Saturday, April 28, 2012

Rope-It - 100 Swing Challenge

The people at Rope-It started a thread a few weeks ago (Here you go...) on the all time best golf forum MyGolfSpy.com, looking for testers for a new App they were releasing for the iPhone (and soon Android).  The app was designed to be used with their product, the Rope-It.  Seeing as I didn't have one already, they sent me one free of charge (normally $25 from their website).  Within a week of sending them my address, it was at my doorstep.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating, and after 3 days of sitting on my desk, I was able to get out this weekend and try it out.  They were looking for testers to complete a 100 swing challenge in order to help find any needed features and just test the app in general.  Here are my initial impressions:



The Rope-it:
The concept itself is pretty simple, a golf ball on a string...  I've seen it done before with rubber baseballs for my son, and it seemed like a pretty cool idea there too.  Once you take a closer look, it gets more clever.  The rope is not the same the whole way.  There is 10 feet of elastic rope closest to the ball, connected to 10 feet of nylon rope which gets tied to a 5 pound weight.  I would assume there is some scientific reason for this, but what do I know?  The ball is a Dixon DXD 4000, and is attached to the rope with an eyehook.


The App:          Rope It on iTunes
Very simple and straight forward.  There are 3 sections: "Using the Rope It" which includes a link to their website, "History Graph" which shows you a graphical history of your shots, and "Practice Shots" which is where you enter your scores.


TESTING:
The Rope-it:
Here we go... I will try to give a fair and honest representation of my thought process as I tried this out.  After exactly 100 swings, I have found this to be a fun way to experiment with my swing in my back yard.  My yard is pretty small (40'x60'), and I had more than enough room to use the Rope-It comfortably.  Before I even started, the instructions say to tie the loose end of the rope to a 5 pound weight, but since I don't work out, weights are not something I just have lying around.  I ended up filling a milk jug 3/4 of the way fill and tying the rope to the handle.  Worked perfectly.  I will say, that at first, I was a little nervous about hitting a full 8 iron directly at my neighbors house, but he still has all his windows after 100 swings.  The eyehook stayed in the ball and the rope didn't come untied.  After 100 swings, the ball has held up well, no scuffs, dings or marks at all.  One thing that bugged me a little was that the ball kept sliding down the rope, so I tied an extra know on the opposite side and that stopped the problem.  (See the pics) This didn't effect performance at all, I just didn't like the way it looked.


Other than the ball sliding down, I had to always make sure that the eye hook was pointing the direction I was aiming, I wouldn't want to accidentally swing and hit the hook, I'd imagine my club wouldn't be too happy.  One thing I did like was the sound the rope made when you really hit a good shot.  It's hard to describe, but it sounds really cool. 

The only other thing I didn't like about the Rope-It was the fact that it really made me realize that my yard is a bumpy, rocky, needs-to-be-mowed mess.  Not the fault of the people at Rope-It, but now I have more work to do tomorrow... Thanks...  :rolleyes: :D  

The App:
It really is bare bones simple.  I have never reviewed an app before, so I really don't know what to critique, but here are my impressions.  For what it is supposed to do, it works.  It is easy to use, and easy to read.  The app loads quick and it doesn't take any effort to navigate.  So if I had any knowledge of app design, what would I do?  A couple things...

"Using the Rope It"
I didn't like this screen, the info about buying the Rope-it and the website/phone number take up half the screen, and don't move when scrolling through the setup instructions, leaving only a small portion of the screen viewable. 

see how the "ad" stays on top??

"History Graph"

I like it... maybe allow for landscape viewing???

"Practice Shots"

This is the main screen that you use to enter your rankings.  I think maybe some recommendations that describe what a 1 looks like compared to a 3 or 5??? I'm not sure if this would work though because everyone has different opinions about what their swing should look like.
Also, maybe add a little bubble next to each shot so you can add a note about the shot so when you are done you can look back and see what the good shots looked like compared to the bad ones???
I would also like to see bigger numbers to rate my shot.  I was taking my phone in and out of my pocket trying to add the score quickly, and the buttons were a little too small.
And my biggest pet peeve was the auto rotate feature.  It was really inconvenient when I pulled my phone out and the screen was upside-down.  Then when I tried to quickly enter a rating, it flipped back to normal.  This bugged me.  Maybe add an option to turn off autorotate.

"Extras"
Ideas for additional features:
Maybe a link to swing tip videos, or even pictures of swing tips??? 

