Posted By GolfGod on Mar 1, 2014 | 1 comment

I was recently invited to participate in the Google Glass Explorer program. Not sure if I will spend the $1500 to participate or not, but it got me thinking about how it might be used on the golf course. It seems like not too long ago we were wishing there would be some way to accurately read the distance to the hole and along came the laser range finder. Then the dedicated hand-held golf GPS. Soon after followed the GPS app for smartphones. Now I have a Garmin GPS golf watch (Garmin Approach S1 GPS Golf Watch). My golfing buddies often ask, “What does your wrist say”?

Brainstorming about what I would like to see for the ultimate Google Glass Ultimate Golf App, here is what I came up with:

Wind

If the wind speed and direction are not available from the local weather source, maybe golf courses could be “Glass Enabled” offering hole-by-hole wind speed and direction. A 3D wind model with local Doppler radar would be a very nice to have.

Distance to hole

This is a no brainer, using standard GPS, you should be able to get distance to the front, middle, and back of the green. The green doesn’t change size very often, but the hole does. If the golf course was “Glass Enabled” they could provide a more accurate pin placement for the day.

Pre-shot routine

One of the best things I ever did for my golf game is to develop a pre-shot routine or for me a thought process. I mentally go through not only the motions of a routine, but also the one or two things I need to think about during my swing. I learned long ago, too many swing thoughts is a bad idea. I use the pre-shot routine to clear my head. If Glass would provide me with a short bullet-ed list of what I should remember it would be most helpful

Show me the putting line

This might be my favorite. A lot of technology would be needed for this to work correctly. I want to “see the line” when I look down at my ball. I want an augmented reality and see the actual line including distance to putt to overlaid on my vision.

Log my score to the cloud

I learned so much about my game when I started writing down what happened on each shot. I learned I need to practice more with my wedges inside of 75 yards. I learned my fairway 3 wood was an issue. I also learned that waiting for players in front of me destroyed my game.
If Glass could track simple things like what club you used, what it did (simple things like slice, hook, topped, thin…) including shot distance to the cloud, you could go back and analyze it later. You can’t improve if you don’t know what you need to work on. I would sometimes go to the range and hit an entire bucket with one wedge.

Find my ball

Ever lose your ball in the middle of the fairway? This usually happens when you are having a great round. Glass should be able to tell you the direction and distance of the ball and as you walk up to it, highlight where your ball should be. Not to mention if your ball is in the thick rough or tall grass.

Overhead view

An overhead satellite view would be great. There have been a number of times when I have hit the ball into a hazard that wasn’t marked on the scorecard while playing a new course. Hidden creeks, trees, and trouble behind the green would all be nice to know about ahead of time.

These are just some quick ideas I came up with. What would you like to see or more to the point, what would you like Google Glass to see for you?