We’ve got the need, the need for speed training aids.
Face it, seeing the professionals bomb their drives every single Sunday has all of us wanting to hit it farther.
While the vast majority of us won’t be hitting 300-yard drives, or even 280-yard drives, everyone has the ability to get longer. Yes, even you.
Managing expectations is a big part of golf. The same goes for gaining speed. It won’t happen overnight, but with a plan, it’s something achievable for all.
Whether it be a lack of speed, poor putting, the dreaded short game yips and shanks or whatever ails your game, Golfweek is looking out for you. We’ve curated some of the best products to get your game headed in the right direction.
Check out some of our other lists to help lower your handicap.
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It’s almost like wearing a caddie on your wrist … almost.
Whether you choose a GPS or a rangefinder, you’re making the correct choice. Playing without one leads to inconsistent play throughout your round.
Without knowing your number, you’re pretty much lost on the course.
Having a GPS in your pocket or on your wrist is almost like having Stevie Williams, Ted Scott, and Bones MacKay with you every time you tee it up … almost.
While you won’t get the expert analysis that a top-tier looper brings, you will get a bigger picture of the information that you need to hit the best shot possible.
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Because one list wasn’t enough, Golfweek has compiled a Prime Day list for the serious golfer.
Below you can find training aids, GPS rangefinders, bags, equipment and more.
Don’t worry, we’ll be back again with a list of Prime Day golf gear for less than $50.
We occasionally recommend interesting products, services, and gaming opportunities. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. Golfweek operates independently, though, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.
Sometimes, David and Averee will agree on how to play a hole, and sometimes they see things differently.
In “Playing Smarter Golf,” Golfweek’s senior writer David Dusek caddies for golfer and Golfweek contributor Averee Dovsek. The two talk about strategy to decide when to take risks or play it safe. We used new Smart Sensors from Arccos to help make club selections and develop strategies for playing hole No. 2.
Sometimes David and Averee will agree on how to play a hole, and sometimes they see things differently. However, in every case, they talk about their plan for handling different situations, selecting clubs, managing trouble, and more.
The series aims to teach golfers to create a plan when playing golf, using live data collected on each player’s game. This can help create smarter, more-effective strategies that lead to lower scores.
In “Playing Smarter Golf,” Golfweek’s senior writer David Dusek caddies for our Averee Dovsek.
In “Playing Smarter Golf,” Golfweek’s senior writer David Dusek caddies for golfer and Golfweek contributor Averee Dovsek. The two talk about strategy while playing holes, with Averee coming at things from a player’s perspective. We used new Smart Sensors from Arccos to help make club selections and develop strategies for playing the holes.
Sometimes David and Averee will agree on how to play a hole, and sometimes they see things differently. However, in every case, they talk about their plan for handling different situations, selecting clubs, managing trouble, and more.
The series aims to teach golfers to create a plan when playing golf, using live data collected on each player’s game. This can help create smarter, more-effective strategies that lead to lower scores.
Arccos continues to roll out new hardware designed collect shot information and reveal how players can improve their game.
For the past few years, Arccos has concentrated on improving the software and the algorithms it uses to give golfers deeper analytics and more information about how they can improve their games. And in 2022 the Stamford, Connecticut-based company has rolled out new hardware.
Last month Arccos introduced the Gen3+ sensors, which help the system do a better job of detecting shots, ignoring practice swings and locating you on the course. Two weeks later it released the second edition of the Arccos Link, a small device that clips to your belt or a pocket and allows players to use Arccos without keeping their smartphone in a pocket. Now comes the limited-edition Gen3+ Smoke sensors, a black version of the newest screw-in sensors that help power the shot-tracking system.
Like the standard black and green Gen3+ sensors, 13 Smoke tags come in the box alongside a smaller 14th sensor designed for your putter. After installing them and going through a one-time pairing process that takes about two minutes, the Arccos smartphone app recognizes which clubs you use on every shot and can overlay that information on over 40,000 courses around the world.
By connecting one shot to another using the GPS in your smartphone, Arccos can determine how far each of your shots goes, whether it lands in the fairway, sand or on the green, then compile detailed stats and analytics that reveal your strengths, weaknesses and areas you should practice.
