Wi-Fi hits the golf course
Time was when golf provided a simple way for stressed execs to leave the cares of the office behind, take a jolly walk in the countryside and occasionally stun their colleagues by hitting par for a hole.
Not any more though thanks to the growing popularity stateside of, wait for it, Wi-Fi golf carts. A company called GPS Industries which numbers the great Greg Norman on its board, has developed a tablet system that integrates in to the golf buggies offering both Wi-Fi web access and satellite navigation via GPS.
Basically the tablets help golfers play the course better by giving them precise positioning and video game-like graphic representations of the holes. They also help the course track golfers’ progress and communicate with them wirelessly.
However, even its developers acknowledge that the Wi-Fi tablet is much more than just a golfing accessory. “The ability to have real time communications with golfers over the Wi-Fi network creates an entire new business opportunity for the course,” says GPS marketing director Blake Ponuick. “It’s not only a device for the golfer now, it’s a business tool for the course.”
He’ basically saying that in the future when sizing up that all import final putt to scoop the day’s game and ensure it is not you forking out for the G and Ts in the nineteenth hole, your concentration will be interrupted by that annoying ping, ping as Outlook Express informs you of yet another unimssable business opportunity offered by some African prince.
Is nothing sacred?
