About Skycaddie

Skycaddie have been around for a few years now and is used by many golfers. It’s basically a caddy in phone form and has good range of detailed information at the push of a button.

Skycaddie enables you to check your distances to your target and key points on each hole such as bunkers, water, out of bounds, trees and just about anything else that you would ever need to consider before playing your shot.

How it works

Skycaddie representatives have been out on courses all over the world mapping out the distances for you. When you purchase the unit you then download the course(s) that you require and you have all the information at your disposal. Software now works for both Windows and Mac systems and is very simple to utilize.

Each hole appears on the screen and you can move a cross hair to check the yardage to wherever you want. Most useful, Skycaddie has what it calls it’s IntelliGreen feature which gives the distance to front and back of the green, the pin location and to any split tier.

You can also use it to determine how far you hit each club. Don’t worry though, you can keep that information to yourself and still hit the golf forums and tell everyone about your amazing 300 yards drives and smooth 7 irons that flew 190 into the wind. They’ll never know any differently and you can just hide the 4 iron for that 190 yard approach.

On purchasing the unit you need to signup for a yearly contract which includes a fee of around $30 per year, rising to $60 if you intend to jet set around the globe taking on a host of international courses. These membership plans are necessary if you want pre-loaded data but you can take a free option and input everything yourself.

How good is it?

Out on the course the Skycaddie is obviously going to give you quite a few benefits. Alongside knowing the actual distance you have to go comes the confidence of being a good deal more certain that you are using the correct club. How many times have you been unsure and fearing that you are a club short, make that fatal last minute attempt to squeeze a bit extra out of your swing? I know I’ve done it more times than I’d like to admit and armed with that extra information it can help you maintain a better swing throughout your round.

Your Skycaddie comes with a clip allowing you to attach it to your belt or, more commonly your bag. Just walk to your ball, check the screen and you can instantly see how far you have to go to the green. It means less uncertainty and pacing about to any markers to work out how far you have. Good news for speeding up play and that’s another nice side affect of the Skycaddie.

Having been mapped by real people on each course Skycaddie is very accurate. There were some rumblings in their early days but these have been ironed out and you can be confident that what the screen tells you is correct. From what I have seen and heard there are no problems regarding inaccurate yardages.

The screen is easy to read and understand and doesn’t become impossible to see in bright sunlight. All in all it’s a decent tool, well made and useful.

Skycaddie choices

Skycaddie offer several models, each with differing levels of information. The top of the range SGX can store an eye-watering 30.000 courses (though, who is going to play that many is beyond this reviewer), the SG5 can store up to 20 courses and the SG4 10. All models can manage up to 10 which should be fine for all but the most widely traveled golfer to use day in day out.

The SGX model retails at around $300 and the other models generally sit nearer $200. You do get a good amount of information for your money but they can’t exactly be called cheap. However, having had the misfortune to give “cheap” a trial run, all I can say is that it was a fairly hideous experience and that you do get what you pay for.

Model Features

Summary

Skycaddie offer a good choice of models that can help any golfer with their game. The units are easy to use in hand and only total IT novices would need assistance in accessing the downloaded courses.

They are a solid choice in a rapidly growing market and justify the tag of market leader as 2011 draws to a close.

Want to see what we have to think? Check out our Golf Club Reviews page to see if we’ve take the club you’re interested in for a test drive.

The Swami 3000 is the latest Golf GPS Unit release by Izzo Golf. Unlike it’s predecessor the Swami 1500, this compact golf GPS unit comes preloaded with over 19,000 North American courses and is ready to go, straight out of the box. It retails for $99.99 and require no activation fee or online download of courses.

According to Izzo Golf Director of Marketing, David Witkoski, “We have streamlined current technology and have focused mainly on essental features in an effort to make SWAMI 3000 truly affordable for all golfers. The SWAMI 3000 is by far the easiest Golf GPS to use and our Sirf Star III technology draws accurate measurements from up to 12 satellites. We believe our $99.99 price point, now combined with pre-loaded courses, will allow more golfers to enjoy the benefits of a Golf GPS while contributing to faster play and lower scores.”

