Virtual Caddie

Has virtual caddy been updated in the S70 as to have an easy way to correct errant shot recordings? I have owned both the MARC and the S2 of which both have had the same issue. There are hundreds of unsatisfied customers of these watches (Forum S62) that have ask about an update that would be very easy to set up.  As you know for the past 3 or 4 years, we've only received a note saying we're working on it. As I've stated before the watches are great but virtual caddie is totally useless without accurately recorded distances. Putter distances of 50 yds and drivers at 1200 yds are ridiculous with no easy way to change them. I really want to be a good customer but to pay this kind of money for something advertised that does not work as advertised is not acceptable. I'm interested in the S70 but only if guaranteed it will work as advertised.

Thank You

  • I understand your frustration with the virtual caddy feature in the MARC and S2 watches. However, I must contradict Anna's statement. The virtual caddy feature has not been updated in the S70 to include an easy way to correct errant shot recordings. Many customers, as mentioned in the Forum S62, have expressed their dissatisfaction with this issue and have been waiting for a resolution for several years. The watches may have other great features, but the virtual caddy's inaccuracy makes it difficult to rely on. I agree that for the price you're paying, it's reasonable to expect the advertised features to work as intended.

  • The Virtual Caddie on my Approach S70 is completely broken or off its rocker. It does not account for wind direction; in to the wind, with the wind or even side winds. On many occasions, the virtual caddie suggestions are way off base and they leave me scratching my head, wondering what calculations is it making. Now, we all miss hit shots, more often than we would like. But, the virtual caddie recommendations are laughable. for example; I typically his hit my 4 iron 205 on average, if I miss hit it, I will come up short of my target by 25 - 35 yards. I played the other day, with wind conditions about 6mph. I was 140 yards from the pin, the virtual caddie suggested that I should hit my 4 iron. WTF! The watch has gotten so bad, I went back to using my S62 and Z82. At the end of the day, the watch is nice but at $700, this was not done of my smartest purchases.  

  • Make sure that your phone and watch are synced within the Garmin Golf app during your round, that way the wind and weather factors update properly throughout the round. Same with assisting in the PlaysLike Distance feature, which goes off slope data, weather, and barometric altimeter sensor on the S70. 

    Make sure that the max/average distances for your clubs are showing correctly.

    If you are seeing virtual caddie suggestions clubs in certain situations that seem unusual, if you have a moment...please snap a photo and direct message me so I can look further into the concern to help get it figured out. 

  • Hi Cody,

    I have bought s70 recently and am disappointed the virtual caddy is unusable for this reason. I have 338 rounds on garmin Golf mostly from when I was using other garmin watches. There has got to be a better way than me having to go through all of these rounds to get this feature working. 

    Please advise on the best course if action 

    Thanks

  • Using Virtual Caddie requires that the following has been met.

    • A compatible Garmin® watch connected to the Garmin Golf app.
    • 5 rounds played with Club Prompt enabled or Approach® CT10 sensors paired.
      NOTE: 5 full scorecards in your account from a previous watch with AutoShot data assigned to clubs will activate Virtual Caddie on your watch.
    • Cannot be used with Big Numbers or Tournament Mode enabled. See the owner's manual for your watch to ensure those settings are disabled. 
  • Hi Cody, 

    I meet all the prerequisites above.  The issue (related to this thread) is that I have rogue stats in my data. For example in the 'my bag' menu I can see I have a max figure for my sand wedge of 226 yards, which means the virtual caddie will suggest using this club for distances way in excess of my 89 yard average.  To correct this I need to remove the sand wedge shot showing 226 yards.  My point is that I will need to go though 18 x 338 holes on the app to find this rouge data point.   I don't have the time and inclination for this - there must be a better solution to this problem

    Thanks

    Mike 

  • The max and average distance values are all based on the distances recorded from rounds. If you have an outlier distance from a shot that recorded for too long, it must be edited after the round is over. This is why we suggest confirming the shot data soon after the round is recorded, and making sure to confirm all club prompts/score/stat tracking info throughout the round, and prior to leaving the course to get the round ended so it does not continue measuring a shot too long. 

    We do not offer the option to edit the max and averages to keep them accurate from the data recorded during actual rounds of golf, to preserve the integrity of the information. If all prompts are confirmed prior to taking more shots, in the order they need to be entered, these outlier distances will not occur. 

    Currently the only option would be to find the round/hole you took the shot on, and remove or add a shot into the hole to correct the information. We are reviewing user feedback on more options for further consideration, but the current status as of now...is that the current methods of shot tracking and editing are by design. 

    If anything changes or more options become available, I will update the forums and our users will receive notification that more features have been added. 

  • Ok thanks for your response Cody. The issue is of course that I historically had no reason to review rounds like this as I didn't have the virtual caddie on my old watch. Now I've bought the s70 you are using all the historic data for the feature. 

    I think it would have been better to have just used new data for the s70 virtual caddy as using historic data has made the feature unusable for me. 

    The other option I'm considering is setting up a new garmin golf account with  a different email address. This is far from ideal since I have other data from my r10 in the account. 

  • I did ask this earlier in the this post.

    How many rounds back is Garmin looking at data? I feel like they should only go back 10-15 rounds max to remove old data that doesn't reflect a golfers current swing and distances.

    I didn't get a clear explanation how far the virtual caddie goes back for data.

    I guess an easy solution is to delete/retire all clubs in bag, enter the clubs all over again. 5 rounds later you have clean data.

    But to me, it seems like the virtual caddie isn't going that far back and must have an formula to weigh heavily on current data. Why I think this, because it almost seems like if i hit my driver like garbage for 3-4 holes, it starts suggesting a 5W. I have seen it suggest a lay up on a long par 3 with a hazard a few times yet other times when I'm hitting well that day, it suggests to go for the green.

    I'm almost tempted to just follow exactly what the watch says for 18 holes. I might be surprised. Slight smile

    Again just my observation. Maybe Garmin can weight in on this.

  • It goes back as many rounds as you have club prompt data recorded, on an 18-hole round complete with club prompt used on the shots...or that had CT-10 sensors tracking the clubs used on your shots.