The batteries in the Smoke Smart Sensors should last about two years with normal use.
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Arccos’s newest sensors do a better job detecting shots and increase the accuracy of your golf data and statistics.
Gear: Arccos Smart Sensors Gen3+
Price: $199.99
Specs: 13 full-swing, screw-in sensors and one screw-in putter sensor
Who it’s for: Golfers who want a statistical look at their game and receive guidance on strengths, weaknesses, what to practice and which shots to hit on the course.
The Skinny: Arccos’s newest sensors are smaller and lighter, have a two-year battery life and allow the company’s best-in-class software to track your shots, create tour-level statistics about your game and use data to reveal how to shoot lower scores.
The Deep Dive: No one thinks about it this way, but when you begin every round of golf, the starter hands you a spreadsheet. We call it a scorecard, but the empty boxes under each hole number are there for you to fill in with data. Most golfers just write down how many shots they need to get the ball into the hole – their score – but sometimes there are dots indicating when you are given a stroke based on handicap, and circles or squares around the numbers indicate birdies and bogeys. Some teaching pros encourage students to note whether they hit the fairway off the tee, hit the green in regulation and how many putts they needed on the hole.
For about a decade, Arccos has tried to help golfers collect more data more easily, then make that data useful. With the release of its third generation of Smart Sensors, the company has refined its hardware and continued to improve the ways it uses analytics to help golfers understand what they do on the course, how they can improve and what they need to do as they play to shoot lower scores.
The Gen3+ sensors are small devices that easily screw into the grips of your clubs. There are 13 full-swing sensors in the kit, along with an updated, extra-small 14th sensor designed to fit especially well at the top of a putter grip.
The Arccos Gen3+ sensors screw into the grips on your clubs and link to your smartphone using Bluetooth. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
After installing Arccos’s smartphone app and pairing the sensors to the app (which is only required before you use them for the first time), all you have to do is play and allow the system to work in the background. Using the GPS in your smartphone, Arccos can detect which clubs you use for every shot and where you hit them on more than 40,000 courses.
The new sensors do a better job of accurately detecting shots, which helps the software track your game with a higher level of accuracy. The company said Gen3+ sensors and Arccos’s constantly updated smartphone app can capture more than 98 percent of all the shots you hit and do a better job of filtering out things like practice swings, but you can still edit shots and data in the app.
The Arccos system uses the information it collects about your game and creates statistics that can reveal things you might otherwise never know, such as:
How far do you hit each club in your bag
The difference in your putting performance from different distance ranges
Your approach game performance from 50-100, 100-150, 150-200 and over 200 yards.
Arccos can reveal your performance from different distances to help you hone your practice sessions and concentrate on strengthening your weaknesses. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
One of the most useful aspects of the Arccos system is that it allows you to compare your game, statistically, to other players of any handicap level. This is possible because Arccos has tracked more than 500 million shots hit by players in 194 countries. So if you are a 12-handicap player and want to compare yourself to a 9, Arccos can reveal specific areas where those players are better than you. This allows you to practice smarter, because you might discover things such as your short game or putting are already at the level of a 9-handicap player, but you are giving away strokes on approach shots or off the tee.
The Gen3+ sensors work with the Arccos Caddie Link wearable device, which allows players to track shots and collect data without keeping their smartphones in their pockets. The purchase of the Gen3+ sensors also comes with a one-year subscription to the Arccos app. After that, the app costs $12.99 per month
The MyTaylorMade+ program aspires to make your entire golf experience more interconnected and better.
Tiger Woods’ use of TaylorMade’s Stealth Plus+ driver at the recent PNC Championship and the club’s subsequent release Jan. 4 created a lot of buzz for the Carlsbad, California-based company. As one of the leaders in metalwood (and now carbonwood) development, TaylorMade’s drivers always garner a lot of attention, as do the company’s fairway woods, hybrids, irons, wedges, putters and balls.
But in the not-too-distant future, TaylorMade might look back on today, when the MyTaylorMade+ program officially launches, as one of the most important dates in the brand’s history.
