Bottom of the Bag: Golf Stuff That's Worth Digging For

by Hack Alexander

Golf Geek Out And the word for today, boys and girls, is “technology.” So set your iPods to stun, turn off that Blackberry and strap on your X-ray glasses for a look at three of today’s most lusted-after golf gadgets.

SureShot GPS
$399 | www.sureshotgps.com
“How far is it to the green?” The SureShot GPS, a new handheld golf course measuring device, answers this question. With its color screen, simple user interface and multiple options, SureShot GPS removes the guesswork. Distances can be measured from the tee to the front, center and back of the green, together with up to 15 hazards. The color, backlit screen with polarized filter displays distances in either yards or meters. The device holds up to 10 golf courses and is good to go on any course worldwide, subject to local rules in accordance with rulings provided by the USGA and the R&A. Courses are available for downloading from the company website or players can map courses themselves using the SureShot GPS. An optional scorekeeping feature allows players to maintain accurate scoring as they play, and battery life of the device is seven hours on a full charge — suitable for the most brutal tournament slog.

P3ProSwing
Starting at $699 | www.p3proswing.com
Got a laptop PC and the space to swing a golf club? This home or office-based gizmo gives you all the data you need to analyze and improve your swing, all on your own, and you don’t even have to hit an actual ball. It’s portable and versatile. P3ProSwing analyzes swings and provides for simulated rounds using high-tech graphics and sensors. “P3” represents “Practice, Play, Perform.” It’s also is a simulator and entertainment pack, in addition to a swing analyzer. It’ll give instant feedback with any club — club speed, tempo, ball flight, swing plane, clubface position, distance, launch angle and video capture. And the course of choice? None other than Highlands National, a 7,393-yard, 18-hole, par-72 championship simulated golf course. Computer graphics show the ball’s flight path and actual landing location, whether in the rough (I’ll see you there), on the fairway or the green. Players may practice on the putting green or the driving range; the advanced golfer may hone in on draws or fades. The system allows up to a foursome to play a round on the “course.” One caveat: It won’t work on a Mac.

Eyeport
$199 | www.exerciseyoureyes.com
Get a grip on that “vision thing” — no doubt an overlooked part of the game — with Eyeport, a vision training system that improves visual performance naturally in less than 10 minutes a day. Through a combination of sound, color and light, the Eyeport optimizes the ability of the eyes to aim, track, focus and work together as a team, enabling a player to focus on and strike the ball with as perfect accuracy as possible. It’s the only device available to the general public that can improve overall vision performance. It is also the only device cleared by the FDA and peer-reviewed major optometric journals. It is used by professional golfers and master instructors, as well as many vision therapists and educators around the world. The Eyeport can be used virtually anywhere, anytime.

Sonic Golf
$399 | www.sonicgolf.com
Leave it to a brainiac Yalie to come up with this new training aid. A professor of applied physics at Yale and former collegiate golfer, Dr. Robert Grober has merged his passion for the game with his renowned physics expertise to create a training aide unlike any product on the market. Sonic Golf is the first and only auditory training tool that provides real-time feedback by transforming your swing into an auditory soundscape — which in turn tunes a golf swing into its most critical factors — rhythm, tempo and timing. Sonic Golf embeds small sensors into the shaft of a golf club, and as a user swings, the sound of the swing is converted into a musical tone and wirelessly transmitted to the user’s headphones.