Constantly striving to broaden the reach of its signature Caddie Shot Tracking and Analytics platform Arccos recently announced the launch of putter grip accessory specifically designed to seamlessly integrate an Arccos putter sensor with a SuperStroke CounterCore or Traxion grip. The accessory retails for $19.99 and can be purchased directly through the Arccos website.
It’s not a feat of engineering likely to change the course of human history. Still, the latest from Arccos solves a long-standing point of consternation for golfers who’ve been forced to get creative in developing home-grown solutions to mount the Arccos putting sensor (which screws into the butt end of the grip) to the back of a SuperStroke grip. For those who aren’t aware, the issue is that SuperStroke’s counterweight port eliminates the small hole in the grip cap necessary to accept a screw-in sensor. I’ve gone the Gorilla glue and duct tape route, which, while functional, probably isn’t the look Arccos wants on display.
For Arccos users, it may feel like this has been a long time coming, but more importantly, it serves as a harbinger of where Arccos is headed and what it’s looking to accomplish. This isn’t meant to downplay how a small change can have significant ramifications, but the endgame for Arccos is something much more robust – dare I even dangle the overused game-changing descriptor.
For those who haven’t followed Arccos closely – which is pretty much the vast majority of golfers – the company has undergone a significant organizational restructuring (and fundraising campaign) over the last 12-18 months. Perhaps we’ll delve into the details of this at another time, but for now, the salient point is that things appear headed in the right direction, and there’s plenty of gas in the tank to ensure everything stays on course.
That doesn’t mean there haven’t been some pain points. When resources are devoted to planning and restructuring, those same resources can’t be applied to creating, developing, and bringing products to market. It’s the just nature of how such processes to go. Additionally, the consuming public likely underestimates how long it can take for something as seemingly simple as a putter grip accessory to go from ideation to the shelves. The net result is this – Arccos is in a better position now than ever before to move the company forward and continue to push the limits of what artificial intelligence can do for golfers, boundaries which Arccos originally established as a market leader.
While it makes perfect sense for Arccos to align itself with OEMs like Cobra and PING as well as grip brands like Golf Pride, Lamkin, and SuperStroke, the relationships are more complicated simply because there are more people involved. It’s not as though Arccos is making widgets. Golfers want precise distances, pinpoint analytics, and spot-on artificial intelligence, which puts a lot of pressure on engineers to make sure delicate electronic components can withstand routine use as well as the occasional club toss or trunk slam.
As Arccos progresses, it will be with the mindset to remove reasons for people NOT to use it and take what started as a series of devices and components and blend it into an experience that more or less just happens. PGA Tour players don’t need to do additional work to access Shot Link data, and while Arccos won’t be staffing courses with volunteers to measure and record every shot, the ultimate objective is for golfers to show up to the course, play, and have data available after the round – no extra effort required.
A reasonable analogy is to think of a sprinter running the 400m hurdles. With each improvement (or leap, if you will), Arccos is eliminating both a figurative and literal hurdle. To date, As evidence that the era of big data is upon us, Arccos has detailed information on 5 million connect clubs and over 200 million shots taken on over 40,000 golfer courses worldwide – and it’s just getting started.
What would you like to see next from Arccos?
Tom
4 years ago
On my third set of sensors, continue to experience arccos missing shots. They tell me it’s my phone. My iPhone 7 is less than a year old and works fine…. Very frustrating..