Shot Scope V5 GPS Golf Watch Life-Tested Review
Here's why I think the Shot Scope V5 GPS golf watch is the best game-tracking device out there
I recently tested Shot Scope’s newest GPS golf watch, the V5, and it turned out to be one of my favorite equipment tests of recent memory. In the end, I think the V5 is the best distance-measuring device you can buy today, particularly for golfers who are interested in using data to improve their game.
However, the V5 isn’t perfect. So let’s take a deeper look at what you can expect from the Shot Scope V5 GPS golf watch, and who I recommend it for.
Shot Scope V5 GPS Golf Watch Overview
Here's what the hole overview screen looks like on the Shot Scope V5 watch
Shot Scope V5 Pros:
- Best overall game-tracking package available today
- Easily a 2+ round battery life
- No subscription fees ever
- Addictive stats dashboard that provides actionable insights into your game
- Digital scorecard
- Easy-to-use pin collect feature for accurate approach, short game, and putting statistics
Drawbacks of the V5 GPS Golf Watch:
- Automatic shot-tracking misses too many shots
- Post-round verification takes about 15 minutes
The Shot Scope V5 is a GPS golf watch that pairs with tags in each of your clubs to map every shot you hit and deliver a sea of data and insights into your game.
On the course, you get distances to the front, center, and back of the green, hole maps, green view and pin placement, distances to doglegs, hazards and layups, and a scorecard.
After your round, you can check out how your performance compares against your target handicap benchmark, and gain detailed insights into your game, like your average distances with every club and your biggest opportunities for improvement.
One of my favorite data points from the V5 is proximity to the hole with each club. When I saw this stat for my short game, I learned that my average proximity from inside 50 yards with my 50-degree wedge was 8 feet, but with my 54-degree wedge, it was 22 feet. Until that point, my 54-degree had been my go-to short game club, but seeing these stats over the course of several rounds (select last round, last 5, last 10, last 15, calendar year, or custom date range) helped lead to more informed decisions on the course and better scores. This is just one of several stats the Shot Scope V5 automatically tracks, which are easily digestible in the app or online dashboard.
Shot Scope V5 GPS Golf Watch Review
If you want to use data to pinpoint your biggest opportunities to improve your golf game, the Shot Scope V5 GPS golf watch, in my opinion, is the best product on the market to do that.
From on-course experience to off-course data and insights and overall user experience, here’s my complete review of the V5 watch.
Shot Scope V5 On-Course Performance
The on-course experience with the Shot Scope V5 is excellent. It’s not distracting, it does its job almost entirely in the background, and it’s easy to quickly get the information you need, when you need it.
Just fire it up on your way to the first tee and the V5 constantly updates with accurate GPS distances to the front, middle and back of the green. Once you’re on the green, the watch automatically enters pin collect mode. This is a very important step where with one push of a button, you tell your watch exactly where the hole is, and how many putts you had. In my opinion, setting the hole location and recording the number of putts all in one click is a meaningful upgrade over Shot Scope’s more premium X5 watch. It’s incredibly simple, and this information allows the watch to churn out meaningful data on your approach game, short game, and putting.
A quick side-note about that more premium Shot Scope X5 watch, the V5 is very similar to the X5. The biggest difference is that the X5 has a touch-screen and only two buttons, whereas the V5 has four buttons and no touchscreen. I find the V5 to be easier to navigate. After using both extensively, I actually prefer the functionality of the V5. Given that the V5 is about $50 less than the X5 and slightly easier to use, I think it’s the best GPS golf watch and game-tracking package out there.
You can also use the watch as a scorecard during your round, which I always do. Keeping score on the V5 is easy, as the watch prompts you to record your score the moment you record your putts and set the hole location. After you use the pin collect feature we just mentioned, the watch has all the information it needs to track your stats, since it already knows where you hit every shot. That means after your round, you have your score, greens in regulation, fairways hit, and putts. Of course, the V5 delivers so much more than that from a stats perspective, which takes us to the next part of this review. What does this watch give you off the golf course?
Shot Scope V5 Stats & Data
The biggest advantages and the biggest shortcomings with Shot Scope’s V5 GPS golf watch both fall into this Stats & Data category.
I’ll start with the good, and the thing that I think separates Shot Scope and the V5 from all the other competition out there, and that’s the game-tracking.
The V5 comes with tags that you attach to the butt of every club. Using the tags, the V5 maps every shot you hit on the golf course, which allows the Shot Scope app and online dashboard to churn out an incredibly deep look at your game. You can track your strokes gained statistics compared to your target handicap benchmark, check the real distance you hit every club, and get an overview of how your game stacks up in five categories: Tee Shots, Approaches, Short Game, Putting, and Scoring.
Seeing proximity stats broken down by club helps optimize club selection
I mentioned earlier how analyzing my proximity to the hole in the short game performance helped me optimize my decision-making around the greens. Using data from my Shot Scope dashboard helps me to decide where to focus my practice efforts, and assists my strategy when making my way around the golf course. A few of my favorite stats and data to check regularly include:
- Putting make percentage by distance
- Performance-average distance (average distance, removing outlier shots) with each club
- Tee shot statistical comparison: Driver vs. Fairway wood
- Up-and-down percentage by club
- Approach shot proximity by club
However, my biggest issue with Shot Scope is that the tags miss a few shots here and there, and when it comes time to verify the correct mapping of all your shots after the round, it usually takes about 15 minutes, which is more time than I’d like to spend after an already long day on the course.
If I had to guess, I’d say it misses about one shot every three holes. It also doesn’t always mark the right location of your first putt, which is one of the most crucial pieces of data collected during your round. You can – actually, you’re required to – edit and verify all of this data after each round, so at the end of the day, you do get accurate stats, but I’d like to see that Sign-Off process be a little quicker, and I think the easiest way to do that would be for the watch and tags to miss fewer shots.
That Sign-Off process allows you to confirm the correct lie type of every shot (some tee shots near the edge of the fairway and rough, and shots near the edge of the fringe and green may need to be edited, as these are important distinctions). This is also where you input any shots that weren’t mapped, input any penalty strokes you may have accrued, and make sure that the distance and location of your first putts (and any ensuing putts) are accurate.
I always pace off my first putt distance and write it on my scorecard so I can accurately verify this information after the round. This is important because the length of your first putt factors into not only your putting statistics, but your short game and approach statistics as well.
Shot Scope V5 User Experience
The data and game-tracking is easily my favorite part of the Shot Scope package, but I must also tip my cap to the user experience with the hardware. Getting the watch up and running is a breeze, both out of the box and on the golf course.
The battery life on the V5 is easily strong enough to last two full rounds on the course, and then some, and the watch itself is lightweight and comfortable.
I typically don’t wear the watch off the course, but if you’re one of those players who is hesitant about wearing a watch while playing golf, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how little you notice the V5 while you play.
Crunching the Numbers
Some of my best golf friends aren’t sold on tracking their personal strokes-gained and performance stats, and I acknowledge that there are a lot of golfers who aren’t interested in their stats and data. However, I believe that having access to this data can only help your game.
Before using Shot Scope over the last couple years, I used Arccos to track my game for a couple years. Overall, it’s pretty easy for me to recommend Shot Scope over Arccos. When you use the Shot Scope watch paired with the tags, you don’t need a phone or other device, plus Shot Scope never has subscription costs – the price you pay for the watch is your only cost – which ultimately saves you hundreds over Arccos.