I played my first round with Arccos. Here are 3 takeaways that have me excited

I finally got to get out for my first round with the new Arccos Air game-tracking unit as well as the Arccos Smart Laser, and the new hardware was impressive. There’s a ton I still need to learn about effectively using the combination of the hardware with the app, as well as figuring out how to properly apply the stats to improve my game, but so far things have been easy. My colleague Maddi MacClurg and played 18 holes at The Boulders just outside of Scottsdale, Ariz., with both the Arccos Air and the new Smart Laser. Here are 3 things that have me very excited.

1. The Smart Laser

I’ve talked about this in other content, but the Smart Laser is just so impressive. I now have played a handful of rounds with the technology, and every time I use the laser it still gives me a “cool factor” feeling. In combination with the app, the Smart Laser helps you to effortlessly set the pin based on GPS data. When you stand in any spot on the hole you’re playing and shoot the pin, it starts to dial in that pin location on the green.

You can then hop into the green view in the app, and it will show you where the pin is on the green and the slopes around that pin. This helps you to make smarter decisions about how you’re going to attack your approach shots, and I really appreciate that that it’s all done seamlessly with no babysitting or buttons to press. It’s the same experience you’re used to. Grab the Smart Laser, shoot the pin. The app automatically update and gives you guidance.

2. Speed of intelligence

This biggest hurdle for folks in our Instagram and YouTube comments is the idea that you have to “babysit” the intelligence. I can assure you, it’s a quick learning process. I came into this round with zero Arccos data in the app; the tech had nothing to go off. During our round, on the tee box of a front-nine par-3 with wind, I stood there for about two minutes deciding what club I wanted to hit. I went with an 8-iron, and by the time I was stepping off the tee box after my shot, the app had already determined that I had hit an 8-iron. Even though I didn’t have historical data, Arccos is pulling from its hundreds of thousands of shots captured with other users that have similar tendencies and track distances as I do and using that information to help me. How cool!

For me, the biggest thing here is figuring out what you want from the app. I personally do not care one bit about tracking my club distances, so going back after the round and having to possibly change a few clubs is no big deal for me. If you’re somebody who’s really dead set on being able to track individual club performance, then you may feel you need to babysit the app a bit more. So far for me, though, I haven’t had any interruptions in my game, and I think over the course of four rounds now on Arccos, I’ve mostly had to tell it what club I hit off the tee, because I don’t always use the “recommended” option.

3. I’m overwhelmed by the stats, in a good way

I am not a stats guy. I’m a club geek. My golf comes in waves, and most of it comes from rarely having the same 14 clubs in the bag and testing as much as I do, which makes it’s difficult to find the a groove. I’ve been fortunate to get some excellent lessons from top coaches, but that information rarely lasts more than a few weeks. Not that I have all these Arccos stats, I’m intrigued by the usefulness of them moving forward.

I haven’t been fully able to dive into the data just yet, and it’s actually something I am hoping to do while supervised by a golf-data specialist or a coach, because I can’t tell you that I really understand everything I am looking at. The nice part is most of the stats are broken down with graphics, and they are in chunks. There isn’t a whole lot to decipher, and it does sort of lead you to the water in a sense. My problem is there’s so much to sort through right now as a new user and being a “new to strokes gained data” guy. I love it, but I need to understand it more.

A perfect example is my driving stats. I have felt zero confidence in my driver off the tee this year. I’ve tried a couple setting combinations but it’s all in the swing. Something just doesn’t feel right. If you ask anybody who I talk to about my game how it’s going this year, they’d probably tell you that all I do is complain about my driver. In reality, according to Arccos, that’s actually not what I need to be worried about. Knowing that sort of frees the mind in a way. Next time I go out, I’m going to feel a bit less stressed on the tee — and focus on my putting a bit more.

If you’d like to get some Arccos gear for yourself, make sure you use code GOLFMAG15 at checkout on their website.