As a beginner to the game of golf, understanding the distance you can hit each club helps reduce your handicap. It is disheartening to connect perfectly with the ball only to see it fall too short. In this review, I investigate shot tracking with Arccos Caddie Smart Sensors to see if this can help the beginner golfer.
My golf buddy and I have been playing regular golf at least once a week for the past 12 months. We both have very different games, but usually, we post similar scores at the end of the round. Recently my buddy played a couple of outstanding rounds kicking my butt by at least ten strokes. What was the change? He hit the driving range to measure his distance for each club. With the combination of a range finder and distance labels at the bottom of each shaft, his game improved dramatically. Increased confidence when striking the ball was an added side effect.
For a pair of amateurs, we are both competitive. It was time for me to up my game and level the playing field. I have a career in IT and decided technology over old-school would give me that competitive advantage.
Shot Tracking with Arccos Caddie Smarts Sensors
I like my gadgets, and it didn’t take much self-convincing to follow my buddies approach, but using technology. Straight after the last round, I decided to invest in the Arccos Caddie Smart Sensors. I had been looking at these for a while. I have used the 18 birdies app previously, and while the output of the app is excellent, I find it too distracting to get my phone out and enter my club selection for each shot. The round became less enjoyable due to interacting with my phone continuously rather than engaging in banter with my buddy. I needed the same result from 18 birdies, but without the hassle. That’s where Arccos comes in.
The Arccos system uses sensors that are attached to the end of each of your clubs. Each sensor pairs with the Arccos app. The app automatically detects each of your clubs when you’re out on the course overcoming the biggest hurdle to using 18 birdies.
The Setup
Setting up Arccos for the first time is a straightforward process. Many people suggest to pair each sensor outside in daylight; however, it worked perfectly well for me inside.
Screw each sensor to the bottom of your club and place them back in your bag. Then one-by-one pair each club. The pairing is rapid, and the whole process took less than 5 minutes to complete.
On The Course
Using the arccos caddie system on the course was unexpectedly smooth. At the first tee, I searched for the course and simply clicked the Start Round button.
From that point, I put my phone in my front pocket, on the leading leg side. The app picked up all of my fairway shots without issue. For most holes, it did not pick up all of my puts. That wasn’t too much of a pain, as you can add extra puts in the app. I’ve made it a habit now to check my phone after holing out.
Post Game Analysis
For those that like statistics and numbers, the post-game analysis of the Arccos Caddie, you will not be disappointed. You can access the details of all past rounds on both the mobile app and desktop. It really helps to pinpoint trouble spots in your game. For example, the screenshot below shows me just how severe my slice is.
For my iron shots, my slice is not as severe as it is with my driver. Only 11% of my shots are slicing the right. My slicing is still a problem; however, the issue I need to address is my club selection. In two-thirds of cases, I am falling short of the green.
The real benefit will come from the insights that Arccos build on your club distances. It may not resolve my slice, but it will help improve my approach to the green. It will take at least 5 games before you will see any beneficial insight. After two games, you can see the stats on my club selection are a bit random. The distance on my 5 iron and 7 iron look quite poor. This is because I used each club only once in the last two rounds, and both times were recovery shots to get out of trees.
Conclusion: Shot Tracking with Arccos Caddie Smart Sensors
I’m very impressed with Arccos Caddie Smart Sensors. There are more positives to take away than negatives for it to become a part of my weekly round. I’m looking forward to seeing how the system will refine it’s insights and suggestions as it obtains more historical data to analyse.
For the beginner golfer, there’s a lot to offer. With a thirst for knowledge as you start out, Arccos will give you in-depth data. When starting out, it is unlikely you will remember every shot, club selection, and distance in your round. The good thing with Arccos, is you don’t have to. You have your own private caddie to give you all that information.
* Arccos have released a new dedicated sensor that clips to your shorts. I have this on order and will update this review once it arrives in late September.
** At the time of writing, the annual subscription is $99. When purchasing the sensors, you get 12 months free.