Game Golf Resurrection?

[TR1PTIK]

I saw someone mention in a separate thread somewhere that Game Golf was acquired by another company and potentially trying to make a comeback. I'm very intrigued by this because when Game Golf worked it was actually really good IMO (at least the units that required physical tagging). So I started poking around the site and found this on the About Us page:

"Game Golf from Game Your Game Inc., launched into the golf business inspiring golfers and the industry’s most influential organizations to create a new growth category for golf in 2014 with Game Golf Classic. In 2021, Game Golf was acquired by Inpixon® (Nasdaq: INPX), a world leader in indoor intelligence...

Inpixon® (Nasdaq: INPX) is the Indoor Intelligence™ company that specializes in capturing, interpreting and giving context to indoor data so it can be translated into actionable intelligence. The company's Indoor Intelligence platform ingests diverse data from IoT, third-party and proprietary sensors designed to detect and position active cellular, Wi-Fi, UWB and Bluetooth devices. Paired with a high-performance data analytics engine, patented algorithms, and advanced mapping technology, Inpixon's solutions are leveraged by a multitude of industries to do good with indoor data. This multidisciplinary depiction of indoor data enables users to increase revenue, decrease costs, and enhance safety. Inpixon customers can boldly take advantage of location awareness, analytics, sensor fusion and the Internet of Things (IoT) to uncover the untold stories of the indoors..."

Naturally, I looked up Inpixon to learn more about them and get a feel for what this might mean for the future of GG. At first glance, I'm unsure. I didn't spend a bunch of time on it, but basically my understanding is they provide GPS-like navigation solutions (among other things) for indoor spaces - think shopping mall or large office buildings with multiple businesses and departments.

On the surface, it would seem to be a good fit because Inpixon's indoor solutions are not all that dissimilar from what Game Golf provides to an outdoor space. However, I want to know what Inpixon really plans on achieving with GG and why they made the acquisition in the first place. Was the acquisition simply made to procure technology, resources, and IP as to expand their current business into outdoor spaces, or, do they actually have an interest in entering the golf industry and plan on improving and expanding the badly damaged brand?

So, I've decided to reinstall the Game Golf app and will experiment using it for the next few rounds (just the app, no devices) to get a feel for how things are going. Already, I've identified a mapping error for a course I frequent and will have the opportunity to evaluate how they handle that. I'm also really curious to see how round uploading goes. The primary reason why I finally gave up on GG is because I'd go through the process of tagging my shots, verifying tags, and doing any post-round editing only to have the upload process delete half of my shots. I even left a review in the iOS App Store regarding this issue one year ago that went unanswered until... March 15 of this year! Of course, I only just saw that and in light of their response will reach out to their support team and see what I can glean from that conversation.

I'm really hopeful that Game Golf will make a return to form and even more hopeful they will re-release GG Live or something similar. I know a lot of people really hated having to physically tap the belt device to tag a shot, but I never had a problem with it and it is (in my experience) the best way to ensure the highest level of accuracy since it isn't reliant on microphones and other sensors - just simple RFID technology with vibration feedback to confirm the tag. I know Shot Scope uses RFID, but my test run with their V2 product was extremely lackluster and I'm just not sure if I really want to drop $200+ to try V3. I think if Game Golf were to re-release GG Live at the $130-$150 price point they could have a real edge against competing products.

What do you guys think?

[TR1PTIK]

Just sent two separate emails to Game Golf about the mapping issue and my iOS review. We'll see (A) how quickly they respond, and (B) what sort of solution(s) they are offering. I don't actually expect much since I sold GG Live forever ago, but still curious to see what they say.

[ckeller52]

I was hoping the GG would sell to Garmin and then use the GG apps interface for their Garmin Golf. The GG hole display was especially nice using the satellite view for each hole. And the apps ability to publicly share the rounds was nice also. 

I was on the beta for the GG Pro and that was a hot mess. Got three sets of sensors but only got four of them to ever pair. I tried taking those four on course and none of recorded the club and stroke. 

[TR1PTIK]

10 minutes ago, ckeller52 said:

I was hoping the GG would sell to Garmin and then use the GG apps interface for their Garmin Golf. The GG hole display was especially nice using the satellite view for each hole. And the apps ability to publicly share the rounds was nice also. 

I was on the beta for the GG Pro and that was a hot mess. Got three sets of sensors but only got four of them to ever pair. I tried taking those four on course and none of recorded the club and stroke. 

That probably would have been the best scenario. Wish it would have gone that way...

GG Pro was clearly an attempt to be the first "hands-free & phone-free" device, but failed miserably. I'm surprised to see Inpixon sticking with it instead of rolling back to the previous devices which actually worked. My guess is they have a bunch of inventory they want to try and clear out. 

