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Virtual Caddie usage

PawelRed
over 1 year ago

can anybody explain me what is a sense of VC recommendations ?

My understanding is as follows:

1. every golfer even new ones know more or less  range of each his clubs. For new golfers it is plus minus 10%, for more experienced it will be plus minus 2-3%

2. Par 4 and 5 tee shots have limited VC usage.  Usually I can see either D or 3W recommendation so I know it also without VC. 

3. short clubs like P, A, S, LW I cannot assume distance based on full swing because pitches and chips are usually made  on part swing base.  So I cannot rely on VC which uses distance of full swing.

4. So the only usage of VC for me is second shot providing it is not to green. E.G. VC advises to use a club that ball lands before green bunkers. 

additionally average playing distances which is used in VC cannot be edited and we don't know how is it calculated.

So please explain me how do you use VC ? from the other hand VC is main selling point of Garmin advanced golf watches so maybe I am missing something.  

  • +1 over 1 year ago

    Erroneous shot data and wedge shots that are not a full swing are filtered out when the watch considers club suggestions.

    The Max and Club distance values in the My Bag section of account cannot be edited through that menu, but historical shots from previous scorecards can be edited, and any outlier shots where a half swing ended up being detected can be unassigned by the user during rounds to prevent them from being accumulated towards the distances applied toward the max and average values. 

    Other general information regarding the Virtual Caddie feature on the Approach S70: 

    • The Virtual Caddie feature recommends a club based on historical shot data recorded from previous rounds where shot distance data was assigned to specific clubs for full swing shots taken.
    • The Virtual Caddie feature also takes into account wind information in additional to historical shot data.
    • Tapping on the Virtual Caddie icon will allow the user to select a different club to see how it may play differently if desired. 

    The article from Garmin Support regarding the Virtual Caddie feature can be reference here if needed: Using Virtual Caddie on a Garmin Golf Watch

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    My S62 VC has issues with some Par 3s, even on different courses.  I worked with Garmin over 6 weeks to resolve.  No cigar.  They sent me a new S62.  Same issues.  Problem:  Something is wrong with their VC algorithm.      

  • +1 over 1 year ago in reply to 9645599

    Update as of May 13th, 2024: 

    I am sorry to see you are still having concerns with this issue. I will be sending a direct message to you requesting some additional information, so please keep an eye out and please reply via private message for those questions I am sending. 

    Currently there are no widespread issues specific to this issue have been reported from other users for that specific ticket, and there is not a software issue with Virtual Caddie resulting in all user's having an issue with a shorter club suggestion being recommended while using virtual caddie. Typically if a shorter club is being suggested...it is due to that club having an incorrect average or max distance recorded from a previous round...and the erroneous shot distances need to be edited out of the scorecards where the longer distance was tied through to the club. The other reason that could cause a shorter club to be recommended is that the elevation/slope on the hole is reducing the distance...and the front, middle, and back distances displayed on the screen have not been toggled to reflect the PlaysLike Distance to reduce the distances displayed on screen. 

    If any user's are experiencing concerns with Par 3 club suggestions...please confirm your Virtual Caddie setting within the Golf activity settings on your device. Is it set to Auto. If not, change it to Auto and test again to see if the issue occurs after the setting change. If you continue to have the issue, please reach out to Garmin Support so our experts can get more info and address you concern accordingly. 

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Garmin-Cody

    Typically if a shorter club is being suggested...it is due to that club having an incorrect average or max distance recorded from a previous round...and the erroneous shot distances need to be edited out of the scorecards where the longer distance was tied through to the club. 

     
    Response:
    That is true if the number of data points are limited.  If you have a significant number of data points, a data point that is significantly higher or lower than the mean (in statistics, we call this an outlier) will have minimal impact on the mean distance (average).  This is precisely why Garmin wants the user to log 5 rounds before the VC will work correctly.  The VC needs data points.  The more data points, the more accurate the mean and the less the standard deviation from said mean.  Example:  Over the past 100 rounds, the mean distance for my PW is 130 yards with a standard deviation of 5 yards.  In round number 101, I blade a PW shot and send it 190 yards.  With data points from the previous 100 rounds, this one erroneous shot (data point) will not significantly impact the mean.  In fact, the mean distance for my PW will probably remain at 130 yards.  
     
    The other reason that could cause a shorter club to be recommended is that the elevation/slope on the hole is reducing the distance...and the front, middle, and back distances displayed on the screen have not been toggled to reflect the PlaysLike Distance to reduce the distances displayed on screen. 
     
    Response:
    The courses I play where I have witnessed the Virtual Caddie Par 3 errors are extremely flat.  Reason:  I walk 100% of the time.  Even with an elevation change, if the VC is suggesting a 140 yard club on a 180 yard hole, that is not due to elevation changes.  The errors I'm seeing on Par 3s on multiple courses are where the VC is making a club selection that is approximately 50% of the distance to the green.  
    In addition, if the elevation change were the reason, the red line with the target would STILL show middle of the green.  Example:  I have a 180 yard par 3 that is severely downhill.  The PlaysLike distance is 120 yards, so the VC suggests a PW, which the Garmin app. correctly shows the mean distance as being 120 yards.  If that is the case, the red line with the red circle target on the S62 would clearly show that the PW will land in the middle of the green because the PlaysLike distance is 120 yards and the PW is the correct club.  However, the red line with the red circle target shows the target as only 50% of the way to the green.  There is a problem with the algorithm.  There are multiple entries on the Garmin blog over the years mentioning VC calculation issues.  Understand that these are the people who actually report the issue...most will not say anything.