Skydroid (GPS golf app)

[zebug]

I've seen this mentioned here and there in the GPS golf app threads, but noone has ever expanded on it and given any details. I bought the app (its only $0.99 one time fee).

So far this looks like its the perfect GPS golf app for me. (accelgolf looks promising but its not there yet as far as I can tell). I haven't tested Skydriod on the course yet, I will be testing in about a week.

Thus far, it has been simple to add a course to its expanding library and I can download it immediately to my phone as soon as I am done. You can map out the front/center/back of greens as well as front/back of any bunkers, water hazzards, trees, etc. Even has an overhead sat image of your hole.

Has anyone used this app yet and if so, any tips for when I am on the course? I will write a more detailed report after I go golfing soon.

 

[clobber]

Freecaddie is ...free. And does mostly the same thing.

 

[zebug]

I do have free caddie installed on my phone and will give it a shot, but it doesn't have a lot of the features the skydroid does. It only has distances to the front center and back of the green. no info on bunkers, water hazards, etc.

It also doesn't have the overhead view so you can't see the entire hole. free caddie looks ok for a free app but to say it does mostly the same thing is just plain wrong.....it has one feature only.

 

[jimitrott]

I also have free caddie installed on my phone and it's working well, i am very happy of using free applications.

 

[zebug]

ok, I made it out to the course this past weekend (3 actually) and I can now talk more about this app.

It is not a free app, cost $0.99 as a one time fee (no subscriptions and unlimited course downloads). You have to map out your own course if it isn't already in the library which is simple and takes about 15 minutes to do. After you do that, you can download it to your phone immediately. No waiting for it to get uploaded to whatever server. Again, if the course is already listed you don't need to do this.

It has 2 modes for a lack of a better term. The first shows you distances from where you are to whatever item you are interested in. Since I mapped out my courses, I had front/center/back of every green as well as front/back of most fairway bunkers and water hazzards.

The mode I usually had it on was the "zoom" mode where it would show you an overview of the hole using what I presume is google maps. It would have a blue dot for your location and then all on the screen is the front/center/back to the green as well as any hazards you have mapped out (front/back).

So I would walk up to the tee box, open Skydroid, and instantly see how far I was to whatever I wanted to see. It really impressed everybody I golfed with. It was nice to see how severe the dog leg right or left was in the overview shot.

The distances were very accurate, though I don't think the app itself has anything to do with that, as long as your GPS is reading right any app should show the same yardage (for instance my freecaddie was nearly identical in distances to the green, just depends on where you place your markers while mapping out a course).

So, if all you want is a simple, distance to green app, then freecaddie will do ya nicely (and its free). If you want a few more options such as distances to hazards and a overhead shot of the hole, then pay the $0.99 as it is well worth it)

 

[jev]

How does it stack up to golfcard (which, I admit, costs 10 times more)? Range finding is one thing (but not allowed in official competition unless there's an exemption in the local rules), scoring and logging for further analysis are at least as important I think.

If distances are the only important data, a simple tool like maps ruler works just as good IMHO, especially if the data is based on google maps (which sure has it's inaccuracies!).

 

[bddfc]

I've had it on my phone for about a month and I really like it. Nice looking interface and I love the sky view from google maps. My partner in my league has a skycaddie or a garmin I'm not sure which. All I know is he paid like $300 for it and I only paid $.99 for mine. They were reading the same yardage's most of the time, never more than a yard off. I'm really happy with the app and my local course was already on there, bonus!

 

[zebug]

ya, it doesn't compare to golfcard at all. I have never used golfcard, looks awesome and I love that it always has the hole at the top of the screen. There is no shot tracking ability with skydroid, its just a range finder app with an overhead view of the hole. For $0.99, you can't beat it (that I've found yet).

skycaddies aren't much different that what you can get with your phone. Just with your phone, you paid for the hardware already when you bought the thing.

 

[ttaylor0024]

I use Golfcard. Sure, its $10, but its the best app I have found for golf. I have used teedroid caddy, droid caddy, etc. But golfcard takes the cake. The devs are extremely active. It has the best U.I. I have seen for these apps. There is no subscripiton, you can map your courses in 10 mins, and after you finish a round, it can upload to oobgolf.com

 

[mikepeete]

Golfcard used to be a phenomenal program. Until... their long talked about upgrade. After upgrading, I went to use the program and found only 1 of my many courses still in the phone. I went to use what used to be a simple and vast selection of local courses to download and found that they had completely changed the process, requiring signup with USGA handicap system in order to download. I did the free signup, and found very few courses available. When I contacted support, they stated that the program was better now that they had the partnership with USGA handicap, and that I could map the courses myself . Who wants to do that, after having accurate and well used info previously that had been stripped out because it wasn't on their new partners site. I have never gone from loving a program so much to hating it so much overnight. One click of an upgrade button, and voila, a great program gone.

