Golfers Getting Help From Above

Golf is a game of rituals, and few are more sacred or idiosyncratic than the methods players use to line up a shot.

Some toss blades of grass into the air to check the wind. Others focus on a twig or a leaf in front of the ball to align themselves with the flag. Then there are those who consult the computer screen in their cart for coordinates calculated by triangulating signals from global positioning satellites floating 11,000 miles above the earth’s surface.

Global positioning satellites, or GPS, were used to guide soldiers in battlefields during Operation Desert Storm, and they help keep ships on course as they crisscross oceans. But now someone has found the ultimate application for this technology--helping golfers size up their approach shots.

ProShot Golf Inc., based in Newport Beach, has devised a system that uses GPS to tell golfers precisely how far they are from the green, as well as the exact locations of hazards such as sand traps and lakes.

The system, called OmniGolf, is being used by 30 golf courses around the country. Small computer screens installed on carts give golfers information they would ordinarily get only by checking markers and consulting yardage guides.

“They love it,” said Robert Ford, head golf professional at Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Beach, one of the first to use the system. “When we first put this thing on, that’s all people talked about. They’d call and say, ‘Hey, you’re the golf course with the computers, we want to come play.’ ”

Ford said one of the key benefits is that the system speeds up play because golfers spend less time measuring their shots and worrying about which club to use.

The course is also installing a monitor in the clubhouse that will let starters keep track of where every cart is on the course and send messages to those who need to pick up the pace.

ProShot leases the system to courses for about $60,000 per year, said Mark deGorter, vice president of sales and marketing. He acknowledged that some purists might frown on the notion of having a computer monitor on their carts.

“But the irony,” DeGorter said, “is that oftentimes the purist just spent over $500 on the latest titanium driver, bought golf galls with a new dimple pattern to get an extra three yards, and just bought a new putter with a perfect swing balance. A golfer will do almost anything to knock three strokes off his game.”