golf
Latest
OptiShot2 is a fun golf sim that also improves your game
If you have creeping doubts about your golf game, there's a $500 sim that lets you swing real clubs in your house. Yep, your pets and furniture will need to make way for the OptiShot2, which gives you online play, simulated championship courses and instant practice feedback. You hook it up to a Mac or PC, download the software and swing away. The infrared sensors accurately track your swing while the simulated courses and online competition add a gaming-like fun factor. But $500 is a lot of money for a video game and sensor, so I want more than just fun; I also want to get better. Luckily, the OptiShot delivers both of those things.
Volkswagen's latest 'Gran Turismo' concept is a 500HP hatchback
For those who think Volkswagen's Golf GTI and Golf R hot hatches just aren't "hot" enough, the carmaker's latest virtual concept for Gran Turismo 6 (PlayStation 3) may be up your alley. The GTI Supersport Vision Gran Turismo offers up more than 500 horsepower in a hunkered-down, all-wheel-drive, two-door hatch that's slightly faster than its real-world inspiration. In fact, the carmaker says this virtual concept can hit 62MPH (100KPH) in about 3.6 seconds.
PGA Tour's second-screen iPad app bombards you with stats, video
Even the most ardent golf fan would admit that sometimes tournament telecasts aren't exactly action-packed. The PGA Tour is trying to do something about that with its new iPad app, available just in time for this week's World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship. The second-screen app compliments the live action, giving you shot-by-shot coverage of players or groups, all overlaid onto a graphic of each hole. On top of all the stats you'd ever want (drive length, distance to hole, etc.) the app even gives predictive stats, showing how likely Rory McIlroy is to make that 25-foot putt he's facing, for instance.
Tiger Woods on how technology improved his signature shoe
Nike's endorsement of Tiger Woods, the most prominent face in golf, dates back to when he first began his professional career in 1996. Since then, shoe technology has evolved tremendously, thanks to the development of new design materials that have made footwear lighter and more comfortable. To that end, Nike has introduced the TW '15, Woods' latest signature shoe. Unlike in previous versions, though, this release brings Flyweave technology to the table, a first for golf shoes. For the uninitiated, Flyweave made its debut on basketball shoes last year, with the promise of being lightweight, flexible and stable. All of which are important for golfers, too. But just how much can the TW '15 really help get Tiger Woods back on top? After all, he hasn't won a major tournament since 2008. And, perhaps more importantly, can this $200 sneaker really help the average Joe who wants to take their golf game to the next level? To answer these questions, we spoke to Woods and Nike Senior Director of Athlete Innovation Tobie Hatfield.
Epson's first fitness trackers reach the US
After a brief wait, Epson's first batch of fitness trackers is reaching the US. To get things started, it's launching a new golf swing analyzer (the not so elegantly titled M-Tracer MT500GTII, below) that attaches to your club's grip and sends real-time feedback to your phone, ranging from the swing path to the ball impact. It'll arrive in stores in March for $299. The company's Runsense GPS watches are coming along for the ride, although you won't have the option of the basic SF-310 that launched in the UK. Instead, you'll have to consider the stride-tracking SF-510, altitude-aware SF-710 and heart rate monitor-equipped SF-810 (above) when the lineup ships sometime in the second quarter of the year. With prices between $250 and $350, they're squarely in competition with watches from the likes of Garmin and TomTom -- you'll want to comparison shop before you commit to buying sport-minded wristwear.