The MyTaylorMade+ program aspires to set up the company as the Apple of the golf world, a brand that creates an ecosystem in which hardware blends seamlessly with software and services to make the experience of being a golfer better.
That may sound like a lot of “corporate speak,” but with the help of several partners, MyTaylorMade+ tries to replicate the teams elite golfers rely on to help them play at their best.
For example, someone such as Collin Morikawa benefits from having equipment technicians, a personal trainer, a swing coach and a statistics expert who can help make sense of ShotLink analytics and data. MyTaylorMade+ aspires to bring all that to recreational golfers.
At the heart of MyTaylorMade+ is shot tracking, which can be done manually using TaylorMade’s MyRoundPro system or passively using Arccos, a shot-tracking system that TaylorMade has partnered with for the last two years. Both systems utilize GPS to help determine where you hit each shot during your round and gather club information to create detailed statistical reports on your performance.
Tracking your shots and performances using MyTaylorMade+ provides insights into your game and lets the system provide instruction based on your needs. (TaylorMade)
MyTaylorMade+ processes such information to help players understand the strengths and weaknesses of their games, and reveal how they compare to players at other handicap levels. For instance, if you are a 15 handicap and aspire to be a 10, the system may reveal that you lose 1.5 shots to a 10-handicap player in putting while your driving is already at a 10-handicap golfer’s level, so it will encourage you to practice putting instead of working more with your driver.
MyTaylorMade+ also has a continuously updated repository of instruction content from people such as Rick Sessinghaus (Collin Morikawa’s coach), Chris Ryan or Me and My Golf. However, the key is the instructional articles and videos the system recommends will be based on your specific stats and performances. So, if you are putting well but struggling on approach shots, you will be encouraged to watch a video on hitting solid irons instead of improving your lag putting . As your game evolves, the recommendations change automatically.
MyTaylorMade+ also allows golfers to utilize a try-then-buy equipment program that makes any TaylorMade club available for two weeks with customized shafts and grips. If the player likes the club, he or she can pay for it and keep it. If the club does not work out, he or she can simply send it back at no cost.
Golfers also can schedule either a virtual or in-person custom fitting session and gain early access to in-demand products and exclusive, member-only swag. Some of that swag will include “Tour Trash,” equipment made for tour players that was given back, like a driver originally made for Tommy Fleetwood or a prototype wedge for Harry Higgs.
Inside MyTaylorMade+, users will gain early access to equipment and have a chance to obtain special gear. (TaylorMade)
Finally, MyTaylorMade+ has member-only content that includes interviews with staff players, behind-the-scenes videos and more.
There are three levels of MyTaylorMade+: a free version, Tier I ($9.99 per month for one year or $12.99 per month) and Tier II ($19.99 per month annually or $24.99 per month).
The pay-to-use levels of MyTaylorMade+ unlock a feature powered by another partner, Swing Index. It is a two-way coaching platform called My TaylorMade Coach that allows golfers to upload down-the-line and face-on videos of their swing and send them to a coach. After watching the videos, the coach will send feedback and a roadmap of drills to help the player achieve his or her goals. Each plan is broken down into segments, and after you complete the recommended tasks, you are encouraged to upload a new video so the coach can see your progress and recommend a new set of drills to keep you moving in the right direction.
It is important to note that you do not need to use TaylorMade equipment to make MyTaylorMade+ work. The shot-tracking systems at the heart of MyTaylorMade+ can gather data for the system using any club and ball.
The goal for the company is to make MyTaylorMade+ the hub of your golf world, a place where you go to learn about your game, keep track of your progress, find instruction, watch exclusive content and buy equipment. The company also hopes to use data and insights on golfers collected in the MyTaylorMade+ environment to help it develop new equipment.
