Looper

Technology and golf, is it good, bad, or has it over run us all and we don’t care that it has consumed every aspect of the game.  Sure the ball and clubs have changed, that was inevitable, the Gutta-Percha golf ball and the Niblic were going to evolve into the Chrome Soft Tour Response Long Distance Low Spin More Control golf ball and the Flex Shift Carbon Faced Adjustable Lie-angle Rescue Mini Driver.  Side note, I’m switching back to the ProV1. I found one while searching for my ball in the woods on my second shot of a nine hole round and shot a 39-my lowest nine hole score ever.  It's got to be the ball!

I’m just wondering if tech has run us all over like a steam roller.  If you watch any golf broadcasts

you are inundated with high tech gear and equipment that, of course, will, (wink, wink) improve your advantage on the course. We are encouraged to use the latest 3-D printed shaft because it will increase your driver distance by 10 yards, and don’t forget to get the A.I. designed club head so you can improve your greens in regulations overnight.  There is an ad out there that claims that if you join their training club they will lower your handicap by 7 strokes, and what’s the name of the club you ask, yup, Golftec. And off the course, everyone has that tech-guy friend bragging about his twist face driver giving him a 2.8 increased fairways in regulation percentage.  Here’s the thing, what’s the thing, the thing is, some of this stuff works.  I know someone who joined Golftec and lowered his handicap 7 strokes and a little more.  Mostly because he took the lessons, practiced, and played a bunch of rounds. Repeating that pattern over time, for like a year, he improved.  Go figure.

I use technology, is it helping my golf game, well that’s for another blog post. I can say that tech is not ruining my golf experience, and it is not magically improving any part of my game overnight, which is fine, I enjoy the process of trying to improve.  Tech for me looks like this; I have a golf watch, it mostly gives distances to the green, I have a bunch of golf apps that I don’t really use.  I can keep score on my watch.  I have a rangefinder that I use exclusively on the range to measure the correct distance to targets.  Lastly, I have a golf bag full of clubs that are modern and have all the twist-face, power boosting, ball launching goodness you would expect in today's clubs. As tech goes that pretty much makes up my trifecta of tech wants and needs.  When I’m practicing on the range I’ll shoot targets with my range finder just so I have a general idea of my distance control.  Out on the course I’ll glance at my watch to get a general distance to the center of the green.  I’ll then swing a P-790 iron and watch the ball fly toward the hole, generally, sort of. Near the green.  That is pretty much how my rounds go.  That was until this past Christmas,  I received a gift from my Wife, yes, the best and only caddie I have ever had, that could be the tech that literally changes my life.

Looper

Set up was a breeze. In 5 short minutes I had my new MGI AI Navigator GPS+ Golf Caddie-not a sponsor- out of the box and zooming around my backyard.  I had my remote control in hand, guiding the caddie slightly in front of me up a fictitious fairway as I walked around my yard imagining me walking the next course I play.  Ok good, the caddie works, what will I call you, yes, I will name you Looper….duh.

It was time to pair Looper to my phone, yes there’s an app for that.  Success. Next it was time to rest Looper so I can charge the 24V 36 hole Lithium Battery.  The next day I excitedly powered up Looper and began learning how to drive it better.  There are default starting speeds you can set, it took a little while to understand the remote’s sensitivity, and finding Looper’s traveling speed that syncs with my walking pace.  Everything was lining up perfectly until…the super responsive, high-resolution 4 inch full color all-weather touchscreen display-yeah it has that too-went dark and Looper stopped. Ah tech.

Code Blue

After my third attempt at the internationally known IT recovery practice, power down and restart the system, Looper didn’t respond.  Satisfied that I exhausted my extensive IT knowledge, it was time to call the experts.  What came of that was a great conversion, we tried a few real IT tricks, but ultimately I was told to send back Looper to where he came from.  They shipped me a new caddie in like three days.  That was crazy fast.  I set up the caddie like before, and when I was done this one looked exactly like the other one so to keep things simple, I named it Looper, I don’t it’s AI mind cared, although if or when it finders out there was another Looper before this one, there could be some Caddie therapy in the future.  I’ll deal with that when it when comes.

Once everything was charged and connected I powered up Looper, and…I got nothing. Well, not totally nothing.  It did power up, but the screen never made it to the start up screen.  Again I employed my depth of IT knowledge, and if you can believe this, it didn’t work.  A few phone calls and emails later it turns out that my old Looper’s I.P. address was somehow confusing the new Looper’s I.P.address.  I had to wait a few days to start the new Looper so they, whoever they are, could reset the system, wherever that was.  

Two days later everything powered up and connected correctly. So does new Looper now know it’s a second generation Looper, or are all AI Caddies clones and named Looper, are we all clones too…maybe it’s time for some therapy of my own.

Out and about

Looper was ready, but before I strapped my golf bag to the caddie, I thought back to when I unboxed him.  I needed to make sure I had fully charged the battery, the on-board screen was connected to wi-fi, and I had to download the app to my phone.  There was I.P. address issues, system updates running over night, and some light operational training. 

A slight chuckle came over me as I secured my bag to Looper.  I found it funny to think what the folks who played back in the day on the very same historic golf courses I’ve been playing would think about Looper.  I mean, they would just sling their bags over their shoulders and walk the course like it was nothing.  Could you imagine back then if they come strolling by the house with clubs flung over their backs and yelled out, “hey, where headed over to the track to get in 18, let’s go”  And my response was, “sorry I can’t go, my battery isn’t fully charged and I’m waiting for the latest patches to download to my high resolution gps screen!”

Feel the game

When I play golf locally, or on one of the historic courses, my goal is to have a relaxing experience. I like to walk, which helps me connect better to the game.  I always find time to take a short moment or two to appreciate the moments on the course.  Not so much a green in regulation, although I do celebrate those rare moments.  I like to take in simple moments, the views, the wildlife, the conversations around me.  It slows the experience down and clears my head of the every day noise, which helps me feel the game. 

Looper making its way to the hole

Looper relaxing near the green

Looper and I have bonded twice so far and to be able to feely walk full stride down the fairway taking in everything the course has to offer with my clubs riding close by as I approach my next shot has been transformable.

I think golf has always had this battle between preservation, growing the game, and technology.  Golf is in a weird spot these days, golf organizations advocate to preserve the game, regulate equipment, and roll back tech.  Golf sponsors need to push tech to stay in business.  It’s an evolutionary cycle that has always been part of the game.  There’s one thing that we can control and that is our golf experience.  Tech is here to stay, but does it consume your experience to the point you miss playing the game, or do you let tech gently enter your experience allowing you to continue to feel the game.

next up: A Phoenix Arizona adventure and a new playing partner