I did get a response on my mapping request. Was told to uninstall and reinstall the app to see the changes, but they clearly didn't get it right. Sent another email today so we'll see if they fix it on the 2nd try.

 

[TR1PTIK]

Here's a summary of the mapping issue mentioned in the above posts:

Hole #1 at Southern Oaks in Burleson, TX

 

Except ummmm.... The tee box is over here!!!

 

Their "fix"...

 

It's sad really. The person who replied to my email even cracked a joke about how dangerous Tennis would be if tee shots had to travel over the courts. I'm hoping it's just a minor mishap.

[Bohnson]

I loved the original GG minus the beep when tagging. They actually just sent me a GG pro for free. I have not started using it yet. I thought the data was amazing, minus having to edit the putting part. 

[ForeRightAgain]

Got GG in 2017 for Christmas.  Was really excited to use it. Would only work half the time, even when my phone, club and sensor were right next to each other. Gave up on it after a few rounds.  Hope it comes back and works as advertised

[Michael75]

I had GG classic and it worked 97% of the time - their support was fabulous - then pandemic hit - they disappeared - now they are back and trying to recoup their reputation. Then my GG Classic gave up the ghost, after 600+ rounds! They also sent me a free GG PRO after the first GG Pro I bought was the wrong iteration (or something) it would not pair at all- the new one they sent is working (somewhat) - I have used it for 15 rounds or so and unfortunately it still has many kinks. I , too, was a beta tester for GG Pro and found it terribly wanting- I figured after a year of bug fixing it would be better - but there is still a long way to go- really thinking about quitting it altogether but don't know where to go next- I love all the stats I got and comparing my progress (or lack)  each round! 

 

Michael

[TR1PTIK]

Got another email from CS on the mapping issue saying sometimes it takes a couple days for updates to process through everything. Gave it one more go on my way to the course this morning and it worked!

 

I also got a response on my iOS review. I mentioned to them in my email that I would be more interested in GG Live than GG Pro and the rep said they still have a few Live devices "internally" I could buy. Sent a response asking for price so we'll see what they come back with.

[TR1PTIK]

After a few more exchanges with CS, I decided to pull the trigger on GG Live. It was a really tough decision too because just a few minutes after they sent the invoice I received an email from ShotScope with a special offer on V3. I'm half tempted to purchase that too and do a comparison, but I'll hold off for now. I didn't see an expiration date on the offer and while I'm sure there is one, I'm hoping I'll have enough time to receive GG Live and get at least one round to determine if there'd even be something to gain.

I will note that I specifically asked CS about continued support for GG Live to which they responded, "Live will be supported for years to come as it's still our main userbase. There are thousands of golfers who play with Live daily."

Fingers crossed. If I continue to have problems like I did before, I will certainly communicate that to them.

[TR1PTIK]

Well this experiment may be short lived. I haven't even received my order yet and have doubts the platform is going to be any better under new management.

Played a round this weekend using just the app. While the on-course experience was actually pretty good, I ran into an issue during post-round editing. Apparently, I forgot to add my tee shot on the 18th and went through the process of adding it after the round. During the edit it would show the shots in correct order, but when I clicked save the tee shot showed up as my 6th on the hole. I tried to correct this using the web dashboard and ran into even more issues while also noting that a tutorial video linked on the site was no longer available. You would think GG would know about this and either disable the link or re-upload the video.

So, I sent another email to CS about all of this along with screenshots and even told them I may want to cancel my order. We'll see how they respond...

[TR1PTIK]

Update: CS was very responsive to the issues I was having and were able to correct the shot order on that particular hole. Whether or not they fixed whatever bug was causing the issue remains to be seen though. GG Live should be here today and I'll get it setup and possibly try to get out Friday, but may not actually wind up playing until Tuesday depending on my schedule.

Game Golf has a number of issues to work out presently, but my initial impression is the new team behind it wants the platform to succeed. I can't imagine they would spend the time dealing with me if that weren't the case lol.

As an aside, I realize a lot of golfers have probably written off GG after the failures associated with the GG Pro launch and people really showing displeasure with tagging shots on the GG Classic and GG Live devices. However, I believe competition in the marketplace almost always benefits consumers by presenting a variety of features and price points. For that reason alone, I'm willing to give them a try and share my findings here. It's not that I think GG is inherently better than other platforms - based on recent experience, that definitely isn't the case - but it does have the potential to resolve some specific issues I've had via GG Live. 

[TR1PTIK]

Put Game Golf to the test this past week while visiting family in Missouri. It never missed a shot and saved perfectly which is exactly what I was after. There's still quite a few quirks to discuss with CS, but I don't expect that to be much of an issue based on their responses so far.