I get a sense that a serious technology backlash is going to hit golf soon. Why? There's all the anecdotal evidence from folks complaining that it's ruining the great old courses like St. Andrews. What's more, when you're naming your golf clubs after porn mags, you're going to alienate even those folks who are OK with the shrinking of courses thanks to technology. One company is releasing a golf club it's proud to dub "barely legal".

I might have to try this out -- there's a good idea in here -- but I just can't see this device designed to help your swing actually working very well.

The new Suunto G6 enables the golfer to discover the perfect swing. After each swing, they can check their tempo, rhythm, backswing length and speed. This feedback helps identify the best shots, developing muscle memory to repeat only the good shots. After the session, the players can analyze their overall consistency.

More than two years of development and research were needed to integrate three acceleration sensors in the lightweight (55g / 1.92 oz.) Suunto G6 watch. As this watch measures 200 times a second the movement of your wrist with extremely high accuracy it is called a wristop computer.

Improvement relies on consistency, that's why Suunto G6 measures the consistency index. It indicates the overall accuracy for systematically repeating similar golf swings. It indicates the muscle memory because accuracy relies on consistency!

Here's some interesting history of the evolution of the wedge.

Modern wedges are products of a 70-year evolution. They originated in the 1930s, when Gene Sarazen added strips of metal to a high-lofted iron and created bounce in the club's sole. (Before then, players chipped their balls from bunkers and awkward lies).

He was first to benefit from "scooping" balls out of trouble, a more reliable method than risking the perfect contact required to make clean picks on half-buried balls.

Sole bounce is what prevents a wedge's leading edge from digging into the turf. More bounce is good for heavy lies and bunker play, simply put, where it's important to keep the club head moving forward rather than downward through a thicker medium. Reducing bounce increases the premium on ball contact.

In addition to bounce, early wedge-makers explored the advantage of spin.

As the cool kids say, RTWT.

I must be missing something. Here's an article about a laser gun that gives a golfer precise distance to the pin.

Laser Link Golf, produces a hand-held device that gives golfers that information. Golfers aim a gun-like device at the flagstick, push a button and a laser is shot at the pin.

About a second later, the beam bounces back off of a reflective prism either attached to or built into the flagstick and the golfer learns the distance to the flag. Instead of having to pace off the yardage from sprinkler head or "eyeball" it from the 150-yard stake in the middle of the fairway, golfers can instantly receive accurate information.

On a shot-by-shot basis, the amount of time saved can probably only be measured in seconds. But those seconds can multiply quickly for four golfers over an 18-hole round.

I'll have to try this out to know better, but I see several problems with this. First of all, busting out a gun and pointing it at the stick everytime you set up for a shot is just plain awkward. Second, at the better courses now now, most carts have GPS readers on them to tell you roughly how far you are from the pin. I think these will trickle down and be ubiquitous before long, thus making these guns redundant. Lastly, my sense is the problem this is being addressed -- slow pace of play -- won't be helped much by this. Why? Golf play is slower than it was a generation ago because there are more golfers playing today, and thus more bad golfers on the links. A device like this won't help bad golfers make much better shots. The only thing that will help that is for them to learn how to play better.

Forbes explains why there aren't caddies on golf courses much anymore -- and how recreational golf has suffered as a result.

Over the past two decades, though, caddies in America have tracked the downwardly mobile career path of milkmen and typewriter repairmen. Management and golf pros discovered carts were engines of profit that didn't carry the figurative baggage of tax or labor issues. Carts didn't have attitude and always showed up for work. They were meant to speed up the game, which addressed players' time pressures and would also allow courses to get in more rounds in a day.

Tremendous nuggets and insights in this piece. Read the whole thing.

Selena Roberts says things in this piece for which there is no evidence. She says golfers would rather bang the heck out of it because they're not afraid of errant tee shots:

A 330-yard drive into the rough, plus a wedge to the green, is far more attractive to a player than a 280-yard poke and a 5-iron to the pin.

Well, duh. But what is she talking about here? This is not what's at issue in golf, something Baltusrol proved -- Lefty was hitting 3 woods off the tee a bunch, not always bombing it as far as he could. Besides, guys are hitting accurate 330 yard drives, that's the issue.

But then she raises a provocative question.

What else are players using? Power cravings in any sport can lead to boundary pushing of the chemical kind. There is no whisper of a steroid problem inside the P.G.A., but there is also no drug testing. So how does anyone truly know surges in distance are all about technology and not about the designer steroid THG?

Why no steroid use in golf? It's a good question. If true, it's partly cultural. But I could see it helping some duffers, so maybe we'll see more of it in the future.

Then she says something goofy again.

