want to go play.

I think I'm gonna try the automatic putting mode next, since SS sent us the stick-on putter tags and hopefully I don't have random putts showing up all over the green. Or at least, only the seemingly random ones after I leave my approach on the front edge to a back pin. 

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1 minute ago, greggarner said:

I did have one small issue this morning. Had a short-sided chip where I was between a greenside bunker and the pin (#skillz) and I could not get the watch to recognize that I wasn't on the green.

this has happened to me once or twice, but mine corrected itself when i took a few practice swings with my wedge.  

by "practice swings" i mean i was walking around in a 10 foot circle waving my club like an idiot.  

somewhere, there was a guy telling his family over dinner about the lunatic on the course fighting off invisible monsters.

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3 minutes ago, Chip Strokes said:

this has happened to me once or twice, but mine corrected itself when i took a few practice swings with my wedge.  

by "practice swings" i mean i was walking around in a 10 foot circle waving my club like an idiot.  

somewhere, there was a guy telling his family over dinner about the lunatic on the course fighting off invisible monsters.

to be fair, there's already gotta be a level of mental illness for anybody who hits a plastic pellet with a stick and then chases it in a field until it goes into a hole (but only a specific hole, otherwise many profanities are uttered if it's in the 'wrong' hole) and then spends a full work day watching videos about how to be better at chasing the pellet and then goes to a forum to talk with other pellet-chasers who will cheer any improvements made in the pellets, the sticks, or personal achievements in hitting the pellet with the stick.

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4 minutes ago, greggarner said:

to be fair, there's already gotta be a level of mental illness for anybody who hits a plastic pellet with a stick and then chases it in a field until it goes into a hole (but only a specific hole, otherwise many profanities are uttered if it's in the 'wrong' hole) and then spends a full work day watching videos about how to be better at chasing the pellet and then goes to a forum to talk with other pellet-chasers who will cheer any improvements made in the pellets, the sticks, or personal achievements in hitting the pellet with the stick.

hahaha! well said. reminds me of this great bit Robin Williams did about golf (caution: language)...

 

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On 10/8/2021 at 9:50 AM, greggarner said:

This might be something to confirm with someone who actually knows the product and isn't just messing around with it, but I just noticed that it was registering the club (there's a little icon on the watch screen) before I made a swing, which led me to believe it was marking before I got to the ball. In that same round, I had a couple of shots that seemed to be off from where they were, but not wildly off and that was a round where my cart partner would park halfway between our shots and then we'd walk to our balls. In my rounds since, I've been walking, so I haven't seen the same deviation.

I'll try something tomorrow... I'll pick up a club and have it register when I'm ~30 yards away from my ball and then when I get to my ball, I'll pick up/swing a different club. If the watch does indeed mark based on proximity and not swing, I'll have a few extra shots randomly in the fairway that I'll pretty easily be able to identify and remove. (Why did I pull a PW from 170 out? Ohhhhh....)

I was doing the same thing before I hit my shots. It was never wrong, but My brain still said to check.

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On 10/10/2021 at 9:25 PM, Chip Strokes said:

i played 9 holes yesterday using “manual putting mode” and man, what a difference! 

walk up to your ball on the green. hit the “+” button on the watch, then hit your putt. that just counted your first putt from your approach location. 

walk up to where your ball came to rest, 3 feet short of the hole. hit the “+” button again, and hit your next putt. that just counted your second putt. 

walk up to where you blew the 3 footer 2 feet past the cup. hit the “+” button…again. 😭😭😭

i think you all get the point. manual is super easy to operate. 

From Shot Scope

The other thing to note, is PinCollect should reflect the number of shots on that hole with the Putter, so that could be one from off the green and a six footer knocked into the hole, that would represent a 2 press on PinCollect. The system will then have the first ‘putt’ placed off the green and will count in short game stats.

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Update - 10-13-2021

I received an email from Gavin at Shot Scope saying I would receive some additional accessories (charger, putter tags and a new watchband).

After receiving the additional accessories from Shot Scope like he said he would send out, it was discovered by all of us testers, that we received the wrong watch band. we all received bands for the G3.

