Unofficial Review: Gravity Caddy

[mynerds]

TL;DR: It does what it says it does. Would I pay $180 for it? Uhh……. maybe I’ll just keep my shag bag.

1. First impressions: 11/20
2. Aesthetics: 9/10
3. The Numbers: 7/10
4. On-Course: 14/20
5. The Good, the Bad, the Inbetween: 10/20
6. Play it or Trade it?: 10/20

61/100. Fun to have, cool novelty, but I can’t in good conscience recommend it over the many available cheaper alternatives.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First impressions: 11/20
In 2020, I helped kickstart the Gravity Caddy. My first impressions were during the product development process and they weren’t great, even by Kickstarter standards. The first red flag should have been the project risk section that claimed “Quite simply, this project does not come with any risk.”

The project kicked off July 2020, and finished funding in September 2020. The original project timeline targeted September 2020 for production and November 2020 for product shipment. Interestingly, there was an update in August 2020 before funding completed that claimed production had already begun. This would prove to be untrue. The product took over a year to begin assembly, well over two years to arrive, and communication was sporadic at best over that time. Quite frankly, I forgot about the purchase and assumed that the project delays were indicative of (another) failed Kickstarter.

New product development is hard, time consuming, expensive, and not for the faint-of-heart. This project seemed like it was seriously underestimating the work that goes into producing commercial products, but it managed to see things through and deliver a product in the end. I’ll take 8 points off for the Kickstarter experience.

Once the product arrived, I was impressed with how well it was packed and how easily it was to assemble. Minus one pedantic point for the product being originally advertised as “no assembly required.”

The practice mat is 1” thick, three layers, and seemed likely to be pleasant to hit off of (more on that in the On-course section). The bottom layer almost feels like a horse stall mat. It is VERY dense and feels like it will hold up against significant wear and tear.

I appreciated that extra tees were provided. I’ve chewed through the rubber tees that came with my Maxfli hitting mat, and all of the broken tees at Top Golf seem to find their way to the left side of their hitting bays (you rightys don’t know how good you have it!). Again, the thoughtfulness to include the extra tees is welcome.

Aesthetics: 9/10
The Kickstarter images gave me some serious Gatorade vibes (and not in a good way), but I am very happy with the final product color palate. Red, black, green, grey. It’s a simple color scheme, and it is well done. The red stands up again the sea of green that is a practice area, the green matches my practice mats, and the branding is embossed but subtle enough to blend into the product. I really enjoy that they decided not to paint the logo as shown in the prototype images. My only criticism is that the hourglass shape seems unnecessary. It doesn’t appear to serve a function to me, and I’m not a fan of the curves where there are straight lines in so many other areas of the product. A solid aesthetic overall though!

The Numbers: 7/10
First, some pricing numbers. I purchased at the early-bird price of $99 USD. At the time, retail pricing was estimated at ~$150 USD. Following production, retail pricing has ballooned to $180 USD. This is more expensive than other similar automatic ball dispensers on Amazon and SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive than other basic shag bags. 2 out of 5 for pricing.

Second, dimensionality. I won’t double-count the capacity and weight numbers in the sections below, so we’ll stick to spacial dimensions.

Length: 27.5” with mat, 19” without mat;

Width: 19.75” with mat, 12.5” without mat;

Height: 13” to the top of the caddy, 17” to the top of the lever mechanism.

Overall, the caddy and the mat feel appropriately sized. 5 out of 5.

On-Course: 14/20

According to Gravity Caddy, it's perfect for the “Yard, garage. Indoor, outdoor.” I’ve often joked that I lost all my shame once I became a parent. However, even my dulled self-consciousness wouldn’t want to be seen hauling this out into a hitting bay. I can’t imagine using this for chipping practice in the yard either – it just seems like it would be so cumbersome. I am fortunate enough to have space for a bootleg garage simulator (thanks Spornia!). In that way, “on-course” for me is limited to the garage and only the garage.

For the mat, it is a tri-layer 1” thick hitting surface. It doesn’t hold a tee like a CCE mat, but fat shots feel about the same in both mats to my hands.