 

[alnova1]

Golfcard used to be a phenomenal program. Until... their long talked about upgrade. After upgrading, I went to use the program and found only 1 of my many courses still in the phone. I went to use what used to be a simple and vast selection of local courses to download and found that they had completely changed the process, requiring signup with USGA handicap system in order to download. I did the free signup, and found very few courses available. When I contacted support, they stated that the program was better now that they had the partnership with USGA handicap, and that I could map the courses myself . Who wants to do that, after having accurate and well used info previously that had been stripped out because it wasn't on their new partners site. I have never gone from loving a program so much to hating it so much overnight. One click of an upgrade button, and voila, a great program gone.

Isn't that the truth. They have went from a 5 star rating to 3 in 3 weeks! The oobgolf is the killer for me. I did map out some of my local courses to have but I'm going to Pinehurst Friday and no courses are mapped! Its kinda hard to map out a course that you have never played and you have no idea which hole is number 1 or 18 from google maps! What a joke...they deserve what they get. They had a great app and ruined it.

 

[jdsingle]

Swinging the clubs on Friday. might have to download this and give it a shot. How much did it really help in judging distance?

 

[hearmyvoyce]

Just joined the android world from iphone land, what can this phone do?

 

[alnova1]

Swinging the clubs on Friday. might have to download this and give it a shot. How much did it really help in judging distance?

The distances I get with Skydroid or usually 1 yard off from my buddies Skycaddie. It is very good.

 

[jev]

Isn't that the truth.
<snip>
They had a great app and ruined it.

+1. I tried talking to the developers but they just won't listen. Ushandicap.com is not usable for European golfers, the website is terrible and the new mapping features are very immature.

Now, my quest for a new favorite golf program has begun. The problem with most is that it either does not track all statistics I want to keep track of or it has a hellish interface. Don't these developers use their own programs or what? Entering numbers through a keyboard DOES NOT WORK out there in the open!

Anyway, currently I've fallen back to accel golf. Doesn't use oobgolf data though, not very good as rangefinder and no sidegames.

In the end I will most probably start writing my own application. No promises whatsoever, but what do you guys think are important features to make the perfect golf scoring & rangefinding app?

 

[jdsingle]

In the end I will most probably start writing my own application. No promises whatsoever, but what do you guys think are important features to make the perfect golf scoring & rangefinding app?

I think a big thing is making sure you aren't forcing people to sign up for one website or another to keep track of things unless they want to.

My ideal golf app would be:

GPS location showing where I am, how far to traps, water, and green. Also need to make it so that I can choose whether or not I want to have scoring enabled or disabled. If my local course doesn't use GPS on their golf course I care more about distances and how the hole layout is than being able to input my score. I rely on the ol' pencil and scorecard for that.

 

[alnova1]

I think a big thing is making sure you aren't forcing people to sign up for one website or another to keep track of things unless they want to.

My ideal golf app would be:

GPS location showing where I am, how far to traps, water, and green. Also need to make it so that I can choose whether or not I want to have scoring enabled or disabled. If my local course doesn't use GPS on their golf course I care more about distances and how the hole layout is than being able to input my score. I rely on the ol' pencil and scorecard for that.

I love the fact that oobgolf keeps track of not only your score but GIR's, Fairways hit, sand saves, etc., etc. etc. Golfcard had the perfect app and F#%k it up!. To tell you the truth, I can pretty much use the markers on the course to tell me the distances so I will just use oobgolf's mobile website to keep my stats...I love to see when I hit 33% of the fairways!

 

[jdsingle]

I love the fact that oobgolf keeps track of not only your score but GIR's, Fairways hit, sand saves, etc., etc. etc. Golfcard had the perfect app and F#%k it up!. To tell you the truth, I can pretty much use the markers on the course to tell me the distances so I will just use oobgolf's mobile website to keep my stats...I love to see when I hit 33% of the fairways!

