SkyCaddie: 'other GPS products could hurt your game'

To pay or not to pay – that is often the question.

And that is the decision facing golfers when buying GPS devices. Choose a “free mapping” service – from the likes of Golf Buddy or Garmin – or opt to pay extra membership fees with brands such as SkyCaddie, which charges up to £30 per annum.

While some may resent having to delve back into their wallet after shelling out for a GPS product, SkyCaddie are keen to stress the benefits – namely accuracy.

While other brands use satellite imagery for yardages, SkyCaddie have trained staff that continually survey courses to ensure their stats are spot on.

In fact, research has shown that some of SkyCaddie's competitors have not updated their maps for over seven years, and are missing crucial course changes.

Suddenly £30 doesn't seem like a bad deal?

Ken Heathcote, owner of Oxfordshire golf club Studley Wood GC, said: “Their devotion to accuracy is why I am sold on SkyCaddie – I have never yet found a mistake on one. In life, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, so if your GPS device proclaims ‘free maps for life’ in its marketing, then you can be sure that you are sacrificing accuracy.”

“Total, trustworthy SkyCaddie accuracy matters to our customers which is why in 2016 we have revisited hundreds of UK golf courses to re-survey them on foot, updating their course maps – at least one for every day of the year, in fact,” said SkyCaddie’s EMEA Course Enablement Manager Steve Winstone.

“Plus we updated course information in 2016 at many more clubs across Europe and the Middle East, always visiting in person, always with the golf club’s permission, and always painstakingly walking the parts of the golf course which have changed.

“Golfers and retailers need to be aware that some of the GPS products out there could in fact hurt a player’s game.”

Walking a course usually takes around three hours, but the most extensive update this year was at Turnberry, taking 10 hours.

SkyCaddie are currently appealing to every course in the UK that has made changes to their track, to let them know in order to update their system.

Head to this webpage to let SkyCaddie know about course alterations.

“Ideally we like to hear from golf clubs when they are still in the planning stage for their course alterations” said Winstone.

“So whether you are still planning, or are in construction, or have already finished your course works, please let us know – the sooner, the better. We hope to hear from every club in the UK which is altering its golf course, however big or small those changes are.

Head to the SkyCaddie website for more.