101 replies to this topic

[robrey85]

TScottTX, on 02 November 2016 - 08:29 AM, said:

Stetson, on 02 November 2016 - 07:32 AM, said:

I will gladly buy an apple watch if the hardware and an app are available to do the following:

- Distance to Hazards
- Front/Middle/Back
- Can work separate from the phone, and not piggy back the phone's gps
- Free app or low cost 1 time purchase

Hopefully somebody on here can find an app like this and pass it along to us WRXers

Same here but I'll add one thing:

- Work independently from the iPhones GPS BUT still be able to receive texts and notifications.

All of the apps I've seen so far that use the watches GPS have to have the iPhones Bluetooth and WiFi turned off to work.  Defeats the reason I would wear an Apple Watch in the first place.

I'm hoping the next edition of the Apple Watch will be able to tap into the LTE capabilities and run without the need to have your phone near you. That would be so awesome. Then it'd really be the ultimate watch/sports watch.

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[jpdx]

TScottTX, on 02 November 2016 - 08:29 AM, said:

Stetson, on 02 November 2016 - 07:32 AM, said:

I will gladly buy an apple watch if the hardware and an app are available to do the following:

- Distance to Hazards
- Front/Middle/Back
- Can work separate from the phone, and not piggy back the phone's gps
- Free app or low cost 1 time purchase

Hopefully somebody on here can find an app like this and pass it along to us WRXers

Same here but I'll add one thing:

- Work independently from the iPhones GPS BUT still be able to receive texts and notifications.

All of the apps I've seen so far that use the watches GPS have to have the iPhones Bluetooth and WiFi turned off to work.  Defeats the reason I would wear an Apple Watch in the first place.

Mine works with wifi turned on or off.

Golfnow's app will give distance to hazards I believe, and it's free. I'll try it again tomorrow to check.

[Stetson]

jpdx, on 02 November 2016 - 08:00 PM, said:

TScottTX, on 02 November 2016 - 08:29 AM, said:

Stetson, on 02 November 2016 - 07:32 AM, said:

I will gladly buy an apple watch if the hardware and an app are available to do the following:

- Distance to Hazards
- Front/Middle/Back
- Can work separate from the phone, and not piggy back the phone's gps
- Free app or low cost 1 time purchase

Hopefully somebody on here can find an app like this and pass it along to us WRXers

Same here but I'll add one thing:

- Work independently from the iPhones GPS BUT still be able to receive texts and notifications.

All of the apps I've seen so far that use the watches GPS have to have the iPhones Bluetooth and WiFi turned off to work.  Defeats the reason I would wear an Apple Watch in the first place.

Mine works with wifi turned on or off.

Golfnow's app will give distance to hazards I believe, and it's free. I'll try it again tomorrow to check.

I'm very early awaiting your update. If it meets all mentioned criteria I will be very excited

[ParHunter]

TScottTX, on 02 November 2016 - 08:29 AM, said:

Stetson, on 02 November 2016 - 07:32 AM, said:

I will gladly buy an apple watch if the hardware and an app are available to do the following:

- Distance to Hazards
- Front/Middle/Back
- Can work separate from the phone, and not piggy back the phone's gps
- Free app or low cost 1 time purchase

Hopefully somebody on here can find an app like this and pass it along to us WRXers

Same here but I'll add one thing:

- Work independently from the iPhones GPS BUT still be able to receive texts and notifications.

All of the apps I've seen so far that use the watches GPS have to have the iPhones Bluetooth and WiFi turned off to work.  Defeats the reason I would wear an Apple Watch in the first place.

Apple Watch cannot receive texts without being connected to the iPhone - you would have to wait for the next version. The battery probably wouldn't last a round with GPS and mobile reception.

Regarding the standalone mode. This seems to be a new feature since watch OS3. It took me a while to find a simple gym timer app that would work without the iPhone - most apps still need the iPhone currently. But I think this will change but it will take  time for developers to rewrite their apps.

The PING application apparently can do that but their pricing >£30/$30 per year is a bit too much IMHO.
When the apple watch has to use the build in GPS the battery will be dead in 5 hours from what I've heard. So it might be just enough for one round.

Edited by ParHunter, 03 November 2016 - 09:14 AM.

[Stetson]

Well that is far from ideal.  5 hour battery life if using the watches GPS is a killer, pretty much forces you to keep the phone present.  When using the phone's GPS and in a golf app, will notifications for text, calls and emails still come through?