The hopper capacity is lower than expected (see point 6 in the next section). Balls at the top of the hopper end up not feeding through on their own because the upper level is not sufficiently sloped:

The lower level is not sufficiently sloped either, and balls end up stopped there as well:

Granted, a good whack of the club jostles the balls. At this price point it shouldn’t be necessary though.

Pros: decent hitting surface that’s forgiving to miss-hits. Cons: Limited use cases and minor unreliability. 14/20.

The Good, the Bad, the Inbetween: 10/20

Here are the original Kickstarter claims:

1. Gravity Powered? Yep! No power or pedal to be found here. The tee jostles a lever, and the drinking-bird mechanism does its trick.
2. Ready to play out of box, no assembly required? Eh, minimal assembly required. I’ll try not to be too pedantic here, but a slight miss none-the-less.
3. Fully automatic? Yes, to a fault. Aside from the occasional stopped ball scenario above, I have to leave a ball on the tee or empty the caddy out if I want the caddy to stop dispensing balls. A lever or stopper of some kind would be a welcome addition to me. Nevertheless, the fully automatic claim is generally met.
4. Fairway practice mat? Yes, but it’s a double-edged sword. The mat itself is well positioned to simulate fairway practice, but the mat is very thick. Your three options are to choke up a bit on your club (eh…), hit from a broader elevated platform (why?), or hit from an equally thick practice mat (just hit from the bigger mat then). I’d be tempted to cut a section out of my own CCE mat before using the fairway mat regularly.
5. Suitable for left or right handed golfers? Yes, but you do have to move the caddy depending on which side of the ball you play. If, like me, you play with a mixed dexterity group then you will be moving the caddy around or someone will be feeding balls between their legs a la Top Golf’s stationary dispenser.
6. Shoots up to 50 balls in a row? No. Here’s what 40 balls in the hopper looks like:
   
7. Weighs only 9lbs / 4kg? The mat weighs 4.28lbs. The caddy weighs 5.39lbs. At 9.67lbs, it misses the claim but there are so many other items of substance that its hard to pick this nit.
   
8. The ultimate practice tool for golfers of any age, level, and ability? No. Like, objectively, absolutely not. The caddy doesn’t help with your grip, setup, swing, awareness, long game, short game, smack-talk, none of it. It puts a ball. On a tee. Heck, you could argue that this actually prevents practicing picking up your provisional when you inevitably “find” that ball you scorched into the trees that happened to catch a “lucky bounce” back into the fairway. Or does that only happen with my playing partners?
9. Perfect and fine-tune your swing, even in the off-season? No. See 8.
10. Bring the range home to you? No. Second verse, same as the first. (See 8).

Charitably, 5 out of 10 claims delivered so I’ll give 10/20 points.

Play it or Trade it?: 10/20

I feel 50/50 on whether I really like this product or really don’t. Hence, the 10/20.

On the one hand, I would be happy to haul this thing out of the basement and set it up for group play if others come play the garage simulator with me. There’s a quirky novelty to it, and it’s a fun albeit occasionally unreliable dispenser. Plus, my toddler has a blast knocking balls off the tee onto my Puttout mat and it’s the only reliable way to get her to take a break from the iPad and play with a club.

On the other hand, if someone were to offer me $180 (or even my original $99) to take it off my hands, I think I would have to refrain from throwing it at them with enthusiasm. It’s interesting and effective, it’s just not worth $180 when you could have a shagger for nearly a tenth the cost.

Let me know if you have any questions!

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by mynerds

[cksurfdude]

Wow you put a lot of thought and effort into something that I guess you don't really like all that much... Oh well hey it was worth a shot, right? Plus Kickstarter, Indie Gogo, etc can be fun (for those with "fun" money to burn ).

Good review anyway

[mynerds]

39 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Wow you put a lot of thought and effort into something that I guess you don't really like all that much...

Ha! Consider it my service to the golf world to suffer so you don't have to .

