Why would anyone want to use a golf app to measure shot length

[heidistriker]

Some golf apps measure how far you hit the ball and keeps track of what clubs you have in the bag?  For good players, don't you already know how far you hit and what clubs you have in your bag?  I don't get it.

[RoverRick]

Using a golf app is much easier than stretching and rolling the tape up when your are finished.

 

Elevation changes, wind, temperature, humidity and many other factors effect the distance a golf ball goes.  The week before last, I was hitting the ball 30 yards farther with the drive and 20 with irons.  Then a sore back and a 30* temperature drop and the distances changed drastically.  Yes I used a golf app to measure my shots, well, it was a GPS Device. 

 

I was telling some friends last night I was going to start tracking my shot distance and weather info to see if I might make some type of study.  However, I will probably only do this for a couple of holes and then move on.

[fozcycle]

I have a distance finder on my Neo+ GPS.....and I use it occassionally to check my drive distance to see if it's close to my normal drive. It's so simple, just hit a button after you tee off.

[heidistriker]

Devil's Advocate-   don't you know this information roughly from the driving range?  And since it the difference might be conditional due to weather, etc.  This information doesn't do you any good for the next time you play.

[Mr_Theoo]

Devil's Advocate- don't you know this information roughly from the driving range? And since it the difference might be conditional due to weather, etc. This information doesn't do you any good for the next time you play.

To me all data is useful data. Even if one might never play in those exact conditions ever again if they kept records of how far their shots went they could be more prepared when faced with similar conditions

[RoverRick]

Devil's Advocate-   don't you know this information roughly from the driving range?  And since it the difference might be conditional due to weather, etc.  This information doesn't do you any good for the next time you play.

 

Absolutely not.

 

I do not play the same balls as the driving range balls.  I do not have the same pressure to hit a good shot on the driving range.  Chances are that if the weather is 50* today it will be close to that tomorrow.  Also, I want to know how far my irons are carrying on the holes where I can get away with a short shot before I get to the holes where I have a forced carry over water.

 

Now, do I check it every time?  No.  Typically, I can pretty easily with an approach shot.  Also, in theory I can subtract the distance left to the hole from the score card distance, however, Saturday morning on the 3rd hole I had 268 left to the hole on the par 5 485 yarder.  So did I hit the ball 217 yards?  No, I hit the ball a big right to left hook on a dog leg right hole 265 yards and was in the middle of the 16th fairway.

 

It is important to know how far the tee shots are going on holes like our number 2.  Where you have 230 to make the dogleg and 260 is Out of Bounds.  Unfortunately, this is the second hole so you really do not have a sense of how far the ball will be going that day.  This is also what make its one of the hardest holes on the course.

[RoverRick]

One other time I use this feature is on par 5's into the wind.  We have a lot of wind.  If I can not reach the par 5 I will pick a club and try to hit it a perfect distance for that club.  Say I have 268 and decide I want to be 100 yards out.  I will get the 8 iron and try to hit my perfect 155 swing.  Now based on how far that traveled into the wind I know how much more club to add for the next shot.  No wind I should hit a full 53* wedge.  If I have 125 I will know that while that may be PW distance, I better hit 9 iron or choked down 9 iron to get to the green.

[dru_]

Like most statistical data, it is less about the raw numbers and more about the trends you can find in the history.

 

For example, over the last 2 years worth of data ( I *am* a statistics nut, but I am also a hard core nerd/tech/geek ), I have a clear trend of my distances falling off as temperatures drop through the 60's, then once temps get down to a point where we see near freezing temps at night, my longer club distances creep back up, while my shorter clubs remain static due to roll. If you correlate humidity and barometer data against playing times, you also see clear impacts on distances ( and in my case, these are factors that play into my ball choices for a given round ).  

 

I've got spreadsheets that I use for tracking all kinds of stuff, and distances during practice rounds is a part of it ( along with shot by shot left/right/long/short of target tracking ), and I see other trends, some make sense, some not so much..  

 

* my club distances creep up over the first 6.5 holes in a round

* I hit my longer range clubs with far more accuracy later in rounds

* I score lower in less than ideal conditions

* Walking/Carrying I see longer tee shots, but less accuracy

* Walking/Push-cart I should never do this, considering that ALL of my lowest accuracy days are Push-cart days

* Cart improves my accuracy, but I lose about 15 yards off the average drive

* Fuel in the tank makes a big difference: Rounds where I use something for nutrition instead of junk average 4.6 strokes lower.  ( Energy gels, ClifBars, or similar )

* 1 Beer is fine.  2 is NOT fine.  That second beer will cost me on average 3.8 strokes.

 

Yes, I keep a crazy amount of data and correlate it, but this is fun stuff.  It is also how I discovered little things that while my club to club best gaps are pretty well on target, there are certain clubs that my averages simply make them inappropriate even when they would otherwise be right. (damn you 7i).

 

 

It has value, but is also a total pain the ass to calculate.

[JBones]

Distance is all relative.......sometimes I'll pull a 9i from 170, sometimes I'll pull it from 130.....and I'm not talking for different conditions.  Not trying to offend anyone, but people that pull a certain club for a certain distance are lacking in imagination.

[hckymeyer]

I'm going to keep it simple.  Going to the range doesn't really give you proper distances as you are most likely using range balls that don't travel as far as a regular ball.

 

I very seldom use an app to figure out how far a shot went, but I have used it occasionally.  Typically the best use case for me is when I get a new club.  I gotta see how far it goes based off a few shots before I'll be comfortable playing it from the correct distance.

