“There was a finder ball a dozen or so years ago that was conforming.” “It’s been done,” said Dick Rugge, who retired in 2013 after 13 years as the USGA’s senior technical director. Which, it turns out, may not be as difficult as it sounds. To be genuinely smart, a smart ball has to get past the equipment sniffers at the United States Golf Association. I had to remind myself that we were talking about a range ball. “It figures out the yardage or the score for the game you’re playing.” Asked if the chips were durable enough to withstand the pummeling of a tour pro, Macaulay said that the manufacturer, Callaway Golf, had fired balls out of a cannon into steel plates without consequence: “The cover is going to degrade before the chip stops functioning.” “All the smarts really happen in the bay computer,” Macaulay said. A net collects the ball and funnels it to a box, where it passes another antenna, which reads the ID and signals the computer in the bay. The system then waits for the ball to show up on the target field, which employs roughly 500 netted target segments and an end-of-the-range trench. When you wave your clubhead over an electric eye in the ball dispenser, a Topgolf orb rolls past an antenna that activates the chip and tags it to the player. “Otherwise,” Macaulay said, “it’s a perfectly regular single-core golf ball.” He confirmed that Topgolf’s range ball contains a passive radio-frequency identification chip (RFID) about a centimeter wide, borrowing technology used in everything from retail-store anti-theft tags to livestock identification. To satisfy my curiosity, I called Andrew Macaulay, chief technology officer for Dallas-based Topgolf International. (I found it to be a one-club differential with my wedges, two clubs with the longer irons.) Topgolf’s pepperoni-and-sausage flatbread satisfied my yearning for lunch. Topgolf’s yardage data satisfied my long-held yearning for real-time analytics regarding full-iron shots versus knockdown shots with a less-lofted club. Upon landing, the balls somehow communicated with a computer in my stall, posting scores on a high-def screen-or, in “practice mode,” the distance each ball had traveled. I celebrated the New Year on the third tier of the Overland Park Topgolf, smacking smart balls down to flying-saucer-shaped targets. I’m a recovering range rat, so the promise of lofty tech was like catnip, if I can mix small-mammal metaphors. “Sprawling entertainment venue with a high-tech driving range & swanky lounge with drinks & games!” the website proclaimed. But the notion that we’re about to enter an era of “smart ball” technology is now firmly embedded in my dual-core, soft-center cranium.ĭid I mention Topgolf? The driving-range chain recently opened one of its triple-decker playpens near my Kansas City home. “The world’s first attachment-free smart basketball tracks makes, misses and shot range when paired with the app via Bluetooth and any regulation 10-foot hoop.” I don’t lose many basketballs, so I was able to resist Wilson’s pitch. “If they’ve got any kind of game-and an iPhone-they’ll want this ball,” the ad boasted. Then I saw a Christmas ad for the Wilson X Connected basketball. NEWSLETTERS: Sign up for latest golf news, tips and insider analysis And why a sleeve? Shouldn’t one ball be enough? “Save time, save shots, save money-and play golf with a smile!” I was already smiling, but I wasn’t quite ready to fork over $399 for the Prazza handset or $30 for a sleeve of balls. “Effective within 100m, your Prazza Golf Ball Finder will find your high performance Prazza ball every time,” the ad concludes. “On average, most golfers lose four balls per round, adding a total of 20 minutes of play just searching for their ball.” To combat this injustice and to keep play moving, the good folks at Prazza-a Dutch company with roots in the lucrative field of commercial-vehicle tracking-devised a ball containing a miniature radio transmitter that sends a beeping sound to your handset. “Losing your ball is an unwanted hassle,” the ad continued. I was only a few days removed from a round at Clover Hills Country Club, where I had donated two sleeves to the tree-and-rough gods. The ad copy caught my eye: YES, IT WORKS! TEE OFF WITH PRAZZA AND WALK STRAIGHT TO YOUR BALL EVERY TIME!
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