It is my belief that these handy pieces of kit can have a fundamental effect on your game, but it is true, there is nothing on the market that can turn you into Luke Donald or Lee Westwood.

Before you go out and buy a GPS unit there are a number of things to consider.

Price - There is a huge range of options here, from apps that work on your smart phone for a few quid, to pieces of kit that cost up to £400. In essence there is a product for every price range.

Functionality - Again there are so many options. Some GPS units can keep score, work out how many putts you take, and can be used to keep a record of your golf rounds, however, some units that I have come across require you to have a PhD in IT just to work them! An important factor for me here is, you should be out enjoying playing golf, not spending four hours out on the course inputting data!

Future proof and coverage - This is a big issue in my mind; it is essential that more courses can be added to your unit. If you are an itinerant golfer and play lots of courses, be careful, as many units require an annual subscription to download courses.

Reliability - Make sure you talk to GPS owners and indeed your local pro; of course everyone has different opinions but it will help you get a balanced view when you research what is available. Make sure you have a clear idea of what you want the product to do, because as I have mentioned before, there are some of us that just want to know the distance to the hazard or green, and others that just want the statistics of their round.

To help you, I've written a bit about the products which are currently on the market and that I have used.

The Bushnell Hybrid
- Costs approx. £379.00
The Hybrid combines laser accuracy with GPS convenience, it’s just the game-changer you need. It features the PinSeeker Technology used by more than 91% of PGA professionals, with +/-1-yard accuracy, 5x magnification and distance to front, center and to the back of the green. Plus, the GPS function offers, Auto Hole Advance, Auto Course Recognition and no one-time or re-occurring membership fees (more information source Bushnell website).

DC's view - I love this product. It gives you the best of both worlds; it's one of my favourites and it happens to be the one I am using at the moment. It is simple and easy to use; you do need a steady hand for the range finder.

SkyCaddie SGX

- Cost approx £299.00
The SkyCaddie SGX can store up to 30,000 pre-loaded, ground-verified course maps making it ready to play out of the box with Basic Green information. The SGX boasts a durable, sleek design with a large three-inch, easy-to-read, transflective TFT-LCD screen which provides brilliant colour images, even in the brightest sunlight. The SGX uses an innovative dual-navigation option to provide golfer friendly, one-handed operation and enhanced precision positioning without blocking critical screen information with fingers and smudges. With its new, intuitive user interface, the SkyCaddie SGX offers everything found in competitive rangefinders, plus you get higher quality, better reliability, and several proprietary stroke-saving essentials which have kept SkyCaddie the number one Rangefinder in golf for the entire decade (information source SkyCaddie website).

DC’s view - The SkyCaddie is a good product with a clear, easy-to-read display which gives you a lot of information. The only negative for me is the annual subscription.




Garmin Approach S1
- Cost approx. £140.00
The S1 is unlike any other golf GPS. Combining a high-sensitivity GPS receiver with a lightweight, flexible black or white sport watch, S1 gives you distance information to the front, back and middle of the greens for 18,000+ preloaded US and Canadian courses. You can measure individual shot distances, track how far you walk on the course, and then use the alarm to get you up in the morning. Approach S1 is golf’s first full-featured sports watch and golf GPS in one. Lock In Yardages & Measure Distances, the Approach S1 will have you dialled in like a pro by providing yardages to the front, back, and middle of the green. The sunlight-viewable screen features large numbering for at-a-glance visibility. S1 also measures precise yardages for shots played from anywhere on the course. And for those that like to walk, there’s the S1 odometer to tell you how far you travelled – on the course, or off. Unlike many golf GPS devices on the market there’s no need for subscriptions, downloads or additional set up – S1 is ready to tee off out of the box. It's a sleek everyday watch too and the S1’s cool look belies the tough, rugged, waterproof design. There’s an alarm, rechargeable lithium ion battery and S1 sets its time and time zone automatically (information source Garmin website).

DC’s view - The S1 is great very simple to operate a quick glance and you have the distances, no bulky pieces of kit to carry around; it does the job.

Golfshot Golf GPS for iPhone, iPad and Android
- Cost approx £20.99
It allows you to access over 37,000 courses with no subscription or annual fee. Golfshot is a GPS Rangefinder with distances to:
• Front, center and back of the green
• Up to 40 professionally-mapped targets per hole
• GPS aerial view with TouchPoint positioning – touch a target anywhere on the hole and get distances to that point and from that point to the green.

FEATURES
• 37,000+ courses
• GPS rangefinder with large numbers, front, center and back of green, and up to 40 points per hole
• GPS aerial view with TouchPoint technology
• Assign ideal layup distances for your approach clubs
• Track your distance for any shot.

SCORECARD FEATURES
• Keep score for up to four golfers
• Simple score entry
• Rotated full-round traditional scorecard view
• Optional handicap play with your USGA, CONGU, EGA, or RCGA handicap
• Stableford scoring
• Automatic course handicap calculator
• Net score and stroke score display
• View statistics during and after your round
• Get email and online scorecards
• View, edit and enter past round scorecards

STATISTICAL GRAPHS
• Automatically created for each round
• Know your performance and track your improvement
• Find gaps in your game
• Compare against friends

STATISTICS INCLUDE
• Fairways hit, missed left & right
• Greens in regulation
• Recovery scrambling
• Sand saves
• Putts per hole and per GIR
• Scoring averages on par 3s, 4s and 5s
• Scoring percentages
(Information source Apple App Store website)

DC’s view – If you want statistics this is the product for you - the information you can generate is mind boggling, however, you do need an iPhone or Android phone to use it with 3G & GPS and it eats the battery power of your phone.

These are just a selection of the products that I have used; there are many more available for you to choose from, the biggest problem I found was learning to trust the information that they give, I find myself thinking “that’s got to be more than 110 yards”, then taking out too much club and watching the ball fly over the back of the green!