After letting the other fellas know of this, I decided to email Gavin and let him know of the mistake.  I figured they went above and beyond reaching out to us, it would be prudent to let them know of their mistake as they'd probably like to know. I have a very strong feeling that they pride themselves on their product and would like to know when things go wrong.

I received a new email the following day to say they have sent out the correct band for the V3.

That's class and A1 Service!

Thank you Gavin and Shot Scope!!

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Switched over to automatic putting for the past two rounds and I think I like it better, personally. I have noticed that when I manually kept track, the locations of my putts and the pin were more accurate BUT I was much worse at remembering to press the buttons on every hole. The only issue I ran into with automatic putting was in my men's game, whenever they'd give me a putt and hit the ball back to me, I still had to walk up to the hole to mark Pin Collect. After doing this a couple times, they asked what I was doing and then threatened to stop giving me short putts, "since you're just going to walk up here anyways." 😂

Two other things I had previously struggled with (watch-phone connectivity and how long my watch takes to lock in the GPS) are much improved lately. I haven't done anything different, so I can only surmise that it's just from frequent use that it's not 'setting up' as much? GPS lock especially is MUCH better. On Saturday, I forgot to start it until I was already ON the tee box and this time it found the course in well under a minute, compared to the 10+ minutes the first couple of times I used it.

Y'all, I know the final reviews aren't out for a couple more weeks, but dang. If you want a GREAT holiday/birthday gift for the golfer in your life...

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I'm waffling back and forth as to whether I like auto or manual putting mode more.  Seems if I'm by myself manual is the way to go, but when I'm with others I have a harder time remembering to mark my putts as I go.

I will say that I love having a watch versus a handheld GPS device as it's much harder to forget on the cart!

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On 10/18/2021 at 4:53 PM, greggarner said:

Switched over to automatic putting for the past two rounds and I think I like it better, personally. I have noticed that when I manually kept track, the locations of my putts and the pin were more accurate BUT I was much worse at remembering to press the buttons on every hole. The only issue I ran into with automatic putting was in my men's game, whenever they'd give me a putt and hit the ball back to me, I still had to walk up to the hole to mark Pin Collect. After doing this a couple times, they asked what I was doing and then threatened to stop giving me short putts, "since you're just going to walk up here anyways." 😂

Two other things I had previously struggled with (watch-phone connectivity and how long my watch takes to lock in the GPS) are much improved lately. I haven't done anything different, so I can only surmise that it's just from frequent use that it's not 'setting up' as much? GPS lock especially is MUCH better. On Saturday, I forgot to start it until I was already ON the tee box and this time it found the course in well under a minute, compared to the 10+ minutes the first couple of times I used it.

Y'all, I know the final reviews aren't out for a couple more weeks, but dang. If you want a GREAT holiday/birthday gift for the golfer in your life...

FYI I did find that it acquires a course that you regularly play quicker then a new one. The other thing I've done is 'unsubscribed' to courses in my area that I don't play. Not sure if that speeds up the gps acquisition and  also if that frees up memory in the watch. 

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Question for you guys!

How do you like the strokes gained data your getting from Shot Scope?  Is the interface intuitive?  Anyone that can compare between Arccos and this?  

 

I've been enjoying following along on this one.  And quite frankly  I wish Arccos had an easy "manual putt" mode (although the last update has made it better) to easily mark putt locations and the pin.  But I guess that's part of the benefit of using the watch vs a phone in your pocket.  Hopefully you all still have some good weather and can get some more rounds in.  Its cool and rainy here all week... so I'll be looking for some happiness on here. haha

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33 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

Question for you guys!

How do you like the strokes gained data your getting from Shot Scope?  Is the interface intuitive?  Anyone that can compare between Arccos and this?  

 

I've been enjoying following along on this one.  And quite frankly  I wish Arccos had an easy "manual putt" mode (although the last update has made it better) to easily mark putt locations and the pin.  But I guess that's part of the benefit of using the watch vs a phone in your pocket.  Hopefully you all still have some good weather and can get some more rounds in.  Its cool and rainy here all week... so I'll be looking for some happiness on here. haha

I'll separate this into two separate issues: SGA and putting 🙂

SGA in ShotScope seems reasonable, though it took me a minute to realize that it was giving me 18-hole round analysis and not tailoring to how many holes I actually played. So, if you're a person that likes to go out and play 3 or 5 holes before dark (or you are on 15 and can no longer see your ball and need to pack it in... ahem, looking at you, Thursday Night Men's League), your SGA numbers are going to seem WAY off. I play 9 more often than I play 18 and I kept getting these numbers that just didn't make any sense. ("I shot 38! How did I lose 4 shots putting??") Eventually I figured that it was just projecting my back 9 would be the same as my front and so my overall SG was based on playing two 9s exactly the same. Not ideal for my buddy Warren, who shot 45-36 on Saturday and was ready to quit after 9. 