Better swing and lower scores with Golf Training Guru
You will find plenty of apps available claiming to be the best way to improve your golf game and end up with lower scores. Golf Training Guru is another one of those apps. The app is free right now under a "Special Launch Pricing Limited Offer" and runs on all your devices with iOS 4.3 or later. Although the app is currently free, it offers a number of in app purchases for more instructional videos. I did not find any mention of how long you can download the basic app for free. The version I downloaded lists five areas under My Lessons with a total of thirteen short instructional videos. The five areas are The 12 Swing Principles, Top Ten Faults and Fixes, Driving, Distance, and Ball Control, Chipping and Bunker Mastering, and Putt Like a Pro. Under The Twelve Swing Principles the app only covers three of those, Perfect Posture, Good Grip vs Bad Grip, and Width of Stance. If you want to see the rest you need to purchase the complete video instructional series for US$12.99 or individual videos for US$1.99. The same holds true for the remaining four areas. Users can only see a couple of the instructional videos unless they make an in app purchase for the rest. Or you can purchase the entire five courses for US$29.99. I watched most of the free instructional videos. They are short but well shot and can be helpful. The information is reliable and offers some insight and tips that can, with practice, improve your game. For example one of the videos in the putting area discusses a drill that is intended to make you a better short putter. The instructor places two tees at the front left and right edges of a hole on the practice green which narrows the space the ball can fall into the cup. The idea is to narrow the golfer's focus so he can consistently make putts in the smaller opening. That should make putting during a round with a normal hole that much easier. Overall I think beginning golfers will benefit from using the Golf Training Guru app without making any of the in app purchases however if you really want to delve into your golf swing and find ways to see major improvements you will need to open your wallet and buy the complete five lesson course. Or you can investigate further and check out other apps to find one that offers more complete swing instructions without a large fee attached.
Lose fewer balls with Golf Ball Finder
Under the rules of golf, a lost ball means you take a one shot penalty and go back to the spot you hit the shot from and play a second ball. All that takes time and frustrates your playing partners. If you are like me and my playing companions we forego going back, just take a penalty and move on but those penalties add up as does the cost of replacing the lost balls. So if you tend to spray the ball around the course and your foursome spends a lot of time looking for golf balls, download Golf Ball Finder. This free universal app runs on iOS 6.0 or later. The app utilizes the camera in your phone and adds a special blue filter that makes golf balls stand out against the background. The ground on a course consists of dirt, grass, twigs, leaves, etc. These are mostly colored in shades of brown, green, and black. The special blue filter in Golf Ball Finder cuts out all the light reflecting from those items and leaves just the blue end of the spectrum. With all of those particular wavelengths eliminated, it leaves the white of the golf ball to be highlighted and become much more visible. As you can see in the picture above, your camera screen will be all blue but the two white golf balls are clearly visible while other items such as grass and leaves are just dark areas. So when you are unsure just where you ball is, start the app and aim the camera in the general area you think the ball will be found. The blue filter eliminates the greens of the grass and browns of dried grass and dirt and highlights to golf balls. The app offers a couple of adjustments too. One is for sky conditions and allows users to go from bright and sunny skies to duller move overcast ones. Users can also adjust for the grass and foliage in the area. I think Golf Ball Finder does what it sets out to do in many instances but doesn't mean you will never lose another golf ball. To be seen the balls need to be visible to the camera so balls hit into tall grass or bushes will be a problem. Additionally during my testing with the sun at my back I had issues seeing anything once the blue screen was up. I could see the normal screens on the app but once I popped up the blue screen all I saw was a dark screen even though the camera was pointed directly at my two golf balls. The best way to stop losing balls is to practice more and keep the ball on the short grass. Until then, Golf Ball Finder might be able to cut down on lost balls and strokes.
Settle those sports arguments with Who Won Sports
Many of us love to argue or rather have animated discussions about a variety of topics, politics, religion, where to go for the best hamburger and the king of argument starters: Sports. Now with Who Won Sports you and your friends can settle those disagreements by just pulling out your phone and using this free universal app. Who Won Sports is a simple app that tells you at a glance just what the name implies, who won. You will find team championships, individual award winners and more for all the major sports. Choose your sport, then select which category you want and Who Won Sports in most cases, provides you with a list of winners by year going back as far back as the beginning of the competition or as long as the award has been given. In the baseball category you can choose from twenty-two different championships or awards. You will find World Series winners going back to 1903, Cy Young winners, home run champs, Gold Glove winners, Manager of the Year awards for both leagues and many more including the winners of the College World Series in Omaha and the first player picked in the annual amateur draft held each summer. Did you know Rick Monday was the very first player picked back in 1965? You would if you had Who Won Sports. Overall the app has eight categories from which to choose: baseball, football, basketball, soccer, tennis, golf, hockey, and the Canadian Football League. Golf and tennis feature the four grand slam events in each sport. Tennis includes the Women's winners but no LPGA winners in golf. However the app does include Ryder Cup winners. Who Won Sports makes it much easier to access all this data than using a browser and search engine on your phone. The navigation within the app is a breeze. However I did find a couple of issues that troubled me. For baseball and hockey you will get the winners in whatever year you select but nothing about which team they beat or how many games the series took. However, in the NBA you get a paragraph detailing the outcome of the series and the number of games. In the football category the listing is for NFL Champions but only goes back to the first Super Bowl in 1967. For each winner it tells you what number Super Bowl it was, where it was played and the two teams that played. Why do they provide more details for two of the sports but not the others? Also what about all the NFL Championship games that were played before the Super Bowl started. And what about the American Football League? After all without the success of the AFL, we would have never had a Super Bowl. A little more attention and information would have made this app more complete. I believe you will find Who Won Sports a handy app to keep on your phone and for the most part it will settle a lot of discussions about who won what. You won't find the answer to who is the greatest NFL quarterback of all time but you can see who won the 1928 Stanley Cup if that become important - It was the New York Rangers if you need to know.
