Whether you find the best golf speakers a down right offensive new piece of technology or a fun new golf gadget (I'm in the latter of the two camps, FYI) there's no denying there is an increasing popularity for music on the golf course and a couple of golf brands have latched onto this. 'Why should I buy a golf specific Bluetooth speaker over a standard one?' I hear you ask. Well, one look at the amount of features on the latest Blue Tees Player+ speaker and you'll quickly see why.
Blue Tees is a relatively young brand, but has already given us some of the best golf gadgets like the Series 3 Max laser rangefinder and the original Player Magnetic speaker. The list of features on the Player+ speak to exactly why you might want to invest in a golf specific device. Integrated GPS showing you yardage to the green and hazards, a shot measuring device, score tracker, audible feedback and a touchscreen display are all features no standard Bluetooth speaker can boast. So if you're looking to use a speaker primarily for you and your friends to enjoy on the course, I think a golf specific device is a way to go forward.
I'll start by talking about the quality of sound. While I'm no expert on sound, I can compare it directly to the Bushnell Wingman View speaker I tested a few months ago. To me, the Player+ had a much deeper, bass filled sound than the Bushnell could produce. This is likely thanks to the two subwoofers installed into the Player+, technology the Bushnell device simply doesn't have. While there is only a speaker installed on one half of the device, it offers an impressive 360° sound, which will mean the sound carries well between your fourball out on course.
One big technical advantage it has over the Bushnell Wingman View is the touchscreen display. As much as I enjoyed the Wingman View, I always felt the screen was a touch rudimentary for a device in this day and age. The responsive touchscreen on the Player+ speaker not only makes the speaker look more modern, but really enhances the overall user experience. You can scroll quickly between the main GPS distance view through all of the many screens like time and date, a music screen, dynamic hazards, driving distances and your score display. It's a much more rounded experience than with the Wingman that requires you to interact with your phone much less to access information.
You require a smartphone to link up the Player+ speaker to the outside world, and its from your phone where you'll connect the device, play your music and cast the GPS yardages from. Over 40,000 courses are pre-downloaded onto the Blue Tees app, an app which allows you to unlock more features and insights such as full hole mapping, detailed green view and a full hole flyover. From my testing, the yardages were pretty accurate - what you'd expect accuracy-wise from the phone's GPS - while being a couple of yards out from the laser rangefinder yardages I was comparing them against.
The Player+, much like the Wingman, comes with a large built-in magent running across the side, something of a must-have feature of any golf speaker or golf GPS device for that matter. This means you can easily and confidently attach it to the side of a golf cart or even the side of an electric golf trolley for convenient storage and use. Due to the weight of the product, I can't foresee anyone using this product when they're walking the golf course, and this is where devices like the Bushnell Wingman Mini come into their own.
At this price, it's not that much more expensive than a good quality standard Bluetooth speaker. Considering this can be used on and off the golf course to equally good effect, it seems a sound investment if you're a golfer in the market for a new speaker. For me, it just pips out the Wingman View thanks to the superior sound and more modern touchscreen, but we are expecting a new version of the Wingman view to drop soon, so it'll be interesting to see what upgrades Bushnell brings to compete with this excellent Blue Tees offering.