The long ball's allure creates a slippery slope. Baseball heard the siren song of power and sold its soul for magic pills. Hitters bulked up to keep up. Pitchers juiced up to spike their endurance. The game was rewarded with money and fame until Balco revealed the secret behind the long-ball success.

The fallout from Balco also revealed how the power obsession was just a mirage. In truth, fans longed for a return to nuance, to the beauty of a stolen base, to the grace of a diving catch, to the roots of the game. Fans, as it turns out, truly loved the game without the homer hype.

What is the evidence for this? He's not on roids, presumably, but people love what Derek Lee is doing. That's not homer hype?

Could the course backlash against technology gains be going too far? Depends on the venue, but Monty thinks so:

The Baltusrol course where the USPGA will be played is 7392 yards long, helped by the par-five 17th which measures 650 yards.

Colin Montgomerie has never been a massive hitter and is not a fan of the fad that to make a course more of a test, tournament organisers have to put back tees...

...He said: 'Length is becoming a big issue. Every course we go back to seems to be lengthened. We haven't been here at Baltusrol for 12 years and I don't remember this course being as long as it is.

'I do think the length is outdoing technology. Over 18 holes I'm probably 100 yards longer than I used to be but this is course is 300 yards longer than it was so I've lost 200 yards somewhere.

According to this press release, a new product is designed to help you find golf balls by blocking out anything not white.

The product is patented Canadian scientific technology based on physics. The special lenses in the glasses block out all colours except the colour white. A white golf ball will "glow" making it much easier to find.

For a golfer, finding their lost golf ball means fewer penalty strokes which will automatically lower their score. The glasses will not only save them money in replacement golf balls but they have also been found to speed up the game by an average of 12 minutes per round.

There are all sorts of other bad race jokes one could do but I have a serious question: I wonder if this would help you hit a baseball better?

After the British Open, tons of folks were complaining that technology is ruining great courses. The folks at PGA think Baltusrol, site of the week's PGS, may be immune.

"We are proud of this championship, and we are so proud to be back in New Jersey and to have this event at a storied, traditional, historic golf course like Baltusrol," said Roger Warren, president of the PGA of America. "We look forward to the support of the people from New Jersey for this event. We know that we have the longest par 5 in major championship history at 650 yards. We will be at 7,400 yards. I don't think the technology issue of golf will be an issue. I think these players will be challenged."

A golf course architect explains why new golf club technology hasn't helped amateurs as much as you might think.

Golf course architect Arthur Hills has an interesting perspective on the advancements in equipment technology, and why it hasn't impacted amateur golf nearly as much as it has the professional game.

Statistical studies show that the average handicap of recreational golfers hasn't come down in the past decade, despite the emergence of hot-faced drivers and soaring golf balls. Of course, those studies can't quantify the enjoyment factor of launching a golf ball farther, even if it's in the wrong direction.

"Amateurs are less consistent and, therefore, do not experience the full effect of this technology," said Hills, the Toledo-based past president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects who holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. "Often, they are at a disadvantage with this technology because the errant shots are traveling farther off-line then they did previously."

Hills also cites the lack of attention and time devoted to the short game by recreational golfers, and the changes in golf course design and set-up, as reasons scores aren't coming down.

"Green speeds are vastly quicker then they were five, 10 and 20 years ago," he said. "Due to improved grass cultivation techniques, new and finer strains of both warm- and cold-weather grasses, as well as new rolling and cutting procedures, we are seeing green speeds at much higher levels than ever before."

I wrote about this problem for Slate a while back.

Now this is interesting. In order to keep up with the latest, greatest golf technology, it's possible to lease clubs.

THE EASIEST, MOST FLEXIBLE WAY TO ACQUIRE NEW GOLF CLUBS!

* Keep pace with equipment advances by rotating your clubs with convenient end of lease options.
* Acquire new clubs for the price of a typical greens fee each month.
* Flexible options for terms and end of lease to fit your budget and golfing style.

Our new pay while you play program helps you to stay current with the latest technology. Match your lease term to your normal usage pattern. Early termination and upgrade options are available.

I wonder how much of a market ther eis for this -- do duffers really want to turn over their sticks like they do their Lexuses? Maybe. I'm hoping to find out more about this.

The Crinkle's Scott Ostler takes a really cyncial look at technology and golf.

The PGA won't adopt any real limits to technology of balls and clubs. It's the only sport that looks at science running amok and says, "Whatever." Why? As a wise man once said, "Follow the money."

