quote:
Looking to get one or the other. Leaning towards one of the GPS based products, but was curious to get some opinions / suggestions.
The range finders seem to be more of a pain, but perhaps are more accurate? GPS would just seem easier to refer to during a round.
Any thoughts from experience would be appreciated.
It's really about preference.
I have the Garmin S3 and I have a Pebble Time that connects to my phone and uses any number of golf apps. I use one or the other every time I play.
With the S3, I get front, middle, and back distances. I can move the pin to any location on the green to change the reading. I can get yardage to layups. I can also keep my score with it. It tells time and tracks distance walked.
I use my Pebble Time with the
Golf Pad app and
Golf Tags more now. I get front, middle, and back on my watch or phone. I can view aerial maps with layups, hazards, and elevation on my phone if I so choose. With the golf tags, I just tap the grip against my phone (in my pocket) and it tracks which club I am hitting, the distance of each shot, and keeps score. I can adjust the score from my watch or phone if need be. After a few rounds of using the app with club tracking, it knows your average distances on the clubs that you've hit, and it recommends which club to use for each shot. Granted I don't really need this function, but it's neat. After each round, it emails your scorecard to you and you can use the phone app to edit scores, view statistics (putts, GIR, fairways hit, bunkers, penalties, distances, etc).
My playing partner (next-door neighbor) uses a rangefinder with slope. It's obviously a little more accurate than using front, middle, and back distances. It's also nice to be able to pull it out and shoot a distance on a tree or hazard from anywhere.
I prefer the ease of the GPS watch, and I don't find all that much value in knowing the exact distance to the pin vs having front, middle, and back of the green. I also sometimes have difficulty shooting the pin. I tend to shake too much. Luckily for me, I have both on most days.