What if someone (or something) could do it all for you, much better, and automatically?

Arccos Golf hit the market last year with a game-tracking product that might be to impactful to learning and improving as the Trackman has been to club fitting. And get this -- the complete “kit” of hardware and software costs less than a new driver.

SETUP

Get started by having your golf bag and cell phone ready. Arccos comes with one of the coolest “manuals” I’ve encountered – it’s a well-designed set of laminated cards attached to a sturdy stainless steel wire. Flip through each card, and you’ll be done setting everything up in about five minutes. (Just to test this premise, I waited until 15 minutes before the tee time of my first Arccos round to see if I could do it and I made it to the tee with time to spare)

After simply screwing a lightweight Bluetooth device into the hole in the end of your grip, you open the app, and walk through a simple pairing process that has you hold down the end of the device until the app says “done pairing.” After that, it’s just a matter of downloading the course you’re going to play  -- you can download all your regulars in advance – so that Arccos will be able to track you on the course.

HOW IT WORKS

The payoff for the very small amount of work getting started is that you’ve just turned your clubs into location-aware information gatherers that will very quickly begin telling your phone (remember they’re Bluetooth-connected) about every shot and putt you hit, from exactly where you hit it on the course. As long as you downloaded the course and hit “start round” you don’t need to look at your phone again. (You’ll need to keep it on your person for the accurate GPS readings, but you don’t have to fiddle with it.)

It's always nice to see a birdie on your computer, iPhone, or iPad.

The editing of shots is a great first step in analyzing the round, and a great opportunity to fine- tune other data (for example if you putted from off the surface you can adjust it to be recorded as a chip, of if you hit into a hazard you can record a penalty). The ability to “drag-and-drop” allows for further refinement. Suffice to say I’ve used countless new technology products and Arccos lives up to its promise of letting you concentrate on golf while it does the tracking.

THE VALUE OF DATA

After your round, you’ll be able to quickly view a “stats” screen that has the kind of data that will show you where you need work. There are at least 25 different stats, categorized under scoring, driving, approach, chipping, and putting. It’s a game of percentages, and Arccos tells you how many times you miss your drives or approach shots left or right, and, of course, how long your average drive travels.

If you care enough to buy and install Arccos, you’re likely to want to drill down into that data.

But "Arccos Knows" what all of those individual stats mean, which is why the stats screen shows you an "Arccos Handicap" for your total game, then breaks it down by putting, approach shots, driving, chipping, and sand play. Those handicap numbers are the part of using Arccos that has hit my like a cold glass of water in the face, while motivating me at the same time. Because I can't expect to keep my overall handicap under 5 if my chipping handicap is a 16!

So now that there’s no question what I should work on, I’m not going to stop until the lines on the bar chart with my five different handicaps are all level.

To order Arccos, or learn more, visit their website at www.arccosgolf.com.

Next Up, Arccos Part 2: Taking it deeper and the Apple Watch App - STAY TUNED

A breakdown of approach shot tendencies. Ignore the handicaps on the left!