It's not that simple. The equipment has evolved gradually over time, imporving in tenny bits here and there year over year. This evolution makes regulating it difficult -- it's tough to know where to draw hard, fast lines until after players have already adopted the clubs and balls and until after fans have come to look for 350 yards off the tee. This isn't to say the manufacturers or even the PGA don't have an interest in stronger/lighter/faster/longer, they do. But that's not where they story begins, or even what's most interesting about it.

Tom Watson is part of the chorus that thinks technology is killing golf. Or, at least, some golf courses.

Here's a golf ball that I could have used for most of my playing life:

Tracer provides the high performance aerodynamics, control, accuracy, feel and distance you expect from a professional quality ball, but flashes brightly when you hit it, and then flashes continually for about 5 minutes enabling you to find your ball easily, or even play golf in the dark!

Assuming there's no trade-off in performance, I think the biggest obstacle to getting people to use this will be pride. Then again, since I judge the success of a round not by my low score, but by the low number of balls lost, I could be interested in this.

Gary Player thinks technology is ruining golf:

GARY PLAYER has launched a scathing attack on technological advances in the sport, claiming that they are “out of control”. The 69-year-old South African is dismayed that today’s professional players are making many courses “obsolete” because of the equipment at their disposal.

Player, nine times a major championship winner, believes today’s clubs and balls are making a mockery of the sport. “They’ve got it completely wrong,” Player, who enjoyed his success when talent rather than technology made the difference, said. “The ball now goes 55 yards further than when we played and the courses are becoming obsolete.

“Look at this week’s Open at St Andrews, this wonderful venue, the home of golf, and yet some of these fellows are driving the greens. Tiger (Woods) hit a drive 397 yards on the 10th the other day. What they have to do — and it’s almost unanimous among the pros who play golf and understand the game — is cut the ball back.

“For me, there are three kinds of golf: amateur golf, leave all the equipment as it is and let them enjoy it, and then there’s pro golf, leave it as it is. But (in tournament golf) they have to stop all these grooves on the clubs, which in my opinion are completely illegal. You also have to change the ball and bring it back 50 yards. It’s absolutely out of control.”

This issue will simply not go away for golf.

The British Open starts today and apparently some of the gang at the old course think "technology is a four letter word."

The Old Course has met the New World, and it's not pretty.

"Technology is a four-letter word around here," MacKenzie added. "That shows you how good we can spell. We just call it the new stuff, and the new stuff is nae (not) golf."

Already, the technological advancements in the sport have literally made the ground shake in St. Andrews. Prior to the Open, the Old Course was lengthened by 164 yards. Five new tee boxes were constructed to bring some outdated bunkers back into the equation. To do this, the Old Course had to borrow land from adjacent courses on the property.

Yet the additional length - the No. 14 hole now measures 618 yards, the longest on any British Open course - has had no discernible effect during practice rounds played in nearly ideal conditions. Now players are wondering if, in lieu of foul weather, the Royal and Ancient brigade will resort to foul play.

"It will be interesting to see how tough they'll put the pins, over the knobs or on the corners," Tiger Woods said. "That would be the only defense if the wind doesn't blow. Otherwise, the guys will shoot some (low) numbers."

Taylor made has a new golf putter out. I wonder how much help this will really give putters. Grip strikes me as more important, and I want to look into the pencil grip that Chris DiMarco has used so effectively. It save his career bacon.

Golf is a great sport for considering the effects of technology on a game. Here's an interview with the Chairman of Titleist responding to charges by Greg Norman and others that hi-tech balls are harming golf.

"This is nothing new, however, as irony reigns in this distance debate," Uihlein told PGA.com. "Two more of the game's greatest players from a previous generation (Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus) continue to receive bully pulpit preference from the majority of the media when it comes to bashing golf ball technology, while in the same breath advancing the idea that golf club technology is good for them and good for the golfer by banging the drum of their latest endorsement situations. Furthermore, are they making these comments as an ex-PGA Tour player, golf course designer, real estate developer or golf club manufacturer?"

Phil Mickelson shares some thoughts on how technology has changed golf:

... think we will start playing longer courses, because as distances have increased over 10 percent, that has not happened to the golf courses."

That has to be music to Bob Hope Chrysler Classic officials’ ears as they plan to add longer golf courses to their event starting in 2006. But it also gives some credence to the idea that the 7,000-yard golf course, once the gold standard for championship golf, will soon be nothing but tarnished brass.

"A 7,000-yard golf course would have to be 7,700 yards (today) to be what it was years ago," Mickelson said.

More than some other sports -- like, say, tennis -- golf can more easily adapt to new technologies because the field of play isn't set.

Lots of golf fans are talking about the greens at Shinnecock Hills for this weekend's US Open. The damp weather will slow them a bit, but they are among the toughest you can find in the US, given their speed and humps and slopes.

