With the announcement of the new Apple iPad yesterday, it’s obvious my brain is going to be fed by more and more electronic sources – and this includes stuff about golf.
Now you can read your favorite golf magazines right on the iPad and take it with you to the doctor’s, while traveling, or even on the course. It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But this tech-revolution has already begun. It’s rare in other sports to use technology while playing the game, but that has now become a reality with golf.
Golf course GPS systems have been slowly growing in popularity over the last decade, albeit to a rather specific group of technophiles who also golf (I’ve yet to play with someone who actually uses one). But now, rather than having to buy a separate, bulky device, you can download any golf-related GPS app (at a fraction of the cost, I might add) right to your iPhone (a device that is extremely mainstream and still growing in popularity). Here’s a thorough review that looks at two of these apps.
Meanwhile, there’s also golf apps to help track your handicap; keep your scores; improve and analyze your swing; and estimate yardage by using the iPhone’s built-in camera! There’s even a non-golf app that tells you the current wind speed, which Golf Blogger in the UK suggests you use for golf. Of course I haven’t even mentioned all the golf games you can play on your mobile devices. Perhaps the next generation iPhone will have a retractable divot-repair tool and an Apple logo on the back that can double as a removable ball marker.
I haven’t been immune either: I recently downloaded the new USGA Rules of Golf app to my iPhone. I used to carry an outdated copy of the rules in my golf bag, and would thumb-through the pages frantically looking for a ruling before the group behind us began hitting drives past our foursome. No longer. The USGA Rules app is extremely easy to navigate around and find what you’re looking for.
Perhaps most paradoxically though, golf has historically been a game that people play to escape the cubicle- and power cord-lined world they exist within. And to this end, many, I’m sure, will refrain from mixing gadgets with greens. But for many others, iPhones and the like have become personal caddies on the course – guiding us through the holes with digital precision. Encouragingly, for those whom fit the former profile, when you see me staring at my phone by that lateral water hazard, be thankful I’m not fumbling through the pages of my old rule book instead!
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