Now that you mention that, it would be a nice feature to have. I've been on a number of courses that are missing the 200yd, 150yd, and 100yd stakes. It is even worse if they don't have the distance down on some of the sprinkler heads. I can judge distance pretty good but having to decide if I am 150 out or 170 becomes a challenge.

How did Golfcard f it up?

 

[alnova1]

Now that you mention that, it would be a nice feature to have. I've been on a number of courses that are missing the 200yd, 150yd, and 100yd stakes. It is even worse if they don't have the distance down on some of the sprinkler heads. I can judge distance pretty good but having to decide if I am 150 out or 170 becomes a challenge.

How did Golfcard f it up?

They stopped using oobgolf for there stats and no courses are mapped now. Skydroid does a good job with distances..I hope they incorporate oobgolf in there future updates.

 

[jev]

I think a big thing is making sure you aren't forcing people to sign up for one website or another to keep track of things unless they want to.

That's a given

My ideal golf app would be:

GPS location showing where I am, how far to traps, water, and green.

That would be standard range finder functionality I guess. How important is it to have graphical overview of the hole, similar to a strokesaver? I've done some testing in the past on other hardware with scans from a strokesaver overlayed on google earth for increased accuracy. It works, but not all strokesavers are equally accurate.

Personally, I'm more interested in keeping stats. Ball positioning, drive length, FH, GIR, SS, etc. Keeping score is less important to me since that would be done using ye old pencil & card anyway (at least it is required here for qualifying rounds - something I know is quite different in the US).

I actually found a backup of golfcard 1.15.0, so I'm good for now (except for the irritating bug of the keyboard sliding in all the time) but I'm still thinking about writing my own.

 

[Copa Native]

I actually found a backup of golfcard 1.15.0, so I'm good for now (except for the irritating bug of the keyboard sliding in all the time) but I'm still thinking about writing my own.

After reading the reviews, I chose not to do the GolfCard update. While the app works for the few courses I already downloaded, I can no longer add courses.

Its gives me 'XML Parse Error' whenever i try to search for a course through the app.

Any ideas? Can you manually input courses through another method?

 

[jev]

Hmm... that's weird. I just tried and it happens here too. Maybe ask around on the oobgolf forum? I know oobgolf just finished their own app (release for the iPhone first as usual, but Android is in the works), hopefully it will be as good as golfcard used to be.

Anyway, yes, you can manually input courses on the phone but that's rather tedious (and euhm... it crashes on my phone but YMMV). Go to 'courses', left bottom button 'Create'. Answer 'yes' on the dialog that follows and start filling out the nitty gritty details. Good luck!

 

[Copa Native]

Hmm... that's weird. I just tried and it happens here too. Maybe ask around on the oobgolf forum? I know oobgolf just finished their own app (release for the iPhone first as usual, but Android is in the works), hopefully it will be as good as golfcard used to be.

Anyway, yes, you can manually input courses on the phone but that's rather tedious (and euhm... it crashes on my phone but YMMV). Go to 'courses', left bottom button 'Create'. Answer 'yes' on the dialog that follows and start filling out the nitty gritty details. Good luck!

Thanks... I noticed the 'create' option within the app itself, rather impractical. Guess i was hoping for a download from some site with the ability to simply put in on the SD card somewhere where the app would read from.

Hopefully the oob app comes quickly, I really miss the integration.

 

[jev]

I mailed the guys at golfcard with a long list of concerns and all I got back basically said: "what are the steps to follow when reproducing the manual input error?". Not a single comment on the XML failure or their decision to switch to ushandicap.com.

They know about all the negative reactions - they removed the app from the iPhone appstore and re-introduced it to get rid of all the negative comments.

Hopefully the oob app comes quickly, I really miss the integration.

+1. I do hope they carefully looked at golfcard, especially the scoring and stats input. I tried YourGolf yesterday, only to find out it doesn't make a difference between a putt (from the green) and a shot with a putter (not from the green). A bit too simple to my taste too.

Anyway, it seems the oobgolf app for iPhone is out, can't find a lot of screenshots yet but it looks pretty good - let's hope the Android app will be at least as good .

 

[Heathbar]

I went on vacation and played golf 4 times. I tried iGolf and Skydroid...

Skydroid > iGolf. It's not even close, well worth the $2. I like how Skydroid lets you map courses that aren't already mapped. Also, I played 3 different courses with iGolf and none of them had more than half the holes mapped. Fail.