NBC is helping viewers understand just how tricky they are with new virtual reality systems.

NBC unveiled its "green-grid" animations Thursday. It uses virtual reality to show viewers something they've never seen: what it'd look like to dump 200 golf balls on a green.

And no NBC staffer actually has to climb a crane and flip over a box of balls. The technology is based on aerial photos and topographical surveys meant to duplicate the course's actual greens and how balls would react in a computer-simulated drop.

The graphic was a handy way Thursday to see how the greens break. Says NBC's Roy, "It illustrates the undulations of a green better than looking at pictures."

What's more, this probably has applications for other sports:

Brent Thrams, the Sacramento landscape architect behind the system, says it might have applications in sports such as skiing. After all, he says, "it's hyper-realism," which is long overdue in golf.

So what's gotten into Tiger? He has a lousy Masters, finishing over par, and hasn't played particularly up to Tiger standards for several months. Gary D'Amato thinks he knows: it's the technology stupid!

...here's the biggest factor, and it has been completely overlooked: Woods' stubborn refusal to join the 21st century in terms of his equipment has allowed lesser players to zoom past him in one key statistic.

We're talking about driving distance. Nothing intimidates a golfer like being outdriven by 40 yards. That rule applies to 20-handicappers and touring professionals alike. You can't beat a guy when you've got a 7-iron in your hand on every hole and he's got a wedge. Or, at least, you think you can't beat him.

When Woods won the Masters in 1997, he drove the ball so far past the other golfers that they all but curled into the foetal position right there on the emerald turf of Augusta National.

Woods forced everybody to get longer. By and large, they did. And he didn't. Woods averaged 294.8 yards in driving distance in 1997 and 299.2 yards last year. That's an improvement of 4.7 yards. Over the same span, Davis Love III added 13.4 yards, Vijay Singh added 21.0, Phil Mickelson added 21.9 and Ernie Els added an amazing 31.7.

How did they do it? They all went to longer-shafted, bigger-headed drivers. Many of them switched to the Titleist Pro V1 or Pro VIx golf ball, which, when matched with certain shaft-club combinations, instantly produced as many as 20 additional yards off the tee. Even 140-pound Jeff Sluman went from 260.7 yards in 1993 to 280.6 yards last year. Woods, meanwhile, has stubbornly stuck with a 43-inch, steel-shaft driver.

This is goofy. No, it makes Disney's Goofy look like Fred Astaire it's so goofy. Let's put Tiger's woes in perspective. After 7 events this year, he's 6th on the PGA money list, ahead of Ernie Els and last year's Masters winner Mike Weir. He's still the world's #1 ranked player.

Most importantly, Tiger still outdrives all his serious competitors -- Els, Love, Mickelson, you name 'em, Tiger still bests 'em. Meanwhile, Tiger's driving accuracy stinks -- he ranks # 117.

Accuracy has little to do with recent changes in technology adopted by players. Yes, technology is bringing all players to parity in terms of distance, but the rest of Tiger's game is in the toilet, not his distance. That's what's shaken the aura of invincibility. And when Tiger finds it again, as he surely will, he'll be melting players on the back 9 once again.

Mark Twain described golfing as a good walk spoiled. But what if you can simulate a round of golf without walking at all? Wired reports on new golf simulators:

Computers still haven't cleared mathematician Alan Turing's test of true artificial intelligence - being able to pass for human in typed conversation. But they've aced a kind of Turing test for at least one sport: simulating a game so well that playing a digital version improves real-life skills.

That game is golf, because many of its elements can be re-created so well by computers. Muscular movement plays an important role but, unlike in football or basketball, not a dominant one. Golf depends more on a certain skill for visualization - the great players have a knack for seeing shots before hitting them - which translates well to a screen.

...These days, getting the ultimate virtual golf experience takes about $50,000, a 13- by 20-foot area dedicated to a freestanding machine like the Full Swing Simulator, and, for many, an exceptionally understanding spouse. Made by a San Diego-based company called Full Swing Golf, the simulator projects a customized version of Links on a nylon screen, into which you can hit actual golf balls using actual golf clubs. After the ball hits the screen, the simulator creates a video image that continues its trajectory. The ball's path is measured by sensors in the floor and walls that take three readings of the ball's position - two as it flies off your clubhead and a third when it hits the screen. The last allows the machine to track spin.

Sports Law Blog points out that Despoir Inc. is suing Nike over copyright infringement, saying "that the sporting goods giant infringed three of its patents in making certain clubs, including the 'Nike CPR Wood.'" It's difficult to tell what the suit is about -- reading the patents themselves isn't all that helpful -- and I haven't found out information yet. Will let you know when I do.