 THE RESULTS:
Overall the Rope-It is a very simple, yet very cool little device.  It's one of those things that when you are holding it you say to yourself "why didn't I think of that?"  For people like me who don't have time to get to a driving range more than a couple times a month, and would rather spend time at home, this is perfect.  The more I played with it, the more I started experimenting with my swing.  I could switch up my stance, put the ball further back or forward, basically do everything I would do at the range.  Determining the ball flight was difficult, but there is definitely feedback, and you can tell when you have a good swing. 

Would I recommend this?  YES... If you can't get to the range as often as you'd like, this is an excellent way to spend $25.  Way better than hitting plastic balls, and way safer than hitting real balls.  I will certainly continue using it, and when my  son is old enough, I plan on using this to help teach him.

Thanks again to Rope-It (who I have no affiliation with) for the opportunity to test your product and app, I had a blast...

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Golf season has started...

and that means more free golf stuff...

First up for the season is a T-Shirt form a company I had never heard of before.  The company (Cru Golf) is a manufacturer of pretty cool looking old skool style leather headcovers.  They make everything by hand, and even though they are a fairly small (and new) company, they already have tour players rocking their headcovers.  That must mean the quality is top notch.  I'd love to say I won some headcovers, but I didn't.  Actually, It would be hard to know the Sumi-G's out of the bag...

SO, what did I win you ask?  I pretty cool T-shirt with their logo on it - "Spike it, and Strike it"




Oh, apparently the blogpolice say I need to disclose that I have no association with this company other than entering a contest, as if that wasn't totally obvious... So there, I have disclosed...

Sunday, January 1, 2012

New Year, New Look!

Happy New Year!! Since we are all about organizing, updating and freshening, we are going to be updating the blog the next few days...so don't be surprised if you see some things moving around! Check back soon for a new post!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

3 days until Christmas ... The Elf is getting antsy...

It's almost time for Sam the elf to return home to the North Pole for the year, so he has been making sure to keep himself busy, and keep Connor entertained.  Here is our latest installment in the Elf on the Shelf story...

Sam had a play date with all of Connor's stuffed animals...

Just Chillin'


Playing with the Army men... It looks like Sam is outnumbered...


I'd rather be fishin'


Sam's Dad came back for a visit and the playable elf joined in for a little genealogy lesson and a look back at the history of The Elf on the Shelf...


Connor was NOT happy about this...

 A good elf is always available for emergency rescues...



Sunday, December 11, 2011

Time for an elf update... Sam has been busy again...

Well, Sam the elf has been busy again this week.  The first few days were a little slow (hanging from the chandelier, hiding on a shelf) but as we get closer to Christmas, Sam has been having more fun.

Here are a few of his escapades...

He must have wanted Connor's room to look more like the North Pole, so he made some snowflakes...


A little adventure...


And the best one yet... Sam raided Connor's sock/underwear drawer and scattered socks all over his room, and underwear all over the tree... Gotta love his creativity...



Thursday, December 8, 2011

Purex / Better Homes and Gardens Magazine Subscription Giveaway!



Who doesn't love fun mail in their mailbox?! We don't know about you, but Brian and I love getting anything besides bills in our mailbox these days! (We've managed to get everything but our new SUV paperless though -- WOO HOO!) We are all big readers in this house, so one of our favorite things to see in the mailbox every afternoon is our magazines!

With that in mind, we wanted to let our readers know that Purex is giving away 20,000 Better Homes and Gardens Magazine Subscriptions!!

Just go here to enter for your chance to win one of the 20,000 Better Homes and Gardens (a whole year's worth!)Subscriptions...have you checked them out lately? Such eye candy! I especially love the new recipes that they include each month, along with the really great photos! I always find something new to add to our monthly menu plan. You have until December 20th to enter, so go quick!

What do you like to get in your mailbox?

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Sam the elf has returned for another Christmas season...

We are only a couple days into December and is appears that Sam, the Elf on the Shelf has returned to watch over Connor and cause some trouble.  I will try to document his escapades as he terrorizes the house and causes Connor (and us) grief.

Here are some of the highlights so far:

Nov. 25 - He Stopped in the day after Thanksgiving to toilet-paper the Christmas tree in the family room.  He saw we were slow to put up decorations, so he took on the task himself...



Nov. 27 - Sam saw we had the Christmas village set up and must have decided that he was home sick.  He spent the day there watching Connor (and getting watched by Connor)...


Dec. 1 - Sam delivered the first piece of Connor's LEGO Advent Calendar, nothing too exciting to see here...






Dec. 2 - Apparently sugar makes elves hyper, because Sam made a mess today...


Dec. 3 - I don't know if Sam is trying to say that Connor has too many toy trucks, or that he has some really cool trucks and enjoys playing with them...  Either way, Sam thought a parade would be a fun idea. 


Keep watching, we will be updating Sam's mischief every couple days...