No I am not crazy. I have a GPS by skycaddie and my club just put a GPS system in the carts. I checked the distances and there is about a two to four yard difference between them. At times mine is longer and at times the cart is longer . Any one have any idea as to what is going on and which one I should believe.
Despite common perception, GPS is not pin-point accurate. Depending on the number of satellites your unit is picking up, and their geometry, position can be out several yards. The computational components in your handheld and those in the cart are probably a bit different, and there may be a difference in the number of satellites each is using, so discrepancies will occur.
No I am not crazy. I have a GPS by skycaddie and my club just put a GPS system in the carts. I checked the distances and there is about a two to four yard difference between them. At times mine is longer and at times the cart is longer . Any one have any idea as to what is going on and which one I should believe.
I'm guessing your Skycaddie is more accurate because it is probably getting just a little better satellite coverage. Of course, I don't know how the cart units are mounted but if the antenna is even partially covered by the top of the cart it could make a difference. BTW, with decent satellite coverage, accuracy should be within a yard or two. I don't think it's anything you should be losing sleep over.
Jerry
It also depends where your sky caddie is at and where the GPS satellite is located on the cart. If you have your sky caddie at the front of the cart and the satellite is located in the back it will be off a few yards
If each unit has a +/- 2 yards of error...that could be up to a four yard discrepancy even if both units are right next to each other. Also, like someone else said....it depends on where the GPS unit is on the cart vs where you're holding the Sky Caddie.
From personal experience, I know that when you map a course on the Sky Caddie... if it's overcast, you're points are less likely to be as precise. I mapped a course on an overcast day and the next time I played I found some of my distances to be 2 to 4 yards off. So if it was overcast when Sky Caddie or the Golf Course mapped the course professionally, it could still be a little off.
Thanks for all of the info. I will keep tabs on what happens. I have contacted skycaddie and talked to the club manager. I dont think any thing can be done but it is worth a try. Aganin thanks for the info.
Well, you also have to consider that there may be a couple of yards difference from where the skycaddie folks marked the center of the green and where the other GPS considers is the center. A lot of times I will sit in the cart at a par 3 and move the cross hairs on my caddie until it matches the yardage to the pin on the cart. That way, when I walk up to the tee box I get a more accurate yardage. Because of course, 3 yards is going to make a difference in how I hit the ball.
I have a skycaddie as do a number of members of the club I belong to. Using the downloaded map of the course we have compared yardage on a number of occasions and have noticed a discrepancy of 1 or 2 yards when measuring to the center of the green. Putting my ball there on a consistent basis is a different story.
A handful of yards is irrelevant for a second reason... external, non measured factors.
Certainly for me, I rarely will have a shot which does not have to consider a change in elevation or some wind. So these have to be estimated and I suspect the 2 or 3 yards error on the gps is swallowed up by the error in your external factor estimation.
Heck just use the skycaddie all the time, i mean when ur in the tall stuff you cant drive your cart to it so take ur skycaddie over there and ignore the cart. No use goin back and forth between yardages on each, just pick one and stick with it and then if you find that they are off a bit then stick with the other one........its better than guessing which one is right
July 25th, 2006, 08:53 PM
GPS vs GPS
No I am not crazy. I have a GPS by skycaddie and my club just put a GPS system in the carts. I checked the distances and there is about a two to four yard difference between them. At times mine is longer and at times the cart is longer . Any one have any idea as to what is going on and which one I should believe.
So if it was overcast when Sky Caddie or the Golf Course mapped the course professionally, it could still be a little off. 
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