I tested the Hello Birdie app

Golf apps for smartphones are numerous. Basically, they focus on two tasks: measuring distances and recording scores.

In these two areas they are strongly challenged by GPS watches, connected or not. App designers are therefore doomed to innovate if they want to exist. And some innovations that require relatively expensive sensors don't always seem very useful.

Hello Birdie offers innovation without any addition of expensive gadgets. Its goal is at the same time, simpler, more ambitious, and more original: to make us play intelligently!
In other words, Hello Birdie proposes to establish a game strategy hole by hole, for each of our games. Its slogan: "Hope is not a strategy".

How is that possible?

In reality, on our smartphone we only have the tip of the iceberg. The heart of Hello Birdie is on the developer's servers where an "artificial intelligence" analyzes our performance and transforms it into game proposals.
Important details: the game proposals take into account the topography of the course for which they are delivered, but also the weather (except the wind) and the altitude.
For a suitable weather to be taken into account the ideal would be to prepare your course just before leaving home.

Particular care must be taken to fill in the two screens below. It is from this data that Hello Birdie's algorithms will concoct personalized game recommendations, based on our performance.
In particular, it is necessary to inform the distances traveled with each of the clubs of our bag. No need to cheat because after recording a few courses the system will be based on the reality of our game.

It remains to fill in the "Settings" screen to specify our preferences in terms of unit of measurement, temperature unit, and speed unit.

Subscription plans

We must talk about it now because the choice of a formula is important. There are three formulas with the possibility of switching from one to the other:
– The Flex formula at € 4.99 per month or € 49.99 per year
– The Unlimited formula at € 9.99 per month or € 99.99 per year.
– The free formula.

The Flex formula makes it possible to use without limitation all the possibilities of the application on a single course to choose. Preferably the one where you play most often.
To add another course, you have to acquire it for € 4.99 for unlimited use.
Currently for any Flex subscription contracted via the application, the new subscriber benefits from 6 months free.

The Unlimited formula gives definitive and unlimited access to a database of 40,000 routes.

There is a free formula but it is content to offer a measure of the distance in the center of the green and a score card without game recommendations ...

It is easy to understand that those who travel the vast world with their golf bag on their shoulder have an interest in taking the Unlimited formula.

First course

These preparations made everything is ready. Choose the "New part" menu and fill in the different sections. This is where you choose the course you want to play on, the color of your tees, etc. For the moment there is only one game formula in StrokePlay.

Then click on "Create Game" and the interesting things begin. First you have to define a game objective in terms of the number of moves to be played. From there the application will offer you a game plan: hole by hole a strategy in terms of choice of club to play for each shot.

The 18 holes are there, just look at them one by one. For example if the application proposes to bogey on hole 1 of Val Grand, a par 5 of 443 m from the yellow tee, here is the game plan. Start at wood 5, then hybrid 5, iron 6 and approach to Pitch wedge.
This plan depends of course on the contents of your bag indicated above. Here it's with my bag.

By playing this game plan the software tells you that you have a 48% chance of making bogey or better (47% chance of bogey + 1% chance of doing par), 40% of doing double, 13% of doing triple.

FIR stands for Frairways in regulation. Here in 1 shot. It is achievable with an 82% chance.
OIR for Objective in regulation, that is to say the green in 4 shots as provided for in the plan. Achievable with a 64% chance

If this plan for hole 1 does not suit you, you can change. Try a par game on the menu above the photo.

The proposal becomes starting at the Driver, then wood 5 and an approach to wood 5.
Is this reasonable?

What do the probabilities say? That depending on our playing possibilities we only have a 13% chance of making the par, 37% of making a bogey, 49% of making a double and 1% of making a birdie.

Another possibility. On this long par 5 to the tormented green, not very easy to play, you have 2 shots returned. Ensuring a double is enough for you. The plan becomes a start to wood 5 then hybrid 5, iron 8, then a sand wedge shot to finish with an approach if necessary.

In this case the probabilities tell you that you have a 55% chance of doing a double or better, but 35% of doing a triple and even 10% of doing a quadruple.

Before you go

Print your game plan. And here's what you take on the course.

These are game proposals valid for a given player on a specific course.

All that remains is to follow the plan and hope that all goes as well as possible. But tell yourself that you remain totally in control of your game. If you think that at the 1 of Val Grand you have to attack the driver, go for it! You will inform this change when you score your score.
If during the game you miss a shot, highly unlikely hypothesis, it will be necessary to adapt the sequel!

