I play golf regularly and most of my play is on my home course. A few years ago I noticed that some players started using GPS devices to tell how far they were the green. At several hundred dollars it seemed like an expensive toy to me.
Then I got my iphone and discovered that that there were several iphone apps that did something similar. One is even called freecaddie. Wow! I thought. So I went about downloading and setting up the app. There are both a free and paid app, the paid has more features.
Along with installing the app you also need to install the data for your course. Since my course was not on the list of existing courses in the system, I had to make it. The web site has a really neat tool for doing so which involves finding the course via satellite camera and making the front, middle, and back of each green. You can mark hazards and other features as well. With everything loaded I went to play on Saturday.
Everything worked pretty well. For the most part my distances seemed correct. One issue was that I had to deal with the phone, in and out of the bag. The more expensive devices have a way to attach them to at cart and while I walk I could have put the more expensive device on a friend's cart. The other problem is that I did one the holes incorrectly. The third problem is that I did need it as I know the distances well enough.
I thought I would correct the second problem, but then discovered that you have to have the paid version to edit a course. Since I don't really need my course, I have no reason to pay to edit it. I consider this a real mistake on the part of freecaddie since the more course that have mapped and the more accurate the maps, then the more valuable the product.
So here is my plan. I will uninstall freecaddie and the course map for my course. When I go on a trip and expect to play a new course, then I will find an app for that course and then probably buy the app that has the course file.