The Swami 3000 combines the same core GPS technology available to the entire market with its unique INSTA-LOK™ feature which quickly and accurately displays distance to the Front, Center, and Back of the green.

The rechargeable lithium-ion battery can last up to 16 hours (or approx 4 rounds) before needing a charge.
Operating the Swami 3000 is really simple. You just need to drive to the course and turn on the unit and wait for it to acquire a signal. It displays the name of the course you’re currently at and starts with distances for the first hole.

Pros

• No monthly or annual fees
• Simple Operation
• Preloaded Courses
• Compact Design makes it easy to carry with you during your round

Cons

• Unit takes a while to initialize
• If you’re at a golf club with multiple courses in the area, sometimes it loads the wrong course

Review

The Izzo Swami 3000 is one of the more basic units on the market, but you would be hard pressed to find a better bang for your buck. For $99.99, you get a fully functional golf GPS unit that provides you distances to the front, middle, and back of the green, accurate to within five yards. It requires no setup and is ready to go straight out of the box.

Like I mentioned previously, once you power on the unit, it can take a couple minutes to boot up with the course information that you’re playing on. I used this last week in Colonial Williamsburg, where I played the Gold, Green and Spotswood courses and while I was on the Gold course, it was displaying information for the Green Course, which was three miles away. This was pretty frustrating and I couldn’t get it to find the Gold Course. When I was on the Green Course, however, it displayed the correct information. It would be nice if they had a feature where you could select which course you were on, in the event that more than one course was within close proximity.

So far, I’ve played three courses on a single charge and still have about 1/2 battery life available. It’s a pretty basic unit, so if you’re looking for more in depth hole information, other than distances to the green, this isn’t the golf GPS for you, but if you’re looking for something easy to use, requiring no setup or maintenance, the Swami 3000 is right up your alley.

The fellas over at Touch Golf Designs have come out with a pretty cool Iphone golf app called Animal Coins Golf. If you enjoy putting a couple bucks down during a round with your friends or strangers on the golf course, this is an Iphone App worth checking out.

It’s for two to four players and it can be set for a quick nine holes or a full 18. There are 11 animal coins total and each coin is assigned a dollar value. Players “earn” animal coins in a variety of different ways and the player holds on to the coin until another member of the group commits the same folly, at which point, the coin is reassigned. Below are the animal coins and how they’re acquired.

• Gorilla – Hit the ball out of bounds
• Camel – Hit the ball into a bunker
• Snake – Three putts on one hole
• Fish – Hit the ball into a water hazard
• Beaver – The ball hits a tree
• Rabbit – The ball hits a cart path
• Skunk – Triple bogey or worse
• Birdie – Birdie or better
• Gopher – Lost or unplayable ball that’s not out of bounds or in a water hazard
• Goat – The ball is hit into a different fairway
• Wildcat – Your call. Any errant shot you want it to be.

It’s a real simple process to get the app setup, just select number of holes, number of players, $ amount of the coins and which coins will be used during the round. The rest is trying not to play bad golf, which, funny enough, is what most of us try to do anyway..

Payouts are calculated after both nine and 18 holes and there’s a double payout option you can turn on, which takes effect if a player holds all the coins at the turn and at the end of the round.

Couple things I didn’t like.. The birdie coin doesn’t have a value, positive or negative, I figure if it’s there and it can be selected, it should be worth something. It’s an app designed for the Iphone and as such, it doesn’t have the rotating function that many apps have. I don’t have an Iphone, so I played with it on the Ipad and it was slightly annoying having to turn it upright each time I wanted to make a correction. Yeah, Apple (R.I.P Steve Jobs) has spoiled us all..

Lastly, I would love the option to save previous rounds and share them on the social networks, which presently Animal Coins lacks.

Having said that though, the Iphone app is only $1.99 and it’s intuitively designed.

Below is a youtube video demo of the app, check it out and let me know what you think.

Have a custom club fitting question? Visit our Ask the Fitter page, post your question and you’ll be entered to win a free custom club fitting from the TaylorMade Performance Lab!

