For the financially unencumbered, though, this may be a worthwhile purchase as you follow your dream of becoming Intergalactic Mini Golf Champion of the Universe.

There are two built-in courses and the actual putting system works by rolling a real-life golf ball toward the base of the 32-inch LCD video screen, at which point “the ball is detected by the game’s computer [and] the virtual world takes over, calculating both the direction and speed of the ball.”

Up to four players can play, and courses include a “casino-themed Las Vegas course or the tiki torch-themed Paradise Island.”

The Video Arcade Miniature Golf Game [Hammacher Schlemmer via Random Good Stuff]

Pretty interesting behind the scenes article and video over at Sandbox8 about how the seemingly endless stream of statistical data flows around the course at a PGA Tour event. Most of the data is gathered by on-course volunteers armed with various portable survey equipment and wireless devices.

From the article:

If you have ever watched a PGA Tour event on TV, in person, or on your computer, you probably have wondered at some point, how are they able to get the precise distance a ball has traveled, how far it is away from the pin, or the statistics for number of putts Tiger Woods makes within 10 feet?

All that data comes from an army of 300-400 volunteers that follow the action on the golf course using survey grade lasers and handheld devices to record every move each player makes on the golf course and that data is sent in real-time to the PGA TOUR ShotLink truck.

Check out Sandbox8.com for the full article and to take a look at a behind-the-scenes video.

If you groaned a groaning groan at the announcement that the PC version of Tiger Woods would be online-only, cheer up. I played around with the beta for a while yesterday and came away impressed.

For starters, the fact that it’s played inside a browser is pretty amazing given the level of detail. The graphics, sound, and presentation are all well-polished, so it feels close to playing a desktop game. Mac owners will be happy, too, as it’ll be playable on their systems.

In a nutshell, you create your own custom player and then tweak your stats (swing power, accuracy, etc.) on the Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online website and then launch into the game itself from there.

Detailed character appearance and clothing is limited for now while the game is in beta but you’re able to choose from a handful of basic options, with more to come in the future.

There are four courses available so far: Pebble Beach, TPC Sawgrass, St. Andrews, and China’s Sheshan Golf & Country Club. Each are rendered beautifully provided you have a decent video card.

As for actual gameplay, you can choose between a three-click swing or EA’s “True Swing” mechanic, which involves pulling your mouse backward and then pushing it forward to mimic a real-life golf shot. I found True Swing to be a little laggy, so I eventually stuck with the three-click. Check out the above video to see how everything looks.

On-course physics are a little iffy so far, but it’s not a deal-breaker by any means. There are just a few times where the ball will seem to bounce more than it should on a fairway or come to an abrupt stop once it hits the first few blades of grass in the rough. Overall, though, it’s nothing major.

You’ll be able to play against people online, of course, and you can form groups with your friends in order to hold mini tournaments and whatnot. You can even challenge other groups as well.

All in all, this is looking like a really solid effort so far. No word on what it’ll cost to play the game after the beta period is over but you can play for free until it ends. You’ll have to sign up first and then wait to get an e-mail (mine took about a month, I believe) but I’d guess it wouldn’t take that long now that everything seems to be rolling out.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online [EA]

Amazon’s got a pretty decent deal on a golf yardage GPS unit at $99. I can’t say I care for the $35 yearly fee that enables you to download new courses but if you play the same courses over and over again, you can download them once without the need to renew the service year after year.

Still, $99 isn’t too shabby for a yardage GPS unit. The IZZO Swami 1500 has access to 12,000 courses that can be loaded up 10 at a time via USB connection. The device gives yardage to the front, middle, and back of each green and runs for about 12 hours before needing to be recharged. Looks like it’s relatively simple to use, too, with big LCD numbers and just four buttons.

IZZO Swami 1500 Golf GPS Unit [Amazon via Fatwallet]

Ah the Golfers Mug: such a simple idea. Drink your coffee and then lay the mug on the floor flat-side down for a little putting practice before you tackle the day ahead.

I might suggest putting with a new golf ball to avoid potential pesticide ingestion. That, or cleaning the mug and/or your balls on a somewhat regular basis.

The Golfers Mug costs £8 ($13). Looks like it’s only available in the UK at the moment.