Book your next golf outing with OpenTee
OpenTee provides users with access to tee times at thousands of golf courses throughout North America with no additional booking fees. You just pay for your golf. The free universal app runs on iOS 7.1 or later. The app works with or without users logging in but there are some advantages to logging in. You can sign up in the app or your current logins from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or google+. Once logged in you can set up your tee times. Users will find thousands of available golf courses to choose from. OpenTee brings up a list of courses near your current location based on the GPS in your phone, or you can choose from another list of major US cities, or a user can enter a specific community or golf course. If you registered you can then save your favorite courses for later use. Now it's back to the home page where the user enters how many players, the date you wish to play and an approximation of when you want to tee off. The app then searches and brings up all the available courses with tee times that fit your needs. You can select the courses one at a time to find a tee time that matches your time preference and shows you what the cost is. In addition to this information, OpenTee provides photos of most of the courses, a scorecard to check yardages from the various tees, and any reviews of the course written by other users. Once you have played a course you can also upload a review of your experiences at that course to inform others. One additional feature available on that page is a map showing the location of the golf course and driving directions from your current location. I checked out the prices listed for a few of the courses locally and in another location. I compared the OpenTee prices to the available time and prices on golfnow.com, one of the better known national web sites for booking tee times around the US. The prices on both were the same in most instances although not all the same tee times were listed for the dates and courses I checked. Plenty of times were available so that should not be a problem. I did notice one difference which probably plays a factor only in Las Vegas where I live. Local residents get discounted fees at most of the Las Vegas courses and those were indicated on the golfnow.com site, but not in OpenTee. Some of the tee times are only available to local players and those tee times were also not listed in OpenTee so if you are a Las Vegas local player you would not get as much use locally as you will away from home. However, for the rest of you OpenTee provides an easy informative way to book golf tee times.
Improve your score with PocketPro Short Game Golf
Years ago I played with an older friend who consistently beat me on the golf course. He couldn't hit the ball nearly as far as I did, but he never three putted and always got the ball close from around the green. All golfers can cut several shots off their scores by having a good short game. PocketPro Short Game Golf provides users with a series of chipping, pitching, and putting exercises aimed at improving their short games. The free universal app requires iOS 7.0. The app offers two sections, one for putting and the other for chipping and pitching. In that segment you will find eight different training exercises that allow you to work on various parts of your short game. Each exercise comes with an accompanying video demonstrating how to do each drill. The eight exercises start further away from the hole and move closer. First is the 55 yard pitch, then a pitch from 30 yards followed by two chipping drills, two close in pitches, one high and one low, and finally a couple of bunker shots. The app has a system for the users to score points on each shot. For example users get 4 points for making a shot, three if they are able to get the ball within three feet, two for further 3-6 feet, and one point for 6-9 feet. Users take ten shots in each of the eight drills and total your points once you finish. Record your score as you complete each exercise and the app tracks how you did so that the next time you do the drill you have a score to try and beat. The putting section works basically the same way. It is made up of five drills, putting with a left to right break, putting with a right to left break, working on uphill and downhill puts, trying to eliminate three putt greens, and getting long putts close to the hole. Again in each drill the users will take multiple balls, place them on the green and putt until the exercise in complete. The scoring system is similar to the pitching drills. Overall the drills in PocketPro Short Game Golf are not unique and similar practice drills can be found in any number of instructional apps or books. I could do similar drills on my own without the app but by keeping score it adds a competitive angle to using the app. The only real way to improve any aspect of your game is through a lot of practice. Using PocketPro Short Game Golf as a practice aid will make your practice sessions more enjoyable and mean you are more likely to put in the time necessary for real improvement.