The 2011 PGA Championship kicks off tomorrow and if you’re like me, you probably have to check in with the task master and put in a hard days labor instead of kicking back on the couch eyes glued to the tournament with a cold brew in your hand.

Fear not my friends, for they’ve provided us with two ways to check out all the action. If you’ve got an Ipad or Iphone, there’s a free golf app download for the 93rd PGA Championship where you can watch live action from the Atlanta Athletic Club.

Through the app, you’ll be able to watch every shot from the Marquee Group as well as the entire field play through the four Par-3 holes of the 2011 PGA Championship. Live coverage is taking place Thursday – Sunday, free-O-charge. Might want to go ahead and upgrade your Apple data plan for this month!

For iPhone users only, you can setup and receive alerts for up to five players and breaking news alerts from around the course.

There’s a custom leaderboard option where you can add or remove your favorite players and see how they’re faring out at Atlanta Athletic Club.

For those attending the tournament, there’s an on-course features for spectators where you can locate your favorite player, get spectator alerts and follow the live action coverage blog.

You can download the 2011 PGA Championship Iphone/Ipad App here.

If you don’t have an apple mobile device, and unlike me, your office doesn’t firewall streaming video, you can catch all the action starting tomorrow through online streaming.

Online streaming of the 93rd PGA Championship entails the same live video as the golf app, that is the marquee groups and the four Par-3 holes.

In addition, they’ve setup a 360 degree camera  that provides a panoramic look and natural sounds of the Atlanta Athletic Club!

My favorite feature of the online streaming is the “snap and share.” This option allows you to “snap and share” any of your favorite video clips from the TNT broadcast or the PGA Championship Live video stream and share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Pretty sweet right?

For those working stiffs like me who don’t have the luxury of watching the Masters Tournament from start to finish in the comfort of your own home, the  2011 Masters Tournament Golf iPad App will be the best $1.99 you’ve ever spent.

It has a ton of good content that will be updated frequently for you to peruse on the go, on the throne or in your cube, with headphones, of course..

This content will be available over 3G or Wifi. In addition to the golf iPad App, it’ll also be available for download on the Iphone and Android phones.

You’ll be able to catch CBS’s live simulcast Saturday and Sunday coverage in full-screen HD.

In addition to this, there are eight other live streams of video coverage including:

• Wednesday’s Par 3 Contest
• Tournament Play at Amen Corner
• Tournament Play at Holes 15 and 16
• Two channels of featured groups on their play of the second nine
• Masters In-Depth – A live highlights channel during ESPN and CBS Broadcast
• Masters On The Range – special analysis from a live-streamed practice range showing Monday through Wednesday mornings
• Players press conference live from the press building

Other features of the 2011 Masters iPad App include a live leaderboard, on-demand video highlights, hole-by-hole course information complete with flyover videos and landmark highlights, a historical timeline from 1930-present, and Masters news coverage.

You can personalize the app and select your favorite players, who will then appear at the top of your customized leader board. For the players selected, you can also choose to receive real-time alerts on their tournament performance.

I spent the last hour watching all the highlight videos over wifi, which included Chairman Billy Payne’s 30 minute press conference and I didn’t experience a single delay in the video playback.

Some examples of the highlight videos presently available on the 2011 Masters iPad App are the history’s of the Par 3 Contest and Champions Dinner, Players to Watch, Amateur highlights and Player Interviews.

The Course section of iPad app details every hole with images, story about the hole, name and aerial flyover.

I have a feeling this app is going to make work much more bearable for the next two days!

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John Daly’s New Golf Bag

John Daly is nothing, if not creative and we’ll say experimental! The new Big Red Golf bag comes equipped with a flat screen that will display advertisements, music and video. No Beer taps though, since John Daly has given up drinking.

Very similar to Al Czervik’s Golf Bag from the 1980′s golf classic CaddyShack, just missing the phone, which, I suppose is no longer relevant, couldn’t tweet from Al’s phone anyway..

Wonder how much more the bag weighs now that it’s toting around a flat panel TV. Do you think he has to charge it for twelve hours prior to every round?