[hacker49]

Personally, I don't know why having your phone with you is such a big deal. For those of us who walk, just keep it in your bag. Usually your bag is right next to you. If you ride a cart just keep it in your pocket. And if you don't want to do that then accept the fact you have to turn off notifications and wifi. Besides shouldn't you have your phone silenced anyway out on the golf course? And if you are so important you have to receive calls and texts, well I'll stop before I say something I mean but can't take back.

OK, now that is out of my system I have been thinking of getting an AW2 or asking for a mixed Christmas/Birthday present. I use GolfShot+ on my phone. It gives me F/M/B of green plus distance to hazards. I can also move the target indicator around so I can know distance to say the corner of a dog leg. It was a one time purchase of $29.95, if I remember correctly. It was worth it to upgrade from the free version which only gave middle green distance. It tracks stats, score and shots if you want. I don't know what all options the AW app version has but it is worth looking at. I have been really happy with the app so far. I tried a few others and found something I didn't like about them to bring me back to using Golfshot. The only thing I don't like about it is it uses a satellite view as opposed to a graphic view of the holes.

[Stetson]

hacker49, on 03 November 2016 - 10:03 AM, said:

Personally, I don't know why having your phone with you is such a big deal. For those of us who walk, just keep it in your bag. Usually your bag is right next to you. If you ride a cart just keep it in your pocket. And if you don't want to do that then accept the fact you have to turn off notifications and wifi. Besides shouldn't you have your phone silenced anyway out on the golf course? And if you are so important you have to receive calls and texts, well I'll stop before I say something I mean but can't take back.

OK, now that is out of my system I have been thinking of getting an AW2 or asking for a mixed Christmas/Birthday present. I use GolfShot+ on my phone. It gives me F/M/B of green plus distance to hazards. I can also move the target indicator around so I can know distance to say the corner of a dog leg. It was a one time purchase of $29.95, if I remember correctly. It was worth it to upgrade from the free version which only gave middle green distance. It tracks stats, score and shots if you want. I don't know what all options the AW app version has but it is worth looking at. I have been really happy with the app so far. I tried a few others and found something I didn't like about them to bring me back to using Golfshot. The only thing I don't like about it is it uses a satellite view as opposed to a graphic view of the holes.

Great post.  I will give my personal reasoning in response to your thoughts

-  Having my phone near me is not a big deal, but if my phone drives away in the cart or sits in the bag at the edge of the green I do not want the watch to be losing connectivity which could delay readings while reconnection occurs for the next shot.  This is more of an unknown area, and I would prefer for the GPS to stay connected vs potentially having to wait while it reconnects once the phone gets within range

-  I would like notifications not because I wish to answer the call or respond to the text, it is for information.  My wife knows 100% not to call me while I am on the course, but if she does call than it is going to be very important and a call I should answer.  Also if she sends a text saying "what are we doing tomorrow night?" than I can ignore it, vs a text that says "Your brother is stopping by in 15 minutes to pick X up, do you know where it is?".  One I should respond to and the other can wait.

- if the GolfShot+ can do all of those things than yes it seems like a good investment, but as statement its functionality on the watch is yet to be seen so I will be eagerly awaiting those updates.  The Satellite imagine is a give and take, obviously it isn't very pretty but sometimes with renderings I question the exact accuracy of the drawing, whereas a satellite image I can set the cursor exactly where I want and know it is to scale.  It is not very often but sometimes that 1 or 2 yard variance of a graphic can be the difference between clearing the lip of a bunker to a tight pin or finding yourself buried in the lip.

[Yanki01]

I've played one round with my AW a few weeks ago but don't see myself doing so in the future. I use Golfshot Plus on my iPhone to keep track of my score, HDC and distances. I also ride 100% of the time so we drive to our ball and get the distance. If 90* rule is in effect, my phone goes into my pocket with some clubs in hand and get the distance at the ball. not that hard. I love my SS apple watch (got a killer deal too) but played one round with it and don't think i'll use it in the future. I prefer to use my iPhone.

[jpdx]

Golfnow app is useless for scoring and gps with the watch I couldn't get it to update any distances or my shots as I was walking the course. To be fair I only tried on the 1st and 2nd hole. I didn't want to be fidgeting with it anymore so just switched back to Hole19 for the remainder of the round. But I will try again tomorrow.

[Stetson]

Thanks for the update

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[jpdx]

w_yeary, on 26 October 2016 - 09:26 AM, said:

When you guys play do you have problems hitting the buttons on the apple watch.  I find that after a hole my watch is in a whole different screen due to my wrist hitting the buttons.

