What I learned using Harccos next generation game tracking

Arccos Golf released new hardware this year with the introduction of the Arccos Air tracking device, and the official launch of the Arccos Smart Laser that connects to the Arccos app to give you real-time distances to pin greens. Both devices work in tandem to give you a seamless game tracking experience while providing you with your game details.

I’ve used both devices for three rounds of play now. Here’s what you need to know.

1. The laser is much cooler than I thought

The Smart Laser scared me. I had no knowledge of the product going into my first round of playing with it, and I was willing to go with the flow and kind of find the laser features naturally. Now, I’m caught.

Along with the app, the Smart Laser is probably the coolest piece of golf gear I’ve used in a long time. The way it works with the app is to get the weather, GPS and smart distance information the app has collected and display that inside the range finder as a “Smart Distance” pin. When you lock a pin it also uses that GPS information to mark when the pin is green. This can be very useful when playing new courses, or when approaching shots with blinds or greens.

It combines Smart Distance with the pin location in the app, it can measure your best chances of success by using a scatter plot to show you where you usually miss and the “correct” miss for that shot line. All this information together helps you choose a target with confidence.

I haven’t played a round without the Smart Laser and the app since I got it, and I’m not sure I ever want to again.

2. Major improvements

I was an early Arccos adapter but I couldn’t go in all round without worrying about tracking. Club sensors can get damaged, dirty or misaligned, and I spent a lot of time on my phone during the round checking the app to make sure it was tracking.

Arccos was not ashamed of this, and they knew that things needed to get better. If they were going to introduce a sensorless tracking unit, they had to ensure that it would work continuously. The good news? So far so good. The only shot my Air missed was the first one – and it was because I accidentally left the unit in my golf cart. I will be responsible for that.

That being said, one thing you want to keep on top of for the first few rounds with new hardware is club tracking. Since there are no more dedicated club trackers, you have to let Arccos know which clubs you’re hitting in the first few rounds.

Remember, the data earned is not measured by club, it is measured by distance. Making sure you track every shot attached to the club will help the app build smarter ranges and allow Arccos Ai to more accurately predict which club you’re hitting. This isn’t important for full shots – Arccos was predicting those clubs based on my distance off the tee in the first round – but if you’re a runaway, wind up player or often use a different club for your distance, club tracking will be useful down the road for Arccos to learn. It doesn’t affect your stats at all, but many players like to have team experience.

Arccos Air

Arccos Air is a compact AI wearable, smaller than an Airpod case, that attaches to your belt or slides into your pocket. Built-in motion sensors and GPS detect every shot automatically, powered by AI trained on 1.5 billion real golf shots. There is no need for nerves in your groups. No phone required. Just play your round while Arccos captures everything in the background.

3. It really helps

Right now I’m struggling pretty badly, and I have mechanical things to consider, so I wasn’t really hoping to learn anything from this, especially after just three rounds. But boy was I wrong.

I think the biggest trigger for me is that my driver isn’t that bad, at least not compared to the rest of my game at the moment. I really wanted to blame my current driver problems for all my problems, but with Arccos, I can’t. Off the tee and on the greens I lose about 2 strokes compared to a scratch golfer. In my approach and short game I lose 3 strokes to a beginner golfer. It is very important to have Arccos data to provide this answer.

Arccos lists my number 1 opportunity (a fancy way of saying what you’re wrong about) as getting rid of driver fines. (OK, now I would go back to blaming the driver.) I lose two strokes to a beginner golfer just because of penalties off the tee. Simple fix, don’t hit the ball out of bounds. My second and third chance? Losing 2 strokes from a poor shot (driving accuracy) and a 25-50 yard chip shot (surprised me). Arccos lists my No. 1 strength as distance off the tee, getting half a shot, and my No. 1 strength. 2 as shots from the fairway.

I’m looking forward

So far so good with the new Arccos hardware. The Smart Laser is very impressive, and the Air works very well, as it hasn’t missed a shot since I started using the device. You want to make sure you keep tabs on the app for the first few rounds you play while Arccos helps learn your game, especially if tracking club distance is important to you, but the app learns very quickly.

The goal now is to continue using Arccos when I play so that I can go deeper into my game and see the key areas for improvement. Maybe I’ll do that upgrade using the machines but you never know – I might as well take a course.

If you’d like to purchase some Arccos hardware for yourself, visit arccosgolf.com and use the code GOLFMAG15 at checkout to get a great discount.