The SkyCaddie SG4 is the latest generation of GPS-enabled golf range devices produced by SkyGolf.

I’ve had my eye on the SkyCaddie for a few years since I saw an earlier generation model featured on an infomercial on the Golf Channel. Today, I finally went ahead and bought one and gave it a 9-hole test run this afternoon.

Features

• The SkyCaddie uses GPS satellites to give accurate yardages to the green from anywhere on the course.
• There are thousands of pre-mapped courses that can be downloaded (with a paid subscription) to the unit by connecting it to a PC with the supplied USB cable. On each hole, you can get yardages to front, middle, and back of the green from anywhere.
• Yardages continually update as you move around each hole.
• Measure the distance of any shot by pressing two buttons prior to the shot and then one button when you arrive at the ball.
• IntelliGreen feature shows an outline of each green with an arrow indicating your angle of approach.
• Cursor can be moved around the IntelliGreen display indicating the yardage from where you are to any pin placement on the green.
• Courses not available for download can be manually entered. The process is simple and takes just a few seconds on each green.
• Courses in the SkyCaddie database that are “Four Star” were professionally mapped and have additional yardages to targets like hazards including the distance to clear. It can show lay-up yardages, trees, mounds, and other course features. Also, the SG4 tells you the distance left to the green from these targets.
• Courses that haven’t been professionally mapped can be shared with others online through the SkyCaddie course database.

Conclusions

After one round, I’m absolutely thrilled with the SkyCaddie SG4. I’ve had my eye on one for a long time, and I wasn’t disappointed. Since one of my goals is meticulous stat keeping, I’ve been struggling trying to document my shot lengths for each club manually, and now the SkyCaddie comes along and does it without any trouble whatsoever. I’m also thrilled that I don’t need to wander around looking for sprinkler heads to get approximate yardages anymore. The actual SkyCaddie unit itself feels well-made, but obviously I haven’t had it long enough to comment on it’s durability. After I give it 6 months of heavy use, I’ll post a follow-up. But right now, it’s a thumbs up.

The Good

• Accurate yardages from anywhere, so far as I can tell. None of the yardages the unit gave me seemed off. But I intend to do some cross checking with my laser range finder next time out, and will report back if there are any discrepancies.
• The added target information on the “Four Star” courses is great. Even without that, though, the yardages to front, middle, and back of each green plus the ability to measure shot distances is a huge benefit.
• If you don’t want to pay for a subscription to be able to download course information from the online database, you can manually add your own custom courses
• Getting up and running out of the box was a breeze. I had no problems whatsoever. The unit is extremely easy to use. After playing around for a bit at home and after playing a few holes on the course, I was pretty familiar with most, if not all the features.
• Yardages continually update so when you need a distance, you get it instantly. I was a little worried that getting readings would take a few seconds each time, but it turned out that wasn’t the case at all. I was even wearing it clipped to my belt a little to the right of my buckle with my shirt over top of it and when I unclipped it to get a reading, there was no loss of communication at all and the yardages were instantly waiting for me.
• The unit is a very manageable size. It’s got no protruding antenna like it’s predecessors. The unit measures 4.7″ x 2.2″ x 1.3″ (about the size of one of the modern cell phones with all the e-mail and other capability, though maybe not quite so wide).

The Bad

• The price is steep. I paid $349.99. That’s pretty high, and for many people it would be hard to justify that price. I was in that boat myself, which is why I’ve been coveting it for two or three years. But I came into a few extra bucks recently, and given my overall golf goals, it seems like a good investment.
• There is a subscription fee. While it isn’t required, not subscribing deprives you of some nice features. For instance, you wouldn’t be able to download any course information from the web. You’d be forced to map out your own courses (minus the IntelliGreen capability). Aside from that you can use it to measure shot distance, but that would be about it.
• There are three tiers of membership. The lowest tier includes only courses in your state (for people in the U.S.). The middle tier includes courses all over the U.S. and the upper tier includes courses all over the world. I’m not sure how it’s delineated for people in other countries. Also, the tiered memberships vary in the number of user-defined coursed that can be stored online in the “SkyVault”. I chose the lowest tier membership because I typically play in New Jersey. That was $29.95 per year. The middle and upper tier memberships are $49.95 and $59.95, respectively.