You can disable screen shots in the watch settings. Go to your Apple Watch app(on the phone) > general > enable screenshots and turn it off. I forgot That you can do that as well.

Edited by jpdx, 03 November 2016 - 08:41 PM.

[jpdx]

Stetson, on 03 November 2016 - 07:56 PM, said:

Thanks for the update

Here's some screen shots from the Apple Watch with a course loaded on it.

[ParHunter]

I've asked GolfShot whether the distances they are giving is near/centre/far or front/center/back and this is their reply:
The front, center and back points are a fixed mapped lat and long. They are from the angle of the center of the fairway approach.


From http://www.criticalg...evice-features/

Green points mapped: most devices provide distances only to the front, center and back (FCB) of the green. This is great if you are in the middle of the fairway, but if you are approaching from any significant angle, this information may not be useful. Fortunately there is a set of manufacturers that have taken the time to map the edges of the entire green and provide the player with distances to the near, center and far (NCF) points on the green based on their position relative to the center of the green.

If you play doglegs etc FCB is pretty useless! Looks like my Skycaddie Linx stays with me a bit longer ;-(

[hacker49]

Stetson, on 03 November 2016 - 10:14 AM, said:

Great post.  I will give my personal reasoning in response to your thoughts

-  Having my phone near me is not a big deal, but if my phone drives away in the cart or sits in the bag at the edge of the green I do not want the watch to be losing connectivity which could delay readings while reconnection occurs for the next shot.  This is more of an unknown area, and I would prefer for the GPS to stay connected vs potentially having to wait while it reconnects once the phone gets within range

-  I would like notifications not because I wish to answer the call or respond to the text, it is for information.  My wife knows 100% not to call me while I am on the course, but if she does call than it is going to be very important and a call I should answer.  Also if she sends a text saying "what are we doing tomorrow night?" than I can ignore it, vs a text that says "Your brother is stopping by in 15 minutes to pick X up, do you know where it is?".  One I should respond to and the other can wait.

- if the GolfShot+ can do all of those things than yes it seems like a good investment, but as statement its functionality on the watch is yet to be seen so I will be eagerly awaiting those updates.  The Satellite imagine is a give and take, obviously it isn't very pretty but sometimes with renderings I question the exact accuracy of the drawing, whereas a satellite image I can set the cursor exactly where I want and know it is to scale.  It is not very often but sometimes that 1 or 2 yard variance of a graphic can be the difference between clearing the lip of a bunker to a tight pin or finding yourself buried in the lip.

Good response.

I think even if I had an AW2 I would keep my phone on me or in my bag if walking. The main reason being to conserve the battery in the phone since it wouldn't be using the internal GPS. But I can understand some people don't like to carry more items than needed in their pockets. I am one of those people.

Yes, I can understand the need for some to have their phone usable while out on the course. But let's face it many people keep their phone on to don't need look important. I'm not married so I don't have a wife or family who might need to urgently contact me.

I do prefer satellite images normally but at times it isn't clear to determine the boundary of a water hazard or the angle of a dogleg because all the green runs into each other. Or whether that blurry blob is indeed a water hazard or just a overgrown/unmaintained area. With a pictorial image it is clear what is what. Sure accuracy may not be as good but honestly I am not good enough one or two yards make a difference.

As for the app it does show F/M/B distance on the watch, allow tracking of shots, and adding score. It also gives a overhead view of the hole, though I don't know how much good that would really do on such a small screen. So it seems like it would be a perfect transition for me.

[jpdx]

jpdx, on 03 November 2016 - 07:55 PM, said:

Golfnow app is useless for scoring and gps with the watch I couldn't get it to update any distances or my shots as I was walking the course. To be fair I only tried on the 1st and 2nd hole. I didn't want to be fidgeting with it anymore so just switched back to Hole19 for the remainder of the round. But I will try again tomorrow.

After playing with some settings in the app I could not get it to update distances on the AW without turning the phone on. I tried messing with the background gps and even then it would not update the distances on the watch. Tried wifi on and off and nothing would happen.

When inputting scores it would delay and take a while to update and move to the next hole. Terrible gps unless you're using the phone.

[ParHunter]

I've just done a little test with Hole19 and the GameGolf app (which gives you distances as well - you don't need the actual GameGolf device).

