Major Arccos update

[GolfSpy MPR]

This morning, Arccos updated on my Android phone (I would guess this update is already out on Apple as well). And it's a major revision in how stats are presented: so far, I'm massively impressed. My analysis here is as one who just started using Arccos this year, but had been a devoted Game Golf guy for the previous five+ years. Having using both (I'd love to check into ShotScope at some point as well), I've been struck by how differently the apps present essentially the same data. Chatting with the other mods recently, I voiced my desire to see all the major shot trackers merge, just so they could take the strengths from each system and combine them.

So far, I'd say that this Arccos revision has now added virtually everything I liked about Game Golf.

Let's start with the topline information. One of the features I missed most from GG is comparing my current performance to various handicap levels. This allowed me to see not only how I was losing strokes to a scratch golfer, but where my game lagged compared to a 10 (for my goal of getting to single digits). Arccos now has this feature:

You can now choose to compare your game to anything from a Tour Pro to a 20 handicap, in increments of one. Massively impressive.

The topline page for Arccos now is much more like GG. Instead of giving the handicap equivalent of each aspect of my game, it tells me how many strokes I'm losing to scratch in each aspect:

Immediately below that, it takes stock of those numbers and suggests three elements of your game that demand the most attention:

Turns out, I drive the ball short and not straight, and that seems to be a poor combination. Go figure. More surprisingly, I lose more strokes on approach shots from the fairway than I do from the rough. Must be all the practice from the rough.

Arccos then has a separate page for each aspect of your game, and these have been entirely revamped as well, with a ton of useful information. For driving, for instance, it tells you how many strokes you're losing (or gaining) because of your distance, your accuracy, and your penalty strokes:

So it turns out that I'm not crazy wild off the tee; I'm just wild at very inopportune moments. It also breaks down your tee game by hole shape; this is not something I've seen in any other software:

My guess here is that the hard doglegs on our course demand something less than a driver, so they tend to reduce the big misses for me.

On approach play, you can see your strengths and weaknesses from different lies:

Arccos here is not telling me that I'd do better to hit my drives into the rough. But it is saying that I recover better than some others, while I'm not at all taking advantage of the times I do find the fairway. That is a striking and motivating statistic.

You also get a breakdown of your strokes gained by approach distance. Clearly, for me, my iron game needs a ton of work right now.

The short game stats are equally interesting:

I'm actually getting slightly closer to the pin on average than a scratch golfer on short pitches. But at both distances, I'm still missing the green entirely way too often with a partial wedge (another indication of the tiny greens at our course is that my average distance to the pin is near scratch level, while my greens hit percentage is far worse).

On putting, they've now broken down strokes gained by length of first putt (previously, they had make percentages):

Overall, my putting is the strength of my game, but it's clear that I'm a better short putter than I am at distance. Another evidence of our course's small greens is that I have no putts longer than 50 feet.

And then there is the 1, 2, and 3 putt percentage chart, which is now presented as a comparison against the handicap you've chosen:

All in all, I'm really excited about this new version of the software. My golf gadget geek credentials are pretty well established, here, and just scanning through the app this morning, I think I've got a better understanding of aspects of my game that need work. That's the point of the data, so I'm impressed.

[MaxEntropy]

That looks pretty nice. Mine has not updated and there does not appear to be an update available in the play store.

[MyWifesSwingCoach]

This right here is pushing me to seriously think about getting Arccos, the insight on the details of your game would be huge for improvement. Myself not having a phone is an issue though...

Awesome update @GolfSpy MPR!

[THEZIPR23]

It really is a great update. I have always struggled with the way they calculate SG. This update seems to address some of those, it still doesn't fix the driver in trees issue but it is a huge step in the right direction. 

[null]

Wow - that is a pretty great update.  Love the way Arccos presents data, but need to see how everything goes with the Link before considering switching  back

[GolfSpy MPR]

1 minute ago, jlukes said:

Wow - that is a pretty great update.  Love the way Arccos presents data, but need to see how everything goes with the Link before considering switching  back

I think I posted about this somewhere else, but I ended up snagging an iPhone 6 (which is still a very small phone) and I use it almost exclusively for Arccos (without a SIM card). For (quite a bit less) than the cost of the link, I've got something that does what link does, along with still having some slick, high quality cameras for on the course. I know there are those who are "no phone of any sort," but for those who say, "I could deal with a small phone, just not a big one," I'd recommend it highly.

[yungkory]

Nice to see them improving their product, it has been a while since I saw anything significant. One thing Arccos does better than ShotScope is the presentation of data, I much prefer Arccos' dashboard.

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

No update on mine (iPhone) hmmmmmm. Looks like an awesome update 

[THEZIPR23]

Here is a round at Poppy on Sunday, both DECADE and Arccos. I shot 73 (par 71). Hit my driver like crap and my irons about as good as I will. Both comparisons are against Tour Pro SG. 

I am sure it doesn't matter much but the discrepancies add questions to my mind. 

All that being said with the new Arccos update they are much closer than they have ever been. But the separation from driver to approach still needs to be refined in Arccos. 

