The Virtual Caddy

Precision and meticulous calculation is the key in golf. You have to see all the angles and estimate how far your ball is away from the hole so that you can pick the right club. In professional golf, golfers are given caddies. There not just slaves who lug around golf clubs for the pros, they give advice and tips such as how far away from the pin they are and which way the ball will break on the green. Unfortunately, if you are a recreational golfer you usually won't have the luxury of having a caddy (unless of course you are a member at a luxurious country club).

I have a good idea of how far my ball can travel according to the type of club. Usually some courses will help you out as well placing distance markers every 50 yards or so. But being off 5-10 yards can mean being in the bunker or flying past the green. Knowing your exact location on the course is so vital to making the right club choice. This is where technology comes into play. GPS navigation systems have been used for quite some time now and the precision of GPS is advancing day to day. GolfLogix is a GPS system, manufactured by Garmin, that tells you exactly how far away your ball is from the hole. This product allows you to download ten golf courses into the system from a database of over 15,000 golf courses around the world. If your golf course isn't in the database then all you have to do is submit a request and it will be added into their database. The problem with this product is that it is very limited in its functions. It tells you the distance and that's pretty much it. There is a patent out for a new virtual caddy system which will give golfers tips and strategies on certain holes including calculating how far your ball is from the hole. There is also a product called SkyCaddie. This product actually has professional golfers and caddies walk the green using survey-grade technology to enable golfers to get a 3-D view of the field and the green.

The importance of a caddy is critical to improve any golfers game. The caddy focuses on distance and advice, while the golfer can focus on his swing and club choice. It made perfect sense to make golf a two person game when it was first invented, but as technology starts to become wide spread and available to everyone the caddy can now be replaced by a virtual one.