Frickin' Lasers...

Check out this article:

The game will suffer if lasers hit the links

Well? What do you think?

Are you a purist, or a lover of technology meeting the great game?

Here is a thought... I can check the yardage books, I can laser range find the distance and know exactly how far the shot is, but does that mean I can actually hit that? Does it mean that I will now hit the ball perfectly simply because I have chosen the right club for that distance?

I am of two minds about technology meeting my favorite game. I love technology for improving the equipment I use so that I can hit farther and straighter, for improving the balance and feel of my putter so I can drain shots that I never could before. But isn't part of the thrill of the game of golf looking over and saying "Hey, Bob... we are about 165 out you figure?"... "The blue marker is right there, so I am not making it with an iron..."

These are the good times... But does being able to accurately gauge the distance really take the fun out of the game? I do not really think it does...

One of our best local courses, Tangle Creek, has outfitted all of their carts with GPS. This is one of the greatest innovations in the game that I have seen.

I feel that the greatest benefit from this new technology is safety. With the LCD GPS systems that Tangle Creek has in place, you can see where the groups around you are, even if you cannot acutally see them. This eliminates hitting too close, or having to guess where the group in front of you is. There are many excellent courses that could seriously benefit from this third eye. Many times, depending on signal strength, and course design, these units do not report distances as acurately as one might think.

However, this feature turns the course into a "paperless" course, and actually can assist the marshalls in keeping a good pace and flow. The built in GPS systems are equipped to track your scores, as well as track the timing of your group according to the standard pace. Unless I miss my guess, these GPS units are also monitored so marshalls can address the specific groups who are slowing down play. There is no guess work any longer, they can simply identify that carts 10 and 11 are 15 minutes behind the pace and are delaying all the groups behind them. I feel that keeping a proper flow, and rythm is paramount to keeping your score down; courses need to do more to ensure the maximum pace is kept, so all players can really enjoy the round, and the course.

As a matter of fact, the Shave5Strokes team has specifically boycotted some local courses due to their lack of marshalling, and group organization. Who wants to play a five hour round of frustration?

Not this golfer...

Don't forget... This week is the WGC-American Express Championship!

Keep your balls tee'd up...

Cliff Van Kempen