In all honesty, I just enjoy writing. It's a nice creative break from my day-to-day job. I'll always give it the same amount of effort because its the process that's enjoyable for me, regardless of whether I like the product or not.

[GolfSpy_APH]

Fantastic review! Truly! Not something I think I would have ever considered purchasing, but nice to know about and see where the value lies and where it doesn't!

Again big thank you!

[Josh Parker]

Great review and well put together.  Had never heard of the product.  

[berkeleybob]

It’s cool, I think. I could see using this if I had a permanent or seasonal home setup. 

[Rob Person]

Wowzer! That definitely reminds me of a Brookstone level item! I enjoyed your review, and you are correct about it being a novelty item.  It does have its benefits though it seems.

[Gravity Caddy Canada]

Dear Mynerds,

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback on the Gravity Caddy. We truly appreciate your honest review, and we're committed to ensuring that our customers have a positive experience with our products.

We're sorry to hear that your experience with the Gravity Caddy was only 50% satisfactory. Your feedback is valuable to us, and we take your comments seriously. We understand the importance of addressing the concerns you raised and want to assure you that we have taken steps to enhance our product.

In response to your feedback, we would like to offer you the Gravity Caddy Jumbo, an upgraded version with improved functionality that addresses the issues you mentioned. We believe that the Gravity Caddy Jumbo will provide you with a more satisfying experience, and we hope you'll give it a try. 

Please reach out to our customer service team at "[email protected]" so that we can arrange for the Gravity Caddy Jumbo to be sent to you. We genuinely appreciate your feedback, and we are committed to continuously improving our products based on customer experiences like yours.

Thank you for choosing Gravity Caddy, and we look forward to the opportunity to exceed your expectations with our upgraded version.

Best regards,

Customer Service Team Gravity Caddy

 

[Rob Person]

@mynerds whaddya think? 

[mynerds]

On 1/24/2024 at 2:45 PM, Gravity Caddy Canada said:

Thank you for choosing Gravity Caddy, and we look forward to the opportunity to exceed your expectations with our upgraded version.

To say this is unexpected would be an incredible understatement.

First off, welcome to MGS and thank you for being receptive to feedback. I truly believe companies that don’t shy away from constructive criticism will outlast their peers who don’t. Major kudos for identifying this thread and for the direct engagement – some other OEMs could take a lesson from you all there!

Second, I appreciate the generosity in offering the Jumbo Caddy. As someone who has small business owners in the family, I recognize it’s not a trivial cost. I’ll take you up on the offer, and re-review it along with comparisons between versions with the same rigor and independence that would be expected of an official forum test. As @GolfSpy_APH(our Forum Director) can probably attest to at this point, I am nothing if not thorough.

At a glance, I see that the Jumbo is targeted toward commercial or professional use so my perspective may be outside your target demographic. I can’t make any promises, but I’ll do my best to take it to a few local pros and get reactions from those who may best benefit from the Jumbo version.

I will reach out via email (with some proof of my identify on MGS) for next steps. To the forum: I’ll keep you updated throughout the process! Again, thanks and welcome to the forum @Gravity Caddy Canada.

[Rob Person]

I agree @mynerds, this is truly a generus and standup offer by @Gravity Caddy Canada

Growing a business is hard, but maintaining business relationships is harder!

 

[mynerds]

Quick update here - I was able to connect with Gravity Caddy last week. I haven't heard back with any shipping confirmation or tracking information. I'll keep an eye out for unexpected packages and update if I hear anything else!

[Rob Person]

Would you prefer they upgraded and sent the original consumer one you have vs the commercial one they are sending?

[mynerds]

Testing underway!

[Josh Parker]

5 minutes ago, mynerds said:

Testing underway!

Jumbo is an understatement. 

[Rob Person]

That is massive!!! Hope it is an improvement for you.

[GolfSpy_APH]

10 hours ago, Josh Parker said:

Jumbo is an understatement. 

This was my exact thought!

[berkeleybob]

The jumbo version definitely looks slicker than the original one. It’ll be interesting to see how it well it functions comparatively.