Golfers Mug [Red5 via Nerd Approved]

Short Version: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 with the Wii MotionPlus accessory is the closest you can get to a true golf simulation for $60. The already-great series gets a nice boost this year with true one-to-one motion sensing, addictive online play, and a bevy of other new features that easily justify the purchase.

Long Version: There’s nothing worse than shelling out for a new title in a sports series year after year, only to find that the “new” game you’re playing hasn’t changed much at all from the previous year. It’s my opinion that last year’s Tiger Woods game actually took a step backwards from the year before, due in large part to its cumbersome putting system and duller-than-dull audio commentary. We finally got online multiplayer in Tiger Woods ‘09 for the Wii, but I felt that it didn’t bring much else to the table.

Well another year has passed (actually, not even a whole year — Tiger Woods ‘09 came out last fall) and I’m happy to report that Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 has really turned into a phenomenal golf game. There’s still room for improvement, but this year’s version has few, if any, glaring faults. Certainly none big enough to keep you from buying the game.

Let’s run down a big list of features, shall we?

Graphics

In-game graphics haven’t changed all that much from last year or the year before, at least not noticeably. There’s still a somewhat cartoony look to all the players and you’re not going to get advanced shading and high-definition textures like you’d see on the PS3 or Xbox 360, but this year does finally add gallery crowds. It’s a nice addition even though the people in the crowd are mostly static onlookers with a little movement here and there.

The 27 included real-life golf courses are rendered well and should be easily recognizable to any golf fan, and weather conditions play a bigger role in this year’s offering with especially nice-looking rain effects. All in all, the in-game graphics look pretty good but nothing really appears to have been overhauled.

Menu graphics, on the other hand, have taken a step forward, with big icons and animated backgrounds making up an intuitive interface. It seems simple and uncluttered, even though there are plenty of menus and submenus.

Sound

Again, not a whole lot has changed. In-game sound effects are familiar, although some whispering and shushing from the new gallery spectators has been added.

The broadcast commentary has made a fair-to-middling improvement, with Kelly Tilghmann back in the booth alongside ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, who replaces the almost-depressing Sam Torrance from last year’s game.

Van Pelt offers up some mildly funny to downright mediocre one-liners that seem as though they didn’t make the cut for an episode of Sports Center. I can’t really describe the experience other than at first being like “Oh wow, Scott Van Pelt does the voice work on this game — nice!” and then once you hear it, you’re like “Oh wow, Scott Van Pelt is much, much, much more entertaining on TV.”

To make matters worse, some of the audio is just plain off. Van Pelt will say “Looks like this putt’s gonna break right, Kelly” even though the green grid and putt preview show it breaking left. There’s also been a few instances where I’ve left a twenty foot putt a good five feet short and Tilghmann has said something along the lines of “Now that is a wonderful putt.”

At least this year, though, you don’t need to turn the commentary off. If I could offer some advice to EA for next year, take a note from MLB 2K9. It’s got some nice, natural commentary that makes it seem like you’re watching an actual baseball game. With this year’s Tiger, I still don’t feel like I’m watching golf on TV quite yet.

Wii MotionPlus

Hands down, the best thing about this year’s game. There’s no reason you shouldn’t purchase the $60 bundle with the MotionPlus add-on over the standalone version of the game. Wii MotionPlus and Tiger Woods golf go together like peanut butter and bananas. Or chocolate. Or jelly.

Want to take a 50% swing? Pull the club back halfway. Three-quarter shot? Take it back to just above your shoulder. Fades and draws finally work reliably, approach shots are easy to execute, and putting — my God, the putting. It’s finally phenomenal.

The new “Precision Putting” feature works just like your real putter. I find myself visualizing a ten-foot putt in my living room, swinging as though I’m putting a golf ball from my feet to my TV, and watching the ball in the game go ten feet. EA has done a wonderful job — total redemption from last year’s putting interface.

The one shortcoming of the in-game swing mechanic is that, compared to hitting a good golf shot in real-life, everything in the game still has to be exagerrated somewhat. You’re still going to have to swing a bit harder to hit a shot at 100% in the game, whereas on a real-life tee box you’d want to take a nice, easy backswing followed by a nice, smooth followthrough. When you swing nice and controlled in the game, you’ll often find that it’ll result in around 80 to 90 percent worth of shot power. Not a deal-breaker by any means, but it’s there.