Zepp's tennis and golf swing sensor arrives in UK stores for £130
Zepp's 3D motion sensor has been analysing tennis swings and improving golf games in the US for the past year, and now it's arrived in the UK to tell us how bad we are at sports. The small Bluetooth-equipped sensor clings to the bottom of your tennis racquet, or attaches to your golf glove, and sends all kinds of data about your wild swings to companion Android and iOS apps. The info it records is tailored to whichever sport you're playing -- not that the links are particularly welcoming this time of year -- with the idea that insight into your game will help improve it. The golf app is especially geared towards lowering your handicap, with various training resources and a feature that lets you compare your swing to those of professionals. Both the golf and tennis versions are now available at Apple, Curry's, PC World, Argos and John Lewis stores for £130 a piece.
Avid Watch sports smartwatch launches on Kickstarter: A first look
Fitness wearables are the hot thing now, with a surprising number of new entrants rushing into the world where only Fitbit used to tread. Today, Vancouver-based AvidSport launched a Kickstarter campaign to get a new sports smartwatch called Avid Watch into production and in stores by April of 2015. What's different about Avid Watch? A lot of things. Sure, the watch itself has connectivity to your iPhone and there's an app for tracking your activity and changing settings -- many sports smartwatches have that capability. But the Avid Watch has built-in functions not only for running and walking, but cycling and golf as well. To enable tracking of your rides, runs, or golf rounds, Avid Watch comes with a separate wrist-borne device -- Avid Track -- so that you don't need to have your iPhone with you for GPS capabilities. With that short explanation out of the way, let's talk a bit about the pre-production device that I was able to test recently. Design The Avid Watch follows the tried and true design meme that seems to follow most smartwatches: it's a boxy little device, equipped out of the box with a flexible hypoallergenic silicone band. The band is about an inch wide and very comfortable on extended wear, and if you wish to, you can replace it with any other band you desire. The case of the watch is made of anodized aluminum, and there's a very useful display for telling you everything you'll need to know. That case is 1.48 inches wide at its widest point, and 1.67 inches high. It's about .48 inches thick. There are four buttons on the device - one on the top left side, three others spaced equally on the right side. While the left button is used to power the watch on and off, the buttons on the right are used to navigate the user interface. This makes it much easier to move through the various screens -- that was one of the major problems I had with Wellograph. Like Wellograph, the Avid Watch uses a monochrome display with a backlight that can be turned on with a push of the power button. The display is 1.26 inches diagonal, with 144 x 168 pixels resolution. The Avid Watch has a number of watch displays that you can choose from, and the watch is automatically set to your local time upon syncing it to your iPhone for the first time. The device also displays local weather by showing an icon (sun, cloud, etc...) and the temperature. I found the Avid Watch display to be much more readable under a variety of lighting conditions than the Wellograph. Unlike the Avid Watch, the Avid Track has no display and features a bright silicone band (yellow on my test device) and case with a black top. There's one button on the device that's used to pair it with your iPhone or Avid Watch, and an LED to indicate status (red for charging, blue for on/pairing). Both devices come with magnetic charging cables; the one for the watch is more like a dock, while the other simply latches to the back of the Avid Track. Let it be known that I am not a fan of magnetic charging cables ever since I had one latch onto another plugged-in USB cable, short out, and melt the cable... Let's hear it for inductive chargers! The battery is designed to last up to 41 days between charges if you're just using the Avid Watch as a timepiece. Use Bluetooth, and the battery life goes down to 4 days. In GPS mode (which I don't understand as the Watch doesn't have built-in GPS but uses Bluetooth to communicate with the iPhone or Avid Track), you'll get about 14 hours of life. Function Due to the short amount of time I had to test the device prior to writing this review, I can't say that I was able to give it the full workout. However, I was able to test its functionality as a step tracker and smartwatch, and even try the Avid Watch / Avid Track