Previous installments of the Connected Golfer have focused on technologies and devices that let players gather information as they practice and play. We have also covered the growing popularity of virtual lessons and how technology allows students and instructors to stay in touch between lessons. Now we explore how advancements in club-fitting technologies, along with data collected by players and coaches, can help golfers at every level hit the ball farther and straighter with more consistency…
On a snowy Sunday in January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses across the United States to lock their doors, Nathan DeBerry, 35, opened one at Club Champion’s store in Willowbrook, Illinois. Stomping the slush off his feet and standing about 6 feet 3 inches tall, he had the lanky frame of someone who could be good at almost any sport. Having played golf for about eight years, he hit balls at a local range twice a week, when the Chicago-area weather allowed, and scored in the high-90s when he played.
After warming up and hitting several shots with a driver he bought at a large chain store, his fitter, Brad Syslo, could hardly contain himself.The TrackMan launch monitor was confirming what Syslo’s eyes told him. DeBerry had loads of clubheadspeed (109 miles per hour), but he only averaged 228 yards of carry distance. Getting this guy into the right gear could produce some massive improvements.
Using technologies and tools found at many reputable fitting facilities,DeBerry’s ball speed increased 17 miles per hour within 60 minutes. His shots started to fly straighter too, and he gained 47 yards of carry distance. Forty-seven!
To be fair, a seismic improvement like that is rare, but it’s safe to say that the fitting was game-changing for DeBerry. Literally.
David Dusek during a club fitting
The right tools make all the difference
Imagine that you went into a clothing store and wanted to buy a blue shirt. Finding a wall of blue shirts with no labels on them, you grab one off the rack that looks nice, walk to the cashier and drop it on the counter. You don’t know the size, how it will fit when you try it on and you don’t if you’re getting a bargain or if you are being ripped off.
For decades, buying golf clubs was similar to this type of experience. Golfers went to a store, looked at clubs on the pro shop wall, and then maybe set one on the carpet and looked at it in the address position. Happy, they grabbed the driver or the set of irons, plunked down their money and happily walked out the door, hoping the new gear would lower their scores. Were the new clubs ideally-suited to their swing? Did they get a good deal on the price? Who knows?
Savvy golfers know there is a better way: custom fitting. Long associated with elite golfers and tour pros, there are many custom–fitting levels, and all of them can even help beginners and high-handicap players.
In 1972, Ping developed a color-coded system based on static measurements to determine the player’s ideal lie angle. Today, Ping, Callaway, TaylorMade, Titleist and other brands run demo days at local facilities and custom-fit golfers for their latest offers. Retail stores like Dick’s Sporting Goods and PGA Tour Superstores often allow players to try clubs from different manufacturers, often with various shafts, to see which performs better for them.
However, at the top of the ladder are brand-agnostic fitting centers like Club Champion, Cool Clubs, Hot Stix and many local club fitting shops around the country. At facilities like this, the sales associates and fitters are often PGA of America professionals. They are continuously trained on new clubs, shafts, grips and club-building techniques. In almost every case, they are brand agnostic and invest in the latest technologies to help fit golfers more effectively.
The most powerful tool a fitter can use to help players find the ideal combination of heads, shafts and golf balls is a launch monitor like TrackMan. It uses a pair of Doppler radar arrays to not only capture data about a shot (even one hit indoors), but also acquire data about the clubhead as it goes through the impact zone. It can show things like ball speed, launch angle, spin rate, curvature, the angle of descent and more. It can also show the clubhead’s path, reveal whether the face was open, closed or square at the moment of impact and whether the club was swinging up or down as it approached the ball. A trained fitter can often see some of these things, but launch monitors like TrackMan quantify them and make direct, apples-to-apples comparisons possible.
TrackMan launch monitor
Most drivers, fairway woods and hybrids sold today have adjustable hosels, but many club-fitting companies install universal adaptors on the heads and shafts they use for fittings. This means they can quickly attach any head to any shaft, regardless of the brands, which lets players test more combinations in less time.
Strangely, while golfers use their putter more than any other club, few recreational players get custom-fit for their putter. Fitters can use a machine developed by Science and Motion called a SAM PuttLab to reveal things like face angle at address and at impact, tempo, the impact spot and the face angle relative to the path.
Most golfers rarely, if ever, swap out all 14 clubs in their bag at once and buy a whole new set. Instead, they purchase new wedges when the grooves in their old wedges wear out, look for a new driver when they feel they are not getting the distance they should and shop for a new set of irons every four or five years. However, being a Connected Golfer can help a player make smarter purchasing decisions and prioritize equipment needs.