Chipping, flop shots, and pitching are all way, way, way improved this year. It’s much easier to hit partial swings accurately. It’s quite a difference.

Online Play, Dynamic Weather

There are two classes of gamers: those who like online multiplayer and those who like to play alone. I fall squarely into the second camp, except that I’m addicted to online play in Tiger Woods 10. Why? Because you can play online, alone.

Aside from playing true multiplayer matches just like last year, you can now participate in daily and weekly tournaments where you find yourself playing an 18-hole round against everybody else. Lowest score for that daily or four-day weekly tournament wins.

Even better, you can play against all the pros in real-time as they play in major tournaments. As long as the course is in the game, you can play along and see your score on the in-game leaderboard against all the pros in the field.

Wait, it gets better.

There are also real-time weather conditions pulled down from the Wii Forecast Channel. So for instance, yesterday (June 18th, 2009) it was raining like hell on the US Open, which was being played on the Bethpage Black Course in the New York area (play actually got suspended in real life).

So I fire up Tiger Woods 10 yesterday, hop online, and it’s raining like hell in the game. The greens are slow, the leaders are only one under par, and I’m fighting for my life to avoid double-bogeying holes since the conditions are so awful.

Dynamic weather extends to the offline version of the game, too. I put in a little time on my career golfer today and while playing TPC Sawgrass, it started raining — just like it actually did in Ponte Vedra, Florida yesterday. Really cool stuff.

Career Mode

Career Mode is similar to years’ past. You start out trying to make it on the tour, adding skill points and upgrading to better equipment, winning sponsorships, and that kind of stuff. You can also jump right into the FedEx Cup, which is a four tournament elimination-style playoff.

The career mini-games also make an appearence this year, although they’re much more straightforward and subdued from years’ past. Instead of challenging golfers head on, you try to repeat great moments in real-life tournaments. So you’ll have a scenario like “Tiger Woods birdied all the par three’s on this course back in 2003, see if you can do the same.” Stuff like that. The scenarios involving Tiger begin with a video of him talking about what happened along with some clips from the tournament.

I think it works pretty well — better than previous years where it’d be like “Let’s have a chipping contest against Natalie Gulbis” or “Play against John Daly on all the par four’s on this course.” It’s more realistic now and doesn’t take as long to advance since you don’t have to wait for CPU golfers to take their shots.

Other Features and Mini-games

Most of the multiplayer mini-games and “Golf Party” stuff has returned this year. It’s fun and adds a nice social element to the game. Disc Golf, in particular, is super fun and makes really good use of the MotionPlus controller. I find it to be almost as addictive as the online tournament features. You can play all of the 17 courses with nothing more than long-, medium-, and short-range Frisbees. I thought it’d be gimmicky, but it’s actually quite enjoyable.

Conclusion

All in all, there’s plenty of “stuff” in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.  The game can appeal to just about anyone, whether you’re a serious golfer, a serious disc golfer, you have a few friends over, or you want to play online.

For longtime fans of the Tiger Woods golf games, PGA Tour 10 will remind you why you fell in love with the series in the first place. Wii MotionPlus makes an excellent debut and adds an entirely new level of depth to the game, the real-time weather and online tournaments are amazing, and the core gameplay itself is realistic and wildly enjoyable at the same time. This year’s edition is a must-buy for any true fan.

Like this video? View more here…

Drink-dispensing golf clubs aren’t new, per se, but this one just hit SkyMall’s new arrivals section so here it is for those of you who haven’t seen it before and are looking for a good way to sneak some booze onto your local golf course.

At $50, it won’t take too long to pay for itself given the prices for beverages purchased from mobile refreshment carts. Plus, those carts don’t often carry the hard stuff, just beer. This hollowed out fake golf club holds up to 48 ounces of hot or cold liquid and is wide enough at the base to drop in some ice cubes.

A simple pump of the lever and it’ll shoot your consumable of choice into that, um, plastic cup you always carry with you for some reason.

Golf Bag Drink Dispenser [SkyMall]

New to Tiger Woods PGA Tour on the Wii this year is the “Disc Golf” feature, which allows you to play all of the in-game courses as a disc golfer. I figured it’d be gimmicky at best.

