Quite a bit, if you’re playing on a course that employs Global Positioning Systems, or GPS, to monitor and manage a variety of things, from course layout to the weather.

Companies, such as Inforetech Wireless Technology Inc., located in Surrey, BC, Canada, have started to fill the niche of high-tech Golf Course Management by providing small portable handheld devices that, according to their website, “use a patented combination of global positioning systems, two-way messaging and Internet technology.”

Both golf course managers and players can use and benefit from the device. Managers can use it to monitor the speed of play, update pin locations and receive 911 emergency calls from the greens. Players can use it to get distance to the pin and fairway hazard information and order food and drinks at the clubhouse while still on the 18th hole.

To illustrate how the GPS system works, an employee from the maintenance department could stand at the location of a pin and press a button. An orbiting satellite receives the position and sends the coordinates back down to the system. Real time instant information.

A nice feature during tournament play is the ability to post leaderboard scores instantly anywhere on the course. Another is that players can find out how far they are to the hole and the distance of their last shot. Useful, yes, but some may not welcome this exacting science. Similar to the fisherman’s tale of “the one that got away,” having a computer keep precise records doesn’t allow for much poetic license. Depending upon the player’s handicap, this may not be such a good thing.
Currently, although tens of thousands of golf courses exist, and more are being built each year, less than 500 currently use a GPS system on their golf courses. The new technology is gaining ground, however, growing at a rate ten times greater than just five years ago.

The success of the system may be left up to the players. While some will prefer to escape their busy technology-filled lives and just play golf, others may welcome and embrace this new dynamic.

(Editor’s Note: Information regarding Inforetech Wireless Technology Inc. can be found at www.inforetech.com. Nancy Stump is a freelance writer in Silverdale. She can be reached at nancyleewa@juno.com.).