GPS golfing device tells you how far it is to the green

It’s only a game, but we’ve mentioned before the amount of attention that golf gets from inventors and entrepreneurs. In the last few years we've written about a Golf robot designed to help everyone feel the perfect swing, an ingenious wireless motion capture system designed to provide detailed remedial assistance for your swing, a new technology from Yale which enables you to hear your golf swing and numerous golf simulators (here, here, here and here) so you can practice all day long. We've reported on an electronic golf ball finder, a golf ball finding system and a pair of golf ball finding glasses. Just recently we've even covered a solar-powered Golf Bag and Bushnell's Yardage Pro Range Finder. Now there’s a new US$400 handheld golf course measuring device called the SureShot GPS designed to answer the age-old question: “How far is it to the green?” It shows distance from the tee (or wherever else you are on the course) to the front, center and back of the green, together with up to fifteen hazards.

Courses are available for downloading from the company web site, or players can map courses themselves using the device.

The recorded information then can be stored on the device and/or stored and uploaded to the company Web site. Course information on the Web site is catergorized as either user mapped or professionally mapped (by a Tee2Green staff member).

Additionally, a scorekeeping feature allows players to maintain accurate scoring as they play, reducing the possibility of signing an inaccurate scorecard at the round's end. Battery life of the device is seven hours on a full charge.

The specially-designed color, backlit screen with polarized filter displays distances in either yards or meters. The device is capable of holding up to ten golf courses and can be used on any course worldwide, subject to local rules in accordance with the recent ruling provided by the USGA and the R&A.

The SureShotGPS was recently a finalist in the Australian Design Awards and was designed for Tee2Green Technologies by Australia’s largest Industrial Design consultancy, Design + Industry (D+I)