So far, I have to say that the good definitely outweighs the bad. If you’re a serious player who relies on yardages but is sick of having to hunt down sprinklers and then pace off to your ball, then you’ll love this thing. The cost is the only real down side that I can see so far. If that’s not an issue for you, then I’d say definitely give it a try.

Most people know that the teeing ground consists of a rectangle whose width is defined by the two tee markers and whose depth is defined by two club lengths back from the markers. Too often, I see people just going right to the center of the tee markers and hitting their drive without consideration for their typical shot shape and to the shape of the shot they intend to hit on that hole.

One of my favorite course management tips: tee up your ball after careful consideration of the shot you’re about to hit.

For example, assume your typical shot is a slice. If you tee up the ball on the right side of the tee (close to the right marker) and aim for the left side of the fairway, you have a lot more room for the shape of the shot you typically play. If it does what you expect, you’ll be in the middle of the fairway. If it unexpectedly goes dead straight, then you’re on the left side of the fairway. And if it slices more than usual, then you’re on the right side of the fairway.

The same is true if your normal shot is a hook. You’d tee it up on the left side and aim for the right side of the fairway.

Now take all that one step further, and use that knowledge to set you up in the best position for your second shot. If the front-right of the green is guarded by a pond, then you want to try and get your ball into the left side of the fairway so you have a look at the green with little or no water to worry about.

One important note: when trying to plan ahead, don’t hit a shot where you end up in trouble if you strike it perfectly, even if that’s a rare occurrence. Using the example of the slicer, if you want to end up in the left side of a fairway that’s guarded on the left by a water hazard, don’t tee up on the right side of the markers and aim out into the water, expecting it to come back to the left side of the fairway. You’ll be penalizing yourself for hitting a good, straight shot.

Next time you’re playing, consider your typical ball flight and pay close attention to where you choose to tee the ball, and you might just save a few strokes.

As I work my way back this year, I’m starting to notice that my alignment during my setup is somewhat inconsistent. In fact, my whole setup is somewhat inconsistent, but that’s a problem for another day. Alignment problems are sometimes not apparent, but many times they are the result of other swing flaws. Your body is smart. Sometimes you may subconsciously make little corrections that get the ball where you want it to go. The problem is, it really just masks or compensates for other problems.

Here’s how to check and work on proper alignment. At address, your shoulders, hips, knees, feet, and eyes should be aligned parallel to the target line. Remember that your body should line up parallel left of the target because you’re actually standing a little ways behind the ball. If you were to aim your body lines directly toward the target and make a good swing the ball would go a little right of the target. The analogy of railroad tracks is often used for a good mental picture. Imagine you’re standing on one rail and the ball is positioned on the other rail. The rail where the ball is sitting ends up at the target and the one you’re standing on (that corresponds to your body lines) points a little left of the target.

Sometimes it helps to hold a club across your shoulders and hips to verify that you’re actually lined up parallel to the target line. On the range, I like to place two clubs on the ground. The first points at my target. I’ll tee up a ball right next to it so the club closely approximates my target line (close enough, anyway). I’ll then lay down the second club across my toe line and use it as a guide to check my shoulder, hip, knee, and foot alignment. Then I’ll hit some balls, making sure I’m staying aligned.

If you’re really feeling brave, you can also lay down a third club perpendicular to the one across your target line to check your ball position relative to your feet. Point the grip end of the club directly at the ball.

It’s good to do this check periodically to ensure that your alignment and ball position are where they should be.

If you’ve been misaligned for a while, going through the motions of this drill will feel very strange. But that’s good. It means you’re ironing out a long-standing problem. Keep at it, and eventually you’ll learn to adapt to proper alignment. This is something that even tour pros work on regularly. Give it a try and see if it helps your accuracy.

