LITTLEBLACKDOG.COM

Big Dog Joined: 18 Oct 2000 Posts: 4410

FORE.COM: When the Senior PGA Tour comes to San Jose next spring, it
will sport a Silicon Valley twist.

The Seibel Classic, set to make its debut March 16 at Coyote Creek Golf
Club, will be the senior tour's first event to feature ShotLink, an
electronic scoring system based on global positioning technology.

Here's how it works: Say Tom Watson steps up to the tee. A scorekeeper
using a Palm handheld computer will send a signal to another Palm
carried by a scorer manning a tripod-mounted laser.

When the ball comes to rest, the laser zaps it, then feeds the ball's
position into a detailed electronic map of the course, created using
GPS satellite technology. Tournament honchos then can crunch a whole
menu of data about the shots, such as whose ball is farthest from the
pin and which player is statistically most likely to sink a
long-distance putt.

``This is a fundamental change in the way the tour scores golf and keeps
track of statistics,'' says Tom Alter, director of broadcasting for the
senior tour. Up to now, stats have been kept the old-fashioned way: with
volunteers using pencil and paper.

Alter says the technology will let the tour track hundreds of new
statistics and feed them to television audiences and to the tour's Web
site in real time.

ShotLink is the brainchild of Darryl Sharp, a surveyor in Washington
state who specializes in GPS mapping, which uses satellites to pinpoint
objects on the ground.

Sharp first used GPS technology to map golf courses for Electronic Arts
Inc., the Redwood City-based video game maker. EA uses Sharp's data to
create ultra-realistic games.

Siebel Classic director Patricia Ernstrom says the Professional Golfers'
Association plans to introduce ShotLink at all PGA Tour and senior tour
stops. And once a few software and licensing kinks are worked out, she
says, fans in the gallery will be able to tap ShotLink scores into their
own handheld devices.

Who says watching pro golf has to be passive?

Fido@littlewhitedog.com

Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2000 10:49 am Post subject:

Sounds great. Maybe they will put a tracking device in the ball. So when I whack it 400 yards into the woods I can track it with my Palm Pilot. Would save me a lot of time! Very Happy