Sunday, May 31, 2015

Golfing and Technology

In today's world, technology is becoming a part of everything. GPS while traveling, the Apple iPhone, then the iPad, now GPS watches and millions of applications in the Chrome Store or App Store. Technology makes the world operate faster, more efficient, and smooth.

Being an avid golfer, I see technology making it's way onto the golf courses more and more. In numerous ways is technology becoming involved with the game...

1. GPS devices (usually on a phone or a hand-held device that tells you how far you are from a pin or middle of the green)

2. GPS watches (mostly built to show how far you are from a green and how far you have walked)

3. Lasers for pins (Scopes a pin and tells you exactly how far you are from the pin)

4. Putting aides (Phones that attach to your putter with a special attachment and relay information on putting stroke, plane, etc)

5. Applications on phones (My personal favorite is "BreakMeter" on the iOS App Store. A simple FREE application that is downloaded and reads the slope and break of a green. Simply lay the phone on the green and it reads the break and shows it on the screen of the phone)

6. Club-technology (Clubs now have adjustable lofts, weights in the clubs that are adjustable, and also different sizes of clubfaces that help reduce friction, drag, and spin)

7. Cart GPS and online functionality (Carts are becoming more and more popular with built-in GPS systems, online ordering for food at the turn, and even USB ports to charge those electronic devices you may own)


Being a technology director, the push in technology on the course I think can only help with pace of play, skill level, and help with the "how far, what if, and the what is this hole like?" situations.