Global Sports: Selecting One Of The Many Golf GPS Units

Friday, August 27, 2010

Selecting One Of The Many Golf GPS Units

By Max Pigford

Golf GPS units have become very popular in the United States and are spreading now all over the world where golf is played. For those golfers who can't resist the latest gadgets, these devices that promise to give you an edge, make bragging easy to validate, and make previewing thousands of courses possible are obviously necessary tools.

Knowing the distances from green to green, or from where you are in the rough to the middle of the green, is better than guessing and also makes it easier to select the proper club for each situation. Saved data helps in later assessments of which club worked best or how a hole could have been played to better advantage.

The screen display of many devices gives the par for each hole, score is kept and scorecards can be saved, and touch screens are now common. There are mounts to attach a handeld GPS to the golf cart, if the player prefers not to carry it. Screens are in color, with large characters to make reading distances and the menu items easy, and brightness is one of the competitive features.

A feature that is found on all units is a list of golf courses in the United States, stored in the unit and able to be expanded or updated online using a USB connection. It is easy to check online to make sure a device you are interested in lists your local courses and the ones you regularly play on vacation. Some units will tell you how far listed courses are from your current location, which would be helpful when deciding whether to accept invitations from golfing buddies.

Whether you choose a mobile down load or decide on a handheld device, you can check out all the various model's features and tools online before making a selection. One thing to consider is speed of accessing data; you may find some programs slow to respond. Durability is another thing to consider, since it is always possible to drop your GPS on the cart path or in the creek. Most units promise to be waterproof and rugged.

The saved data refreshes your memory as to which success or set-back happened at which hole. If it has been a while since you last played a particular course, having a history of that day can be helpful. And, of course, it makes replaying the game easier back at the Clubhouse, as well as backing up the details of your story.

Golf GPS units come in many different formats, with options in screen size and brightness, ease of reading figures, fees and update charges, battery charge life, tools, and durability.

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