It also wasn't immediately intuitive to me that I needed to filter to "Last 1" to see my SG stats for the round I just finished, since it defaults to Last 10. Good for seeing trends, I suppose? Beyond that, the app feels very limited compared to Arccos. In downloading some of the SS e-books, though, a whole new world opened up to me when I explored the browser-based Dashboard. With Arccos, it's clearly mobile-first and if you go to the browser, you're basically just getting a larger version of what's on your phone. With SS, the browser has WAY more detail and is muuuuuuuuch more useful than the app. Personally, I get more insight from the SS SGA than from Arccos, but the algorithms Arccos is using "feel" more intuitive, whatever that means.

As for putting, neither system hits a home run, IMHO. Arccos' putt-tagging (even with the new update) was so painful that when I switched to a SuperStroke grip, I didn't even bother with the accessory kit that (for an additional $20) makes it compatible. I just switched to marking everything manually, immediately after finishing the hole. With SS, at least you can mark on the watch, either with auto mode (using the sensor in the putter; they have SuperStroke compatible tags already) or manual, where you stand over each putt and tap the button on your watch. I like the simplicity of auto mode, but wow it's not great at getting the distances right. Manual mode often means I forget to mark a putt entirely, but when I do, it's much more accurate on its location. (Though you're still at the mercy of the GPS signal.) So between the two, I give SS the edge, though there's still room for improvement. Where Arccos does win, handily, is usefulness of the mobile app during the round. This is an easy win for Arccos because SS has literally no use for your phone during the round. I miss the 'mapping' aspects of the Arccos app in-round, but I loooooove leaving my phone in my bag.

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116 Comments




Sounds like a great opportunity.  I have been using a Garmin Approach X40 but am considering jumping into the strokes gained arena.  Trying to decide which one to go with. This would be a great starting point to help decide.  Thanks for arranging for this test.  Good luck to all.

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Currently using 18 birdies, but would love to see how well this performs.  Good luck to all those that signed up.

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23 hours ago, greggarner said:

I've been an Arccos user for two years now and won't be renewing in January due to some... frustrations... with their platform/service. Would absolutely love to see how ShotScope compares and if their system can exceed where Arccos fails!

looking forward to testing another quality product. JJ 

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Would love to test this current arccos user and have removed them so many times due to the inconsistency of them and Hate that you either need a separate device or phone in the front pocket might as well use SwingU as much manual input I do with arccos. 

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I have 2 different GPS watches...each with their own issues  and 2 different guns...each with issues

Looking to test this device.  I am a range rat that also plays 200+ rounds a year

Bring it on

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Honestly, what I would like to see is those that have used Arccos for a good period of time be the testers.  More than likely anyone using any ot tbe gps/shot trackers will be impressed, but will those that have used arccos find shot scope v3 to be just as good, better, or worse.  V3 looks like a one time cost compared to an annual 99 dollar subscription with Arccos.  Just my 2 cents.

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I have had the V3 since the initial release.  It has improved greatly over the past year.  The course mapping is on par with my Garmin.  

Whomever is lucky enough to be a tester will get a very useful tool.

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I've been a ShotScope V2 user for the last 18 months. For the most part it's performed well. It's the battery life which has been the most disappointing aspect of the watch. 

Be great to check out what the new watch can offer overall. 

The addition of strokes gained has been a major upgrade overall. 

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Put me in coach🎶…I play twice a week to a 12 handicap.  Would love to put the Shot Scope V3 to the test.  

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I have been using this exact watch and tracking system since it was released last year.

 

It is amazing the data it collects, and it's a nice small form factor that doesn't feel bulky or cumbersome to wear. 

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