David Dusek during a club fitting
For instance, shot-tracking systems like Arccos and Shot Scope provide strokes-gained statistics that can reveal a golfer’s weakness. If driving is a player’s biggest shortcoming, and his or her shot-tracking system shows most misses are going left, sharing that information with a fitter can be hugely beneficial. It also prioritizes a golfer’s most significant shortcoming.
Similarly, if a shot-tracking system reveals that a player’s strokes gained approach the green stats are poor, the fitter can ensure distance gaps between each iron are consistent. He or she may also recommend a shaft that gets the ball to fly higher, so it lands more vertically and stops faster on the greens.
Showing a fitter your recorded swings on a system like V1, FlightScope or Rapsodo, along with the drills your instructor wants you to practice, can also help the fitter get a better picture of your game and where it is going. That can help the fitter ensure that your new gear not only fits you today, but also will help you in the future.
So, whether you are trying to contend at your club championship or are hoping that 2021 is the year that you break 100, working with a good club fitter and utilizing the information you can gather as you practice and take lessons is going to make things easier.
Accurate, intricate statistics are a game-changer for any player looking for ways to get better.
After showing you how technology and new products are revolutionizing how recreational golfers can practice, the third installment of the Connected Golfer dives into ways to learn more about your game on the course, play smarter and more.
Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle, New York, is home to a century-old golf course shaped by both Donald Ross and A.W. Tillinghast. It’s fantastic, a classic layout from golf’s Golden Age and a former LPGA tour venue.
“Thirteen yards,” I said to Chris McGinley, who at the time was the vice president of marketing for Titleist after we played Wykagyl in August 2014. “I hit that 3-wood you wanted me to try four times today, and it went 13 yards farther than the 3-wood that’s in my bag.”
Sitting in the grillroom, it was music to his ears.
“That’s awesome,” he said, putting down his beer. “But how do you know?”
I looked around because, even as a guest, I knew Wykagyl frowns on using a cell phone inside the clubhouse. Discreetly, I slid my iPhone across the table and showed him the stats my Arccos system collected as we played. Before the round, my average 3-wood distance was 226 yards. That day, after being fit for one of his company’s new fairway woods, the on-course average of my four shots was 239.
“That is so cool,” he said with wheels turning in his mind. Sure, he was happy that the data showed his company’s new club delivered more distance, but he also saw a bigger picture. The potential use for on-course analytics collected by recreational golfers was filling his head.
Arccos technology
How does your data stack up?
During PGA Tour events, a sophisticated system of lasers and measuring devices tracks every shot hit by every player in the field. Called ShotLink, it has collected data at nearly all PGA Tour events since 2003 and created a robust database that helps broadcast partners like CBS, NBC and Golf Channel provide viewers with exciting stats during tournaments.
ShotLink also allows the Tour to provide a weekly stats package to every player. It reveals where he stands in every statistical category imaginable, going well beyond basic stats like fairways hit and greens in regulation. ShotLink gets so granular that it shows things like proximity-to-the-holeaverage from specific distance ranges, greens in regulation from the rough, as well as the frequency of missed fairways to the left and the right. Players see their average score when going for the green in two on a par 5 and even things like average second-putt distance. Using ShotLink, players can compare themselves to other golfers. Coaches can discover what their students need to improve and how they are progressing, and equipment makers can fine-tune gear if a golfer needs adjustments.
Pros don’t like to talk about specifics of ShotLink very often because utilizing its data wisely can be a competitive advantage. These days, many players hire statistical experts to examine reports and translate things into easy-to-understand chunks to avoid getting lost in the numbers.
Data provided by Arccos
While your local club does not have ShotLink, a host of new products and technologies now let recreational golfers gather on-course data that can transform how they approach the game.
Systems developed by companies like Arccos, Shot Scope, Sky Golf, Garmin, Game Golf and even Tag Hauer have their differences, but they work using the same basic principles.