Have a custom club fitting question? Visit our Ask the Fitter page, post your question and you’ll be entered to win a free custom club fitting from the TaylorMade Performance Lab!

GolfMoolah is an Iphone and Ipad golf app that is designed to take all the guesswork out of betting on the golf course so you can focus on whooping your playing partners instead of scratching your head like a caveman trying to figure out who won what and who owes who.

Touted to be the #1 rated golf betting Ipad app, GolfMoolah provides comprehensive details and instructions on the ten most popular golf betting games.

The golf betting games the app supports are; Acey Deucey, Bingo Bango Bongo, Las Vegas, Nassau, Quota Points, Sixes, Skins, The Snake, Thirty-Two and Wolf.

Golfmoolah has a database of over 18,000 golf courses to choose from as well as the capability to add a golf course if you cannot locate it. as well as calculate and track your round and wagers according to your handicap.

GolfMoolah provides you access to over 18,000 golf courses with no annual fee and gives you the ability to add a course if it cannot be located.

SCORECARD FEATURES

- Automated scorecard tracks all wagers for multiple games
- Also use traditional scorecard for super easy scoring
- Keep score for unlimited amount of golfers
- Stroke score & Net score displayed
- Add any number of bets desired
- Score mode or money mode views for detailed standings
- Settle wagers via Paypal
- Email detailed scorecard & money scorecard for records
- Post handicap to GHIN
- View past rounds and money distributed for those rounds
- Adjusts strokes based on each player’s handicap
- Calculates course handicap for each golfer based on USGA rating & slope

Things I Likes:

No annual fee on the app and the robust course offerings.

Even if you’re not into betting on your golf games, the Iphone app is still useful as an electronic score keeper that easily uploads to the GHIN website.

I like that they added the ability to send payments to golf partners via paypal and for those who are into gloating, the fact that you can email the scorecard out.

All you have to do is enter your handicap and the app calculates the strokes per hole for each player.

The app has a slick interface, it’s a nice clean look and feel.

Things I Dislike:

The price, it’s $29.99 for the app, seems a bit expensive considering you can get most of the information online for free and there are some free scorecard apps, although not as classy and well done as Golfmoolah.

There’s no nine hole only scorecard functionality.

Presently, there’s no android or blackberry versions of the product.

There’s no Ipad version of the app available, it can still be used on the Ipad, but it’s sized for the Iphone with the 1x & 2x button in the bottom right.

Overall it’s a great app with quite a few features available. You can download it for $29.99 from the Itunes app store.

Have a custom club fitting question? Visit our Ask the Fitter page, post your question and you’ll be entered to win a free custom club fitting from the TaylorMade Performance Lab!

Check out the newest addition to AB Golf Designs, the Count of Monte Fisto head cover. This newest design is sure to bring a tear to even the least patriotic golfer.

Designed to fit golf clubs from a 460cc driver to 160cc 3wood,  the Count of Monte Fisto is made of soft durable material that closely resembles genuine leather and has the US flag printed across the entire front with the letters USA on the cuff.

All materials in the Count of Monte Fisto are non toxic and flame retardant. Double stitching with top quality thread ensures product strength for a long life. The glove lining is produced from a polyester material very similar to sheepskin and provides excellent head protection. Durable elastic inside the cuff secures to a tight fit over the neck so that the cover will not fall off in the fairway or end up in the garage.  This product is surface washable with a damp cloth.

Maybe if the USA Team had the Count of Monte Fisto on their clubs during the 2010 Ryder Cup, the outcome would’ve been different. Well, at the very least, in a fit of rage, we could’ve whipped them off our club heads, put them on our fists and went to town on the Eurpoean team! It’s a multi-use product, as my wife can attest to. For the record, it wasn’t me, my two year old discovered it laying on the counter and decided to Apollo Creed my wife (not the dying Apollo..). I received an exasperated phone call detailing the encounter and, for the record, I couldn’t have been more proud!

I put it on my Cleveland Launcher DST Driver and although it doesn’t exactly “fit like a glove (ha.. ha..),” it serves it’s intended purpose. The shape of the Count of Monte Fisto prevents it from being an easy slip on and slip off operation. It takes a little effort to put it on all the way, but I think this will lessen the longer you use it.

