shot-tracking – Syndication Server

Arccos Link Pro is a massive step forward in data collection for amateur golfers

Arccos Link Pro silently and accurately gathers data about your golf game.

When Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Tony Finau walk to the first tee to play in a PGA Tour event, the best data-collecting system in golf, ShotLink, follows their progress and records every imaginable thing about their rounds. The players don’t have to do anything, wear anything or think about data production. An army of volunteers and a pair of 18-wheelers parked on-site gather the data and crunch it, then send each player a sophisticated package of statistics and information after each tournament.

With the release of the new Link Pro, Arccos – the Stamford, Connecticut-based company that recently became the Official Game Tracker of the PGA Tour – has taken the most significant step in the company’s history in replicating the ShotLink experience for recreational golfers.

For more than a decade, Arccos has allowed golfers to track what club they use, how far each shot goes and more by wirelessly connecting tiny sensors on their clubs to their smartphone and an Arccos app.

In the beginning, golfers had to play with their phones in their pockets, but a few years ago Arccos released the first generation of Link, a matchbook-size device that clips to a players’ clothes or can be worn on a belt. Link acted like a tether and allowed golfers to keep their phones in the cart or a golf bag. Now Link Pro goes one step further on more than 40,000 courses.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Arccos Link Pro” link=”https://www.arccosgolf.com/collections/arccos-products/products/link-pro?rfsn=6568483.312078&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=6568483.312078″]

On the first tee, after a player removes the unit from its charging case and turns it on, Link Pro connects to a smartphone and the Arccos App. After selecting the course about to be played and setting Link Pro as the shot-tracking method, all a player has to do is put the Link Pro in one of the front pockets of their pants, skirt or dress and play. That’s it – there is nothing else to do. Yes, for extra accuracy golfers can press a small button on the side of the unit after they take the ball out of the hole to indicate to the system exactly where the hole is located, but they can do that without taking Link Pro out of their pocket. Players can forget Link Pro until they walk off the 18th green.

Link Pro allows golfers to leave their phone in their golf bag, in the clubhouse or even in their car. After finishing play, when Link Pro gets close enough to your phone while the Arccos app is open, the data from your round will automatically upload into the Arccos system. The only time when you will need to use your phone is when you are selecting the course you are about to play, selecting the Link Pro as your data-gathering method and starting your round.

Link Pro makes the process of gathering data about a player’s game as unobtrusive as ShotLink, which is a massive step forward because the more players have to think about devices they are wearing or using, the more it takes away from playing the game. Link Pro, which costs $224.99, makes a ShotLink-style experience possible for golfers in their Thursday evening league or weekend matches.

This is all possible because Link Pro has improved microphones that allow the system to “hear” shots more easily. An upgraded GPS chip also allows Link Pro to connect and lock with satellites more quickly. The Link Pro charging case holds enough energy for 12 rounds before the case has to be recharged.

Arccos Caddie Strokes Gained Analytics provides a very detailed look at performance on the course. (Arccos)

In addition to tracking shots, Arccos provides players with a virtual rangefinder that uses artificial intelligence to provide yardages while accounting for things such as slope, wind, humidity and altitude. Arccos also uses the data it collects to provide Strokes Gained insights that reveal not only strengths and weaknesses but also tendencies and how a player stacks up against other players of different ability levels. This is really helpful because it allows golfers to concentrate on the specific areas of their game that are holding them back.

The Arccos Smart Sensors required to make Link Pro work are sold separately. With the purchase of the sensors, golfers get a one-year subscription to the Arccos app, with subsequent years costing $155.88 per year.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Arccos Smart Sensors” link=”https://www.arccosgolf.com/products/arccos-caddie-smart-sensors?rfsn=6568483.312078&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=6568483.312078″]

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop all Arccos products” link=”https://www.arccosgolf.com/?rfsn=6568483.312078&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=6568483.312078″]

Arccos raises $20 million in funding from PGA Tour and equipment makers

The funding will allow Arccos to accelerate the release of products and data-driven services for recreational golfers.

