18 Birdies Shot Tracking Mini-Review

[MaxEntropy]

18 Birdies recently updated their app and includes shot tracking, which used to be a premium feature. I played 18 holes on Saturday and tried to make sure to use the app to track all my shots. In the past, all the apps I had used were primarily for distances to pins, hazards, etc. Every time I have tried a shot-tracking app, I felt there was too much to do with tagging location, club, making sure location was right, etc., but decided to give it a fair shot since the updated interface made it look pretty easy compared to others I have tried.

 

Pros

 

I like the updated interface - it's pretty intuitive IMO and navigating around the app is pretty easy. It shows some strokes gained stats real time, but there is no summary of strokes gained after you are done. I assume this is part of the premium/paid version?

 

It appears to be accurate (which I assume is somewhat dependent on the device).

 

Adding a shot is easy, as is selecting the club.

 

There is an option for recovery shots which shouldn't count for a club's average.

 

The app saves all your tracked shots for review later

 

Fairly friendly on battery usage, even with screen full bright for the sunny day - I started the round at 89% and finished at 52%.

 

The app will recommend clubs based on distances you enter - will it eventually use tracked averages?

 

Cons

 

Inability to edit beginning and ending location after shot tracking has started (a couple times I forgot to hit track shot button until our cart was on it's way, so the stats were effected). You can edit start position prior to hitting "Track Shot" (i.e. making sure the app has the correct tee box)

 

Averages do indeed include recovery shots. I hit my 3H exactly 4 times (3 for running punch shots under trees, 1 tee shot) - the average clearly includes the three recovery shots.

 

Time it takes to "lock on" to satellites - I'm 90% sure this has more to do with my phone, but this was mostly rectified by making sure my phone stayed awake as we were driving.

 

Manually entering/editing a score is much more difficult than prior to the update.

 

How to handle putting - if you really wanted to take the time, you can manually place the pin in approximate hole location and enter putt length, etc. I didn't bother with this as it seemed like a fairly painful process with no clear benefit (I don't see that the app is tracking any kind of putting distance or proximity stats).

 

The saved shots are not displayed in the proper order. For example, on the first hole I played, the app shows the shots in the following order: 4, 5, 1, 3, 2 with no clear pattern how the shots are displayed

 

Conclusion

 

Overall, I think they did a pretty good job with this upgrade and I am going to continue to track shots with it as it seems easier than the other apps I have tried. Ultimately, this is a free app that has some pretty nice and useful features. I assume as I continue to use it, it'll become second nature, especially since I walk during my weekly league and have gotten used to my phone being in my pocket at all times. Being an early release for them, I have a "wish list" of things I hope they are working to improve:

 

1) Make manually adding/editing a score easier

2) Display the tracked shots in the order taken

3) Average distances should not include recovery shots

[newballcoach]

Great review. I used it to keep score today (and for GPS) and found it decent. Nothing special, but the price is right. I am going to try and use the stat tracking on Wednesday and will report back.

 

I'm generally a walker and I find carrying my phone around pretty annoying.

[MaxEntropy]

In my league tonight, I used the app to track shots again. Apparently you can edit the starting point after you start tracking, I'm just an idiot.

 

In reviewing images of the shots I tracked, I apparently need to be much more patient to get gps lock on my phone. I'm not willing to wait much longer and slow things down even more (I was the only walker in my foursome), so I'm not sure how much longer the experiment will last. Maybe it's time for a new phone.

 

Best shot I hit all night with my 3H*

 

 

 

 

 

*We were playing the next tees up and didn't catch it when I tagged the shot.

 

 

Sent from my BLN-L24 using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[newballcoach]

I've had a few rounds to play around with this app and I have generally enjoyed it. Honestly my biggest problem is forgetting to track the shots, meaning having to go back and manually edit location afterward. I need to get better at making it part of my post-shot routine (although there is also the risk of slowing down the foursome).

 

It is silly you can't review your strokes gained after your round, but it provides the information during your round. Setting pin position for putting too (and proper distance) is totally not worth it. I haven't been able to figure out how to add penalty shots either.

 

The price is definitely right for people looking to do a little bit of stat tracking for free.

[MaxEntropy]

I've had a few rounds to play around with this app and I have generally enjoyed it. Honestly my biggest problem is forgetting to track the shots, meaning having to go back and manually edit location afterward. I need to get better at making it part of my post-shot routine (although there is also the risk of slowing down the foursome).

 

It is silly you can't review your strokes gained after your round, but it provides the information during your round. Setting pin position for putting too (and proper distance) is totally not worth it. I haven't been able to figure out how to add penalty shots either.

 

The price is definitely right for people looking to do a little bit of stat tracking for free.

 

The app updated over the weekend, but there used to be a "..." near the lower right corner (for Android) with a few options - Add penalty and Pick up were two of the choices.

 

I agree about not wanting to slow people down. In my league I am frequently the only walker in my foursome so editing pin position, etc. would slow us down quite a bit. As I get near the green, I make little effort to make sure all the distances are right, mostly in the interest of time. Stroke count and lie (rough, fairway, green) will be accurate, but locations and distances will be wacky for me.

