Over the past few years, there have been a lot of advances into wearable technology. In golf, we’ve seen GPS watches and even stat tracking tools like GAME GOLF. Recently, TaylorMade Golf and Microsoft have also joined forces to deliver their take on wearable technology in golf with the myRoundProTM.
The partnerships between TaylorMade and Microsoft allows Microsoft’s Band to optimize TaylorMade’s standalone myRoundPro, its new fully comprehensive statistical analysis program. By wearing the band on your wrist during a round of golf, you’ll be able to count steps, calories and heart rate while also keeping score, getting GPS yardages and gathering stats such as Strokes Gained. Although it has been available in the USA for a few months, the platform is now available for golf courses in Canada.
“Golf is a decidedly technical game and every little advantage helps,” said John Gonsalves, TaylorMade’s Vice President of Direct to Consumer & Digital. “We are extremely proud to offer players of all abilities an in-depth analytics platform in myRoundPro. At TaylorMade, innovation is the genesis of everything we do, which goes beyond our equipment. myRoundPro is truly an extension of our desire to enhance the game of golf in every way.”
Once players’ rounds of golf are complete using the Microsoft Band and Microsoft Health app, they can sync their round with their myRoundPro account to view classical statistics such as fairways hit, greens in regulation, sand saves and putts per round. Even further detailed analytics come in the form of dispersion charts, shot records viewed on individual maps of every hole played, Strokes Gained in driving, approach shots, putting and more.
myRoundPro uses the statistical analysis measurement commonly known as “Strokes Gained”, which was developed by Columbia Business School professor and author, Mark Broadie. TaylorMade’s platform enables golfers to monitor and track their performance and statistics against a professional tour player or scratch golfer benchmark. Strokes Gained also allows the golfer to identify specific areas of their game that are affecting their performance.
Strokes Gained is a new metric that has taken the golf’s top professional tour by storm. Utilizing data from millions of shots during professional golf rounds and thousands of amateur rounds, Broadie has created a baseline to enable golfers to assess how they perform in all aspects of their game (from 1ft to 600 yards) in comparison to other golfers. Strokes Gained enables the golfer to identify what specific areas of their game are affecting their performance. Strokes Gained calculations take into account the average number of shots for a professional or amateur golfer to get down from a given starting distance and starting lie condition and the average number of shots to get down from a given end distance and end lie condition.
Although golfers can manually create a round of golf in TaylorMade’s myRoundPro web platform, the best experience is had when paired with a new Microsoft Band 2 and its GPS tracking capabilities. Once the user is connected to both platforms any previous or future rounds played using the Microsoft Band will sync seamlessly to TaylorMade’s myRoundPro. The new Microsoft Band 2 is available in Canada starting today for $329.99 and provides golfers of all skill levels with extraordinary shot tracking and analysis capabilities.
Source: Microsoft
