golf

iPhone continues to amaze me

Actually, I should say the developers who use the tools made available by the iPhone technologies amaze me. I just returned from a short weekend trip with some golf buddies and downloaded a relatively new application called Golfshot from golfshot.com. The application combines the GPS and touch-screen capabilities of the iPhone into an incredibley easy and intuitive way to keep score on the course, plan shots, and make your way around a course. When playing golf on new courses, this technology helps quite a bit.

When GPS started to creep into golf carts and then into expensive handhelds, I was unsure of its place in the golf game. However, a friend of mine reminded me that on almost any course, you can purchase a yardage book. A yardage book gives a golfer a paper form of what a GPS does in digital form…yardages, elevations, and other information.

Golfshot catalouges a large a majority of the golf courses in the United States and is expanding quickly. When I arrived at our first Chicago golf course (again, I never played in Chicago before), all I did was turn the iPhone on, tap the Golfshot application and within seconds, the application found my location and showed me the golf courses nearest me from closest to furthest away. I tapped the course I was at and selected the tees I would be playing from and within a few more seconds, I was presented with the yardage, an aerial view and GPS distances of various landmarks for the first hole. GPS distances are achieved through special flags the golf course uses to transmit its location.

In addition to the yardage and landmark info, at the end of each hole, I can very quickly tap in my score, number of putts, which club I used on the tee, whether I hit the fairway, number of shots out of sand, and if I incurred any penalties. This can be done in literally 15-20 seconds because of the magnificent job the Golfshot programmers did on designing the interface.

As a statistic and tech junkie, I was blown away by the data and charts the program automatically tracks and tallies for me the more I use the program. The only problem I see with the progra is that it increases my desire to want to golf more often…requiring more time (and money) that I have at the moment. But for golfers who enjoy tracking their rounds and their golf games and receive on-course geographic assitance, this $30 application is nothing short of amazing.

Actually, I should say the developers who use the tools made available by the iPhone technologies amaze me.

I just returned from a short weekend trip with some golf buddies and had downloaded a relatively new application called Golfshot from golfshot.com for the trip. The application combines the GPS and touch-screen capabilities of the iPhone into an incredibley easy and intuitive way to keep score on the course, plan shots, and make your way around a course. When playing golf on new courses, this technology helps make the day a little more enjoyable by not being surprised to see a body of water or ravine or sand trap around a corner or over a hill. All things that caddies do for professional golfers and young caddies used to do for all golfers in yesteryear.

When GPS started to creep into golf carts and then into expensive handhelds, I was unsure of Read More »iPhone continues to amaze me