[bardle]

I have used 18birdies since I started for GPS and stat tracking. Unfortunately the shot tracking feature is a little cumbersome for me to use, Like @newballcoach said, I hate having to finish tracking a shot. I have a cobra f7 so I have tracking for my drives which is good enough for me.

 

The GPS is great though and usually it helps the randoms I play with as well if they don't have a rangefinder. My favorite feature is the front /middle / back yardages for the green. Hard to find a reason for a rangefinder using this. Maybe for slope but slope isn't worth 200 bucks I don't think for me. 

[GeekingGolf]

I tracked every shot for a while until the most recent update. The recent update added the strokes gained feature but it confused me on how to track shots. I think I understand it now though.

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[Mr. 82]

Probably thread jacking, if so, I apologize, but I'll just say that I've tried using apps before, and have used them to track many a round of golf, and I just find pulling out the phone after every shot, or hole, to be too much of a pain in the butt, not to mention the drain on the phone's battery life.  I mean, unless you know of a way to just leave the phone on for four+ hours during the round so you don't have to open the app back up again every time you hit a shot, it's just way too much time wasted for me.

 

My wife got me a Garmin Approach S20 for Christmas, and I absolutely love it.  It's on my wrist and is active the entire round.  I start the round with it, track my score on it, and at the end of the round I sync it to the Garmin app on my phone where I can see all of my stats and shots, etc, as the Approach S20 tracks all of my shots for me without asking.  Not always the most accurate thing in the world, but it's good enough for my purposes.

 

Again, sorry if this is a thread jack, but any golf GPS/shot tracking app on a phone is simply a pace of play destroyer during any round of golf I have played. 

[GeekingGolf]

Probably thread jacking, if so, I apologize, but I'll just say that I've tried using apps before, and have used them to track many a round of golf, and I just find pulling out the phone after every shot, or hole, to be too much of a pain in the butt, not to mention the drain on the phone's battery life. I mean, unless you know of a way to just leave the phone on for four+ hours during the round so you don't have to open the app back up again every time you hit a shot, it's just way too much time wasted for me.

 

My wife got me a Garmin Approach S20 for Christmas, and I absolutely love it. It's on my wrist and is active the entire round. I start the round with it, track my score on it, and at the end of the round I sync it to the Garmin app on my phone where I can see all of my stats and shots, etc, as the Approach S20 tracks all of my shots for me without asking. Not always the most accurate thing in the world, but it's good enough for my purposes.

 

Again, sorry if this is a thread jack, but any golf GPS/shot tracking app on a phone is simply a pace of play destroyer during any round of golf I have played.

I don't have any problems with battery life using the 18birdies app and I seem to have no problem with the phone in pocket so I am the perfect candidate for an Arccos one day. I dont like that sometimes it takes time to give me an accurate distance and I often hit a shot short or long then check the app and the distance changed drastically so a Laser would be good in conjunction with the app.

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[MaxEntropy]

Probably thread jacking, if so, I apologize, but I'll just say that I've tried using apps before, and have used them to track many a round of golf, and I just find pulling out the phone after every shot, or hole, to be too much of a pain in the butt, not to mention the drain on the phone's battery life.  I mean, unless you know of a way to just leave the phone on for four+ hours during the round so you don't have to open the app back up again every time you hit a shot, it's just way too much time wasted for me.

 

My wife got me a Garmin Approach S20 for Christmas, and I absolutely love it.  It's on my wrist and is active the entire round.  I start the round with it, track my score on it, and at the end of the round I sync it to the Garmin app on my phone where I can see all of my stats and shots, etc, as the Approach S20 tracks all of my shots for me without asking.  Not always the most accurate thing in the world, but it's good enough for my purposes.

 

Again, sorry if this is a thread jack, but any golf GPS/shot tracking app on a phone is simply a pace of play destroyer during any round of golf I have played. 

 

Using it as a GPS and for scoring is not a pain to me at all. The update that prompted this thread was the first shot tracking I have tried that made it a bit easier to use. I already have my phone out to check yardage, so 2 extra touches to select a club and track a shot is not a big deal. IMO, it is about the same time, maybe shorter, than stepping off a distance and/or consulting a yardage book if you have one. Around the green is a different story - I would contend that if I altered pin location and tracked properly, I would slow everything down.

 

I haven't seen any really severe battery drain issues. In the screen cap above, battery was still at 75% after a full day of work and 9 holes with screen at full brightness (screen cap taken after I got home from the 9 hole round). I also rarely let the screen sleep while playing just because it always takes a few seconds for the GPS to lock so I keep it awake as I walk/ride to the ball to get more immediate yardages.

[bardle]

Again, sorry if this is a thread jack, but any golf GPS/shot tracking app on a phone is simply a pace of play destroyer during any round of golf I have played.

Umm I usually have my score in faster than people who are using scorecards and I have more stats tracked. I also have yardages to more targets way faster than people with lasers and amidst all of this I'm checking to make sure Arccos tracked my drive after I take a shot while I'm getting into the cart. I'm always the fastest player in my pairings so obviously that statement is not true...

 

I'm glad you like your watch but that statement is just plain wrong...