combo. I tested a pre-production unit, and on occasion it acted like one. For example, when I first tried to get the Avid Watch and Avid Track to pair via Bluetooth, they wouldn't connect. Other times, they synced almost immediately. My guess is that the first sync attempts were occurring inside my office where the GPS signal was nonexistent, and that was keeping things from working properly. As a smartwatch, the Avid Watch works as a wrist-mounted display to provide notifications. You'll see who calls are coming from, notifications of new mail or text messages, what's happening on your favorite social networks, reminders, and what's coming up on your calendar. One thing I could not figure out how to do is call up a history of the notifications for review. You can also do some rather fun things with the watch, like control music on your iPhone or use it as a remote shutter release for the camera on your phone. There's even a way to get your iPhone to buzz or chime if you've misplaced it, simply by pressing a button on the watch. With the accompanying RW700 app (free) on your iPhone, you're able to get a view of all of the workouts you've gone through, change settings, and send your tracked items to the Avidsport cloud. I was particularly fascinated with the golf function. According to the Avid Sports team, the watch comes with about 3,000 golf course layouts pre-loaded. For a specific hole, the Avid Watch calculates distance to the front, center and back of the green -- no more guessing. You can also use the device as an electronic scorecard by capturing stokes and penalties, then push the information to the RW700 app and on to the Avid Sport dashboard for further analysis. Upon linking the Avid Watch and Avid Track, then giving the devices a minute to think, I was greeted with a very accurate and complete list of local golf courses. Had I been on one of the courses -- and on the first hole -- I would have seen the distances to the green as well. What's the watch missing? As far as I can tell, there's no way for it to sense and track your heart rate (you can link a Bluetooth heart rate monitor to it, but that's yet another device). Although it can act as a notification device for a number of apps, it doesn't seem to have a developer API so that third-party developers can add new notifications -- perhaps that's done by the AvidSport team. There's also no sleep tracking capability, something that is popular with those who track their health religiously. To be honest, I'm confused about the entire idea of having a second "watch" (the Avid Track) for the GPS function. That idea is based on runners, cyclists, and golfers not wanting to carry their smartphones with them, yet this is something that most fitness fanatics have no problems doing since they want to listen to music or even take photos while out and about. By adding a second wrist device, the team is adding unneeded complexity to the design as the Watch has to be able to pair not only with the iPhone, but with another device as well. Although the Avid Watch/Avid Track combo is reasonably priced at CAD$189, not having the Avid Track would drop the price of the Watch alone into a realm that would be even more affordable. The Avid team does point out that you can still run without wearing Avid Track or pairing the device with a smartphone -- you just won't get a route record. Conclusion Since this is a Kickstarter campaign and there is obviously some work left to be done prior to the actual release of the product, I'm not going to provide one of our "star ratings" at this time. In summary, things I like about the Avid Watch include the easy-to-navigate user interface, the reasonable price point, the display clarity (especially in bright sunlight), and the multi-sport orientation. The main thing I'm not fond is the idea of wearing a second wristband to supply GPS, although that's a personal preference for me -- as we say in the blogging business, your mileage may vary if you don't always carry your smartphone with you. I noted during my recent review of the Wallograph that I wondered how anyone could even think about developing a smartwatch at this time when the twin gorillas in the room - Apple Watch and Android Wear -- are getting ready to unleash much more capable devices. Well, the Avid Watch is less expensive, and for a number of athletes it may be all they really need. As with all crowdfunding projects, the public will get to "vote" for the Avid Watch with their wallets. The team has a goal of raising CDN$150,000 in the next 30 days, and I wish them the best of luck - they're obviously talented, but just need a bit more time and money to polish up the rough edges. Especially if you're a golfer, the Avid Watch has a lot to offer.
