What is the best Golf GPS for Fitbit Versa?

[BerniceSymak]

I would like to set up a golf GPS app for my Fitbit Versa that works in Canada.  What is the best app for that?

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject & Labels

[EdsonFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community @BerniceSymak. Sorry for the delayed response.

Thank you for your question about the best Golf GPS app for your Fitbit Versa. The current two apps that you can download are Pocket Golf and Golf GPS, and they should work fine in any location. Since both of them are great, I would recommend giving them a try in order to see which one you like more.

You can see the current app gallery on this site.

If you have any other question, please don't hesitate to contact us back at any time.

[LarryH9]

Really disappointed in that my kids bought me a versa as a gift for golf gps. The only app you have is not even close to accurate...standing at the 100 dish it will say 82 yards to centre. Pretty crappy. Guess I'll have to have them take it back to Costco, thankfully they stand by the stuff they sell.

[Mitchbiy]

The GPS is done by your phone obviously so nothing to do with the watch, suggest you get a better phone instead 🤣

[LarryH9]

You are right on and even more disturbing was that when I complained to
Fitbit I got blown off by some defensive and useless twit which was really
disappointing. Obviously not a well run company if this is an example of
the quality of customer service staff.
If not a gift from my children I'd have returned it to the retailer!!!

[EMajc]

As other contributors have pointed out, all the data is there, since the Versa 3 displays my running route very accurately. They just don’t do the math correctly to calculate distance. I’m not optimistic, but I’m going to see if Fitbit will return my money. Especially disappointing to me is I can’t use it for golf because of the GPS inaccuracy. And I had to pay extra for the golf app.

Sent from Ed's iPhone

[Rich_Laue]

Have you thought about sending feedback to the third party developer of this app? 

Their web page is https://golf4watch.com/?p=support

[EMajc]

Not so obviously Mitchbiy. The GPS in my phone is extremely accurate, for running, walking, golf, whatever I use if for. The GPS in the Versa 3 is not at all accurate and therefore can't be used. You can see in these posts that many owners of Versa 3 have the same complaint. 

It's interesting that when I track my runs using the Fitbit app on my phone, it is extremely accurate, so Fitbit knows how to do the calculation. To me it's obvious they have a math error in the algorithm that calculates distance when using the GPS in the watch. 

[Rich_Laue]

Then let the developer know your thoughts. This app was not written by or maintained by fitbit. 

Maybe the developer will need to reach out to the dev team for help. 

We might be able to ask fitbit to look into its accuracy. 

[LarryH9]

Nice try MITCHBIY...Can't help but wonder if you're the programmer that messed this up?

My Galaxy S20 FE 5G is new and therefore not the issue and if you read some posts, lots are having success with the phone apps and the VERSA 3 is the issue. 

[LarryH9]

Community Legend?

Maybe FITBIT should stand behind the product they sell especially when they promote it as having GOLF capabilities? Also, you'll note that others that are using it for jogging are also fa\\having issues. I shouldn't have to waste my time trying to get an app developer to fix their **ahem**...Fitbit has a lot more influence and should do their job!

[Rich_Laue]

Fitbit has a built in exercise called golf, which will break out the steps taken while on a golf course. 

Fitbit has never advertised that they offer an app to use for range finding while on a golf course. 

We do have a few suggestions that could be voted for. 

Golf GPS Features

Golf Rangefinder

The current Golf App was written by Peter Oskam who is not a fitbit employee. 

[Pietero]

Hi @LarryH9 and @EMajc,

I stumbled upon this post. I am the developer of the golf gps App where you are talking about. Now larry said the watch was showing 84 yards instead of 100.  There are 3 causes of a wrong distance reading.

1) Your phone GPS is used (versa 2, versa, versa lite) And when my app starts, I use the phone GPS first because it is faster. That is inidcated with text  "phone gps"

2) Your distance units are in meters instead of yards. 84 meters is 92 yards.

3) Weak GPS signal. Can be because of the hardware, weather coniditions but also on how many satelites can be found. On startup, there are a few satellites available.

4) "Wrong" coordinates in my database. In my database I have the GPS coordinates for front, center and back of the green. Those are not the flag positions. Check the coordinates on golf4watch.com. 

Now I recently made an app for Samsung and It happens to be that there is a difference in the distance reading of at most 4 meters. Because the same data is used and both watches are on my wrist, the only difference is the device hardware. I cannot tell which device is better. 

Now you are referring to math. Below is the distance calculation formula used in the app. Let me know if it is wrong 🙂

function distance(to,from = position) {
	let lat1=to.lat;
	let lon1=to.lon;
	let lat2=from.lat;
	let lon2=from.lon;
	
  let R = 6371000; // Radius of the earth in meters
  let dLat = (lat2-lat1)*0.01745329251;  // deg2rad below
  let dLon = (lon2-lon1)*0.01745329251; 
  let a = Math.sin(dLat/2) * Math.sin(dLat/2) + Math.cos((lat1)*0.01745329251) * Math.cos((lat2)*0.01745329251) * Math.sin(dLon/2) * Math.sin(dLon/2); 
  let c = 2 * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1-a)); 
  let d = R * c; // Distance in km
	if(settings.units=="US") return Math.round(d * 1.0936133);//yards
  else return Math.round(d);
};

[SunsetRunner]

So Took my versa 3 today and tried your app for a round of golf and I have to say it’s quite close to being adequate but falls short. 

I can appreciate that you worked hard on this but the product is missing a few key items that would make it work properly. Blaming users for not knowing the “math” and posting a screen pic of code doesn’t really show us how smart you are, we get it. But the app does not work properly and that’s the truth. 

first of all you show distances to hazards and doglegs as being available but they are nowhere to be found.

why can the versa 3 not use its own GPS to run the app? every time I walked away from my bag which had my phone in it I would loose connection and had to restart the app. 

the icons used to keep score and change clubs malfunction all the time, the touch screen on the watch works fine but in the app it just doesn’t. 

it’s unfortunate that Fitbit (now owned by Google) doesn’t realize there is a huge market for golf watches with GPS capabilities, all

the data for golf courses is already there they just have to make an app that works. 

[SunsetRunner]

Oh and one more thing, every hole on the entire course was labelled as a PAR 3, I’m no mathematician, but I know that’s wrong. 

[SunsetRunner]

@Pietero simply posted it so people can check the math.

The inaccuracy may come from the hardware. Consumer GPS simply isn't that accurate. If the reading is out by a few meters at point A and then again at point B, it adds up. There's nothing he can do as a software developer to fix that.

Also, the formula used doesn't account for topographical changes, and assumes Earth is perfectly spherical, which it isn't. 

[Hixie09]

Pocket Golf looks like it is a game not a hole finder

[evrbn2paris]

Thank you for your enlightening post, Pietero, and your transparency.  

I also stumbled on this post looking for an answer to whether Fitbit 'golf' tracks only the steps taken or also the distance driven in the cart. 

One of my children, a serious amateur golfer, relies on a separate device to find distance: expensive but very accurate.  

Answer to my question:   

Looks like it tracks the number of steps, so not a gps tracker, unlike MapMyWalk, which requires keeping one's phone in a pocket and which DOES include the distance driven in the cart, as well as the drive home - if you forget to turn it off.  It works for me.