Using the GPS in your smartphone, or a GPS-enabled wearable device like a watch, shot-tracking systems can determine which course you are playing and your exact location during your round.
Using Bluetooth, they link to small tags that easily screw into each of your clubs’ grips. The tags weigh only a few grams, so they do not affect how your clubs perform.
Every time you pull out a club and hit a shot, the system uses GPS to determine your location and detects which club was used. With some systems that do not use tags, you manually enter the club into the system.
After you hit another shot, the GPS and club-detection process repeats. The system can then determine the distance between the two shots, whether the first one landed in the fairway, rough or sand, and how far the first shot traveled.
Most systems allow you to make edits to include things like penalty strokes and add the precise location of the holes, but the real magic starts after you have used shot-tracking systems for about five to 10 rounds. At that point, it will probably know more about your game than you do.
Arccos data on a device.
A virtual caddie?
Shot-tracking systems reveal things like the average distance you hit each club in your bag, where you tend to miss with each club, how often you hit greens in regulation, where you tend to mis-hit on approach shots and how often you get up and down from greenside bunkers. In some cases, they can even break down your game into strokes–gained categories like the pros on the PGA Tour.
With databases that include millions of recorded shots, some companies are now using shot-tracking systems and artificial intelligence to create virtual caddies. They can make club recommendations for you based not only on your skills but also on the performance of players like you on holes like the one you are about to play. They can even consider weather conditions.
For example, if you are a 12-handicap golfer playing a 430-yard dogleg right par 4, before you tee off, Arccos Caddie Advice considers how far you hit each club, where you typically miss, the wind direction and other factors. It then recommends a strategy and a combination of shots that,statistically, will most likely produce the lowest score on that hole. For players who instinctively reach for a driver on every hole that isn’t a par 3, the advice can seem odd, but Arccos Caddie works to keep fairway bunkers and trouble areas out of play while setting you up to hit your best shots more often. (See, it is smarter than you!)
Steve Bosdosh is the founder of the Steve Bosdosh Golf Academy at PB Dye Golf Club in Ijamsville, Maryland, 45 miles west of Baltimore, and a two-time winner of the PGA of America’s Mid-Atlantic Section Teacher of the Year award.
“The trick with everybody is getting accurate feedback,” Bosdosh said. “I’ll ask someone how far he hits his 7-iron, and the guy will say 180, but then when I put him on a FlightScope the balls goes 152 yards. Right there, that’s a synopsis for the problem with why people don’t improve.”
Bosdosh adds that programs that reveal stats and trends, using a player’s real, on-course shots, cut through perceptions and guesswork and allow players and their coaches to make honest, unbiased assessments.
The information on-course shot-tracking systems collect is so valuable that many college teams are now outfitting their players with them. Companies like Arccos and Shot Scope have developed dashboards that allow coaches to see their players’ rounds and stats. Using the on-course data, coaches can develop better practice plans for individual players, emphasizing specific areas for each golfer based on his or her stats.
In addition to helping you make better decisions on the course and allowing your coach to tailor your lessons and practice sessions more effectively, shot-tracking systems can help fitters get you into better gear.
“Having access to our clients’ Arccos on-course shot data allows us to fully understand each player’s unique golf DNA,” said Nick Sherburne, the founder of Club Champion and one of the company’s master fitters. All of Club Champion’s fitters get training in Arccos‘ platform and dashboard. “The data is golden. It helps golfers and our fitters better track performance while gaining an unbiased understanding of where they excel and what they need to improve.”
Equipment makers also value the data that shot-tracking systems provide. The Arccos-powered Cobra Connect system is now standard on all Cobra clubs, and Ping clubs come standard with Arccos-embedded grips. Last October, TaylorMade announced it had partnered with Arccos as well. By studying the data collected in shot-tracking systems, manufacturers can hone future offerings to match the needs of specific players.
So no, you don’t have ShotLink at your local course. But today’s shot-tracking systems make evaluating your game, understanding your strengths and weaknesses and creating a logical roadmap for improving easier than ever. Their software is continuously refining, they are legal for use during tournament play (with some features disabled), and they have become so minimally invasive that you will probably forget you are using one as you play.