Find out you hit best and worst clubs with MyGolf Caddie
Most golfers have a favorite club in their bag, one they feel confident to hit when they really need to pull off a good shot. Now with MyGolf Caddie golfers can find out more about just how they hit each of the clubs in their bag and gain confidence in all of them. MyGolf Caddie is a free universal app that works best with iOS 7.0 and later. The app allows golfers to track each of their golf shots during a round for distance and where the ball ends up and will create a data base for each club. First you need to identify each club in your bag. Give the club a name and descriptive term. For example Driver, 10.5 or Hybrid, 15 degrees. Golfers can create six different sets so if you sometimes switch clubs in your bag and put in an extra fairway wood or another wedge the app allows you to make up a set of clubs with those included. Once this set up is complete you are ready to move onto the golf course. Before you hit your opening tee shot, you set up Hole #1. Enter the yardage, hole number, and par for the hole. Now you are ready to go. Tap the "Mark" button to identify where you are hitting from, then the "Shoot" button, then hit your shot. When you get to where the ball landed, hit "Mark" again, save the shot, and you are ready for shot two. The GPS function on your phone and in the app records how far you hit the shot. Follow the same procedure for each shot off the green for the rest of the round. Once you are off the tee, you can choose your location from different lies for the remainder of you shots on that hole. These include fairway, rough, woods, water, bunker, fringe, etc. This info is also recorded so you will know where each shot landed at the end of the round. Once you play several rounds and gather data from those rounds, MyGolf Caddie will start recommending clubs for your next shot based on how you hit the clubs. The GPS also assists you throughout the round by letting you find distances to any spot on the course. You will get a map of the hole and by tapping and holding a spot on the map you can get a distance to that spot. This will help when you need to know how far it is to get over a bunker of lay up short of a water hazard. The goal behind MyGolf Caddie is to provide each golfer with a better assessment of just how you hit each club in the bag. If you find yourself with 150 yards to the hole you might think it's a seven iron but based on the data, the app will indicate you only hit your seven iron about 140 yards so you need to hit a six iron. The app uses actual shot distances rather then what we think our game is. I plan on giving this app a try and I recommend you do also.
TomTom has a new watch designed specifically for golfers
In perfect conjunction with the start of the Ryder Cup, TomTom couldn't have found a better time to introduce its new GPS-powered wearable. The watch, simply, and fittingly, named TomTom Golfer, is similar to Garmin's Approach line, featuring data for more than 34,000 courses. In addition to that, TomTom's Golfer is waterproof and can keep track of distance, score and time for every whole -- so long as the course you're playing at is supported. It can also send detailed information from the green areas right to your wrist, which could potentially lessen the chances of you taking a bad swing. It's available now on pre-order for £200 (around $325), with shipping on both models (black or white strap) expected to begin "within 30 days."
In time for Ryder Cup, Samsung lets golf fans in on new TV app
This year's Ryder Cup won't have Tiger Woods representing the US, although some people argue that this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Regardless, the tournament, which begins today, must go on. To make the experience better for golf enthusiasts, Samsung has teamed up with the PGA and Turner Sports to release a Ryder Cup app for its smart TVs, allowing viewers to switch between live video feeds (provided by NBC and the Golf Channel), see an up-to-the-minute leaderboard right on the screen and easily keep up with either Team USA or the European Team.
The official Ryder Cup 2014 app delivers live video coverage
The 2014 Ryder Cup gets underway this week with the actual matches scheduled for Friday through Sunday. The PGA of America just released Ryder Cup 2014, the official app of the competition. It is a free universal app that requires iOS 7.0 or later. Earlier I reviewed SportsFusion-the unofficial 2014 Ryder Cup news edition. The two apps offer a lot of similar information but since the PGA of America is the parent organization for the Ryder Cup matches you will find some items in its app not available to the SportsFusion app. Both apps contain photos, videos, scoring updates, news stories, and social media connections. You will find several differences too. For example in SportsFusion, all scoring comes from the official Ryder Cup web site and users are taken there to check scoring. In Ryder Cup 2014 the PGA posts scoring directly to the app so users do not leave. We won't know which system works best until the matches begin. For social media, Ryder Cup 2014 provides a listing of the official team accounts on Twitter and also FanChat from the various social media sites. SportsFusion doesn't deliver those posting to the app but does allow users to easily upload their comments to a variety of social media outlets. Also because of the direct connection to the PGA, Ryder Cup 2014 contains a lot more behind the scenes information on the European and USA team members and the Gleneagles golf course. Users will get bios and stats on the golfers and a hole by hole breakdown of the golf course including fly over videos with narration explaining the features and hazards on each hole. Any similar information on the SportsFusion app will have to come from the news stories included in the app but not from the app directly. I think the course information is especially helpful. Users get an aerial photo of the hole, distance and par information along with the flyover videos. That can add to your enjoyment and knowledge as you watch the matches on TV. That brings up another big advantage to Ryder Cup 2014. Again being the official app, users will find live video and audio once the matches begin. The app features streaming video from the golf course and audio from the radio broadcast of the event. Both are big pluses if you have other things to do on the weekend besides park in front of your TV. The SportsFusion app does have one area that I believe is an advantage. That app offers a compilation of news stories from a variety of web sources. Ryder Cup 2014's news listing come from just PGA.com and the Associated Press. So on the SportsFusion app you will get broader coverage of events leading up to the actual competition and the matches themselves. If live video is important to you I think Ryder Cup 2014 is a clear winner. However, I suggest you get and use both apps so you get the most complete coverage. They are both free and will only be useful through this week. Then you can delete both apps.
