Shot Scope stat-tracking app expands platform to include course- and hole-specific data

Shot Scope, the distance device and stat-tracking platform that features GPS devices, laser rangefinders golf smartwatches and RFID-tagged club sensors, added new features to its post-round analytics matrix that aim to provide more detailed focus on the path golfers can take to getting better. And those latest updates may be some of the most practical because they largely focus on how a golfer performs on the course he or she plays most.

“It was our vision that golfers would be able to use these features to help them play their home course to the best of their ability and use the data provided to help with strategizing out on the course,” said Gavin Dear, CCO of Shot Scope. “Not only is this informative to the user, but also to coaches who can get a more detailed, statistically driven, understanding of how their clients are performing out on the course. The information can be used to structure and guide lessons, as well as helping golfers plan out their course strategy before an event.”

Among the new features in the stat package, which is a free download available to users of the Shot Scope V3 GPS watch, H4 handheld GPS device and the recently released Pro LX+ (the combination laser rangefinder and GPS device with round-tracking capabilities), is a new course and hole analytics breakdown that shows a golfer not only how he scores on each hole as well as strokes gained per hole, but offers analysis for each hole and areas of each hole and the benchmark scoring on each hole for different handicaps. For example, if after a number of rounds a player is looking to understand why the seventh hole at his home course has been particularly vexing, the new data will show the trendlines of those tee shots that miss right vs. those that miss left. It also reveals whether one has been more successful when missing the green long or short, or which holes tend to produce the most three putts.

Sitting down with Dear, the former Walker Cup player for GB&I, he mentioned that Shot Scope, as it’s always largely been, is an opportunity for a golfer to invest in the process of improvement.

“We can give insights up to certain level, and then it’s down to the golfer,” he said. “You can look at your worst holes and see how you might change your strategy to improve your scoring. And within that it will break it down by tee shots, using driver vs. using 3-wood and how is that affecting your scoring. The fact is, if you want to be single figures, I think what we’re doing is we’re showing people a pathway. We can provide the insights to the golfer. For us, we can be the bridge.”

Dear noted that these latest features could be helpful beyond the individual golfer, noting the instructors and even eventually team coaches could gain better insight that might let the strategize about “horses for courses” at some future time. “Not only is this informative to the user, but also to coaches who can get a more detailed, statistically driven, understanding of how their clients are performing out on the course,” he said in announcing the new course analytics elements. “The information can be used to structure and guide lessons, as well as helping golfers plan out their course strategy before an event.”

Not only will this home course analytics platform show how the individual golfer is faring on a particular hole, data also will show comparative figures for certain handicap levels that will, for instance, detail how similar high-handicappers struggle on a hole and where better players might make up the most ground.

Part of the free Shot Scope app as well as its web-based dashboard, the new course analytics features join a platform of hundreds of statistics and playing details that users can study in building an improvement plan. The Shot Scope devices start with the H4 handheld GPS at $150, and include the V3 Smartwatch ($220) and the new Pro LX+ laser range finder with GPS and tracking tags ($350).