Well, I was wrong. It’s fun, and it’s a great use of the MotionPlus add-on. If you’ve ever played disc golf before, you’ll probably enjoy playing it in the game. If you’ve never played, it’s not rocket science: throw Frisbee at target, repeat.

Check out the above video for a gameplay demo. I get a triple bogey on the 1st hole at St. Andrews, then follow up with a birdie on the famous 17th hole island green at TPC Sawgrass.

Like this video? View more here…

One of the main problems with indoor putting surfaces is that the layout and hole placement never changes. So you get really good at one particular putt and then once you hit the course, your golfing buddies laugh at you and pull down your pants when you miss any putt that’s not ten feet away and dead straight. At least, that’s what my golfing buddies do and I can only assume the same thing happens everywhere.

The Expand-A-Green Putting Surface features 10 interlocking panels that can be fit together in various configurations, plus two regulation size cups and multiple cup locations. The entire surface area can reach three feet wide by eight feet long and you can even “position the cup knock-outs underneath for varying break” so it’s not a dead-on straight putt every time.

And now the bad news: it’s way too expensive at $130. Maybe it’s not if you have pool table and foosball table money like the guy in the above photo. That’s real money right there.

Expand-A-Green [After5 via Likecool.com]

EA is going the online-only route this year for the computer version of the Tiger Woods golf franchise, called Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online. That’s good in the sense that it’ll be Mac compatible too, updates should be automatic, and you’ll be able to play from any computer.

It’s bad in the sense that you’ll need to be connected to the internet to play the game. While EA doesn’t come right out and say it, this is almost surely to prevent piracy. Expect other game developers to keep a close eye on how well this online-only thing works for EA. If it works, it may reinvigorate the PC gaming market somewhat in the face of certain developers going console-only and it’ll certainly make for a decent Mac game.

The graphics look okay, although it’ll be interesting to see how many visual corners are cut in order to deliver a browser-based experience. Pricing hasn’t been set yet, either, but don’t expect to pay $19.99 and be done with it, as EA says that the game “will be offered through a multi-tiered subscription in fall of 2009.”

Translation: This is the last Tiger Woods game we’re making for the computer and we’ll just keep updating it constantly. That’s actually not a bad idea, as many people have complained that some of EA’s other sports titles seem to merely feature incremental tweaks and roster updates year after year. Those subscription prices will need to be low, though, as we’re all used to paying $20 to $40 per year for PC versions of EA Sports’ boxed games. I love the Tiger Woods games but I’d be a hard sell to even pay $5 per month for an online version. I might go for $2.99 per month. Might.

Full press release:

EA Revolutionalizes Sports Gaming with Ground-Breaking Tiger Woods PGA TOUR(R) Online

Authentic Golf Simulation Streamed Directly to Your Browser

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 29, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today that EA Tiburon, the development studio of the best-selling* golf simulation Tiger Woods PGA TOUR(R) franchise, is introducing an innovative and ground-breaking new product – Tiger Woods PGA TOUR(R) Online. Available this fall, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online is an authentic golf simulation experience that is dynamically streamed to a web browser and requires no game installation, no disc, and no additional peripherals. This game is easily accessible and available anywhere, via a web browser and an internet connection.

“Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online is for anyone who loves golf and is on-the-go,” said Executive Producer Mike Taramykin. “Whether you have ten minutes on your PC in the office, or hours on your Mac at home, this is a golf game that makes time for you. With Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online, golf lovers can satisfy their golf fix anytime.”

Stuck at the airport waiting for a flight? If you have an internet connection, just open up your computer and fire up Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online! The game is literally just a click away and has high resolution 3D graphics, delivers a feature rich experience and will be regularly updated with new features.

At launch, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online will include several world class championship courses, such as Pebble Beach, TPC Sawgrass and St. Andrews, while additional new courses will be available on a regular basis. In addition, a fully stocked schedule of tournaments and multiple community features, allowing fans to connect and compete with friends, makes Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online a community for all golf fans. This community will help shape the game’s evolution, including features such as new course additions, pro shop items, and even tournament conditions.

