Justin looks at Enhancing the Golf Game!
Justin Lemme TechtalkRadio July 6, 2020
I have loved the game of Golf ever since I was a little kid. My parents paid for lessons and summer passes to the local courses for
me, but unfortunately at that same time, Super Mario Bros 3 was coming out and I neglected my golf gameplay to save Princess Peach. Fast forward 30 years and I am back
in the swing of things, no pun intended…
One of the aspects of golf that I never really enjoyed is keeping track of my score, not to mention trying to figure out what clubs work best for me in each situation.
I just want to hit the ball and have fun! I was browsing the Google Play App store one day recently and I came across an app called GolfPad GPS. This is a free app on
both Google Play and IOS App Store with over 2 million downloads that assists you with keeping track of your score, as well as giving you a bird’s eye view of each hole
and where you are in relation to the hole. I decided to give this app a go to see if it would help me better my game.
GolfPad GPS does offer a premium version for $19.99/year and with this you get added features, such as Smart Watch Link. This
feature will display your current position and yardage to the hole on your smart watch (The premium app supports all popular models including Moto 360, Sony SmartWatch,
Huawei, Fossil, Ticwatch, ASUS, Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Active 1 & 2, and Samsung Gear and Gear S series and more), plus club recommendations based on your historical
shots (if you remember to track each shot). I opted to get this since I have a Ticwatch Pro and wanted to get the most out of this app.
The first round I played using this app, I really appreciated the ability to see exactly where I was at with the GPS Satellite view of each hole. The app would show me
my layup yardage and I could make a better guess as to what club to use (Premium Only Feature). But I did find that tracking each shot took me away from the game
because I had to open the app each time before my shot, click Track Shot and choose the club I was using. Once hit, I walk to my ball and click Track Shot again, which
tells the app how far my previous shot was and where I am now. This proved to be a bit tedious and I found myself not wanting to take the time to track each shot.
This is where the new TAGS system really shines. This is another add-on feature that retails for $99 and it comes with a free year
of Premium with it. TAGS consists of 15 plastic NFC-capable tags that screw into each of your clubs to help you track which club you use for each shot. After installing
these tags into each of your clubs and going through a short setup process in the app, I was ready to hit the links again and see how the TAGS system worked.
I found the TAGS system to be much easier for me to track each shot right away. After launching the app and starting a round, I needed to do one extra step to pin the
app to the foreground, and I assume this was to keep the NFC Reader of the phone on so that I could easily track each shot.
I have been told this is actually something that is unique to certain Android phones, so if you are an iPhone user or other Android than me (Pixel 3XL), you shouldn’t have to worry about this, but it’s not a big deal even for me.
The way TAGS work is before each shot, I grab my desired club and simply tap the tag at the end of my club to my phone. I will hear a chime and my phone will vibrate, telling me it registered my club. I really liked the vibration feature because if I held my club to the phone it would make my club vibrate as well, so not only did I have an audible feedback but a physical feedback letting me know I was ready to hit the ball.
After I hit, I move to my ball location, check my watch for the current position and distance to the hole, take note of my club
recommendation, choose my next club and simply tap the club to my phone again.
Rinse & repeat this for every shot. I kept my phone in my bag for most shots and I could still tap my club with relative ease, but there were sometimes where my phone switched positions in my bag and so I had to move the club around to find the sweet spot for the NFC reader in my phone to pick up the tag on the club. For putting, you can opt in to track puts or else manually record your putts. You can also set the pin position on each hole since courses usually change pin position weekly. I put the phone in my pocket and tapped my putter to my phone each putt. Once the hole was completed, TAGS will automatically advance to the next hole when you tap your Driver after using your putter. Pretty cool simple feature!
After my round was complete, the app would calculate my entire game and tell me how I did. It showed me my overall score (+9 if you
are interested, don’t judge me), how many strokes I gained that round compared to previous rounds (this tells me if I am getting better, or had a bad round), and also
details for each club such as fairways hit, shanks, slices, hooks, etc. This is a nice feature to have that helps me understand how I am doing with each club and which
clubs I need to work on at the driving range. There is also a historical dashboard you can access via their website, listed below, that will allow you to see more detail
about each round played.
Another really cool feature is the ability to share your round live with someone else, like maybe a coach? That is a practical feature that could come in handy for some people! I did find that there is a bit of a learning curve with this app, but after using it a few times I am getting the hang of it.
There is a good YouTube channel they have made for everyone to see simple step-by-step tutorials, which is a huge relief as I find that I don’t understand every feature and option in the app.
Watching the videos really helps! https://www.YouTube.com/c/Golfpadgps/videos
Overall, this app is amazing, and I highly recommend it for every golfer who would like to know a bit more about how their game is improving or where a person might need to work on something. At a price point of $99 for the TAGS system and a year of Premium included, this is a great addition for any golfer! GolfPad GPS can be purchased on their website www.golfpadgps.com
*GolfPad provided the Testing Unit for this Review