I was in the middle of our golf club and checked the distances to different holes to test whether the apps tell me the same as my SkyCaddie Linx (especially when it comes to FCB vs NCF.
Hole19 will give you FCB but as you can see from the screenshot the front and back distances are wrong when you don't approach from the middle of the fairway (or go over a dogleg). E.g. if you are next to the green the back and front distance might even be the same.
The center distance was within a few yards of my SkyCaddie.


The GameGolf app was however showing the distances in the correct order front < center < back even if was behind the hole and the distances where close to what my SkyCaddie reported (which uses NCF and has a map of the green). Next time I will try to walk around the green to see whether the front/back distances make sense or whether they are simply sorting the distances when they display them (e.g. swapping back with front in case the back distance is shorter than the front one).

[jpdx]

ParHunter, on 05 November 2016 - 11:17 AM, said:

I've just done a little test with Hole19 and the GameGolf app (which gives you distances as well - you don't need the actual GameGolf device).

I was in the middle of our golf club and checked the distances to different holes to test whether the apps tell me the same as my SkyCaddie Linx (especially when it comes to FCB vs NCF.
Hole19 will give you FCB but as you can see from the screenshot the front and back distances are wrong when you don't approach from the middle of the fairway (or go over a dogleg). E.g. if you are next to the green the back and front distance might even be the same.
The center distance was within a few yards of my SkyCaddie.
IMG_1603.PNG

The GameGolf app was however showing the distances in the correct order front < center < back even if was behind the hole and the distances where close to what my SkyCaddie reported (which uses NCF and has a map of the green). Next time I will try to walk around the green to see whether the front/back distances make sense or whether they are simply sorting the distances when they display them (e.g. swapping back with front in case the back distance is shorter than the front one).

That's interesting. I've never seen that before. And I've been off in a different fairway and used it. To get the distance, were you behind the hole by 130 yds?

[Stetson]

Thanks for the heads up.

I think if you have any gps and are aware of the way it measures than that is the most important factor. If I am way off in a different fairway but I know that X to the front doesn't mean from my position but rather the front middle (mouth) of the green than I can adjust accordingly.

Obviously I'd prefer the carry distance based upon my exact location but awareness is very important.

Wouldn't the distance to center be virtually irrelevant regardless of fairway, rough, etc?

[ParHunter]

Stetson, on 05 November 2016 - 12:14 PM, said:

Thanks for the heads up.

I think if you have any gps and are aware of the way it measures than that is the most important factor. If I am way off in a different fairway but I know that X to the front doesn't mean from my position but rather the front middle (mouth) of the green than I can adjust accordingly.

Obviously I'd prefer the carry distance based upon my exact location but awareness is very important.

Wouldn't the distance to center be virtually irrelevant regardless of fairway, rough, etc?

The problem is that you can end up with the same distances for front/centre/back. I mainly use the front/back distances to check that I don't go too long or too short. If you come from the side you have no idea how deep the green is.

[ParHunter]

jpdx, on 05 November 2016 - 11:26 AM, said:

ParHunter, on 05 November 2016 - 11:17 AM, said:

I've just done a little test with Hole19 and the GameGolf app (which gives you distances as well - you don't need the actual GameGolf device).

I was in the middle of our golf club and checked the distances to different holes to test whether the apps tell me the same as my SkyCaddie Linx (especially when it comes to FCB vs NCF.
Hole19 will give you FCB but as you can see from the screenshot the front and back distances are wrong when you don't approach from the middle of the fairway (or go over a dogleg). E.g. if you are next to the green the back and front distance might even be the same.
The center distance was within a few yards of my SkyCaddie.
IMG_1603.PNG

The GameGolf app was however showing the distances in the correct order front < center < back even if was behind the hole and the distances where close to what my SkyCaddie reported (which uses NCF and has a map of the green). Next time I will try to walk around the green to see whether the front/back distances make sense or whether they are simply sorting the distances when they display them (e.g. swapping back with front in case the back distance is shorter than the front one).

That's interesting. I've never seen that before. And I've been off in a different fairway and used it. To get the distance, were you behind the hole by 130 yds?

It is hard to tell as this hole is a dog leg and it depends on what points they've selected. I wasn't right behind the green but 'long and right' of the green.

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[Stetson]

Gotcha. Luckily I have my laser and use it anytime I have a "green light" scenario, anytime I don't think Incan be aggressive that middle of the green number becomes my target.

