Golf GPS

[garyundi]

Does anyone know of any golf gps software that is compatible w/ Ique 3600.

thanks

[apersson850]

There's one in the box you got the iQue in.
I think the name is StarCaddy... just a moment... yes, it says so on the box.

[RVRodie]

Take a look at Intelligolf (http://www.intelligolf.com/palmtour.asp) .

I tried the trial version on the iQue about six months ago, and it seemed to work pretty well. I tried downloading some courses, and checked the GPS functions. However, I used up my trial rounds mapping out a single hole, and never did play a full round.

I just don't play enough golf to purchase. Most of the freebies were just ok. Never did find anything I was happy with. Did use Golf Scorer for awhile.

[rlwetzel]

I have the full Star Caddy program on my Que. Not quite the same as the GPS you'll find provided in the carts by the course, but seems to work pretty well. The screen is difficult to read in the sun and you need to change views to see various distances. You also need to check the Star Caddy site to see if the courses you want are available.

[Ken in Regina]

I took a look at Star Kaddy and wasn't impressed. I have Intelligolf and I like the part that runs on the iQue. It's very well thought out and easy to use, both for surveying the course (if your course isn't available online) and for using it with a surveyed course.

The part that runs on the PC is another issue. I don't like it very much. But I'm spoiled. I've been using Golf Digest Scorecard for years. I've never found another one that was as easy to use and useful as this one. Intelligolf's PC portion doesn't come close. I could have used it except for one glaring problem. The USGA no longer licenses the right to use their handicap calculation in golf tracking programs anymore. So, while Golf Digest Scorecard calculates handicaps correctly and accurately, Intelligolf does some sort of averaging thing that's not even close. They have no choice, but since I already have a program that is better, and which (legally) calculates my handicap correctly, I don't use the PC part except as a place to store the course information.

Unlike the other GPS golf trackers, the courses for Intelligolf are free for downloading. That's a benefit and a curse. The courses available for download are just courses that have been uploaded by users.

Some users are not very careful when they set them up. For example, the first of my local courses that I downloaded had it's first hole - a short par five - listed as a par 7 (yep, seven!). You can guess how well I trusted the rest of that course and the other two of my local courses that had been uploaded by the same individual.

Also, I appear to be the only Intelligolf user in my area, [EDIT: I should have said "The only GPS user of Intelligolf in the area."] so none of the local courses have been surveyed. They have the standard information in them but not the GPS info. Looks like that will be up to me.

I've discovered two roadblocks to using the GPS portion. The first is the problem of surveying any course. I was able to do one of my local courses quite easily because I work there. I just went out and walked the course a week before we opened this spring and was able to take as much time to survey the course from all the yardage markers, green positions (front, middle, rear), and significant landmarks.

However, surveying a course that has golfers playing on it is another whole issue. And it's really a problem if you try to do it as you play a round. I've tried it twice, on two different courses, and it's just not going to work. It distracts from your game, of course. But it also causes you to miss many of the major items to be surveyed. The folks behind you are not going to be very understanding if you take the time to walk from somewhere out in the rough back to the centre of the fairway just so you can survey the 200 yeard marker, and they're going to get really impatient if they are waiting on the teebox of a par 3 while you walk to the front, middle, and rear of the green to survey those points!!

This is only a problem if you can't get pre-surveyed courses, so it may apply more to Intelligolf than other programs. However, I'm not sure if other programs give you the option to survey courses instead of downloading them, or how good the coverage of surveyed courses will be for your area from any program, and how easy the surveying will be if you can, and need to, do it.

One problem that will apply, no matter which program you have, will be where and how to mount the iQue so you can use it easily as you golf. For any reasonable accuracy, you really have to have an external antenna, so that increases the difficulty of finding some way to mount the whole mess. This will be an issue no matter which of the GPS golf tracking programs you choose.

I also have to wonder about accuracy. I have noticed when simply using it on the course, even with an external antenna, I can move significant distances without taking a step.

For example, on Intelligolf you tap the "Start" button to indicate you are on the teebox of the hole you are about to play. Then, after you hit your tee shot and start walking towards your ball, Intelligolf continuously displays how far you have proceeded from the "Start" position, so you will know how far your tee shot travelled when you get to it.

I noticed that I can tap the "Start" button, watch my partners hit their tee shots, step up on the teebox (leaving the iQue and external antenna sitting on my pullcart), hit my tee shot and when I get back to the pullcart Intelligolf is showing a distance of as much as 20 yards already!! It seems to depend upon how long the iQue sits just how much "yardage" gets "travelled" while the iQue sits there in the same position. I found that I have to remember to tap the "Start" button after I hit my tee shot, just as I start walking down the fairway, to get something useful.

If you just want a good scorecard program to run on your iQue, I can highly recommend Intelligolf. If you want one that has excellent GPS functions built into it, I can also recommend Intelligolf.

I'm too spoiled to have an objective view of the PC portion of Intelligolf. I hate it, but if you aren't already spoiled by GD Scorecard you may actually like it. I can still use GD Scorecard so the PC portion didn't factor into my decision to purchase Intelligolf.

The Intelligolf tech support people are truly wonderful. They respond quickly. They are knowledgeable and helpful . And patient. :)

But overall, until I can first find a good way to mount the iQue and external antenna to use easily on the golf course and, second, figure out how to fully and accurately survey my other local courses without impeding play (mine and others') I can't really recommend any GPS use on the golf course. It seems like a great idea, but it has not proven very practical for me so far.

...ken...