Arccos Caddie Named "Most Innovative Product of the Year" at the Golf Awards by American Golf
Arccos Golf announced that Arccos Caddie, golf’s first artificial intelligence (AI) platform, has been honored as “Most Innovative Product of the Year” in the inaugural Golf Awards by American Golf.
Determined by American Golf – the U.K.’s largest golf retailer – based on voting by thousands of its customers, this distinction formally recognizes the power of Arccos Caddie to help players of all skill levels shoot lower scores by making smarter, data-driven decisions on the course.
Developed in partnership with Microsoft, Arccos Caddie leverages the golf industry’s richest data set – over 75 million shots hit by the Arccos community, as well as precise elevation data and 368 million geotagged data points on more than 40,000 courses. It also accounts for weather conditions, including forecasted wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, temperature and more. Arccos Caddie can be used by anyone, on nearly any hole in the world, regardless of whether a golfer has previously played the course.
“Every shot in golf involves a decision-making process, and the caddie’s role has historically been to help you make more intelligent choices. Yet today, only a tiny percentage of players have access to a caddie,” said Sal Syed, CEO and Co-Founder of Arccos. “Everyone else is missing out on a crucial source of information that can help inform every shot. With Arccos Caddie, we’re democratizing the caddie experience through the power of AI and the Microsoft Azure cloud.”
Initially released in beta on May 22, Arccos Caddie was recently updated with several new features. These were highlighted by real-time “Plays Like” distance calculations that precisely account for the impact wind speed, wind direction and elevation have on how far each shot travels. The platform was further enhanced with refined machine learning and AI algorithms, as well as persistent displays of wind and elevation data throughout the round.
“This year has seen some fantastic technological innovations, but Arccos Caddie really has stood out from the pack,” said Daniel Gathercole, Director of Marketing and Communications at American Golf. “Thousands of U.K. golfers have voted for the Golf Awards by American Golf, so to receive this award is a real endorsement of the steps forward Arccos have managed to take with its technology.”
Players using the Arccos Caddie system improved their handicap by an average of 2.77 strokes in 2016. The connected golf system helps players know:
- How Far to Hit Each Shot – with rangefinder GPS (in yards or meters) to any point on more than 40,000 courses worldwide
- Which Club to Use in Every Situation – with Smart Distance™ data on true averages for each club in your bag
- What to Practice – with the proprietary Tour Analytics platform, an enhanced version of the Strokes Gained algorithm that provides insights about a player’s strengths and weaknesses, including handicap breakdowns for Driving, Approach, Chipping, Sand and Putting
