Unofficial Review: myRound Pro (Taylormade App)

[vandyland]

Background: I have been using "GolfShot" which is a GPS app that tracks basic information and such but does not provide shots gained info. I like to do a bit of analysis so previously I was screenshotting each shot so that I could go back and recalculate what happened during the round. Very cumbersome. It gives basic yardages that I have started to ignore as I get closer to the green since I use my rangefinder. I was looking at getting a shotscope V3 to get better tracking but then found the myRound Pro app that is, amazingly, free. I was suspicious so I had to investigate.

Purpose: I want a historical record of my rounds, distances and strokes gained. Obviously I could do this with Arccos or Shotscope but to get this available in a free app is ideal. I am fine with some editing as long the user interface is good. 

First impressions: My first impression with the app was not great. I didn't really understand the interface and some of the shot inputs were not intuitive (especially putting). Major caveat here, I did not read the instructions. I just dove in. So that's my bad. To be honest, after about 3 holes I figured it out. Now it is no problem. You initially setup your bag and then set the handicap you want strokes gained against. For me, I am a 5.0 and so I set it at 5 hdcp but in the future I might move it to a scratch handicap so I know where I need to get better. 

Let's talk through how it works on a hole:

Hole 1: You start with a digitized view of the hole, it doesn't give a ton of context to the golf hole so if it is a new course this won't give you much insight 

You then hit the "+ Shot" button which means you are initiating a shot. The GPS will place you somewhere but you can tap on the shot and move it to a more accurate spot if needed. (Note: you can do this during the round OR after the round in edit mode)

After you hit your drive, you walk up to your next shot and hit "+ shot" which will then tell the app you have arrived at the ball off your first shot and it will mark it again. You can indicate the club to be used on the 2nd shot and the lie. Again, I use a rangefinder as well so if the GPS doesn't have me in the right spot I can move it based on my range finder yardage. You can also move the pin by tapping on the flag icon and sliding it around (you can do this at any time including after you have finished the hole). 

 

Once on the green, you can start adding putts. To make sure I get the right distance on putts I walk them off (I have been doing this already to calculate strokes gained putting). You then mark a putt (or putts) like you do shots. See the first picture below where I am moving the pin:

The next picture is me marking my first putt. 

And then finishing the hole:

Okay, okay. That was a lot of screenshots. First of all, many of you will look at this and say "jesus that looks cumbersome/takes too much time." You might be right! The first round it was not intuitive to me to mark my shot before taking it but really you are just setting the start of the shot (or the end of the previous shot). By the second round it was pretty seamless and I shot my lowest 9 hole score ever (-3) not necessarily because of this app but more I am trying to show that this app did not "get in the way." I play all my rounds on public courses which are slow and slammed anyway so this gives me something to do instead of getting annoyed standing over my shot. I edit the shots in real time since I don't always remember every yardage I had but I could just as easily do it after. Marking putts is the most sensitive and time consuming part but it's also one that is very important to me. 

This app also keeps score and, most importantly, keeps strokes gained stats. I played 9 holes yesterday (thus it is averaging out to be a 64 because I shot 3 under which is not normal) and I can look at across an array of stats:

 

I cut off strokes gained so here it is in full:

Then your classic stats which are not as relevant anymore:

 Finally, distances by club which I messed up a little since I hit some punch shots and a few pitch outs which screwed up my distances. The app gives you the option to not assign a club to a particular shot so it won't mess up your averages so I will likely do that in the future. Anyway here are the average distances:

So, this app basically does everything I was looking for ShotScope v3 to do but in a more manual and slightly obtrusive manner. Most people will probably not want to do all the editing and manipulating but for me it is an easier process than I had before. I will likely update this review as I gain experience with the app but wanted to put it out there as a FREE option for those who want strokes gained data. 

 

[cksurfdude]

Good info and kudos to you for working through all that. Me, though .. do *not* like to muck around with my phone on the course...

I got a ShotScope V3 last season (special upgrade pricing for former V1 or V2 users) and for me the price is waaaay way worth it for the almost totally hands- and hassle-free shot .. and putt .. tracking.

[vandyland]

I have gotten in a few more rounds with the TM app and I am still enjoying it. Interesting data beyond just GIR, Fairways and such. I have both a range and average for all the clubs I hit (as mentioned above I don't tag specific clubs to punch shots or other specialty shots as I'm trying to get full swing distances, I still track mishits because those matter). The proximity to the hole charts are very cool and show that when I miss it is from coming up short 40% of the time on 100-150 yd shots (GIR is only 56% of the time from that range, that stinks), 57% of the time on 150-200 and 100% of the time on 200-250. One caveat to this is that the course I play most often is very penal if you go long of most greens. Even still, it tells me I am hunting front flags when I should be taking the middle distance.