Far from being a contemporary conceit, golf as we know it first teed off in 16th century Scotland, a time when canny Caledonians realised that knocking wee balls into slightly less wee holes was the kind of pastime that saw them far less likely to be beheaded than the previously most popular Highland hobby – being defeated in battle by the neighbouring English.
Fast forward 100 years and the next great leap forward for five iron fans came with the development of the pocket watch, which allowed green-bound Glaswegians to know exactly how long it was since they last scored a hole-in-one or what time they were next due to go on and on about Bannockburn after a bevvy or two.
Since then, it’s a been a bit quiet on the golf gadgetry front. At least until late last year when TomTom, an Amsterdam-headquartered tech company, unveiled its Golfer 2 SE GPS Watch. Said to be half-timepiece and half-digital golf coach, this indispensable accessory can automatically estimate the optimum tee-off and approach shot swings, while offering a post-game hole-by-hole performance report. With a unit cost of just US$165 for the Golfer 2 SE GPS Watch, even a Scotsman wouldn’t demur.