SkyCaddie SG4 GPS device
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Since the advent of breeze block-sized mobile phones, in the early 1990s, technology has moved on apace and everything has become smaller, neater and with lots more features. Many of us now have satellite navigation systems in our cars and, more recently, also in our golf bags.
One of the latest golf GPS systems - a relatively new phenomenon - is the Skycaddie SG4, which calculates your position on the golf course by cross-checking with a number of satellites constantly circling our earth and gives precise yardages to pre-mapped targets.
A team of technicians have been countrywide measuring hundreds of courses on SkyCaddie's behalf, enabling golfers to downloads via the internet details of the course they want to play. The result is an electronic yardage chart, in your pocket, attached to your bag or the golf buggy.
I play most of my golf at Lichfield Golf and Country Club in Staffordshire (formerly Seedy Mill), which is one of the courses on the SkyCaddie register and the SG4 was able to measure my position on any part of the course to various targets, negating the need to pace distances while helping remove guesswork from club selection.
I was given distances to the front, centre and back of any green, the carry required for hazards (to the front or back of them), so I knew the risks of taking them on, and it also gave me yardages to the point where I might run out of fairway on a dogleg hole.
With the aid of the advanced menu, I can change the lay-ups to suit my own game, depending on what club I'm most comfortable with, making approach shots. It even maps a new course I play for the first time, so I'll be better prepared next time.
While some holes at Lichfield are quite accurately marked with stakes identifying for example, 150 yards to the front or middle of the green others, judging by the SkyCaddie, are inaccurate enough to make wrong club selection an almost certainty.
At first glance the instruction booklet appears daunting but, like a new mobile phone, it quickly becomes a firm friend for any needed reference. Once I'd taken it to the course for a quiet round or two, I quickly understood its language.
As well as different views from which to choose for each hole - from the simplest distance to the centre of the green, to various carry yardages - the graphics are well defined and easy to understand with contrast options for varying light conditions and even a backlight as a further visual aid.
A particularly neat feature is a button I click to discover how far I hit my drive, various irons or wedges. By depressing the button at the point of impact I press it again when I reach my ball, eventually providing vital evidence of average distances for each club in my bag.
However, it also reveals that instead of the 280-yard drives, was convinced I struck consistently, the REAL distance is a measly 240. Ego deflated, with note to self: 'must visit fitness trailer!'
I've been lucky enough to be swinging quite well while reviewing the SG4 for Golfmagic and the information it has provided has led to some good scores. It is so easy to walk up to the ball (particularly if you are off line from the tee and have no reference point). I can now get an accurate yardage to my relevant target, choose my club and hit the shot, making SkyCaddie a big time-saver.
I'm told it's used extensively during practice rounds on the Europro Tour (Rules disallow it's use during competition rounds) though many courses, which already have GPS-fitted buggies, allow its use in ordinary club competition. Frankly, it doesn't make much sense not to.
