Golf's Newest Technology Is Dividing Opinion Amongst Golf Fans

As golf looks to broaden its fanbase, broadcast companies around the world are attempting to revolutionise the way they portray the sport in live events. More recently, this has been on-course interviews with players, which has had a great reaction. 

However, CBS have introduced some new technology at this week's Waste Management Phoenix Open, which attempts to predict where the ball will land on the green by tracking the ball moving through the air using radar technology. The name of this new tech? Predicta-Ball. 

Predicta-Ball’s radar uses all the information to create an estimate once the ball hits it’s apex;  the landing circle will quickly decrease in size and pinpoint the exact location just before the ball lands.

The technology is, of course, coupled up with ShotTracer and offers fans a completely different viewing experience, but new technology creates new opinions, and golf fans on Twitter certainly have divided thoughts. 

One user said it's “very cool tech,” whilst another user simply stated: “Hate it. It ruins watching golf. The excitement is in watching the ball fly and seeing where it lands. This technology takes the excitement out of watching golf. Get rid of it!!!”

Because of the new initiative, others soon thought about what the future of the technology could look like, with some wondering if it will be used at the Masters in April. By the sounds of it, people are asking this as they don't want to see it at Augusta National, with users claiming that “if they use this at the Masters we will riot” and that “I don't know (about this), do we really want to know on 12 at Augusta that the ball is going to land on the bank the second it's hit?”

There has been a lot of new technology over the years that has been tried and tested. At last year's 150th Open, there was negative feedback over the ‘Strike Meter’, which appears to have been scrapped recently. Therefore, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Predicta-Ball after this weekend.