Club Recommendations and True Distance

Club Recommendations and True Distance are Premium features that help make club selection more personal to your game.

Club Recommendations suggest which club to use during a round based on your Golf Bag and available shot data. When enough tracked shot data is available, True Distance can help make Club Recommendations more accurate by learning how far you actually hit each club.

In this Article:

• What are Club Recommendations?
• What is True Distance?
• How do Club Recommendations work?
• How is True Distance calculated?
• How do I turn on Club Recommendations?
• How do I improve my Club Recommendations?
• How does Shot Tracking affect Club Recommendations?
• Why are my Club Recommendations wrong?
• Frequently Asked Questions

What are Club Recommendations?

Club Recommendations is a Premium feature that suggests a club for your next shot, like having a virtual caddie.

Instead of only showing the standard GPS distance, Club Recommendations can use your saved club distances and the adjusted Plays Like distance to suggest a club.

Club Recommendations may account for factors such as:

• Your Golf Bag
• Your entered club distances
• True Distance, when available
• GPS distance
• Plays Like Distance
• Real-time course conditions

Club Recommendations are designed to help you make smarter club choices during a round.

What is True Distance?

True Distance is a Premium feature that estimates how far you typically hit each club based on recent tracked shots.

True Distance can use shot data from manual Shot Tracking or Smart Tracking. It helps identify shots that best represent your typical distance for a club while filtering out outliers, mishits, punch shots, or other shots that may not reflect your normal distance.

True Distance may also adjust tracked shots for course conditions, such as wind, elevation, temperature, and altitude, to better estimate how far the club would travel in neutral conditions.

For example, if a shot traveled 160 yards with wind behind you adding about 10 yards, True Distance may subtract that wind-aided distance and treat the shot closer to 150 yards for club-distance purposes.

How do Club Recommendations work?

Club Recommendations use your club distances and the current shot distance to suggest a club.

In general, the recommendation may consider:

1. The distance to your target.
2. The Plays Like Distance after adjustments.
3. The clubs saved in your Golf Bag.
4. Your manually entered club distances.
5. True Distance, if available.
6. Recent tracked shots and club data.
7. Real-time course conditions.

For example, a target may be 150 yards away, but Plays Like may adjust the shot to 160 yards because of wind or elevation. Club Recommendations can use that adjusted distance with your saved club distances to suggest a club.

How is True Distance calculated?

True Distance is calculated from your recent tracked shots for each club.

The calculation uses:

• Your most recent 10 tracked shots for that club, using Manual Track Shot or Smart Tracking

• The average tracked shot distance
• Adjustments for course conditions
• Outlier filtering

To help remove unusual shots, True Distance excludes the two longest and two shortest shots from the most recent 10 tracked shots.

As you track more shots, older shots fall out of the most recent 10-shot sample and newer shots are used instead.

True Distance may also adjust each tracked shot based on conditions when the shot was saved. For example, if a ball traveled 160 yards with wind helping the shot by 10 yards, that 10 yards may be subtracted so the shot is treated as closer to 150 yards in neutral conditions.

This helps True Distance better represent how far you typically hit a well-struck shot with that club.

How do I turn on Club Recommendations?

To turn on Club Recommendations during a round:

1. Start a round in the 18Birdies app.
2. Open the GPS screen.
3. Tap Tools in the bottom-right corner.
4. Tap the Settings tab.
5. Find Club Recommendations.
6. Turn Club Recommendations on.

Once turned on, Club Recommendations will appear during supported rounds when enough required information is available.

How do I improve my Club Recommendations?

To improve Club Recommendations:

1. Set up your Golf Bag.
2. Add the clubs you actually carry.
3. Enter realistic distances for each club.
4. Track shots during your rounds.
5. Make sure the correct club is selected for each tracked shot.
6. Review and update club distances when needed.
7. Use Smart Tracking or manual Shot Tracking consistently.
8. Keep your app updated.

The more accurate your Golf Bag and tracked shots are, the more useful Club Recommendations can become.

For more information about setting up clubs, see Creating and Managing Your Golf Bag.

Why are my Club Recommendations wrong?

Club Recommendations may look wrong if the app does not have accurate club or shot data.

Common reasons include:

• Your Golf Bag is missing clubs.
• A club distance is entered incorrectly.
• The wrong club was assigned to tracked shots.
• There are not enough tracked shots yet.
• Recent tracked shots include unusual shots or mishits.
• True Distance is turned on or off when you expected the opposite.
• Plays Like factors do not match the real conditions.
• GPS location or target location is inaccurate.
• The round is using a mode where Club Recommendations are not available.
• The app needs to be updated.

To improve the recommendation, first check your Golf Bag and club distances. Then review recent tracked shots for the club and confirm that the correct clubs were assigned.

Frequently Asked Questions