 

[null]

7 minutes ago, THEZIPR23 said:

Here is a round at Poppy on Sunday, both DECADE and Arccos. I shot 73 (par 71). Hit my driver like crap and my irons about as good as I will. Both comparisons are against Tour Pro SG. 

I am sure it doesn't matter much but the discrepancies add questions to my mind. 

All that being said with the new Arccos update they are much closer than they have ever been. But the separation from driver to approach still needs to be refined in Arccos. 

 

It's funny, in my time with Arccos last year it always said my driving handicap was near double digits, my approach hdcp was in the teens, but my putting hdcp was like +3.

I know I am a good putter, but everything just seemed a little questionable

[MyWifesSwingCoach]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

I think I posted about this somewhere else, but I ended up snagging an iPhone 6 (which is still a very small phone) and I use it almost exclusively for Arccos (without a SIM card). For (quite a bit less) than the cost of the link, I've got something that does what link does, along with still having some slick, high quality cameras for on the course. I know there are those who are "no phone of any sort," but for those who say, "I could deal with a small phone, just not a big one," I'd recommend it highly.

Now that is a smart idea, I think my Wife has an old iPhone that I might be able to use for the same purpose. Thanks @GolfSpy MPR!

[yungkory]

2 hours ago, THEZIPR23 said:

Here is a round at Poppy on Sunday, both DECADE and Arccos. I shot 73 (par 71). Hit my driver like crap and my irons about as good as I will. Both comparisons are against Tour Pro SG. 

I am sure it doesn't matter much but the discrepancies add questions to my mind. 

All that being said with the new Arccos update they are much closer than they have ever been. But the separation from driver to approach still needs to be refined in Arccos. 

 

 

2 hours ago, jlukes said:

It's funny, in my time with Arccos last year it always said my driving handicap was near double digits, my approach hdcp was in the teens, but my putting hdcp was like +3.

I know I am a good putter, but everything just seemed a little questionable

Same experience as jlukes in regards to handicap breakdowns. One thing that I like that Shotscope does is that it lets you mark positional shots so your data doesn't get all funky. I like that for all the times that I have to punch out of the trees. Someone should take all of the things people like about Arccos, and marry them with Shotscope's.

[edingc]

3 hours ago, THEZIPR23 said:

It really is a great update. I have always struggled with the way they calculate SG. This update seems to address some of those, it still doesn't fix the driver in trees issue but it is a huge step in the right direction. 

I have some issues with the strokes gained, also. It's ball park, but there's some work to be done in my opinion, and I'll expound on that later in #CC4.

[edingc]

3 minutes ago, yungkory said:

Same experience as jlukes in regards to handicap breakdowns. One thing that I like that Shotscope does is that it lets you mark positional shots so your data doesn't get all funky. I like that for all the times that I have to punch out of the trees. Someone should take all of the things people like about Arccos, and marry them with Shotscope's.

Heck, throw in pieces of GAME Golf and I'm sold. Still don't know why manual tagging went the way of the dodo, with the Link strapped to your side anyway you'd think it'd at least be an option.

I never had issues with GAME Golf missing a shot because if it did, that meant I didn't do my part to tag it. Can't say the same for ShotScope or Arccos. I get that for some people tagging is obtrusive, but I feel like the tech is there now for an "either or" option.

[GolfSpy MPR]

They've definitely adjusted calculations (not just presentations) with this last update. My handicap rose about a stroke. My actual handicap is probably somewhere between my Arccos handicap and my "strokes lost to scratch" number (which is higher).

[StrokerAce]

2 hours ago, Lacassem said:

No update on mine (iPhone) hmmmmmm. Looks like an awesome update 

Might have to update your iOS ???

 

We wanted to reach out regarding our latest app update coming on Wednesday, August 19th, that includes a new player stats feature called Strokes Gained Analytics.

With the new in-depth data, it requires being on iOS 13 or higher. If you are on iOS 12 and do not update your operating system or do not have the ability to update (iPhone 6 or older will not be able to update) you will still be able to use the current version of the Player stats page in the app. 

[null]

12 minutes ago, yungkory said:

 

Same experience as jlukes in regards to handicap breakdowns. One thing that I like that Shotscope does is that it lets you mark positional shots so your data doesn't get all funky. I like that for all the times that I have to punch out of the trees. Someone should take all of the things people like about Arccos, and marry them with Shotscope's.

Yup.  I just sold my Shotscope.  I am sitting out the data collecting game until someone gives me a seamless solution - from hardware to software to data interface and dashboards 

[GolfSpy MPR]

4 minutes ago, GolfSpy Stroker said:

Might have to update your iOS ???

 

We wanted to reach out regarding our latest app update coming on Wednesday, August 19th, that includes a new player stats feature called Strokes Gained Analytics.

With the new in-depth data, it requires being on iOS 13 or higher. If you are on iOS 12 and do not update your operating system or do not have the ability to update (iPhone 6 or older will not be able to update) you will still be able to use the current version of the Player stats page in the app. 

Yep, just got this email. It seems odd to me that a stats update would need an updated OS. But it works fine in my situation; I'll keep collecting stats on the old version on the iPhone 6, but analyze the numbers on the updated app on Android.

