Arccos - will it work for my non data wife and why it cost me a new 3 wood

[Cfhandyman]

My wife, took advantage of the TXG (Tour Experience Golf) fitting opportunity to get free Arccos sensors and 45 day trial membership to see if it will improve her game. A few minor problems. Will she look at the data – heck no, as I was told, honey that’s what I have you for. Will she play with iPhone in her pocket, absolutely not, so link it is. Will she wear caddie link - yes, but only if I set it up for her. Will she look at recommendations and work on suggestions - yes, provided I show her. Is she curious regarding how far she hits each of her clubs - yes. Will she use the Arccos app - yes again, but only if I show her how to use it.  Will she use it if it improves her game. Absolutely and especially if she can beat me. So, the great experiment begins.  She has been expertly fit for her clubs by TXG and her bag is set. Lessons continue on an ongoing basis. Starting handicap of 20-22 with an average score of 92-98. Can we get her to a 18 handicap, where she regularly breaks 90?  Caveat: I am a huge fan of Arccos and have used for almost 4 years with over 350 rounds recorded.

Background: 63 year old woman who started playing golf 4 years ago and average score was 125 - 135 for 18 holes. Fortunately, she is athletic and she started lessons right away and she had her first fitting at TXG, 6 months into the process. She thought I was totally nuts until she got her new clubs and all I could hear was oh my god when she started playing with them. Fast forward 3 years, she currently plays 75-100 rounds per year, regularly breaks 100 and occasionally 90. Handicap is now about 20 -22. From 100 yards in she would be an 8-10 handicap. Her weakness is length off the tee and approach shots from 100 - 150+ yards. She has been fit for all her clubs, most recently new irons and driver 2 months ago to reflect her rapidly improving game.

Results for her 15 rounds using Arccos

Off to a good start and she did not lose the caddie link as she likes to remind me. Still uses her S60 Garmin watch as her primary tool for keeping score and getting her distances. I will use Arccos to fine tune club selection based on local conditions (wind, slope, etc). She knows her club distances based on indoor Trackman session. She played to an overall 19.2 handicap, a 3 stroke improvement, but this is also a result of newly fitted irons and driver plus ongoing lessons. Her low round of the year so far is 85 and she can’t wait to beat me. It’s only a matter of time and I will be very proud of her.

 

Arccos - The good

Top tip recommendations - very helpful in identifying weaknesses and areas to work on. Allows for comparison to other handicaps. As a result, using strokes gained information, she is closer to a 8-10 handicap in her short game and putting, but falls behind in her approach game (100 - 150 yards) and driving, where she is penalized due to lack of distance, but makes up for it in accuracy. She almost never loses a ball. It would be nice if you could make handicap, gender and age comparisons with Arccos as they have the data.  Her club distance data relates closely to her indoor Trackman data for each club and is also good for gapping purposes.  A few surprises.  From the on course Arccos data, we took 5 wood out of the bag as she hits 7 wood just as far if not further.  The other surprise, was that next to her putter and driver, she hits her 3 wood the next most often, almost the same as the driver, so I will look to a fairway wood fitting to see if we can optimize her performance there. What was also interesting is based on her average driving distance and looking at the Arccos data available for women, many golf courses do women a significant disservice by not having the forward tees forward enough. I.e, most red tee blocks are in the 4,800 - 5,200 yard range which would be good if you average 200 yards off the tee. The women’s average driving distance is 160 yards (Arccos data) and 147 yards (USGA data), which would suggest a tee block closer to 4200-4500 yards. When she has the opportunity to play off the correct tee block, her scores are much better, typically 3-4 strokes.  With Arccos, it’s fairly easy to keep score and allows you to have record of each round.

Arccos - The bad
There were a number of times where she played several holes using the caddie link, but did not check the Arccos app on her iPhone for several holes. Arccos lost track of which hole she was on and didn’t record a number of holes and had 15 shots on one hole. Easy to correct, but still a pain. Cost, at $210 Cdn ($155 US) per year, this was the ultimate deal breaker for her. Does she like the app, yes and is quite helpful, but she found strokes gained information somewhat confusing and in her mind yearly cost of $200, not worth it. In reality, she’s quite happy with her Garmin watch for distances and relies on me to adjust for wind, slope. Our home course (TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley) is fairly accurate as it relates to GPS and yardages.  She does not review her data post round and relies on me to look and analyze her data and make recommendations.

