ShotScope users - feedback wanted, re: stats.

[cksurfdude]

If you have a ShotScope and have been using it a while to collect stats, I'm curious to hear just what and how you're looking at and using those stats.

Other than the club distance measures...

1. Which chart or graph or number is most important to you, and you primarily look at?
2. How has that chart or graph or number informed and/or changed the way you practice and/or the way you plan shots on the course?

I'm maybe a dozen or so, mostly 9 hole, rounds in with mine. After the initial cool factor ... I'm not sure I'm really loving it...

A few perceived negatives - which may be addressed in future updates - include...

• GPS accuracy - am not 100% convinced on-course distances are 100% accurate. Took both a Garmin and a TomTom watch along to compare and while those two were generally within 0-2 yards of each other .. the ShotScope was frequently 3-5 and sometimes up to 10 yards different vs those other two. (No - not that it matters a whole lot to my game at this point...)
• Post-Round editing - I follow their instructions, re: take several practice swings next to the ball before each shot but it seems most rounds I still end up missing a shot or two, AND ... I'm always seeing tee or second shots or approaches in the wrong places (which could possibly be a result of a small GPS location error?) ....Plus you must remember to always check every second shot to mark as "Positional" when appropriate (ShotScope cannot do this automatically nor is there an on-board option to mark a shot as such).
• Data presentation - very limited flexibility in how you can view the shot data; would like to see much more user customization available .. especially when using their website.

Anyway, I'll continue wearing it and collecting more stats for now (but my biggest improvements will come from improving my technique and my course management skills!) .. and really want to hear from others on how they're using the data ... Thx!

[Thin2win]

I've found a few really nice bits of info from it. When trying new golf balls out I changed the tag on my driver so I could get real comparisons between balls, that was cool. I really liked the Wilson Professional, but it took 20y off my drives. I think I would have noticed it was a little shorter, but this really showed that. 

 

And on putting, the never up never in stat really made me add some pop to my putting. Leaving 80% of my putts short really limited my scoring opportunities. 

 

On irons, it data doesn't do much for me, I knew my distances. I guess the biggest thing for them, is in par 5s and par 4s I've learned that I should try to leave a short as approach as possible. Laying back to 115 for a full wedge is just worse than getting to 85 and taking a partial shot for me. 

[cksurfdude]

 

5 hours ago, Thin2win said:

I've found a few really nice bits of info from it.

Good thoughts, thx for that. I like the ball testing idea - I recently picked up the new MaxFli Tour CG and I've started hitting some nice tee shots with it, but obviously it's not possible to tell if it's the ball or me (been taking lessons and practicing) .. unless I hit second shots with a second ball for head-to-head comparisons.

I've been looking at putting, but already knew my biggest problem is often 3-putting when I start more than 30 feet away. So yeah - just hit it harder! (..dammmmmitall!)

On approaches, I'm not sure yet if for me it's better to lay up to a favored distance vs trying to get it as close as possible .. but I'll keep collecting the data to see if I can eventually find clues.

Thx

[MaxEntropy]

I don't think I've learned anything terribly surprising, but I tend to think I have a pretty good grasp on my game (it's easy to know what to work on when every drive is in trees). I know many people have learned that they are short on approach shots a lot. I have been pleasantly surprised to mostly be picking the right club. I do have a bunch short, but I'm willing to bet they are all bad contact, which I supposed is part of it, but I think it's a bit unreasonable to expect bad contact and club up accordingly. Then when you do hit it solid, you fly the green. On our league course, there are quite a few holes that long is sooo much worse than short.

Since I have only had the Bridgestone irons for about 5 months of play, I do very much appreciate the distances and now that I have a decent number of rounds, the P. Avg's are very useful to me (as are the Longest so I have an idea what will happen if I nut the ball). I also really like the extra tags so I can play different clubs (my 3W, for example). The extra tags make comparison much easier.

Like you, I wish there were some flexibility in the data presentation. From what I have seen, Arrcos seems a bit better in terms of presentation. I also liked the blog post last week that had the distance of misses left and right. I see that nowhere in my dashboard nor do I see where it might be available for external analysis.

[cksurfdude]

19 hours ago, MaxEntropy said:

I don't think I've learned anything terribly surprising... (etc.)

Same here though I cannot say I "..have a good grasp on my game".. ..! Still working on everything and I know *everything* needs work... So I'll say no big revelations .. yet...

Not really sure exactly _what_ I was looking for in the stats, but in two different clinics I attended earlier this year the idea of collecting stats on "your" game was emphasized, so hoping to learn more from others on what they look for.

Agree with your thoughts, re - approaches. I do typically club up but then I .. too often still .. miss short and I know 99.9% of those misses are due to poor contact (eg. thinned or an open-face).

And funny, some of the courses I play there's also more trouble long vs short so my problem there may be more confidence and/or commitment, eg. in fully executing the shot to hit the desired distance (ie. not hoping to hit it to max distance but hitting it well to my P-Avg distance). 

On the fairway stats - are you using the app? On the full website they provide more charts, graphs, numbers in each category vs the app, which is more of a quick summary of the data.

[MaxEntropy]

1 minute ago, cksurfdude said:

On the fairway stats - are you using the app? On the full website they provide more charts, graphs, numbers in each category vs the app, which is more of a quick summary of the data.

I think most of the stats on the app are about useless. All the good stuff seems to be on the website. I'm not really sure what more I want out of them, but still feel there is something missing in terms of presentation.

[cksurfdude]

7 minutes ago, MaxEntropy said:

I'm not really sure what more I want out of them, but still feel there is something missing in terms of presentation.

Agreed!