[x4me84]

I used the AW S2 this weekend with the Golfshot plus app and I didn't realize you had to be a pro member to get distances to the f/c/b. It gave me yards to the center of the green only and there is no score, club distance tracking or hole views. I have been using this app since it came out and purchased the lifetime membership when they switched to annual subscription pricing. It has been good, but if I have to pay for those other features, I would probably switch over to Hole19 and delete Golfshot from existence. If I get those features on the iPhone, you would think I would get it on the watch too. Go figure.

[Chazb]

I have a garman fenix 3 and it does golf and a whole lot of other sport related activities.Ive had it for a year and couldn't be without it now and I did pick it up when it went on sale which did not last long.
I might add the GPS is built into the watch.

[ParHunter]

x4me84, on 08 November 2016 - 03:15 PM, said:

I used the AW S2 this weekend with the Golfshot plus app and I didn't realize you had to be a pro member to get distances to the f/c/b. It gave me yards to the center of the green only and there is no score, club distance tracking or hole views. I have been using this app since it came out and purchased the lifetime membership when they switched to annual subscription pricing. It has been good, but if I have to pay for those other features, I would probably switch over to Hole19 and delete Golfshot from existence. If I get those features on the iPhone, you would think I would get it on the watch too. Go figure.

Yea I was cheesed off with that as well! I will be trying the GameGolf app this weekend. It does give you distance to front/centre/back and as GameGolf have their green mapped it seems what you are getting is actually NCF and not FCB. I won't be bothering with recording my strokes as I already do that with GameGolf classic. Only problem seems to be that you have to manually advance to the next hole.

[x4me84]

ParHunter, on 10 November 2016 - 06:22 AM, said:

Yea I was cheesed off with that as well! I will be trying the GameGolf app this weekend. It does give you distance to front/centre/back and as GameGolf have their green mapped it seems what you are getting is actually NCF and not FCB. I won't be bothering with recording my strokes as I already do that with GameGolf classic. Only problem seems to be that you have to manually advance to the next hole.

I'll give GameGolf a look this weekend. Thanks for the info.

[ParHunter]

I've tried GameGolf today and it wasn't working at all! It didn't update the distances. Pretty useless. Must be a bug.

[robrey85]

Has anyone purchased TrackMyGolf yet? I really want to know what this app is like for the watch but I'm not going to pay $17 for something that might suck.

[x4me84]

x4me84, on 08 November 2016 - 03:15 PM, said:

I used the AW S2 this weekend with the Golfshot plus app and I didn't realize you had to be a pro member to get distances to the f/c/b. It gave me yards to the center of the green only and there is no score, club distance tracking or hole views. I have been using this app since it came out and purchased the lifetime membership when they switched to annual subscription pricing. It has been good, but if I have to pay for those other features, I would probably switch over to Hole19 and delete Golfshot from existence. If I get those features on the iPhone, you would think I would get it on the watch too. Go figure.

When I contacted Golfshot customer service, the representative said it is all about the money and subscription fee. They have no use for app loyalty and if you aren't contributing to their subscription fees, they don't need your business. I used Hole19 this weekend and I am fully converted from Golfshot. It works well enough for me on the AW2(giving distances and score tracking) better than Golfshot non-pro app and the Hole 19 iPhone app was really good as well and it's all free. Bye Golfshot, you have lost another customer.

[ParHunter]

x4me84, on 14 November 2016 - 09:40 AM, said:

x4me84, on 08 November 2016 - 03:15 PM, said:

I used the AW S2 this weekend with the Golfshot plus app and I didn't realize you had to be a pro member to get distances to the f/c/b. It gave me yards to the center of the green only and there is no score, club distance tracking or hole views. I have been using this app since it came out and purchased the lifetime membership when they switched to annual subscription pricing. It has been good, but if I have to pay for those other features, I would probably switch over to Hole19 and delete Golfshot from existence. If I get those features on the iPhone, you would think I would get it on the watch too. Go figure.

When I contacted Golfshot customer service, the representative said it is all about the money and subscription fee. They have no use for app loyalty and if you aren't contributing to their subscription fees, they don't need your business. I used Hole19 this weekend and I am fully converted from Golfshot. It works well enough for me on the AW2(giving distances and score tracking) better than Golfshot non-pro app and the Hole 19 iPhone app was really good as well and it's all free. Bye Golfshot, you have lost another customer.

To be honest, I don't blame them. Any business model where you sell something once but than have to provide services (the servers, support etc) for eternity are bound to fail if they can't find ways of getting additional income from the users.

[Stetson]

Agree. I don't blame them but that also is not a model I am interested in as a consumer

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