Is golf technology going too far?

Was watching the PGA golf last night & Mark Roe was ranting about how some of the players were given books which detailed every single break on each green. This had been done with some software which maps out the greens & then gives a 3D view of the green so you can see breaks / borrows etc.

I agree with Mark Roe that putting is an art & when you get to the green you shouldn't have any outside influence.

I don't like the way Robert Rocks caddie lines him up before every putt. Gonzo used to do this & since he's stopped his putting seems to have improved. 

Is this a form of cheating? 

John, we both know that no matter how much information we have when putting, in the end there is an element of luck as to whether the ball runs true or not.

From what I understand amatuer events allow gps as long as it only measures distance, changes in elevation and wind direction not allowed. Pro's can use range finders under the same stipulation.

If these 3D maps of the green show changes in elevation then how is this different?

To be nonest can't see how you can put from a book anyway, it can give you an idea where to land your approach shot to filter the ball to the hole etc. but surely a pro must still have to have a look and get his line.

Interesting question about the green mapping, however it's no different to the software used for some of the computer games which have to have full 3D maps to work the physics of the ball roll, so hardly innovative.  OK, it's a step up from maps with arrows, but does it really give any advantage?  I doubt it and for several good reasons.

Firstly and most obviously, as John quite rightly says it cannot give any idea of weight, the extent of break, speed of the greens or grain.

Secondly it is much more difficult for most people to interpret a 3D visualisation when it's presented in 2D.  This is because essentially your brain interprets the 2D image on paper and tries to include perspective if it's needed.  Therefore if you look at a top down 2D picture of a green your brain can build a picture of the green with it's rises and falls and relate that to what you actually see.  A '3D' image is still essentially a 2D image (known as 2 1/2D) on a piece of paper but perspective and vanishing points are added to create the effect, and remember the image can only be from one single viewpoint and, to allow clarity, may be from 20 ft high.  So your brain builds a mental picture but it will find it difficult to relate perspectives at eye level and can get confused.

Thirdly, and probably most importantly, the majority of people find it very difficult to actually visualise what's in front of them in true 3D (recent research has shown that possibly only 1 in 30 people can see in true 3D).  It's all to do with spacial awareness.  It's true that professional golfers (and most ball based sport competitors) have higher levels of SA but this is often limited to seeing the scenario in 2D with the depth dimensions added by the brain.  Ball striking from the fairway is easy enough using this method because the brain can interpret each part separately - putting is a different kettle of fish because the known third dimension element (the loft) is missing.

The last two points are particularly relevant to me as I've been helping with some research in improving 3D CAD systems and part of that was to assess what people see when they see 3D (2 1/2D) images on a 2D screen - the majority of people found simple shapes much easier to interpret when laid out as three separate views rather than one shown in perspective as a 3D model (unless it moved in which case almost everyone saw it!) 

It is incredible what the players go through when they get to the green, some even look at their books when reading a putt.

A story from the other week when I was at Wychwood playing in the GTour. The Europro event was starting the day after and there were some players walking the course making notes. Anyway this one guy seemed to be following us around from about the 13th hole onwards and by the 17th I had to ask what he was doing.

He explained he was playing in the comp and he was marking, how big the bunkers were, how far the were away from the green, what elevation the greens had.

I asked to have a look at his book and it was ridiculous, the markings on there made it looked so complicated!

It just goes to show the attention to detail some players go through, as for cheating?? I'm not sure...

Adam, I am sure they do it because everyone else is doing it, but bottom line is they still have to hit the shot, exactly the right distance and this is something that no one seems to be able to do. All we see is the pro's through the green or in greenside bunkers and the amateurs short and in greenside bunkers.

This is fine for those who can still hit these new distances but not for us old uns.

The problem for us is not so much the distance, but the design of the new courses these day's as there is no route to the green without having to go over bunkers. Now this is OK when one is coming in with a short iron but not easy at all for someone like me who hits most shots pretty low anyway, attempting to carry a bunker with a three iron and then asking it to put the brakes on. It just ain't going to happen, is it?

All old course design placed the hazards to the right and left leaving it clear for the straight hitters and providing options to use the terrain for run in shots.

Water hazards were very rare, but all new courses are covered with them because they are lacking in other hazards.

The modern game is not the game I was brought up to know. I am just glad that I never missed out on the satisfaction of having to show a little flair and imagination in shotmaking  to get round a good golf course.

I am off to Saunton this week and the modern game will play no part in it whatsoever, a completely different ball game, can't wait.

The Modern Golfer can't SEE a shot like the the old guys. If they don't have a 'Yardage' they are lost.

The yardage books are now done by one person and replicated for everyone. The Player then takes that information and adapts it to his game. Knowing how far short of a fairway bunker starts to catch the ball instead of how far the bunker it self is, helps.

Some years ago I aquired the use of a fellow Pro's caddie and he came equiped with his Yardage Chart, trouble was in those days you 'paced' a course and the YC was useless to me. His guy was 6'5", I'm only 5'10", each pace was about 4" out so Mikes 150 paces = 175yds, my 150 paces = 158yds.

Todays Charts are easier to cross use, 150yds = 150yds for everyone, so which Club a Players needs is down to him.

TheLyth