Your time is at a premium and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online is designed to work around your schedule – suspend play and resume from the exact same point at a later time. Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online will be the most accessible and feature-rich golf video game experience available on any personal computer.

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online will be offered through a multi-tiered subscription in fall of 2009.

[via Joystiq]

Sold by Vat19.com, the product description pegs the item as “the perfect gift for the lunatic golfer,” so you may want to leave the gift on the doorstep, ring the bell, and take off before there’s any trouble.

And if you’re a golfer who’s not already a lunatic, it won’t take long to become one as the putting area is an inch and a half narrower than a traditional golf hole.

Golfer’s Doorstop [Vat19.com]

For ten bucks, Tiger Woods PGA Tour on the iPhone/iPod touch is absolutely, hands-down, the best deal going when it comes to portable golf games.

Features include “touch-n-drag” swing mechanics, seven golf courses (Pebble Beach, St. Andrews, TPC Sawgrass, Doral, TPC Boston, The K Club, and Fancourt), and the ability to create your own player or play as Tiger Woods, Annika Sorenstam, Vijay Singh, Natalie Gulbis, or Retief Goosen.

Graphically, the game hovers around what you’d find on the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP. Player models and animations are nice and fluid and the golf courses are all rendered well, resembling their real-life personas. Music is upbeat and catchy and sound effects are okay, though a bit sparse. Overall, though, the game is a testament to what’s possible on the iPhone platform.

The play-by-play from Sam Torrance and Kelly Tilghman is downright horrendous, just as it is in the console versions of the game. I turned it off within the first three holes. Kudos to EA for working voice features into the game and it’s clear that they plucked the audio from this year’s console versions — not like they’re going to do all-new audio recording for a $10 mobile game — but still; to EA on behalf of all of us, please bring back McCord and Feherty.

The swing interface is a simple back and forth swiping motion. You can add add a fade or a draw to each shot by curving your finger at the top of the swing meter, and add spin to the ball while it’s in the air by repeatedly swiping your finger across the screen mid-shot. Chipping, flop shots, and pitching are just as straightforward, and putting works well, although it’s pretty easy. I sunk a lot of long putts and never three-putted in all 18 holes of the first round I played.

All in all, this version of Tiger Woods feels like a straightforward version of its console bretheren with toned-down graphics and fewer features — career mode consists simply of tournament events, no mini-games or anything like that — but the gameplay and fun factor is definitely there. Multiplayer would be a killer feature in subsquent versions though at $10, it already plays like a $30 Nintendo DS or Sony PSP game.

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR [iTunes App Store link]

What’s the best way to encourage the adoption of strange video game accessory? Right, bundle it with a popular video game, like Nintendo did with the Rumble Pak and Star Fox 64 nearly 12 years ago. (God, 12 years!) Now EA is helping to ensure that the Wii MotionPlus isn’t a huge bust by shipping it with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10. The game comes out this summer, but no North American prices have been revealed yet for the bundle.

As you already know, the Wii MotionPlus is a small accessory that you plug into the base of your Wii remote control that enhances the controller’s sensitivity. And what better way to demonstrate that enhanced sensitivity than with a golf game? (Of course, the new Wii Sports comes bundled with MotionPlus, too. Nintendo likes to hedge its bets.)

Do a barrel roll!

Photo: Flickr

The Legend Golf and Safari Resort in South Africa features a world-class golf course with each of the 18 holes designed by a different professional golfer. The true magic is found in the “Extreme 19th” hole, though, which is a 630-yard par three with a tee box that’s only accessible by helicopter and looms over 1,400 feet above the green.

According to the course’s web site:

Set high up on the impressive Hanglip Mountain and accessible only by helicopter, this par 3 hole is played from a vertical height of 430 metres. After a short, breathtaking helicopter flight, golfers have the opportunity of teeing off from one of three tee boxes, high up on the escarpment. With advanced technology in the form of four separate cameras and the latest tracking equipment, the golfer can follow and capture the tee shot and the flight of the ball.

Your ball will actually stay in the air for about 30 seconds, and that’s assuming you can manage to land it anywhere close to the green. Check out the above video to watch Padraig Harrington make par, one of the few golfers to ever do so.