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

13 minutes ago, GolfSpy Stroker said:

Might have to update your iOS ???

 

We wanted to reach out regarding our latest app update coming on Wednesday, August 19th, that includes a new player stats feature called Strokes Gained Analytics.

With the new in-depth data, it requires being on iOS 13 or higher. If you are on iOS 12 and do not update your operating system or do not have the ability to update (iPhone 6 or older will not be able to update) you will still be able to use the current version of the Player stats page in the app. 

Yup that’s it im assuming updating now we’ll see

[yungkory]

Just now, edingc said:

Heck, throw in pieces of GAME Golf and I'm sold. Still don't know why manual tagging went the way of the dodo, with the Link strapped to your side anyway you'd think it'd at least be an option.

I never had issues with GAME Golf missing a shot because if it did, that meant I didn't do my part to tag it. Can't say the same for ShotScope or Arccos. I get that for some people tagging is obtrusive, but I feel like the tech is there now for an "either or" option.

With Shotscope's latest update you basically have the option. @artful_golfer brought it up in the Shotscope thread, but basically if you tap the sensor on the underside of the watch, it registers. WIth their latest update, it puts a little indicator on the watch that shows which club it just registered.

For me, the biggest headache is the GPS accuracy. Don't know if it's because I'm in the middle of the Pacific, but tagging flags is a crapshoot at best. It's annoying to have to try and remember how far from the hole my putts were. Probably doesn't matter if you're not as obssessed with stats as I am, but personally it's pretty lame.

The tech is still kinda young so I'm hopeful that one day both products will start to narrow their gaps, kind of like Andoird and iOS where they slowly start taking features from each other.

[null]

3 minutes ago, yungkory said:

With Shotscope's latest update you basically have the option. @artful_golfer brought it up in the Shotscope thread, but basically if you tap the sensor on the underside of the watch, it registers. WIth their latest update, it puts a little indicator on the watch that shows which club it just registered.

For me, the biggest headache is the GPS accuracy. Don't know if it's because I'm in the middle of the Pacific, but tagging flags is a crapshoot at best. It's annoying to have to try and remember how far from the hole my putts were. Probably doesn't matter if you're not as obssessed with stats as I am, but personally it's pretty lame.

The tech is still kinda young so I'm hopeful that one day both products will start to narrow their gaps, kind of like Andoird and iOS where they slowly start taking features from each other.

I had major issue with GPS accuracy with putting and flag tagging.  Had to manually edit every flag and most putts after every round.

Maybe if I golfed for a living I wouldn't mind this manual intervention after every round - but it's already hard enough to get 4-5 hrs to play a round of golf with a family/2 young kids.  I don't have another 30 minutes when I get home to edit every hole

[yungkory]

1 minute ago, jlukes said:

I had major issue with GPS accuracy with putting and flag tagging.  Had to manually edit every flag and most putts after every round

Just curious if you tried L1 + L5 mode? It didn't help me

[null]

1 minute ago, yungkory said:

Just curious if you tried L1 + L5 mode? It didn't help me

Did not help.

[THEZIPR23]

55 minutes ago, jlukes said:

Yup.  I just sold my Shotscope.  I am sitting out the data collecting game until someone gives me a seamless solution - from hardware to software to data interface and dashboards 

Just don't see it happening, there will always be manually editing, but probably should be closer than what it is now. 

47 minutes ago, yungkory said:

With Shotscope's latest update you basically have the option. @artful_golfer brought it up in the Shotscope thread, but basically if you tap the sensor on the underside of the watch, it registers. WIth their latest update, it puts a little indicator on the watch that shows which club it just registered.

For me, the biggest headache is the GPS accuracy. Don't know if it's because I'm in the middle of the Pacific, but tagging flags is a crapshoot at best. It's annoying to have to try and remember how far from the hole my putts were. Probably doesn't matter if you're not as obssessed with stats as I am, but personally it's pretty lame.

The tech is still kinda young so I'm hopeful that one day both products will start to narrow their gaps, kind of like Andoird and iOS where they slowly start taking features from each other.

This is a satellite/phone issue, have seen some issues in certain areas with Arccos as well. 

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

Still not updated not sure why what’s the exact version if anyone has it up? This is what I have:

[GolfSpy MPR]

1 minute ago, Lacassem said:

Still not updated not sure why what’s the exact version if anyone has it up? This is what I have:

[THEZIPR23]

5 minutes ago, Lacassem said:

Still not updated not sure why what’s the exact version if anyone has it up? This is what I have:

I think I saw that it was supposed to launch on 8/19/2020, maybe they are rolling out in phases. You have the PING version and I don't think the others who have updated do. 

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

There we go had to force update.

this is cool knew I was losing strokes n the approach I like this suggestion

[daviddvm]

1 hour ago, Lacassem said:

Still not updated not sure why what’s the exact version if anyone has it up? This is what I have:

Same version as mine.

 

[daviddvm]

1 hour ago, Lacassem said:

There we go had to force update.

this is cool knew I was losing strokes n the approach I like this suggestion

How did you force the update?