Golf Rules Have Remained Constant But Not Much Else
Golf Rules Havent Changed But Technology Has
Golf has always been a game about tradition. Honesty and honor are also two of the things that were treasured a hundred years ago and are still treasured today. Golf rules havent changed much but the sport itself has made a lot of advances and many people may not realize the part that technology is playing in todays golf games. There is an abundance of equipment that is available to golfers and were not talking about used golf clubs.
Have you ever stopped to consider how those television announcers know exactly how far a golfer hit the ball? They always seem to know what club he used and the exact pathway the ball took. Cameras cant be everywhere all at one time. IBMs Shotlink took care of the problem. Shotlink is the data collection system that the PGA Tour uses. Someone called a walking scorer is responsible for traveling with a specific golfer for a tournament. He or she holds a handheld device that records when the golfer hits the ball. The time stamp is then fed to the main system. When the balls lands, another computer records exactly where the ball fell and then computes how far it traveled and the specific path it took on its way to the hole. All of that information is then transferred to the main system, which is then fed to the media and the fans. It takes all of the guesswork and reliance on the golfer out of it.
GPS systems have been around for a good while now. You can buy one for your computer, your car, or for the golf course. With a handheld GPS device, you can accurately compute the distance from where you are standing on the course to where you are attempting to drive the ball. Its not a substitute for golf lessons but the computer system will give you distances from the center, front, and back of the greens so the guesswork is out on which club you should use. If you already know how long of a shot it is then you can easily choose which club to hit with. You can clip your handheld system onto your belt and hit with confidence, according to advertising. And there is also software out there that has the major courses in the U.S. already mapped out. You can pre-load those onto your handheld system and if you are playing Pebble Beach and you need to know which club to use based on distance, youre all set.
Then there are the computerized harnesses you can wear that will analyze your swing and tell you what you are doing wrong. No, we are not kidding. Its an intriguing way to improve golf swing. A company called golfTEC came up with this idea. They analyzed the swings of hundreds of golf pros and then fed that information into a computer to create the perfect swing. The customer wears a harness with sensors in it and then swings to hit the ball. The information from the customer is then gathered and fed into the main system. After comparing the golf pros data with yours, the system then lets you know what you need to change and how to work on your problems. You can also review your swing on the computer and receive personalized instruction, exercises and tips. Its technology at its finest.
Another cool service that technology has brought is personalized tournament updates. Now you can be at The Masters without actually being at The Masters. You can sign up for an internet service that will send you alerts when your favorite player finishes a hole, at the end of a round or anytime something changes. You can choose what you want and personalize it so you will receive exactly what you are looking for. For a fee of course, you can learn golf scores by e-mail in the morning or at night (or both) and it will show you news articles, pictures, and any breaking news that has happened on the course. If you are not going to be at your computer then you can also receive text messages sent to your phone to keep you updated.
If you ever thought that golf was only a bunch of old traditions, old men, and bad clothes then think again. This sport is every bit as technologically savvy as racing or any other sport out there and it plans to stay that way.
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July 12th, 2008 at 2:57 am
It truly is becoming a technology orientated sport. There’s such little difference between success and failure in the game now, choosing the right clubs for distances is an art in itself. You didn’t get a distance measurer in the olden days that’s for sure.