The resort offers a one million dollar prize for anyone who makes a hole in one (better start practicing). The 19th hole can be played on its own for a separate fee or you can play a full round plus the Extreme 19th for about $220 US – not bad at all considering the experience.

Legend Golf & Safari Resort [via Geekologie]

I’ve been playing golf off and on for about 20 years now and as a mid-handicapper, I’m prone to shooting in the low nineties thanks, in large part, to inconsistent tee shots. It’s no surprise that hitting your second shot from the middle of the fairway is a lot easier than hitting it from underneath a tree that’s located behind several other trees. And so we dance.

I took the train from Boston to New York in early February to test out Callaway’s new Diablo driver – a golf club based on the simple idea that a LOT of golfers tend to slice the ball off the tee, and that a simple way to correct that would be to slant the club’s face ever so slightly to the left – one degree, to be exact — in order to compensate. So does it work?

Yes. And almost eerily well. Here’s video if you’re interested:

While learning golf as a kid, I was taught to swing easy. Then as a teenager, I found swinging the club as hard as I possibly could to be much more enjoyable, even if it meant shanking most of my tee shots three fairways to the right. As an adult, I’ve realigned my constitution with the “swing easy” mantra, as I no longer enjoy losing money to friends and spending 15 minutes in the woods on each hole.

The problem with the Diablo – the wonderful, magical problem – is that you can basically go back to your swing-as-hard-as-you-can days and the ball still goes straight. With my regular driver, I swing easy and, if it goes straight, it’ll go about 250 yards. With the Diablo, I was swinging as hard as I could, it went straight every time, and once I got warmed up I was hitting the ball 275 yards in the air, plus however far it would have rolled after it landed.

Granted, this was all done at an indoor range with no weather or wind but the results were still encouraging. I’ll have to take the club out on a real course once the weather starts warming up, but if you’re a mid-handicapper and you have a tendency to slice your drives you may want to at least test out the Diablo at your local course or sporting goods store to see if it straightens out your swing.

The driver has an MSRP of $299 and comes in “neutral” or “draw” setups – I hit the 9-degree draw version. If you hit the ball straight off the tee, you could go with the neutral but you’d probably be better off hitting whichever club you’re using now. Correcting the slice is the big idea here, so the extra one degree that the draw version turns the clubhead inward allows you to swing the Diablo naturally without resorting to turning your wrists, locking your front knee, or any of the other hundreds of tricks people have tried over the years.

The club itself features an all-titanium head and is pretty standard-sized – not one of those gigantic, oversized drivers that most people are playing nowadays. The way the Diablo’s clubhead fits together allows it to be super thin while at the same time making pretty much the entire face the sweet spot, which also helps for hitting the ball straight.

All in all, I’m impressed with the Diablo (if you couldn’t tell). I’ll have to try it out on an actual course, but things are looking good so far.

Big Bertha Diablo Driver [Callaway.com]

Hot damn, Tiger Woods 10 for the Wii is looking better and better all the time. Jason Shenkman, EA Sports’ Senior Producer for Tiger Woods 10, gives us a gameplay overview and talks about some of the new features for the MotionPlus-enabled game.

The 1:1 motion sensing looks pretty nice – just like Wii Sports Golf now – and, refreshingly, Shenkman concedes that previous versions of the game fell short of half-swings and the implementation of fade and draw shots. Those areas look to be much improved now.

And putting – the black eye of Tiger Woods ‘09 – is now back to normal. Better, even, as it’s a simple back and forth motion now. “It feels like putting in real life,” says Shenkman. You can even push and pull putts this year, so watch your wrist rotation.

The visuals, too, look much, much better. There are actual spectators this year and weather conditions appear far more realistic. And – get this – the weather in the game is tied into the Wii Forecast Channel, so whichever course you play will feature the real-life weather conditions at that particular point in time. Very nice.

All in all, it looks like TW10 is shaping up to be a great game.

[via Joystiq]

P3ProSwing: www.p3proswing.com

The P3ProSwing (starts at $599) is a cool in-home golf simulator in that it bridges the gap between less expensive and less realistic experiences like the $249 Nintendo Wii and ball-on-a-stick offerings like the $199 Golf Launchpad (which is still pretty cool – I have one) and expensive virtual screens that can cost thousands.