So why did Arccos cost me a new 3 wood

As a result of her Arccos data, I scheduled a 3 wood fitting for her. On fitting, both the Ping G430 max and Callaway Paradym were 10 yards longer than her current Ping GLe2.   Saw increased ball speed, better launch, height and carry. The new ladies Ping GLE3 was 5 yards longer than current. Fitter also kindly let her do an on course demo of Ping G430 and Callaway Paradym. On course, she smoked numerous shots from the turf, 160 yards straight down the middle with the Ping G430. Callaway was very good and consistent at 145 yards, but it wasn’t even close. On a number of par 4’s she hit driver, 3 wood and was on in 2 and made par. Even more impressive it was on the holes at TPC Toronto (Hoot course) that are not easy to par.  I knew I was in trouble when she asked if she had to give the demo back. So, while, she didn’t opt for paying for Arccos, she does now have a new 3 wood in the bag, the new Ping G430 max replacing her Ping GLE2 and she couldn’t be happier. Thanks Arccos.

Who is it not for. As my anecdotal experiment of one, the casual user or plays less than 12 rounds per year.  If the cost of $155 per year is too much, if you aren’t going to look at the data or implement improvements, it’s not for you. If you are interested in your club data only, it’s much more helpful to do indoor session with Trackman or GC quad, hit 10 shots with each club and get your average carry, total, spin etc. data

Overall: an excellent tool and app with excellent information and insights provided. However, my wife, is at best a casual user of Arccos and depended on me to look at and analyze her data. Her Garmin watch currently meets her needs and continues with ongoing lessons and more importantly she’s happy with that. A much better alternative for her would be Shotscope. V3 Watch plus sensors ($199 US or $299 Cdn or,$229 on sale.) One time cost with similar information. Other option was to add Garmin sensors ($350) to her clubs, but she opted for new 3 wood for her as it was easily 10 yards longer than her current 3 wood on fitting and on course

Recommendations.
Arccos, would benefit if they had a number of price tiers. One low price or one time only for basic data and regular membership for more advanced data and premium for tour level data 
What would also be most helpful if you could drill down by handicap, gender and age. They have this data. I.e. a 20 plus year old 8 handicap, typically will significantly outdrive a 50-60 plus year old 8 handicap as strokes gained is biased towards distance, but we all lose distance with age.  When Arccos started, there was a one time cost was for the sensors and the data. They then switched to a yearly subscription model. Data, however, is significantly better.

Bag
Driver - Ping G430 max, 12* with Fujikura 40 gm quick shaft
3 wood - Ping GLe2, replaced by Ping G430 max with Alta CB soft regular shaft
5 and 7 wood - Callaway Mavrik with UST Mamiya Helium 5Fi shaft
9 and 11 wood - Callaway Rogue with PX cypher, forty 5.0 shaft
6 iron - PW - XXIO X irons with 57 gm R Miyazaki graphite shafts
50* bent to 49*, - Vokey SM8, 10* bounce, F grind with Accra 80i iseries shaft
54 bent to 55*, Vokey SM8, 8* bounce, S grind with Accra 80i, iseries shaft
58* bent to 60*, Vokey SM9, 8* bounce, M grind, with DG S200 shaft
Putter - odyssey white hot OG Rossie putter with stroke lab shaft and Evnroll gravity grip
Watch Garmin S 60
Bag Ping Hoofer lite
Ball: Srixon Z star XV divide

[tony@CIC]

Great review do tell us more about the TXG fitting - I'm envious. BTW there are a couple of different alternatives to ARRCOS, like Shotscope that provide similar info at a lower cost. With the X5 recent intro you can probably pick up a V3 at less than the cost of a ARRCOS one year subscription. 

[Cfhandyman]

Will get shotscope for my wife when it’s on sale as alternative to Arccos. I’ve been going to TXG for fittings for many years. They are the gold standard and Ian and his staff are extremely knowledgeable and helpful. So it was a no brainer to get my wife fit there. Key is to be open to the data and they will find a combination that works well for you. Highly, highly recommend them. 

[KC Golf]

9 hours ago, Cfhandyman said:

Will get shotscope for my wife when it’s on sale as alternative to Arccos. I’ve been going to TXG for fittings for many years. They are the gold standard and Ian and his staff are extremely knowledgeable and helpful. So it was a no brainer to get my wife fit there. Key is to be open to the data and they will find a combination that works well for you. Highly, highly recommend them. 

Totally agree. But it’s tough on your wallet…