The Hero World Challenge golf tournament has seen players, including Tiger Woods, Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, and Rickie Fowler, trialling new tracking technology designed to provide more accurate data for the Tour’s ShotLink system, which tracks players’ shots in real time.
At Glance
‣ The PGA Tour is trialling new tracking technology that aims to provide more reliable and accurate data to improve the Tour’s ShotLink system, which is used to track players’ shots in real time.
‣ The devices, which look like GPS units, have been worn by players including Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler during the Hero World Challenge in Albany.
‣ Currently, procuring the data for the ShotLink system is labour-intensive and relies heavily on volunteers using radars, lasers and videos to capture the ball flight of every shot.
‣ The new devices, which have already been trialled at Korn Ferry and Champions Tour events, take a reading of the players’ location every three seconds and plot it on a graph.
Tiger Woods is back in the game, and it’s all anyone can talk about in Albany this week. But, if you’ve been watching the Hero World Challenge closely, you might’ve noticed something else.
Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, and Rickie Fowler were all sporting some new tech during the tournament. It looked like a GPS device, and it was attached to their belts. So, what’s the deal with these gadgets?
These devices are a new tracking technology that’s being tested out at a PGA Tour event for the first time. The goal? To provide more accurate data and improve the Tour’s ShotLink system. This system is what tracks players’ shots in real time for fans watching from home.
(Image credit: Getty Images) Scheffler was seen wearing one during his practice round. Right now, gathering this data relies heavily on volunteers at each event. They use radars, lasers, and videos to capture the ball flight of every shot. Then, that info is used to track ball flight, distance, and where the ball ends up.
But, this tech isn’t perfect. It’s a lot of work, and it’s not used at all PGA Tour events. It hasn’t even been used at LPGA Tour events yet. So, the hope is that these small devices – which have already been tested at Korn Ferry and Champions Tour events – can help solve these problems.
According to Golf.com, the players who’ve tried out the devices so far don’t mind wearing them. It certainly hasn’t affected Spieth and Scheffler. Both were seen wearing the devices and ended the second round tied for the lead.
NBC Golf Reporter, John Woods, gave some more insight into how the devices work. He explained to Golf Channel, “They’ve been in R&D [research and development] for a couple of years. They take a reading of the players’ location every three seconds, plot it on a graph and then when they get to their ball — once they hit — the walking scorer will hit a button and that gives them their yardage.”