Instead, the P3ProSwing uses a tee pad with 65 built-in optical sensors that capture your club’s position before, during, and after it impacts the ball. So you can use your own clubs and hit real golf balls just as you would in real life. You can even use the product on a driving range if you like. While the demo had people hitting into a screen, you can simply hit into a practice net and check out your ball flight on your computer screen.

Best of all, it’s also compatible with Tiger Woods on the PC so you can play the game with your real clubs. Granted, you can do that with the Launchpad and the Wii but, again, this way has you hitting real golf balls with your real clubs.

[www.p3proswing.com]

Callaway uPro GPS: www.uprogps.com

Callaway was demoing a small cell phone-sized GPS unit called the uPro. At $399, it seemed a bit expensive but there are no subscription fees and basic versions consisting of overhead imagery, hazards, and greens of just about any golf course are available for free.

Pro versions are available for $10 each and feature video flyovers of each hole (see video above), point-to-point distances, and something called SmartView which consists of “three different views [that] allow the user to plan out the perfect shot.” The very-impressive video flyovers are generated using GPS photo imagery.

Alas, I have a feeling the uPro may soon face stiff competition from software-based solutions on devices like the iPhone/iPod Touch and the G1. For now, though, the uPro is a pretty handy device if you play a lot of golf and have $399 burning a hole in your pocket.

[www.uprogps.com]

GolfTEC Motion Sensor Swing Analysis: www.golftec.com

GolfTEC makes up a nationwide system of tech-infused instructional centers. I strapped some motion sensors around my waist, shoulders, and back to gauge my swing speed, rotation, and impact patterns and was filmed from various angles in order to analyze my posture and swing plane. I’m about 6’ 4” so the instructor compared my swing to Ernie Els, who’s also tall.

It turns out that with middle irons (I did this exercise with a six iron), I’ve been slouched over too much. I took a half-step backward, straightened out my spine, and bent my knees a bit more and immediately felt a huge difference. I picked up a bit of extra rotation in my swing and felt myself hitting the ball much, much cleaner. Now to flatten out my swing plane a bit more.

GolfTEC offers lessons, club fitting, conditioning, and private coaching sessions all over the country. You can find GolfTEC centers inside Golfsmith stores if you have one nearby.

[www.golftec.com]

Orange Whip Trainer: www.orangewhiptrainer.com

As with technology products, sometimes simpler is better when it comes to swing training aids. I happened upon something called the Orange Whip, which is a straightforward club made of a flexible shaft and weighted ball where the clubhead would normally be. You start by slowly swinging the Orange Whip back and forth in small swipes and then gradually increase the back and forth motion until you’re engaged in full swings.

I found it hard to not swing on a level plane and the club provided for some quick muscle memory. You can apparently use the Orange Whip as a core muscle workout as well. The way the club is weighted makes it hard to swing too fast, too slow, or off plane.

I have a Medicus driver, which is sort of the same idea as the Orange Whip, although the Orange Whip is a lot more simple, especially if you’ve already got an okay golf swing.

There are three versions of the club, the standard $109 Trainer, the $99 Golden for beginning golfers or golfers under 5’ 6” tall, and the $99 Hickory for junior golfers or for wedge practice. The rep said to use promo code bobc to get $10 off any of the clubs if you’re interested.

[www.orangewhiptrainer.com]

The Anchor Training Aid and The PostureTek Shirt: www.perseusathletics.com

The last stop I made at the Golf Expo was by the Perseus Athletics booth. I’d passed it a couple times and thought at first that they were just showing a standard knee brace. The Orange Whip rep suggested I swing by, though, saying I might find some good tech there.

The knee brace actually turned out to be something called the Anchor. Developed by Dr. Brian McKeon, orthopedic surgeon and team doctor for the Boston Celtics, the Anchor fits over your back-most knee and locks it in place using a special hinge. This, in turn, stabilizes the back knee “flexion angle” throughout your swing, promising proper backswing plane and more clubhead velocity. It’s suitable for use as an on-course training aid, but it’s not legal for tournament use. The hinged design allows it to lock in place for any type of shot – driving, long irons, short irons, chipping, or putting. See the above video for more information.

