The desire to keep coming back after one good shot is innate within the player. The better shots hit on the course will provide a quicker and more enjoyable round. Can an iPhone increase the chances of hitting a good shot? I definitely think so. About a year ago, I looked at Golfshot GPS and gave it high marks. It was an app which I had used for over three years and definitely earned my payment of $30.00.
Well, the Shotzoom team is back with a new app called PGA TOUR Caddie. The team used their inner core of Golfshot GPS and added a new user interface with new features to make it a true golfer’s companion. By using the PGA TOUR in the name of the app surely it must be good, right? Keep reading on to find out if it measures up to par.
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Getting Started
If you are previous Golfshot GPS user and have a Golfshot account, PGA TOUR Caddie will accept your login credentials and sync down all of your Golfshot data. After the sync, data from the last couple of rounds is available for review from the homescreen. The two main areas are Play Golf and Academy.
The homescreen offers quick access to each of your previous rounds while TOUR Academy offers tailored drills in the areas you need it most help.
Play Golf is where you will spend most of your time. This is where you can keep score and track shot distances. Selecting the academy option reveals the option to view over 175 drills based on five areas of the game. If you have data available either by previous Golfshot activity or by playing a few rounds, the academy shows how you compare to other users based on your handicap. From there you can see what drills and areas of the game would be most beneficial for you to complete. The academy is not free, though. While the app is free, to obtain access to the drills requires a $9.99 annual subscription. I think it is a very fair price for the plethora of drills and data you’re obtaining.
Play Golf
When it is time to play golf, the app will load the golf courses closest to your location and sort by the distance the course is away from you. Once selecting a course you can choose what tee you are playing from and enter any other players whose score you would like to keep up with.
You can track the score of up to eight players. If you would like to track statistics for secondary players as well, the option can be enabled in the settings.
On each hole, distances are presented with the hole’s layout. A hole preview is also available which offers a moving preview.
Once the round is started, a listing of each hole is given and selecting hole one reveals distances on the left with a preview visual of the hole on the right. The best feature of PGA TOUR Caddie is the hole previews. Previewing a hole provides an animation of the hole while showing the pattern and bends of the hole. To the average person this may not seem that beneficial, but for any golfer who has ever played on an unfamiliar course, it can be a life saver. Golf course designers will leave tricks in the course for the inexperienced player. Seeing an actual preview takes the guess work out of where exactly the green is located. Also, other golf GPS apps will offer a layout of the course but I have not seen anything that provides as clear as a picture as the Hole Preview offers.
Manual mode is available if you would like to preview your own path to the hole. Shot tracking is also available to see how far that drive actually went.
Now you might be wondering with a name like PGA TOUR Caddie, where does the caddie come in? Thankfully, a digital caddie does not pop up into view but rather the app suggests clubs and routes to play the hole. Within the settings of the app you can set if your caddie should be conservative or aggressive. Setting aggressive will suggest cutting corners on doglegs and take more aggressive lines to the hole. The caddie feature is nice and works seemingly well, but I wish it was more advanced. For instance, I wish I could rate my confidence with each club and the app could analyze that confidence with each recommendation. This would help for those situations when I might be hitting into a tight situation. After analyzing my distance and confidence, the app could suggest the appropriate club for the scenario.
Club distances are stored within the app in order to obtain accurate caddie projections.
The other aspect of the caddie is it will suggest clubs based on previous distances hit. These distances can be manually entered or will be learned as you track shots throughout your round. The app also tracks your equipment and pulls in pictures of your clubs. Clubs can be retired as you gain new equipment and update your bag.
No Foot Wedges on the Scorecard
Once you have finished the hole, PGA TOUR Caddie will also keep score. Entering your score is easy but getting to screen to enter it is not. Navigating in the app is performed with gesture swipes, but I’m not sure this portion of the app was really tested on the course. How would you imagine swiping would perform with a golf glove on? If you’re thinking not well, you are correct. I wish an arrow was available to be able to tap to the scorecard because trying to get a swipe to recognize with a glove on or while sweating is not an easy task.
Entering your score after each hole is easy thanks to the scroll wheels. Entering all of the options, such as fairways hit, keeps your stats up to date.
Once you get to the score input screen, entering your score is easy thanks to scroll wheels. You can enter your score, if you hit the fairway or not , sand, and penalty shots. Turning your phone horizontal reveals a full scorecard showing stats and scores for players.
Conclusion
The Shotzoom team took what they learned from Golfshot GPS app made it even better. The design and hole previews make this app a joy to use. The Shotzoom team also implemented a new price option for the app which is free! That said, in order to use all of features of the app you have to pay a $29.99 annual fee. The features that are included within annual subscription include real-time distance to all key hazards and targets, on-the-spot club recommendations based on game performance, club recommendations on 3-D flyover in hole preview, and the ability to zoom in on target areas. I think the price is more than fair, but I know some people will be turned off due to the steep nature. In order to get you hooked, the app allows you to use the app for free for 30 days.
If you have been looking amp up your golf game this summer, then you should look no further than PGA TOUR Caddie.
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