Score Band Review: When I first starting playing golf, my instructor advised me to not to keep score. The score, he said, was not important. Learn the game, learn to love it and keeping score will come later.
When I finally decided it was time to actually use the card given to me by the course for something other than taking down phone numbers, I also realized scoring is not as simple as it seems. Unlike my husband who seems to have a photographic memory of every shot he takes, my round becomes a blur after only a few holes, which makes retracking my score more or less a guessing game.
So when it was time to volunteer to review the Score Band, I was all in, which I’m sure this was a relief to the “Three Guys” who undoubtably cringed at the mere thought of showing up at their local course wearing an electronic scorer only a rookie would wear. Well, the joke is on them. Score Band is an electronic score keeper that you wear like a watch. As a matter of fact, it is a watch. The Score Band is very small, lightweight, water resistant and comes in a black or white with a variety of different colors for the buttons as an accent.
The Score Band has four functions – golf, tennis, allscore and watch. There is one small, silver button on the side that allows you to change the Score Band from one function to another. Then, there are simply two buttons on the face of the device allowing you to score within each function. For golf, you’ll still need to keep up with your written score card if you like to look back on your round to refer to your score on individual holes, but at the end of each round, the Score Band has tallied your holes for you. You’re only required to click for each stroke and click at the end of each hole to tally and start fresh for your next hole.
Let me assure you that this device is not just because you have too many strokes to remember. I found that when I started using a device to keep up with each stroke, I didn’t have as many strokes as I thought. I mean, when I finished a hole with what I thought was a five, I would try to recount my strokes like my husband, again and again, because there was no way I had done that well and actually bogied a hole, or did I? Well, with a counter like the Score Band, I found my score to be lower due to the fact when I actually did do well on a hole, I wouldn’t believe it. Surely I had forgotten to count a stroke somewhere so I would give myself a stroke because I thought I was being more honest. That’s right, when I started using a counter, I realized I hadn’t forgotten any strokes, I really was getting better!
Score Band for Tennis
I am also an avid tennis player, and I started wearing the Score Band for tennis. I play doubles in two different leagues in Atlanta. While the leagues are for “friendly competition,” I have found that when it comes to ladies’ tennis, friendly is sometimes the last thing in the competitive mind. The server always calls the score before each serve, but in a city, it is not always heard by everyone on the court, and there is a dispute about the score every now and again. If you have a long point and have switched sides of the court with your partner during the course of play, all four players sometimes lose track of the score. You usually come together and recall the points you have played and come to an agreement about the score. I am notorious for not keeping track of the score if I am not serving. Problem solved with my Score Band. After every point, I click my Score Band and it keeps my game score and the match score for me. I will say that while I found it very easy to keep the score when I was not serving, it was slightly more difficult to remember to do when I was serving. I am quite sure that with practice I could overcome this difficulty. At the end of the set, you will net to reset to begin your next set and switch to the allsport mode if you need to score a tie breaker.
Score Band for Ping Post and other Sports
My kids use the Score Bands for ping pong in the allscore mode. They can keep up with their score and that of their opponent. This can definitely cut down the arguing in any household. At my son’s basketball game, I can use my Score Band to keep track of how many free throws his team attempts and how many they actually make just to discuss with him after the game. You can use the allscore function for virtually anything you need to score. While I can recommend a Score Band for any golfer, it certainly has many uses other than golf. You can find out more and order for yourself at www.scoreband.net.
