Golfblogger

Today Blogger posted a Paul Azinger video clip.  This is actually part of the Golfplan with Paul Azinger app for iPhone/iPad.  That app is part of a suite of golfapp from a company called Shotzoom.

Shotzoom’s 3 apps are:
Golfshot ($30) - GPS and Score & Statistics keeper
Golfscape ($10) - A virtual heads-up display for the golf course to show you the distance and location of hazards and targets
Golfplan with Paul Azinger ($5) - uses the statistics gathered from Golfshot to build a training plan, complete with drills and howto videos

There is actually a fourth app - Tiger Woods My Swing.  However, I don’t think this is integrated with the other apps.

Golfshot and Golfplan are also both dual iPhone/iPad apps - as long as you use these under the same iTunes account, you only pay once to use them on both devices (and other iOS devices you have under your account).  Both are designed to fully use either platform - so much so, that the entire layout for Golfshot is adjusted for the larger format of the iPad.  With scorecards and statistics kept in your Shotzoom/Golfshot account, you can access your full record from either device.  I use Golfshot on the iPhone while I am playing to record statistics, and then I use Golfshot on the iPad to do my analysis - further, if you go to the web, there is an even deeper analysis you can perform. 

While generally, I will use a laser for targeting the flag, I will use Golfshot’s GPS for distances to other targets and hazards while I am playing, and for a quick glance to get the middle of the green distance if I think the flag is hugging a side of the green. 

Mostly, I use Golfshot for score and statistics keeping.  At the conclusion of your hole, you record your score, your putts, sand and penalty shots, what club you used from the tee, and then whether your tee shot was short, long, left, right, or a fairway hit.  All these statisics are then shown on your scorecard, and if you choose to, recorded for posterity and later retrieval on your Shotzoom account (free account).  The statistics are pretty detailed and will, when you provide your index, show how you compare to others of your index. 

You can also track your partners scores.  The default is to just record their score and putts, but you can, as you add contacts into the app, choose to record other stats as well.  If you have provided their email address (and you can pull from your iPhone contact list) - then it will email them a scorecard at the conclusion of the round.  You can also take a group picture.  The last option is if you wish to share your scorecard on Facebook or Twitter.

Golfshot itself is a very rich experience.  I did not play $30 for this, instead I got it long ago when it was less fully featured and was on a promo price, but if there is one app I would say is worth this price, it is Golfshot, even if it was just for iPhone.  The fact that it is a single buy for both iPhone and iPad makes it well worth the money.  As an iOS fan, I really appreciate when a company makes a single app for both devices - and when they do more than just make the screen larger it is a real treat.

This first iPhone screenshot is of the GPS functionality, where you can select a layup area and it tells you the distance to your target, and the distance from there to the green.

This next iPone screenshot is of the hole score/statistics screen.
I put in a par for this hole, with two putts, that is shown at the top.  This is reflective of the score I wish I had on Saturday.

Below that is shown the hole averages for everytime I have played this hole.  It doesn’t show one critical piece, which is that there are 12 recorded scorecards for this course, and that is where the average comes from.

It does display Fairways hit, GIR, Score and Putts.

This is a screenshot of the Analyze screen on an iPad. 
Analysis is broken into 5 areas, Driving (Fairways), Greens in Reg (GIR), Short Game, Bunkers, and Putting.

The program tells you for each area if you are better or worse than the average player for your Handicap Index. 

The lower portion of the screen shows a historical graph for all the categories, and the top right shows some charts showing your percentages against the average for your handicap index.

Further, there are two views, “Last 10 Rounds”, or “All Rounds”.  You can see for the last 10 rounds, I am pretty awesome.

When you select just one category, it removes some information, and then gives you some text in the lower left corner. 

For the last 10 rounds, my GIR is “Exceptional”.

However, if you looked at this screen before I updated the index (one missing feature, it doesn’t automatically pull your current index from GHIN) - on Saturday my index was 16.3, and it would tell you that my 39% GIR was “Phenomenal” compared to others with that index.  The bar for GIR was the same height as it is for Driving in that case.

Last iPad screen shows what happens when you select “All Rounds” while GIR is still selected.

What you can barely make out in the top right area is that my GIR is 27% for “All Rounds”,—This would still show “Better than Average” if I had in my index at 16.3, but at 13.1, it is merely Average. 

I need to keep that GIR climbing!

One of the features is posting to Facebook.  If you post a scorecard to facebook, this is the screen that people will see when they click the link. 

You can see all sorts of detail here.

One thing you don’t see here is that just below this page is the shot/club tracking.  If you choose to, you can track your distances with each club.  I usually only do a few shots.  What you would see here is that I uncorked a 284 yard drive on #3.  My shorty was a 218 yard drive on #7.  Yes, the wind was in play on Saturday.

switching over to Golfplan, when you select “Create GolfPlan”, it will go straight to my statistics and figure out that I need some drills for Putting and Short Game.

Once I go to my Golf Plan, Paul has some things for me to do right there on day one.  Three drills, and some other info.  His videos will help me to know what I am trying to do and achive.

Lastly is Golfscape.  This is the virtual heads up display for your Golf GPS.  You can launch it directly from Golfshot, and it will turn on your iPhone camera, then you hold up your iPhone in front of you and you can see the course through the camera lens, and then the various targets.

To be honest, this is way cool, but I don’t use it.  I probably would use it more if I didn’t play the same two courses all the time, but I know where all the hidden hazards are.  I really don’t use the GPS feature of Golfshot all that much.

If they asked me, I would tell Shotzoom they have the pricing on Golfplan and Golfscape backwards.  $10 for Golfscape really isn’t much, but for me, I can see $5 for Golfscape, and easily $10 for the Paul Azinger Golfplan app.  The value of the drills from Paul Azinger is WAY more than $5.