THE JOURNAL REPORT: GOLF
High-Tech Tools
By MICHAEL SCHROEDER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
April 19, 2004
Trackable golf balls, swing monitors --
and other gadgets designed to improve your game
Can technology save your golf game?
Probably not. But there's no end of gadgets out there that
promise to try.
A slew of products aimed at improving a golfer's technique
or speeding up the pace of the game are either on the drawing
board or available now for both casual and serious golfers
-- everything from golf balls that can be tracked to hand-held
devices that tell you precisely how far you have to hit
the ball to get it past that water hazard or sand trap.
Here's a sampling of some of the more intriguing items.
Hide and Seek
In my own experience, repeatedly searching for golf balls
in the deep rough, among the trees or out of bounds has
a way of backing up play like a rush-hour fender bender
on a Los Angeles freeway.
One new product that might help -- if it catches on --
is the Radar Ball. It's a standard ball with a featherweight
homing device, smaller than a grain of rice, implanted in
the core. A hand-held device the size of a television remote
control detects the ball within 40 yards, emitting a staccato
sound that quickens as the ball is approached. The technology,
which doesn't affect hitting distance, can be adapted to
any brand of ball. But major golf-ball manufacturers may
not have much incentive to embrace the concept. Golf balls
are a huge business, with 650 million sold annually, producing
revenue of $1.5 billion world-wide. Manufacturers depend
on weekend golfers losing, on average, four balls each 18-hole
round. Steve Harari, chief executive officer of RadarGolf
Inc., Los Altos, Calif., says he's negotiating with a few
major ball makers to license and produce the balls under
their brands, but admits they express some reluctance for
fear of cannibalizing sales. Still, he has already contracted
with ball maker Fantom Co. of South Korea, which is set
to begin producing Radar Balls in China late this year.
The technology will increase the cost of a ball by about
20%, according to Mr. Harari. The hand-held device is expected
to retail at $149, he says.
Heat and Light
A couple of other ball products worth mentioning are designed
to increase hitting distance and allow for night play.
Hot Biscuits, due out soon, is an electric ball-warmer
that plugs into a car's cigarette lighter. It resembles
an egg case that holds a half dozen balls.
Researchers at Rocky Research Inc. in Boulder City, Nev.,
which designed the product, found that a ball heated to
112 degrees uniformly through the core produces optimum
hitting performance, adding 18 yards to a drive. The case
fits easily in a golf bag and keeps the balls at the desired
temperature for about four hours. Hot Biscuits is expected
to retail for less than $100 when it hits the market later
this year. It isn't yet clear whether the product conforms
to U.S. Golf Association rules. The USGA hasn't reviewed
it yet, says the association's chief technical adviser,
John Rugge.
Meanwhile, a ball that's already on the market allows golfers
to finish the last hole or two after sunset, or to play
in increasingly popular night events. The Twilight Tracer
is a regulation ball that pulsates bright red on impact
and blinks for up to six minutes. Each ball costs about
$11 and contains a three-volt lithium battery that lasts
for 40 hours and is made to be activated up to 450 times.
The Tracer ball sacrifices only about 5% of the performance
of a premium ball, says Neal Wickert, president of Sun Products
Inc., Eden Prairie, Minn., the ball's maker.
Range Finder
Of course, there's more to golf than the ball. Much of
the blame for high scores and lengthy rounds goes to golfers'
misjudging how far they need to hit the ball to clear a
hazard or hit the green.
Distance-measuring devices, using global positioning system
technology, are growing in number and sophistication. Higher-end
public courses increasingly have mounted color monitors
on golf carts that show a detailed diagram of each hole,
with yardage measurements from where the cart is to the
pin and various hazards.
But cart monitors are in place at only about 1,000 of the
roughly 18,000 golf courses in the U.S. For other courses,
golfers can buy their own GPS device from Sky Golf Co. of
LaGrange, Ga., for a recommended retail price of $349. The
company charges at least $19 a year for the online service
that provides access to any of the course maps it has available.
Sky Golf has mapped more than 4,000 courses in the U.S.
and is adding 50 to 100 a week, according to CEO Richard
Edmonson.
Rankmark Inc., a Tarpon Springs, Fla.-based company that
tests golf equipment, concluded that the Sky Golf GPS SG2
unit can save a golfer five strokes and as much as 50 minutes
a round.
Speed Monitored by Radar
One surefire way to get off the course in less than five
hours and with minimal frustration is to hone your swing
so you can hit the ball straighter and farther.
One of the most sophisticated tools that teaching professionals
and golf shops use to analyze golf swings is a swing monitor,
a display screen that shows club and ball speed, launch
angle and carry distance.
