5 myths about golf apps and how GLFR crushes them

The first myth on our list is one of the main reasons we built GLFR and GLFR Business in the first place.

For many many years, golfers and app users alike have been used to all sorts of maps that aren’t quite up-to-date. Most golf and/or navigation apps rely on satellite images for the navigation and those are really expensive to update. Sometimes services like Google Maps can use more than 5 year old images.

With GLFR, we create a high precision and easily updated digital model of the golf course, making it easy for the clubs themselves to update the course. So, if they add a new bunker or take down a tree, it can be updated within minutes and be sent to your smartphone.

So you can always expect the course to be up-to-date in GLFR, and if it isn’t, contact us and we’ll make sure it gets updated ASAP!

Nothing is worse than slow play on the golf course. Many golfers fear that using an app on the course will take too much time. Getting out your phone, unlocking the screen, getting an overview of the hole and reading the distance sounds like something that takes a lot of time. Maybe you have a new email or SMS waiting as well.

Fortunately, most of these time wasters are easily fixed with modern smartphones and GLFR.

First of all, make sure you are using fingerprint or face ID to unlock your phone. This should take you directly to GLFR as soon as you take out the phone. As for the time it takes to get the right distance, tests have shown that getting the distance to the green is just as fast as with a laser. And with GLFR, you can get the distance to any element almost as fast!

The third myth in our list, has some of the same roots as #1 – we are just used to unprecise maps and navigation. And granted, GPS in smartphones can be really inaccurate under the wrong conditions and some smartphones just have really poor GPS hardware in them. Weather like heavy rain, fog or snow will kill accuracy of both GPS and lasers.

But, in most cases and in the kind of weather most golfers like to play in, GPS will do just fine! Usually, the precision will be within a meter or two, which should be fine for most golfers. Because, lets face it, most of us aren’t accurate within a meter on every shot anyways.

This myth has some credit to it. Using GLFR – or any other app – and the GPS does drain on the battery. And if you are playing in very cold or very warm conditions, it probably drains even faster. All of that is completely true, for GLFR and any other golf app.

The thing that makes this is myth though is that GLFR (and most other golf apps) does not drain the battery more than any other normal app. And having the GPS enabled is a minimal extra load on your battery. The big battery killer in your smartphone is the screen. That is why people think a GPS app drains the battery – because the screen is always on while using it for navigation.

So, if you remember to shut of the screen whenever you don’t actually use your smartphone on the course, you should be able to make it through 18 holes with battery to spare.

Many golf apps rely on internet access to provide you with satellite images of the holes you are playing, and can get really slow or even unusable in poor or no connection.

Luckily, we thought about that from the very start with GLFR. As soon as you get to the “starterhouse” of GLFR, where you set up your game, you have a 100% offline version of the course guide on your phone. This means that you can even go into Flight Mode while playing, and still get all the benefits of the app – GPS even keeps working!

Other benefits from playing in Flight Mode is that your battery drain will be significantly lower and you will not be interrupted by phone calls or important emails while considering your approach shot.