Dr. McKeon also developed the PostureTek shirt, a normal-looking athletic shirt that has filaments running along the shoulder blades and something called the Perseus Puck that sits in a hidden pocket underneath the armpit. When your shoulders slouch, the puck vibrates until you straighten back up. One of the reps said that the first two weeks with the shirt are a little rough, but after a while your body trains itself to keep the spine straight and the shoulders back all the time. There’s more information about the shirt in the above video as well.

The Anchor costs $149 and the PostureTek shirt costs $129. They gave me one of each to review, so I’ll try out the shirt for a while and see if it helps with the near-debilitating “Blogger Back” that’s sweeping the nation. I’ll take a look at the Anchor once I get out to a golf course.

[www.perseusathletics.com]

That OnPar GPS device that we caught wind of last week has been captured on video by Rob over at Golf Views. As far as golf gadgets go, this one’s bound to make a splash thanks to the very iPhone-like interface and what seems like a relatively straightforward user experience mixed in with some pretty interesting shot tracking and statistics features.

The $479 price tag is going to place this gizmo right out of the hands of all but the most serious and/or well-heeled golfers but the idea behind the OnPar could likely be made into a similar iPhone or Android app and sold to the rest of us. Actually, if OnPar wanted to head something like that off at the pass, they’d port their own software for use on various mobile platforms – not just their own hardware device – and beat everyone else to the punch.

[via Golf Views]

Sure, it’s –65 out right now but it’s never too early to start thinking about golf. Savant GPS knows this and, as such, will unveil the “On Par” GPS unit in Orlando this weekend with retail availability slated for “early February.”

According to a company press release:

“OnPar is the first GPS rangefinder with a dynamic hole layout display and GPS positioning that provides instant distances to anywhere and remaining distance to the green, personalized club averages, and simple score and shot tracking. And, it does it all with true one-touch operation.”

It looks like a nice little device, too. At 4.17 inches tall by 2.8 inches wide by .63 inches thick and with a single button and a big 3.5-inch touch screen covering almost the entire face, it resembles an iPhone 3G (4.5×2.4x.48) more than anything else.

It’ll hold up to 300 courses “with no membership fees or course map fees.” No word on the actual price of the OnPar itself but we’ll likely find that out within the next week or two.

Full press release:

Savant GPS, LLC will unveil OnPar, its revolutionary new touch screen GPS rangefinder, at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida. OnPar is the first hand held color touch screen GPS rangefinder designed specifically to provide golfers the ultimate user experience. It’s like having a professional caddy at your fingertips.

OnPar is the first GPS rangefinder with a dynamic hole layout display and GPS positioning that provides instant distances to anywhere and remaining distance to the green, personalized club averages, and simple score and shot tracking. And, it does it all with true one-touch operation.

OnPar incorporates traditional golf information, the latest GPS technology, rich graphics, and a number of unique features that truly help golfers manage their game. OnPar’s 3.5″ high resolution touch screen display makes it easy to read, even in direct sunlight. All these features combined create a unique GPS rangefinder that is unequaled in golf.

Brian York, OnPar President and CEO stated, “We took a fresh approach to golf GPS rangefinders, incorporating intuitive touch screen technology and unrivaled useful features to elevate the user experience.”

View it

One-touch distance measurements from tee to green.

Track it

Track your stats and get club suggestions based on your shot and yardage history.

Know it

Interactive and intuitive device to help you manage your round, view shot and yardage history.

OnPar will store up to 300 golf courses with no membership fees or course map fees.

OnPar will be available to consumers in early February, 2009 and may be purchased at select specialty golf retail stores, sporting goods stores, online golf retail outlets, golf course pro shops, and through the OnPar website (www.OnParGPS.com).

OnPar GPS [Product Site via GPSTracklog.com] Thanks for sending this in, Rich.

Fans of Golden Tee Golf might find a quick fix of the craptastic home version to be just what they need to tide them over between trips to the bar. I, myself, have been holding off on buying this little guy due to the $30+ price tag, the fact that there’s only one course, and the relatively mediocre user reviews. However, for $9.94 on clearance and with free shipping from Target.com, it turned out to be a good way to use up the rest of the gift card that would have otherwise sat in my drawer forever.

Radica PTV Golden Tee Game [Target.com]