Golfers on the PGA Tour have nearly all their shots tracked by ShotLink, which uses a sophisticated system of laser measuring devices, radar and an army of volunteers. You don’t have access to that technology, but Arccos has been enabling recreational golfers to track their shots and collect data on their game since 2012, and on Monday, the company announced that as a part of a $20 million Series C fundraising, it had become the “Official Game Tracker” of the PGA Tour.

Along with the investment by the Tour, other investors include Ping, TaylorMade, Cobra Puma Golf and Topgolf Callaway Brands.

[mm-video type=video id=01g6qxgvnpzkwwg2665j playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01g6qxgvnpzkwwg2665j/01g6qxgvnpzkwwg2665j-1c0482cb89a3c004bea78e14cc1a0a56.jpg]

Arccos, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut, is a shot-tracking system that uses a series of small screw-in tags to tether a golfer’s clubs to a smartphone app, which then uses GPS to track the location of every shot a player hits, along with information on the club used and the location of the bullet hit (fairway, sand, rough, the green). Using that data, Arccos develops ShotLink-style stat packages that can reveal information about player tendencies, strengths and weaknesses, along with suggestions on what to practice. The Arccos Caddie app can also use that data to provide caddy-style club recommendations too.

“This investment shows that data is here to stay and that it is going to help everybody,” said Sal Syed, Arccos Golf’s CEO and co-founder in an exclusive interview with Golfweek. “Whether you are a player looking to improve or an instructor looking to teach better, a fitter looking to be smarter or even a manufacturer looking to make better tools for golfers, this data is going to help every aspect of the industry. That’s why you are seeing the industry kind of coalescing behind Arccos. It’s going to help everybody.”

To date, Arccos members have used the system to track more than 750 million shots during over 16 million rounds in 162 countries. That database provides the foundation for the power of the system.

Asked what Arccos plans to do with the capital it has raised, Syed said the infusion of money will allow the company to accelerate its product roadmap.

“We can invest more in data science, make the system more accurate, easier to use and more available to a wider array of golfers.”

Players on the Tour now create strategies for how they will play specific holes using data collected by ShotLink, and many modify their schedules to include courses that data shows match their game especially well. In some cases, they skip tournaments where data shows they might struggle. Syed hopes that as Arccos grows, recreational golfers will be able to make data-based decisions like the pros.

“Every decision that is made in golf should be based on your on-course, real performance,” he said. “Eventually, we want to be able to show, using data, which putter is better for you, what shoes you should play with. Today, no one is basing those kinds of decisions on actual performance data. What we have touched is not even the tip of the iceberg.”

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Arccos Gen3+” link=”https://www.arccosgolf.com/products/arccos-caddie-smart-sensors?rfsn=6568483.312078&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=6568483.312078″]

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop all Arccos products” link=”https://www.arccosgolf.com/collections/arccos-products?rfsn=6568483.312078&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=6568483.312078″]

Arccos limited-edition Smoke Smart Sensors Gen3+ system

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.

The Smoke edition of the Arccos Smart Sensors Gen3+ costs $224.99 and comes with a one-year subscription to the Arccos Caddie app.

Our readers can get a 15% discount by using the code GOLFWEEK on any Arccos product.

[afflinkbutton text=”Arccos Limited-Edition Smoke Smart Sensors – $224.99″ link=”https://www.arccosgolf.com/products/arccos-caddie-smart-sensors?rfsn=6568483.312078&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=6568483.312078″]

[afflinkbutton text=”All Arccos products – Save 15% with code GOLFWEEK ” link=”https://www.arccosgolf.com/collections/arccos-products?rfsn=6568483.312078&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=6568483.312078″]

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.

Arccos Gen3+ sensors make shot tracking and golf analytics more accurate

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.

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.

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