Spotify:\u00a0Listen Now<\/a><\/p>\n Amazon Music:\u00a0Listen Now<\/a><\/p>\n I lay myself prostrate at your feet not just to ask your forgiveness, but to sound a warning. Has technology gone too far in golf?<\/p>\n It\u2019s everywhere. From the watch on your wrist, to the digital scorecard in your pocket, and the science in every dimple of your golf ball, we can\u2019t escape it.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s only going to get more pervasive. We\u2019re just starting to scratch the surface of artificial intelligence and as it permeates every other aspect of our lives it\u2019s na\u00efve to think it won\u2019t seep onto the golf course as well.<\/p>\n But do we need to dial technology back? Along the way, are we losing sight of what golf is all about?<\/p>\n A golfer looks at their phone on the course: Source: Adobe Stock<\/p>\n Are we too reliant on golf technology? <\/p>\n \u201cThere is a risk with technology, not just in golf but in every single walk of life, that just because it\u2019s possible doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s a good thing,\u201d said my colleague Tom Irwin on our recent episode of The NCG Golf Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIs it additive? Is it enhancing the experience, or is it damaging it and materially changing it into something else?<\/p>\n \u201cYou can talk about rangefinders, where there is an art to the distance a golf ball travels \u2013 and lots of factors. [There\u2019s] Wind, firmness of ground, and knowing the number, but there is so much in these technologies where it can factor in all that stuff. Is that not removing skill from the game?<\/p>\n \u201cIs it not just a step too far away from what golf was supposed to be \u2013 where a massive part of it was judgement? Are rangefinders and distance technology removing some of that art?\u201d<\/p>\n Change is coming at every level. I\u2019ve been criticised online for arguing that paper scorecards will cease to exist <\/a>within the next decade.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not that I want this to happen, it\u2019s that it feels inevitable. The technology is there already. Millions of scores are already being submitted on apps and those numbers are only likely to increase.<\/p>\n At some point, golf clubs will figure out it\u2019s better for the bottom line not to pay for 20,000 bits of card every year and put that cash to something else.<\/p>\n That will be a sad day. Because a scorecard isn\u2019t just a record of a round. It can be a souvenir from a special day. It can be a memory trigger.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve got drawers full of them and picking one up transports me back to that day. I can even picture the shots I hit. You can\u2019t do that staring at a number on a screen.<\/p>\n Simulator golf is huge right now, but can playing a pixelated version of the opening hole at St Andrews<\/a> ever be a patch on experiencing it for real \u2013 of feeling the wind whip in off the West Sands beach and the butterflies surging in your stomach as you prepare to tee off?<\/p>\n I find myself in conflict with the technology question all the time. I\u2019m a frequent adopter of new kit. If there\u2019s an innovation in golf, I\u2019m likely to have tried it or owned it.<\/p>\n There is definitely a place for it in the game. But do I want a map of the hole displayed in my AI glasses and a virtual caddie reading the putt for me?<\/p>\n Do I want to be always online? Or is there something in the joy of golf that should make us want to disconnect \u2013 if only for a few precious hours? Should golf courses become tech free zones?<\/p>\n Now have your say on golf technology<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/phone-1030x686.jpg\")
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