On the course

To launch the application you must have either a WIFI network, 3G or 4G. Why not get rid of this task before leaving the Clubhouse? Then click on "Start the game", put your smartphone in your pocket, you will not need it except to mark your game between each hole.
But you can also make a paper mark and report your real game on the application quietly at the Clubhouse.

The GPS works on its own, a trace of your tribulations is recorded throughout the game, including the precise points where you hit the ball.

To mark at the end of the hole a screen with a special keyboard makes the task fast.
The keys take into account your bag. When you press a key the system asks you if you have played from the fairway, the rough or a bunker.
On the green you must enter the length of each putt: more than 12 m, less than 12 m, less than 8 m, less than 5 m, less than 3 m or less than 1 m.Note
that you can note approaches, penalties and refocusing shots.

At the end of the game you must "Sign your card". Your game's data is sent to the Hello Birdie cloud and processed by artificial intelligence. Your next game plan will take into account all your recorded and analyzed performance.
When you have played and recorded several games, your lengths will be updated for each club in "My Bag", as well as your dispersion, a data dear to Dave Pelz that I told you about in the article "Limit the damage".

My hot prints

The most

Subject to longer use, I will finally say a smart golf app. It doesn't just record your score and give you some game stats, it risks making a strategic prediction given your real abilities and the characteristics of the course you want to play.
– It does not require any special material graft.
– It places you permanently on the course and gives you the distance from the center of the green of the hole you are playing. If you don't use a watch, that's a plus.
– You don't need to walk with the smartphone in your hand.
– Marking the shots is simple. And it forces you to make a memory effort to mentally replay the hole.
– I was favorably surprised by the relevance of the recommendations. For my first trip to Forges-les-Bains I only had to take out my driver 3 times. I used my irons much more than usual, including on some departures. A change of philosophy that does not affect the results, quite the contrary.
– Another surprise, I played much safer. No poker shots or unnecessary risk-taking.
– All this is very good for the mind because stress is almost automatically kept at bay.
– In the radius of the most we must salute the sobriety of the GPS which consumes very little battery.
– Hello Birdie is an application developed by a French Startup based in Paris.
– The application website is bilingual: French, English

Cons

– The current version, is in constant development. Many developments are to come.
– It lacks a small user manual, a quick grip. It could be on the app's website.
– To start the game and to sign the card you must have WIFI, 3G or 4G access. In France and more generally in Europe it is not really an embarrassment, but it can become so for courses in white areas. Among the developments to be expected, it is expected that these operations can be done without network access.
– The Android version is pending. Only the IOS version is operational.
– For the moment no access to the player's statistics is available on the application's website. If they ever are, what statistics and in what forms?

In summary

I will continue to use Hello Birdie.
But I would understand very well if some purists who suffer from seeing our sport invaded by technology turn away from it. However, the same people play with clubs that are concentrates of innovation. Far from those of Ben Hogan or even Steve Ballesteros.

Are we in violation of Rule 14-3 (extended in Appendix IV) when using Hello Birdie for a competition?
What does the rule say?
"Except as provided in the Rules, during a conventional round, the player must not use any artificial devices or unusual equipment... Precision "during a conventional lap" is important.
Hello Birdie allows us to prepare our game before being on the course. It does not change the live game plan during the game.
To prepare for a competition any player has the right to perform one or more recognitions and to establish his game plan including using devices.
With or without the app, changes made to the game plan during a conventional round are the sole initiative of the player, and his caddy if he has one.

We agree with this other paragraph of rule 14-3:
"Golf is a demanding game in which success should depend on the judgment, skills and abilities of the player. This principle guides R&A in determining whether the use of any object is in contravention of Rule 14-3. »

In 2019, Rule 14-3 will specify that devices measuring only distances are allowed, unless there is a local rule prohibiting them. The opposite of the current provisions.

Update October 19, 2018

Version 1.2.0 went live on October 19, 2018. It brings many features.

The most appreciable is undoubtedly the appearance of a statistics module that is displayed under the scorecard after signing it.
This module entitled "Game Results" includes:
– a Score
pane– a Performance pane

The image below allows you to understand everything

– The "Score" section does not need any special development.
– The "Your performance" section offers 5 statistics:

1 / ScoreComparison
of the score played with the game plan established before the game

2 /
StakesHow many fairways have been achieved in regulation and with which clubs.

3 / Towards the greenWith
which clubs were made the approaches?
Always compared with the game plan.

4 / Small gameWhat
distance from the flag did the approaches arrive?

5 / PuttingThe
putts succeeded by distances.

The update also added a possibility in the game screen. On each hole it is possible to open a window that recalls all the characteristics of the hole and the game that is planned!

Further developments are ongoing. I will keep you informed.