[Bucky CC]

Tried a free premium trial of 18 birdies that my course was promoting. Loved the idea of a free strokes gained app, but quit using it after 5 holes. The course is kind of in a valley and I was waiting up to a minute for the GPS to catch up to my location on each shot. I hate pulling my phone out in the first place and the slow GPS was a deal breaker.

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[MaxEntropy]

I'm guessing 18 Birdies decided the shot tracking was not quite ready for prime time? My app updated this weekend and *poof* no more shot tracking. Anyone else have a similar experience?

 

Sent from my BLN-L24 using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[newballcoach]

I'm guessing 18 Birdies decided the shot tracking was not quite ready for prime time? My app updated this weekend and *poof* no more shot tracking. Anyone else have a similar experience?

 

Sent from my BLN-L24 using MyGolfSpy mobile app

I used it yesterday and I don't think it changed. Maybe it was different for you?

 

The battery life thing is not a concern, it doesn't take much battery at all (mind you I turn my screen off in between shots, maybe that helps). I also find that helps the GPS update faster, I can stand at my ball and get a yardage in 2-5 seconds. I know people that play with rangefinders, and they are not that fast. Not to mention, you don't have to write your score or add it up later, that definitely helps speed things up.

 

I used to have a GPS watch, until I lost it. I didn't like swinging with the watch on my hand and the app does many things the watch did not (including not having to worry about charging it, because I always charge my phone).

 

Gotta be honest GSwag, I think you have this one quite wrong.

[GeekingGolf]

Shot tracking changed so it is different it is more difficult I think for me. It's something to do with strokes gained but I'm thinking who am I gaining on I dont know

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[cnosil]

Downloaded tonight to give it a shot.  Have been looking for something to do strokes gained.  

[GeekingGolf]

Downloaded tonight to give it a shot. Have been looking for something to do strokes gained.

I think you will like it especially the premium is 4.99 a month and you get caddy recommendations that learn as it goes but initially goes off of your bag inputs

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[cnosil]

I think you will like it especially the premium is 4.99 a month and you get caddy recommendations that learn as it goes but initially goes off of your bag inputs

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

 

Only going with the free version,  I hate monthly subscriptions.   If it doesn't do what I want with a one time cost,  I won't continue to use the app.  

[GeekingGolf]

Only going with the free version, I hate monthly subscriptions. If it doesn't do what I want with a one time cost, I won't continue to use the app.

Completely understand that and truthfully the free is the way to go not sure if you get the strokes gained with he free though

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[cnosil]

Completely understand that and truthfully the free is the way to go not sure if you get the strokes gained with he free though

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

 

According to the features described it is included with the free option

[MaxEntropy]

So apparently the update did not take away the shot tracking as I guessed earlier - I'm just a moron and hadn't figured out how to toggle the tracking on and off. I figured it out last night and tracked for my league. Either my phone was totally misbehaving or the update messed with location (only during shot tracking, because it worked fine as just a GPS the night before). The app really struggled to figure out where I was for each shot. I had to manually change location for almost every shot. Getting a decent location is hard in bright sun, with somewhat limited zooming and me not having my reading glasses to see features better.

 

I may be done with this little experiment and just go back to using as just a GPS. Around and on the greens is too painful and I am not seeing any real benefit to my game. At some point I may pay to see for a month just to see the "advanced" stats.

[MattF]

Have you tried the free version of GolfPad?

[MaxEntropy]

Have you tried the free version of GolfPad?

 

I have it on my phone, but haven't tried it. I've been a little hesitant to try others just because I had so much data in 18Birdies and none of the apps seem to be able to import rounds from other apps. Now would be a good time to try because I had to reset my phone about 6 weeks ago and lost the data anyway.

[MattF]

Could be mate. That's the one that I use and I've found it great as a GPS. The stats are there as well but I haven't really dug into them at any depth yet.

[newballcoach]

Max I was getting some weird yardages as well. Trying to properly gauge yardages on par 3's and the GPS locator was 20 yards ahead of me, or way off to the left. Even when I review my shots post round it shows some screwy tee positions.

 

Not sure if it was just the course I was playing or the general inaccuracy of a free app. Playing a new course Friday so we will see if it's helpful or not.

[MaxEntropy]

Max I was getting some weird yardages as well. Trying to properly gauge yardages on par 3's and the GPS locator was 20 yards ahead of me, or way off to the left. Even when I review my shots post round it shows some screwy tee positions.

 

Not sure if it was just the course I was playing or the general inaccuracy of a free app. Playing a new course Friday so we will see if it's helpful or not.

 

Sounds like what I was facing. It claimed I hit a 261 3h, which is nonsense. Closer inspection showed the tee shot originating quite a bit behind reality in the weeds. If I ever got close to a house near the course, I assume the phone was detecting their wifi, because I was suddenly hitting from their living room.

[cnosil]

Have tried using the app the past couple of days.  Does have a little bit of a learning curve, but the thing that I don't like is that I have to take it our for every stroke and putt.   Yesterday it made it through 3 holes before I turned it off and today 6.  Ultimately it is too distracting for me and will not be something that I use.