Data-Wrist

Shot Scope’s new X5 Golf Watch has so many features you wonder what it can’t do

by Tony Dear

Reading the press release for Shot Scope’s new performance-tracking, distance-measuring X5 Golf Watch is apt to make one a little dizzy. You try to get your head around just how many features are packed into it, but at the end you need to go back to the start and read it all again. Then you see it in action and are blown away once more.

The X5 doesn’t actually replace anything in Shot Scope’s GPS watch line-up – the G3 which gives you basic GPS distances and the more features-laden V3 – both introduced in July 2020 – are still available and priced in accordance with their ‘veteran’ status. But, as you’d expect of a new product created with three years’ of feedback on its predecessors, the X5 blows them both out of the water.

Let’s talk hardware and firmware before moving on to what this watch is capable of. First things first, it looks good – the round clockface is significantly more satisfying than the bulky-looking square-faced V3 and G3. There are five interchangeable strap colors (as well as multiple clockface options) to choose from. The full-color touchscreen has a healthy, but not excessive, 1.2” display, and it comes with 16 second-generation (slightly larger to extend the range in which they can pick up and record data) tracking tags which fit comfortably into the butt-end of your club. For those who aren’t keen on touchscreens, a ceramic bezel around the circumference of the face can be rotated to change the function.

As for those capabilities, you can assume the GPS-enabled distances to the front, middle and back of the green plus front and carry distances to/over hazards are ultra-reliable. For the X5, however, Edinburgh-based Shot Scope has added two more important markers – distance to the dogleg and yardage to various lay-up points.

The shot-tracking has been enhanced using the power of AI which enables the device to learn more about you, your swing and your typical club choices the more you use it. The 1.2g, RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) tags, together with the sensors in the strap, recognize your club instantly and record your shot data automatically. Following the round, you can then download all the information – the X5 can provide over 100 performance-related statistics – to the free Shot Scope app (iOS and Android) and the also-free Shot Scope Academy – launched in January – which enables coaches to analyze their students’ rounds. There are no subscriptions with Shot Scope, so once you’ve purchased the very competitively-priced device you’re in the clear.

The new Green View feature allows you to drag and drop the flag anywhere on the green. So if the color of the flag says the pin is up front, you can move the flag on the touchscreen and get an even more accurate distance to the hole. And with PinCollect technology you’re able to record the exact pin location which helps you maintain more accurate putting statistics.

The X5 is also a step-counter and scorecard-keeper. It weighs in at less than two ounces which is remarkable considering everything it can do. And it comes with 36,000 pre-loaded courses which are mapped in-house with 48-hour course edits.

I think that’s everything.

Price – $300
Straps – Classic Black, Stealth Black, Prestige Black, Classic White, Prestige White, Steel Grey, Midnight Blue
shotscope.com

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Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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