Shape up your golf game with Putting Bootcamp
The old adage is "drive for show and putt for dough" and refers to pro golfers where the best putters often make the most money. Well that also applies to us amateurs who are trying to best our golfing partners in a friendly wager. Now Putting Bootcamp has been released and offers a systematic way to improve your putting. The free universal app requires iOS 6.1 or later. The concept behind the app is to make your putting practice into a series of contests that you score. The app tracks your scores and the more you work on your game the higher the scores and in theory you should see a corresponding decrease in the number of putts you take each round. Fewer putts means better scores and an improvement in the chances of winning your best ball match with your friends. Putting Bootcamp lays out five basic parts of your putting game that you can work on: Setup, the Putter Path, Putter Face Alignment, Stroke length and Pace, and how to take what you learn to the golf course. Each segment starts with a video explaining what the drills are supposed to accomplish and why those elements are important. Then each segment offers four or five drills and explains how to do them to accomplish the goals of the segment. These become your contests where you compete against your self and work to improve your scores and hopefully your putting game. As an example, here is the breakout for one of the segments. Understanding the path of the putter comes with five drills: Edge Rail drill, Edge Mirror drill, Putting Rod drill, Balls of Steel drill and Four Corners game. The first four use special training aids which are conveniently sold on the developers web site. However, with a little ingenuity you can duplicate the aids from things around your home. For example, the edge is nothing more than a piece of wood with a straight edge about 12-15 inches long. The goal of the drill is to take the putter back so you keep the heel of the putter along the straight edge which means you are back and through the putt along a straight path. No taking it inside or outside the intended line. Once you see the aids I am sure you can find a way to make them for a lot less than what they would cost on the web site. Not all the drills require anything special. Despite the effort to sell you a bunch of training devices, the concepts demonstrated in Putting Bootcamp are solid and if you do the drills, practice a lot, and score higher, you should become a better putter and lower your handicap. Maybe pocket a few extra dollars from your weekend games with friends.
Start the 2014-2015 PGA Tour season with the Golf Channel app
The PGA Tour just held its tour championship event and the Ryder Cup is in late September, but we are only three weeks away from the start of the 2014-2015 PGA season. To get fans off to a good start The Golf Channel has launched a completely redesigned iOS app. The Golf Channel app runs on all your iOS devices with iOS 7.0 or later. The app promises a brand new interface that offers much easier navigation. Users should also find a photo gallery with more and larger pictures plus more videos both in the news area and instructional. The new interface starts with a home page that give you the chance to select all the separate areas. The news section is extensive with articles not only about the PGA Tour but stories from all the other tours as well including the Web.Com Tour, LPGA, PGA European Tour, and the Champions Tour. The app features a separate section for news videos. Some of these are videos from normal Golf Channel on air programming and others are reports done on specific players or events. I found that some of the videos are preceded by a thirty second commercial announcement but most are not. Unfortunately when a commercial did play it was the same one each time. The Golf Channel app offers scoreboards for all the active tournaments. You can see the overall leaderboard and then select specific golfers to see how they played in each round. With the individuals you get a hole by hole breakout of their scores. Users can also select favorite players and with a single tap that golfer's score will appear at the top of the screen so it is easier to find when you check the app for updates. I found the library of Instructional Videos to be quite helpful. They cover just about every aspect of your golf game from fitness to training aids, to proper practice techniques to hitting specific shots on the course. Again, like with the news videos some but not all of the videos are preceded by commercials. If you are like me you are always looking at the newest and latest innovations in golf equipment. Will the new driver get me more distance, keep my tee shots straighter, etc? This new app has a section devoted to just equipment. Some stories detail what the pros are carrying in their bags, others deal with new equipment and a lot of stories are devoted to fashion. If you can't play like a pro at least you can look like one. Overall I found the newest version of the Golf Channel app quite useful and loaded with information. I think once we get back to having tournaments every week it should be even more of a benefit to those who follow the professional golf tours.