Do you own a funky club head cover? If so, what’s in the bag??

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Back in early 2010, during the PGA Merchandise Show, I had the opportunity to interview Sumi-G, or more specifically, Tony Korologos,  who started working for the company after meeting them at the 2009 PGA Merchandise show. He also writes hookedongolfblog and is one helluva guy.

Sumi-G is a golf accessory company, who’s flagship products are the hybrid, fairway and driver head covers. They’ve put a big emphasis on durability and ease of use.

Features:

• Unique mechanical closure
• Convenient one-handed operation
• Rigid exoskeleton protects both club and shaft
• Easy to pick up from ground with club
• Fits right-handed clubs only
• Fits 460cc drivers (not all square clubs)
• Patented

They’re available in black and white and now offer customers the ability to customize the head covers with embroidered logos. It broke my heart when I found out that these puppies are right-handed only, because, how awesome would it be to have the OGB logo stitched on a white driver head cover?

The MSRP on the head covers is $38.00

In addition to club head covers, Sumi-G also offers a variety of golf accessories, such as bags, hats, scorecard wallets, towel brushes, divot tools, money clips and new this year, belts.

Sumi-G Dormie Belt

In an effort to get the word out about the belts, they sent me one to try out and review, as well as the towel brush, divot tool and money clip.

I was sent the Dormie – Black belt, and no, they do not give you supernatural Kung-Fu skills, regrettably…

Cool features of the belt

• It’s ambidextrous, meaning, it can be used by both right-handed golfers and left-handed golfers (hah.. sorry, couldn’t resist).
• The belt is a two tone , black on the outside, red on the inside, not presently reversible.
• It’s a high quality belt, made out of good thick leather.
• On the buckle, there’s a removable ball marker that’s attached to the buckle by a magnet. This frees up having to fumble for it on your glove or digging through your pocket of tees, change and golf balls to find one. This ball marker is interchangeable with the ball marker on the Sumi-G divot tool.
• The belt comes with two additional ball markers.

The belt is awesome and eye catching, I noticed more than one pair of eyes glancing down to check out the buckle, at least, I think that’s what they were checking out..

There’s a few things I noticed, that one should be aware of. The thickness of the belt caused me problems when I wore it with slacks. It was too wide and I had to muscle the belt tip through the loop on the second pass.

The mirror finish on the buckle is beautiful, but it shows fingerprints and smudges. Lastly, and this is something they’re working on, the buckles/belts aren’t interchangeable, which will be a great feature.

The MSRP for the Dormy is $85.

Sumi-G Divot Tool

The Sumi-G divot tool will leave your ball marks quaking in their depressions. It’s not one of those flimsy plastic numbers, it’s made from sculpted forged stainless steel.

It’s innovative design has prongs that are curved and angled to make repairing divots simple and less harsh on your favorite putting surfaces.

It’s large enough to handle your best(or worst, however you want to view it) divots, but also small enough so it doesn’t leave puncture wounds in your thigh when carrying it in your pocket.

The divot tool is durable enough to last a lifetime, assuming of course, that it doesn’t get lost in that black hole you call a golf bag.

The MSRP of the divot tool is $24.99.

Sumi-G Towel Brush

The Sumi-G towel brush, is, as the name might imply, a brush that’s used to clean grass, dirt, sand, pieces of skull, etc.. out of the grooves in your golf clubs.

This brush uses a V-cleat nautical fastening design to fasten it to the towel on your golf bag. Being the incredibly intelligent blogger than I am, I’m using this in conjunction with the Spotless Swing Golf Towel, so I can get the majority of the gunk off my club face with the brush and use the inside of the towel for the finer turf that’s missed.

It’s made out of forged stainless steel. Being the good product reviewer that I am, I had to test just how strong the V-cleat was. My golf bag was strapped onto the golf cart and my golf towel was attached to the bag by one of those latched metal rings. I pulled so hard that it broke the metal ring and sent me tumbling onto my backside. It’s a good thing my playing partners were in the clubhouse at the time..