When we play and practice so much, our clubs become almost like an extension of our bodies. We get so used to their feel, that we might not realize that they’re no longer in their optimal condition. Over time, clubs wear down. It all starts with the grips.

Many claim that the golf grip (how you hold your hands) is the most crucial part of the swing because it’s the only place where your body and the club make contact. And that point of contact is a rubber, leather, or synthetic tube that adorns the top of the club shaft. Over time that material wears down, and also becomes slick with dirt and body oils. When this happens, we can subconsciously lose confidence in our swings because the grips no longer feel quite right. That causes swing compensations that can have a very negative effect over time. If you’re thinking about your grip during the swing or if it’s just not “comfortable”, that’s a sign of trouble.

Grips should be periodically cleaned with warm, soapy water and toweled off to get rid of any gunk that has built up. A time will come when that won’t be enough anymore and there will be sufficient wear to the point where they need to be changed. It hit me this past weekend that I’m at that point. It’s starting to affect my swing, so I’m going to regrip, post haste.

If you aren’t a hands-on person, then you can have your clubs professionally regripped. Check your local pro shop or golf retailer to see if they offer clubsmith services. If you’re more adventurous, you can do your entire set of clubs yourself in an hour or two. Here’s a good regripping tutorial at Golfsmith. It’s easy to learn but a little tedious. The benefit to doing it yourself is that you’ll learn a little something technical about clubs. These are the things that make or break our golfing lives, after all.

However you choose to proceed, keep in mind that you’re altering your clubs. You need to be aware of what size grips work best for your hands. Plus, you’ll need to decide what grip style works best for you. There are advantages to a very soft grip for senior players or players who may suffer from arthritis. Advanced players may gain benefit from playing a firmer grip. Also keep in mind that grips vary in weight and so they affect the weight of your clubs. Changing the swing weight dramatically can affect the trajectory of your shots. All these things are very specific to each player so don’t be afraid to check with your golf pro or a clubsmith if you need help understanding what will work better for you.

I have a day off work tomorrow, so I’ll be spending time at my parent’s house in my dad’s shed regripping my clubs. Have a look at your own grips and if they’re getting slick or worn, get some new ones on there. Playing with worn grips can most definitely lead to some bad shots. Get those grips replaced and you might just save some strokes.

The golf swing is a complex beast. There are so many mistakes that can be made that drain power that it’s mind boggling: casting, late weight transfer, poor swing plane, getting “stuck” on the downswing. The list goes on. But one of the most fixable things that we may not be doing and don’t even realize it, is hitting the ball consistently in the sweet spot of the club.

I’ve heard it said that Bobby Jones used to wear out a spot on his irons that was about the size of a dime. That’s from hitting the ball consistently in the same spot, over and over and over. Today’s clubs are very forgiving, but missing the sweet spot by even 1/4″ can start to rob you of distance.

Try an experiment: next time you’re at your favorite golf shop, see if they carry impact tape. It’s usually sold as little stickers that are affixed to the club face. Impact with the ball causes a dark spot, making it plainly visible exactly where you’re hitting the ball on the club face. If you prefer not to spend the money on specialized impact tape, a layer of masking or duct tape will also work.

When you go to the range, choose a few clubs and hit some balls to see if you’re hitting the sweet spot (check after each shot). If you are, then good for you. If not, then I suggest you start working on it. You may find that you actually hit the ball straighter.

With a swing that would normally produce a straight shot, generally shots hit toward the toe of the club will tend to hook, and shots hit near the heel will tend to slice (or shank if you’re hitting it all the way up by the hosel).

Start trying to home in on the sweet spot in your practice. It won’t be long before you get a heightened awareness of what the ball is doing off the club face and you’ll be able to tell whether you’re hitting the ball out near the toe or thin or near the hosel from feel and from watching your ball flight.

If you’ve spent years hitting the ball off center, then you’re in for a treat when you home in and hit that first pure shot. Keep in mind that if you have a poor swing, then hitting the sweet spot might only be the tip of the iceberg, but you’ll still see some immediate improvement if you’ve been hitting off-center.