Track the Ryder Cup with Sportfusion Unofficial News Edition
Over the last twenty-five years the Ryder Cup has become a major sporting event. The biennial competition between golfers from the United States and players from Great Britain and continental Europe draws huge crowds and television ratings. Now you can follow this years battle that takes place next week in Scotland with the Sportfusion-Unofficial 2014 Ryder Cup News Edition. The universal app requires iOS 6.0. The app doesn't carry official Ryder Cup status. However, it still provides lots of information for interested golfers. You will find a link to the official Ryder Cup web site so you can track the scores of the matches once they tee off beginning next Friday at Gleneagles in Scotland. Additionally Sportfusion-Unofficial 2014 Ryder Cup News Edition offers access to news updates and stories about the competition, the golfers, the Gleneagles course, the team captains, and more. Users can choose whether they want the latest news, or news from the last 24 hours or the last week. All these stories can be sent to you by setting up a push notification on the app. The news stories shown to users are pulled from other sites so you will receive plenty of information. If a story was written about the Ryder Cup or any of the participants you should be able to see it in the app. Now with all those stories available it might be a bit overwhelming but Sportsfusion-Unofficial 2014 Ryder Cup News Edition allows you to choose your favorite topics so you receive just stories from those areas. You also can choose to eliminate certain topics so stories from those areas are eliminated and you don't see them even in the general news summaries. Sportfusion-Unofficial 2014 Ryder Cup News Edition makes it simple for users to share their favorite stories with friends through a variety of social media sites. Users can also upload their own comments to the app for others to read. The app provides a single place to find all of the stories leading up to the matches and the scores once the competition begins. However, the app has a short life time. Once the competition ends and the post match analysis is completed the Ryder Cup goes on its normal two year hiatus. You will find some stories in the interim, but not many. So grab it and use it now. I searched iTunes and did not find any other apps dedicated to the Ryder Cup. So even though Sportfusion-Unofficial 2014 Ryder Cup News Edition doesn't carry the official Ryder Cup approval it does a good job of keeping users informed and up to date with Ryder Cup information.
Cut strokes off your golf game with Nike Golf 360
I have been playing golf for a long long time and in all those years I have never met another golfer who wasn't trying to find some way to improve and lower his score. Now Nike Golf 360 contains a number of aids that could do just that. The free universal app requires iOS 7.0 or later. The app offers a number of ways to improve your basic game and lower your scores. Hundreds of golf course score cards are included in the app. You can track scores and other stats for up to four golfers in each round. You will be able to choose which tees you are playing and then get the hole's par and yardage. After playing each hole Nike Golf 360 allows you to enter each golfer's score plus driving information: left, right or in the fairway, if you hit the green in regulation, and how many putts you used. At the end of the round, the app gives you a summary of what your round was like with totals on all these stats compiled in a single screen. So if you only hit 5 of 18 greens in regulation it points to a failing in ball striking. Likewise if you used 34 putts you could probably use work on your short game. This kind of information offers a much better perspective on just where your game comes up short. Now that you know what you need to work on Nike Golf 360 provides you with tips and videos on just how to improve all parts of your game: how to hit the ball further, how to get your wedge shots closer to the hole, how to get those lag putts close enough so you don't three-putt and a lot more. The app has a feature that allows you to record your own golf swing and play it back so you can see just what you look like. Most golfers have no idea what they do with their bodies during their swing. Plus the app provides video of all the Nike contract golfers: Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Michelle Wie and others so you can watch these professionals and compare your swing to theirs. Additionally, the app provides information and training videos that will assist your golf fitness and flexibility. The videos show you what exercises to do, how to do them, and specifically what they are intended to do for your game. Nike Golf 360 also allows you to share your results with your friends or others. You can use Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to send pictures from your round and all the data you collected. Using this feature you can set up a competition with your friends and develop leaderboards that track which golfer hits the most fairways or uses the fewest number of putts. Nike Golf 360 provides golfers with numerous game improvement tips and aids and gives users a good starting point to becoming a better golfer. However as I have discovered through the years even with all this information to really improve your game you need to practice, practice, practice.
