I’ll be honest, once COVID hit and 6 weeks later my wife got pregnant, I figured my dreams of seeing Barnbougle Dunes were shot. At least for the next decade or so. As you might expect, getting to Tasmania from Portland, OR isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do. Convincing my wife I needed to leave her with our 2-year-old so I could go see Australia’s best golf courses? That’s recipe for divorce. So when the opportunity came up for her to take a few weeks off from work? I decided to bring them along. And boy am I glad…
Author: Sean Ogle
Sean Ogle
As the Founder of Breaking Eighty Sean has spent the last 10+ years reviewing the best golf products and golf courses in the world. He prides himself on only writing about products and courses he's experienced first hand, and helping others find exactly what they need to enhance their enjoyment of the game we all love so much.
If you know anything about the world of golf rangefinders, you have undoubtedly heard of Bushnell. They’re the king of rangefinders for a reason. Historically, they’ve made the best, most reliable, most consistent products on the market and I still think, for the most part, that’s true. Their newest top-of-the-line rangefinder for 2024 is the Pro X3+, and it looks remarkably similar to last year’s Bushnell Pro X3 (without the plus). Aside from the fact the Plus is a little bit darker gray than the original X3, they’re essentially the exact same device, save for one big feature: there is…
In April 2022 I was playing golf with one of the head pros at Bandon Dunes. We were on the 11th green of the original course, and he said “Have you ever heard of Golf+?” I wasn’t expecting the question, but I was very familiar with the virtual reality game he was asking about. In fact, during COVID, I spent a significant amount of time with their Pro Putt mode playing mini golf with friends that I couldn’t see in person. He went on to say “It’s awesome. My dad lives across the country and I rarely get to see…
This Garmin Approach S42 review was updated in July 2024 to add commentary about other Garmin watches and competing products. Over the course of the last few years I’ve worn my Apple Watch for nearly every round of golf I’ve played. More often than not, I’m also using Arccos Caddie in conjunction with my watch. I’m a huge fan of Arccos in general, but I’ve often wondered: am I missing out by not having a dedicated golf watch? Is there functionality I’m missing? How does it compare to the Apple Watch? How does it compare to just using a rangefinder?…
Updated February 2024 to add video review. It’s no secret that I believe the FlightScope Mevo Plus is the best overall launch monitor for most people. It’s accurate, feature-heavy, portable, and doesn’t have any subscriptions. But the original Mevo Plus came out in 2020, and since then? There’s been a lot of new competition coming to market. Really good competition at that. As such, I’ve been curious to see how FlightScope would respond. Would they come out with a more robust camera-based system for space-constrained golfers? Would they update their entry-level FlightScope Mevo? The answer for 2024 is something else entirely -…
The Bushnell Wingman 2 is the official follow-up to the Wingman which came out in 2020. That product started a whole new product category: the golf Bluetooth speaker. Is it something we need? Maybe some of us more than others. But with the Wingman 2, they made some nice quality of life updates over the original, but didn’t necessarily do anything totally earth shattering. In this Bushnell Wingman 2 review video, we look at performance, updates, and most importantly how it fares against other popular Bluetooth golf speakers. Related Content Bushnell Wingman Review – This is the speaker that started…
Updated July 2024 to add the Bushnell Wingman 2 and remove the Precision Pro Ace. These days, I’ve got music going during most of the rounds of golf I play. I’m a casual golfer. I mean, I golf a lot. But casually. I very rarely play tournaments, there are usually a couple beers involved, and aside from my duties reviewing products for Breaking Eighty, my whole goal with golf is to have fun. And music helps with that. I get it, music on the golf course isn’t for everyone. But if you’re a fan of Breaking Eighty, chances are you…
Jones Sports Co is quite simply one of the coolest brands in golf. They’re able to marry traditions of the game, with modern flair, style, and features in a way no one else is doing right now. And the result? Some seriously cool products. In this video, I go over what I think are the five “Essential” Jones items. They may not be for everyone, or even necessarily the “best”. But these 5 items I think make up the core of who they are as a brand, tell a good story, and are all worthy additions to any golf (or…
Just when I thought I had a handle on the rangefinder market, Garmin comes out of nowhere and releases the Approach Z30. Over the last two years, rangefinders were starting to feel like a commodity. It didn’t seem like there was a whole lot coming out that was new. Over the last few months, everything has been changing. Some products have seen drastic price cuts. The excellent Voice Caddie TL1 dropped from $450 down to $280 – making it the best value on the market. They also rolled out the Laser Fit, which has a surprisingly good triangulation feature. Precision Pro…
Earlier this month, I touted the new GPS features of the Precision Pro Titan Elite as game-changing. And I’ve been making a ton of noise about the insane price drop of the Voice Caddie TL1 – making it my current “best overall” rangefinder pick. But while I getting swept away by those devices, Voice Caddie quietly rolled out the Laser Fit. And honestly? I think I should have been paying more attention. Because not only is it one of the best rangefinders I’ve tested under $200, but it’s also one of the only devices on the market to have a…