These monitors are increasingly used to match players with
clubs and even balls that are best suited to their swings.
What's most notable is that the price of the monitors has
steadily fallen. While some still cost about $7,500, new
models have come out over the past couple of years that
cost less than $4,000. Darrell Haines, owner of Drilling
Tennis & Golf, a retailer in Washington, says prices
could easily fall under $1,000 in the next few years, making
these systems more affordable for individuals.
A poorer man's substitute is a device that measures only
the club's speed, such as Swing Speed Radar, made by Sports
Sensors Inc. of Cincinnati. This is a radar-based unit,
the size of a small wall thermostat, that sells for about
$100. It's set on the ground near the golf ball to track
the speed of every swing.
Fixing the Swing
Electronic gizmos aside, low-tech trainers crop up each
year like rye grass. Most help golfers work on a single
flaw in their swing.
This year, the Inside Approach, from Sowerwine Golf Solutions
LLC of Naples, Fla., is all the rage. It's a stand holding
a cushioned plastic pipe that is placed so that it hovers
over a golf ball. In an errant swing -- the kind that will
cause the ball to slice off to one side -- the club will
hit the pipe, letting the golfer know that his or her swing
needs to be adjusted. Jack Nicklaus's endorsement has pushed
sales of the Inside Approach ($79.98) to more than 50,000
since last fall.
A word of advice about such training techniques in general:
Eric Alpenfels, who is ranked by Golf Magazine in the top
100 teaching pros in the nation, says, "Most golfers
don't know how to use swing aids. They don't read the directions."
Also, swing trainers are most effective when they are alternated
with hitting balls on a range, instead of just practicing
your swing 50 times in the backyard, says Mr. Alpenfels,
who teaches at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina.
One swing aid that has survived the test of time is the
13-year-old Medicus hinged five-iron. The shaft of the original
single-hinged version of the club, made by Medicus Inc.
of Vista, Calif., collapses if the club is not drawn back
slowly and on the correct plane as the golfer prepares to
swing.
Designer Bob Koch breathed new life into the club a few
years ago by adding a double-hinged version that works on
a proper follow-through to the swing as well -- and can
be used to hit balls on the range. With endorsements from
such hot pros as Davis Love III, sales of the club last
year surpassed 200,000 units, at $120 each. Medicus is preparing
to introduce a double-hinged driver by next month for less
than $200, Mr. Koch says.
Tee Time
A reliable swing is every golfer's obsession. But no piece
of golf equipment is too inconsequential to escape modification.
Take the simple wooden tee. Looking to gain the slightest
edge, professional golfers have started using new toothpick-thin
tees that snap as the club sweeps through the ball. The
idea of these Stinger brand tees, made by Performance Golf
Inc. of Cleveland, is to minimize resistance to the club
that could even marginally affect the angle at which it
hits the ball. Be forewarned that dexterity and lack of
wind are a must to balance a ball on the tiny tee tops.
A package of 25 costs $2.50.
Another approach to minimizing resistance is the Brush
Tee, from Brush-T of North America, Culver City, Calif.
This tee resembles an electric-toothbrush head on a thin
plastic stem. It comes in four sizes, for both regular and
oversized drivers and three-woods. At $5.95 for three tees,
golfers will want to avoid hits that can snap the delicate
stems.
For the environmentally concerned golfer, Green Tees are
made of wheat resin that fully degrades into the ground
within a few weeks. They're made by Original Green Tee Inc.
of Edina, Minn., and cost $4.99 for a package of 40.
A warning: To make sure tee technology doesn't go too far,
the USGA has outlawed any tee that's longer than four inches
or that alters the flight of the ball. That doesn't apply
to any of the tees mentioned here, but it's worth keeping
in mind if you're shopping around.
Flashing the Rock
Any review of new products would be incomplete without
a mention of this year's nod to vanity.
For golfers worried about ankle tan lines, there are at
least two small portable tanning beds for feet -- the Tootsie
Tanner ($169), from IPCH Management Inc. of Sugar Land,
Texas; and the Pedi-Tan ($325), made by Golden Feet Ltd.
of Louisville, Ky.
But the prize for a product aimed at a less than serious
golfer just might be the Lady Classic Solar Nail Glove ($15),
from Pocket Tech Inc. of Somers Point, N.J. It has open
fingers for manicured fingernails and slits for bulky gemstone
rings, and the back of the glove is made of a sheer material
to prevent hand tan lines.
--Mr. Schroeder is a staff reporter in The Wall Street
Journal's Washington bureau.
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