The bristles are hard plastic so you don’t have to worry about your towel getting tangled and shredded by coming in contact with the Sumi-G towel brush.

The MSRP of the towel brush is $26.00.

Just in time for the summer heat, adidas releases it’s new line of FORMOTION ClimaCool golf shirts with CoolMax® Energy Fabric.

New FORMOTION ClimaCool performance fabric works with the body to maximize performance
and help golfers play every hole as strong as their first.

Adidas Golf, one of the leading global apparel brands in golf, has elevated the performance of its highly-successful ClimaCool line with the addition of CoolMax Energy fabric, a new concept in technology aimed at balancing a golfer’s body temperature and increasing comfort.

The new FORMOTION ClimaCool golf shirts made their debut on the PGA tour at Augusta.

These next-generation golf shirts with CoolMax Energy fabric utilizes scientifically-designed microfibers to improve airflow to the skin, resulting in extra cooling and ultimately more energy to play at peak performance long into a round. Highly-synthetic construction pulls sweat away from the body and increases micro-ventilation through strategically-placed mesh patterns under the arms and on the back.

“ClimaCool with CoolMax Energy does everything a traditional ClimaCool shirt does, plus a whole lot more,” says Patricia Dahan, Senior Director of Global apparel. We first took a look at our tour pros, who are wearing their shirts for sometimes 12 hours a day, and wanted to create a polo that performed throughout the entire round.

CoolMax Energy fabric has been specially-formulated to work with the body to be more efficient, and is one of the fastest drying garment fabrications available. From the stretch properties in the fit for optimal swing freedom, to special seam technology that minimizes irritation, to its cooling properties, this shirt has everything to maximize performance.”

Available in both Men’s and Women’s styles, FORMOTION ClimaCool with CoolMax Energy fabric is available at retailers now, in two body cuts: “R” for relaxed, which has a slightly-oversized fit throughout including sleeves and shoulders; and “L” for leaner, a form-fitting, sleek fit. All are moisture-wicking and come equipped with a UPF protection of 15+.

I was sent one of the FORMOTION ClimaCool golf shirts to try out and review. Being the studly golfer that i am, I asked for the leaner, form-fitting shirt. It fit really well in the shoulders and the sleeves were the perfect length. There’s nothing that irritates me more in a shirt than if the sleeves are too long or too short. If they’re too long, I find that it can sometimes catch your elbow during a golf swing and if they’re too short, I find that they ride up my arm and bunch up in the pits.

The leaner fit design performs as expected and if you’re at all self-conscious about your midsection and slightly expanded girth, you probably want to avoid this cut. Because of the shirts lighter, thinner material and the leaner cut, it shows every imperfection ones body might be suffering. Conversely, if you’re packing a washboard under your shirt, it’ll display it proudly for all the world to see! I, unfortunately, am not…

The leaner fit is also a good cut if you’re looking for a golf shirt that you can pull off both tucked in and un-tucked.

I’ve logged five rounds with the adidas FORMOTION ClimaCool golf shirt and I believe it lives up to it’s claim of being breathable and moisture-wicking. The shirt does a good job of regulating body temperature, but it hasn’t been my experience that it helps you maintain peak performance throughout the entire round.

I played a round wearing the shirt on an especially hot Florida day and by the end of the round, even with the CoolMax technology I was utterly exausted and to make matters worse… I lost the round.

The shirt is well constructed and stylish and I was especially impressed with the shirt seams, they’re well constructed and able to withstand even the most overzealous fan tugging on your shirt.

Like I mentioned previously, overall, the shirt is great, but there’s one thing that disappointed me about the shirt. After two washes the FORMOTION decal on the left sleeve started peeling off. It looks like a professional version of those iron-on screens that you find ever present at family reunions.

Now, the peeling off of the decal doesn’t diminish the structural integrity of the shirt, I’m just a bit dismayed that a shirt with an MSRP ranging between $60 – $80 would have such a flaw.

Perhaps I just received a lemon…

Next time you’re in the local golf shop swing by the golf shirt section and take a look at the FORMOTION ClimaCool with CoolMax shirts, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

Your thoughts?

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