 

Heidi you are correct though, Once you've played with your clubs for a few rounds you should have a pretty good idea how far they go.  It's very tough to shoot a decent score if you have no idea how far your clubs travel   But there is a definite benefit to an app that includes that feature.  Think of it this way, if you have two GPS apps that both do a great job with the GPS portion and have similar features, but one includes a shot measuring feature and the other doesn't, which one are you going to purchase?

[dru_]

Distance is all relative.......sometimes I'll pull a 9i from 170, sometimes I'll pull it from 130.....and I'm not talking for different conditions.  Not trying to offend anyone, but people that pull a certain club for a certain distance are lacking in imagination.

 

I always look at distance to target as my first criteria, and then adjust for 'mitigating factors'.  Downhill?  -1, into the wind? +1,  in the rough? +1, need it to release, +2 / half swing.  But that distance to target is the baseline that gets me started.

[Kenny B]

Do I check distances all the time, no.  Is it nice to check distances when I want, yes.  New clubs, definitely!  When the weather changes, absolutely!  It's so easy to head out to the course on days when there is little use and hit different clubs on a long hole using the balls I will be playing.  Checking the distance validates or re-calibrates the information that I have stored in my memory.  It's a periodic must do.

[GolfSpy Tim]

Love that a good app tracks fairways hit, gir, putts, sand, misses and so on. I don't track stuff well on my own (I can barely keep track of how many strokes a single hole took me) (no joke... I'm not the guy who can recount his entire round at the end and add it up as I go, I need somewhere to take notes and track stuff, and an app makes that incredibly easy)

 

My problem, I'm way to ADD to keep track of that stuff (if only you could be in my head for like 10 minutes... it's AWESOME and terrible, all at the same time)

 

I don't really track the yardage I hit a club, but I do love the GPS in my GolfShot app on my iphone - not terribly accurate, but for anything but shots into the green, it's great - and even shots into the green, it tends to be "good enough" - but mostly because I'm not better than the yardages it might miss by 5 yards.

[wbealsd]

I can relate Tim, I'm probably just too zoned on what I'm doing while I'm playing, I tend to forget about the previous hole (or shot, for that matter).  I'm not a particularly slow player, but I really would be if I tried to document my game in real time.

[RoverRick]

Distance is all relative.......sometimes I'll pull a 9i from 170, sometimes I'll pull it from 130.....and I'm not talking for different conditions.  Not trying to offend anyone, but people that pull a certain club for a certain distance are lacking in imagination.

I am pretty darned sure that the reason I do not hit 9i from 170 is lack of imagination.  I have a pretty active imagination and at no point to I imagine hitting a 9i 170 without a heck of a hill or wind.

[JBones]

I am pretty darned sure that the reason I do not hit 9i from 170 is lack of imagination.  I have a pretty active imagination and at no point to I imagine hitting a 9i 170 without a heck of a hill or wind.

They don't call me "freak of nature boy" for nothing.

[Shambles]

I was fairly well amazed at how often I was wrong about distances and only saw proof thereof when I got into the habit of checking my GPS. It's not as if my GPS is necessarily as accurate as all that, it being an old model, but its readings are more consistent than I am.

 

 

 

Shambles

[heidistriker]

I'm going to keep it simple.  Going to the range doesn't really give you proper distances as you are most likely using range balls that don't travel as far as a regular ball.

 

I very seldom use an app to figure out how far a shot went, but I have used it occasionally.  Typically the best use case for me is when I get a new club.  I gotta see how far it goes based off a few shots before I'll be comfortable playing it from the correct distance.

 

Heidi you are correct though, Once you've played with your clubs for a few rounds you should have a pretty good idea how far they go.  It's very tough to shoot a decent score if you have no idea how far your clubs travel   But there is a definite benefit to an app that includes that feature.  Think of it this way, if you have two GPS apps that both do a great job with the GPS portion and have similar features, but one includes a shot measuring feature and the other doesn't, which one are you going to purchase?

 

 

This is probably one of the best explanation that I have heard:

 

1.  I can see it used to figure out the distances of new clubs

2.  I can definately see that if you have the choice of 2 apps, one with shot tracking and one without-  a user might choose the one with...

 

You guys have been wonderful!  Because of your forum ( and believe it or not... solely because of your forum ) , we have decided to put a tracker on our next version.  -  probably 2-3 months.  

 

www.facebook.com/heidi.striker

[heidistriker]

One other time I use this feature is on par 5's into the wind.  We have a lot of wind.  If I can not reach the par 5 I will pick a club and try to hit it a perfect distance for that club.  Say I have 268 and decide I want to be 100 yards out.  I will get the 8 iron and try to hit my perfect 155 swing.  Now based on how far that traveled into the wind I know how much more club to add for the next shot.  No wind I should hit a full 53* wedge.  If I have 125 I will know that while that may be PW distance, I better hit 9 iron or choked down 9 iron to get to the green.

 

 

This is a reason for using a distance tracker that we had not though of.  That is a player who is measuring his/her shot distance with respect to weather conditions.  As I understand it, you are saying you are comparing your regular 8 iron distance ( presuming you hit it well ) to the distance you just hit it ( presuming you hit it well ) and saying that if you are X- yards short, the rest of your irons will be proportionally short.  I can see that

[heidistriker]

They don't call me "freak of nature boy" for nothing.

 

 

I think most of you guys are freaks of nature... with handicaps near scratch!