The golf industry’s largest trade show takes place every January in Orlando, the PGA Merchandise Show. Here is a look at a few products that could make your game more fun, faster and fluid.
18Birdies is the fastest growing golf app on the market, claiming more than 800,000 users to date. The impetus is adding more social fun to anyone’s game, especially millennials, but also make more traditional tracking of scores, personal statistics and side bets easier.
John Heywood, the director of product development, said the entire goal of 18Birdies is to add more fun elements to the traditional game of golf – fun through cloud-sharing of information with golfers in your group and even some not on the course.
The apps’ initial roots were primarily helping golfers track scores and record personal stats like putting strokes, sand shots and penalties. Then came distance measurement in real time using GPS and ‘dropped pins’, shared scorecards with your playing group, side-bet game calculations and such. Now, by using a share button golfers can allow parents, coaches and friends track their game in real time off site.
“Young people live on their phones, and what we’ve designed is a way for people to have a modern tool to do more, get more out the game while still respecting the traditions,” Heywood said. “We want to change golf for the better but not take away what makes it great. We want people to be enjoying outdoors, but have tools to play better, and faster.”
When it comes to battling pace of play troubles, TAGMARSHAL has a real time, high-tech solution for golf courses. While the product aim is at course owners, it looks like a win-win for golfers.
TAGMARSHAL provides measuring devices smaller than a business card that are carried in the bag of one player per foursome, or with a caddy in the group. An option is a dual-purpose full-sized GPS monitor players use on power carts. Both devices send continuous information to a computer or phone app of course staff members.
“What they will see is an overview map of the course and where all the groups are as they move around, live,” said John Willmore, International sales manager. “This allows staff to pre-empt bottle necks before they happen.”
The groups are ID’ed by color. Green groups are on pace. Red groups are slow, but they aren’t affecting anyone behind them.
“The orange groups mean they are slow, but they cannot play any faster because they are being held up by the group in front of them, so they are most likely very frustrated,” Willmore explained. “The groups we are looking for are the magenta groups. It means they are slow and off the pace and are directly holding up at least one group behind them. So, staff know what group number they are, when they teed off, where they are on the course, who are the players, how long they’ve played and when they will most likely finish at that pace.
Willmore went on to add the measuring device also allows course staff to track day to day, week to week and year to year what holes play the slowest, perhaps due to the most lost balls or too difficult conditions. That could allow for long-term course adjustments like mowing the fairways wider, keeping the rough shorter or other fixes, and doing so with measurable data.
The mid-price-range finder company claims to be the Best-Selling range finder on Amazon in 2016 and ’17. The primary goal from the beginning is to cut out the retail middle man and sell directly to the golfer. The company’s newest model is coming out in 2018, aiming for a $200 price point and includes vibration distance lock on.
Currently TecTecTec has four models spanning $150 to $200 with yardage ranges of 540 to 600 yards. Two have slope mode, two do not. They offer Normal mode, Scan mode to examine terrain, Pin Seeker and Slope Mode. They have tournament legal settings as well. More info at: us.tectectec.com
