I've been looking at a set of smart sensors. Are they worth it? Is remembering to tap them every time a hassle? Are you getting data from them that make you a better player?

I did Arccos for 2 years, and then they started raising the annual subscription to where I did not find the value.

I have not used it for 2 years, so perhaps some of these issues have been fixed, but here is what I didn't find helpful.

Starting the round, sometimes it would take a couple minutes to be ready so you are either waiting on the first tee box to get ready or you just hit and adjust the tee shot later.

No support for android. I had to get the clip thingy to pickup shots as I did not want to carry my phone everywhere.

Putting data sucked. Many times it would even read the put since it was not a hard enough hit and marking pins never seemed accurate.

In cart path only round, I might bring 3 clubs to my bag, occasionally it would select the wrong club hit since it was near the ball.

The biggest issue I had was I was ALWAYS checking to ensure the accuracy of the app. I was spending more time adjust clubs, pins, etc and wasn't focused on golf. There were times I was say screw it, today I am not going to look at it, and low and behold, I shot a 54 as the app missed a lot of putts/shots.

Again, it may have improved, but for $199/year, I dont think it is worth it.

That's helpful. I'm bouncing between the fact I really don't need one more thing to think about out there, and if the data made it worth it.

I signed up for a free trial for them. Basically paid shipping and a 30day free trial with free sensors. I paired them all up after downloading the app, etc. A few days later, Went to the first tee and the app said there are no sensors paired - i tried to do it right then and there but it was taking a while so I basically just took them all off and said forget about it.

My buddy did the same trial and he used them for 1 round and took them off because he didn't like the feel.

Tried them. Dumb. Kept using Grint on my Apple Watch

I use them on an adroid phone and watch, and I also have the little clip. Most of the time it's great at picking up shots. But I've never had a round where it picked up everything so there is always some editing to do and that part is clunky. The data you get post-round is really cool and getting distances in app during the round is nice as well. I'd say just give it a shot on a free trial and then quit if you don't like it. The pairing process was incredibly easy I'd say, and I've never had it lose pairing.

stick95 said:

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I've been looking at a set of smart sensors.

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ShotScope user for over 2 years here. The quirks and features are almost identical to Arccos, but the cost is much less. (There is no subscription cost at all for ShotScope.) Look at both systems.

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Are they worth it?

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I believe the data is very useful, but I'm admittedly a data nerd in both my professional and personal pursuits. My tolerance for collecting and analyzing data is very high. If thinking about anything more than your score, GIR, and number of putts seems like it would keep you from enjoying your rounds, then smart sensors probably are a waste of effort and money for you. Just use a scorekeeper app like The Grint that interpolates many useful stats from your scorecard instead. However, if you want to know stats like which club has the best success rate when you're trying to get on the green between 125 and 150 yards out, then smart sensors are the best way to collect the data required.

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Is remembering to tap them every time a hassle?

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Not at all. I use the ShotScope H4 tracker, which clips to my belt. Tapping the club sensor is ingrained into my preshot routine. It's not a hassle at all, and more reliable than swing detection.

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Are you getting data from them that make you a better player?

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Absolutely. These are a few of the things the data has helped me do:

• Track total yardages for all clubs easily and automatically.
• Compare performance between two different drivers/putters, including strokes gained, so that I can choose which club actually works better for me.
• Measure improvement by strokes gained in all 4 areas of my game (tee shots, approaches, short game, and putting) over time against previous years and other handicap levels.
• Plan my tee shot strategy for a course ahead of time by changing club selection and shot direction. e.g., how would hitting 5w off the tee instead of driver on hole #4 impact my approach and estimated score for the hole?
• Is my up-and-down percentage improving? Should I practice more chip shots from rough or fairway lies?

And many more.

There are some annoyances. Some editing of the round data is always needed, depending on the course or even the hole, mostly due to GPS accuracy. For example, I usually have to edit the pin placement on holes with small greens and lots of nearby trees because the tracker either can't get a consistent GPS signal or the tracker located my putt on the "fairway" instead of the "green". Older courses where the greens and tee boxes are very close to each other cause the tracker to lose "focus" on the green. Also, the tracker doesn't know your intent for the shot. If I use my 3h to chip out 20 yards sideways from the trees, I know I'll need to mark that shot as a "positional" shot later so that it doesn't skew my 3h yardages or green success stats. Finally, while it is possible to add penalties during the round, I never do because I don't want to hold up play while I'm fiddling with the tracker. I write a quick note down on the scorecard for penalties so I can edit them in later.

The first couple of rounds using sensors will be a little frustrating while you learn how to quickly use the system. Don't try to use shot tracking for the first time when you're playing a tournament or even with your usual group. Play a solo round if possible.

My wife got me some as a gift but I will not be continuing the subscription.

The data is cool and informative (after the round), but the manipulation within the app to make it work during a round is just too much for me to want to deal with. So, with the cost, it's just not worth it IMO.

Did the free trial. Didn't care for it. Did it again a few years later. Didn't care for it again. Just not accurate enough and kind of a distraction.

That said, I play a lot. I know my distances, I know my misses. I found the common theme was that I found myself making all the adjustments in the app to have it move from "i know this is inaccurate" to "I already knew this"

I think the thing gadgets like these do best is keep you interested in playing golf. I don't think they make the casual player much better, but rather help keep the casual player interested in getting better. Maybe that's the same thing.

Terribly inaccurate and by the time you fix it you might as well just log it yourself in an iphone app like thegrint

I've had them since they first came out, so I don't pay an annual subscription.

I love them, but also don't like some of the minor annoyances. Either way the new link belt clip doesn't miss very much. I've gotten into a pretty good rhythm of hitting and quickly checking while I'm walking to the next shot.

I've sort if given up on putting with it though. Everyone is right that it seems to be wildly inaccurate there.

I think the underrated thing is it gives me the ability to relive rounds, esp at cool places. I look at my round from Kapalua, Palmetto, etc from time to time. It's also nice for courses you don't play regularly to look at how you played them before and make any adjustments.

Like I said, I don't pay a subscription, so I think I might get a lot more value out of it than if I was paying $200 a year

If you like data then you will like them. What I mean by that is that if you want to see the parts of your game that need work, and will work on it then they are worth it. I use them, and they have been really helpful.