Roundabout for Apple Watch gives you the flexibility to track accurate shots while keeping your phone in your golf bag.
Utilize Your Apple Watch SMARTER
This leads to two main ways to utilize the Apple Watch when playing a round of golf with Roundabout:
1) Keep your phone in your pocket.
Pros: This solves the issue as your iPhone GPS will accurately reflect your position on the golf course and yardages will be correct. This also allows you to mark shots using the interface on your watch and have instant syncing with your iPhone to review marked shots as you play.
Cons: You must keep your phone on you throughout the round.
2) Disable Bluetooth on your phone.
Pros: Your watch will be forced to use it’s GPS. You are independent of the phone for yardages and can leave your phone in your golf bag or golf cart once the round is initialized.
Cons: Only applicable to Apple Watch Series 2+ (Series 1 does not have integrated GPS and requires an iPhone for yardages). Any shots marked on your watch will not synchronize with the iPhone until Bluetooth is re-enabled. Some Apple Watch users also experience slower GPS lock times when not paired with the phone as the GPS chip may take time to lock onto GPS satellites from a sleep state.
Compatibility
The Watch extension requires WatchOS4.0+ be installed and is compatible with all versions of Apple Watch. Quickly get yardages to front / middle / back portions of the green.
Track shots by tapping the score button. Your current GPS location will be saved and you will be given an opportunity to indicate the club used.
Simplicity
We kept it simple. Nobody wants to stare at small maps on their wrist or try to zoom in on a screen of this size. Simple yardages, simple shot tracking.
For more complicated needs (such as editing shots, layup yardages, and scorecards), the data is always right at your fingertips on your phone. We wanted a watch app that allows you to focus on golf while making tracking shots even easier.
Pair with iPhone
**Note: There are limitations when using Apple Watch that prevent PocketPAR from forcing GPS data from the watch. In some cases GPS data will come from the iPhone.
The default behavior of the Apple Watch is to use the iPhone’s GPS location when available (ie. when paired via Bluetooth). This is to conserve battery life and to support Apple Watch Series 1, which does not have integrated GPS. This can be frustrating for golf applications as the yardage from your golf cart or bag does not benefit you if standing over your ball 30 yards away. Unfortunately there is not currently a way to override this feature in software.
Despite the limitations, the Apple Watch experience is one that improves the overall functionality of Roundabout and makes it even easier to track shots on the golf course.