Eight-time European No 1 Montgomerie ...said golf's rulemakers had to take a step back and provide more long-term solutions to thwart the continued advance in golf club technology which helps players power the ball vast distances. "We are reaching a point where a decision has to be made," Montgomerie said. "We cannot keep spending money using new land. We don't have to, we have an option. We can change the ball. "I have said it for years and I'm not alone in my view."

Local golfers longing for spring can choose from 26 premiere courses from around the world — all just two hours away down the New York state Thruway.

The simulators, surprisingly accurate in their reach for reality, supply sound effects as well as course views from various angles. If you're playing the 18th hole at California's Pebble Beach and you hit your ball too far to the left, you may just hear a splash from the Pacific.

The bright, spacious indoor golf arena sits next to the casino complex on the grounds of the 972-acre resort owned by the Oneida Indian Nation. Besides the simulators, you'll find two putting greens, a two-tiered hitting area with 40 stations and an Internet-based swing analysis system.

Many people have watched a golf ball leave Tiger Woods's driver and have thought it looked like a small but precise missile. But now there is a more reliable link between golf and military hardware in the shape of Dr Steve Otto, the R&A's very own rocket scientist.

The game's law makers have had to keep a close eye on technology to make sure science does not ruin the game of golf - a putter with wheels is among the innovations that have had to be banned.

Given the advances in technology it is perhaps surprising that the game has not changed more.

According to statistics in America, since 1980 the average professional has become only 11 yards longer and is hitting six per cent more fairways.

The range of the old hickory clubs is only 5 per cent less than modern ones.

Chipping a golf ball takes on a whole new meaning, thanks to British leisure company, World Golf Systems Group, the makers of a new driving range technology, TopGolf.

The company's technicians embedded radio frequency identification computer chipping tags into balls, allowing driving-range computers to track the accuracy of players' shots. And the technology is coming to Australia.

During a TopGolf game, players take aim at 11 targets ranging in diameter from about five to 22 metres, that are up to 220 metres away. Each target is divided into sections, like a dartboard. If the ball lands on a target section, it drops through a funnel beneath that is equipped with a computer-chip reader and the range system scores the player accordingly. If the ball misses a target, the player slides a fresh ball out of the dispenser. That tells the computer the previous shot was a dud and sets up the player's next turn.

Sample sniping from an industry guy:

Wally Uihlein, chairman and chief executive officer of Titleist, has led the way, arguing that, while the modern golfer is hitting the ball farther, that extra distance is not solely due to the ball.

"There has been a paradigm shift towards the 'power game' but that has been the result of six variables, five of which are continually overlooked by the anti-technology pundits," he says. "In addition to low-spinning, high-performance balls there has been the introduction of larger, titanium drivers with graphite shafts; bigger, strong athletes playing the game; improved technique and instruction; greater customisation of equipment; and improved golf course conditioning."

This last factor was certainly an issue at this year's Open at St Andrews, where the fairways were as fast as the greens, which meant the balls were running a lot further than they did in years past. "It's also the case that the swing speed of the average PGA tour pro has increased by 6-8mph over the last 20 years. That increase is responsible for a 12- to 15-yard increase in distance. But what the hell, forget the facts and let's just blame the golf ball."

Great stuff throughout. RTWT

The new Suunto G6 enables the golfer to discover the perfect swing. After each swing, they can check their tempo, rhythm, backswing length and speed. This feedback helps identify the best shots, developing muscle memory to repeat only the good shots. After the session, the players can analyze their overall consistency.

More than two years of development and research were needed to integrate three acceleration sensors in the lightweight (55g / 1.92 oz.) Suunto G6 watch. As this watch measures 200 times a second the movement of your wrist with extremely high accuracy it is called a wristop computer.

Improvement relies on consistency, that's why Suunto G6 measures the consistency index. It indicates the overall accuracy for systematically repeating similar golf swings. It indicates the muscle memory because accuracy relies on consistency!

Modern wedges are products of a 70-year evolution. They originated in the 1930s, when Gene Sarazen added strips of metal to a high-lofted iron and created bounce in the club's sole. (Before then, players chipped their balls from bunkers and awkward lies).

He was first to benefit from "scooping" balls out of trouble, a more reliable method than risking the perfect contact required to make clean picks on half-buried balls.

Sole bounce is what prevents a wedge's leading edge from digging into the turf. More bounce is good for heavy lies and bunker play, simply put, where it's important to keep the club head moving forward rather than downward through a thicker medium. Reducing bounce increases the premium on ball contact.

In addition to bounce, early wedge-makers explored the advantage of spin.

As the cool kids say, RTWT.

Laser Link Golf, produces a hand-held device that gives golfers that information. Golfers aim a gun-like device at the flagstick, push a button and a laser is shot at the pin.

About a second later, the beam bounces back off of a reflective prism either attached to or built into the flagstick and the golfer learns the distance to the flag. Instead of having to pace off the yardage from sprinkler head or "eyeball" it from the 150-yard stake in the middle of the fairway, golfers can instantly receive accurate information.

On a shot-by-shot basis, the amount of time saved can probably only be measured in seconds. But those seconds can multiply quickly for four golfers over an 18-hole round.

I'll have to try this out to know better, but I see several problems with this. First of all, busting out a gun and pointing it at the stick everytime you set up for a shot is just plain awkward. Second, at the better courses now now, most carts have GPS readers on them to tell you roughly how far you are from the pin. I think these will trickle down and be ubiquitous before long, thus making these guns redundant. Lastly, my sense is the problem this is being addressed -- slow pace of play -- won't be helped much by this. Why? Golf play is slower than it was a generation ago because there are more golfers playing today, and thus more bad golfers on the links. A device like this won't help bad golfers make much better shots. The only thing that will help that is for them to learn how to play better.

Over the past two decades, though, caddies in America have tracked the downwardly mobile career path of milkmen and typewriter repairmen. Management and golf pros discovered carts were engines of profit that didn't carry the figurative baggage of tax or labor issues. Carts didn't have attitude and always showed up for work. They were meant to speed up the game, which addressed players' time pressures and would also allow courses to get in more rounds in a day.

Tremendous nuggets and insights in this piece. Read the whole thing.

A 330-yard drive into the rough, plus a wedge to the green, is far more attractive to a player than a 280-yard poke and a 5-iron to the pin.

Well, duh. But what is she talking about here? This is not what's at issue in golf, something Baltusrol proved -- Lefty was hitting 3 woods off the tee a bunch, not always bombing it as far as he could. Besides, guys are hitting accurate 330 yard drives, that's the issue.

But then she raises a provocative question.

What else are players using? Power cravings in any sport can lead to boundary pushing of the chemical kind. There is no whisper of a steroid problem inside the P.G.A., but there is also no drug testing. So how does anyone truly know surges in distance are all about technology and not about the designer steroid THG?

Why no steroid use in golf? It's a good question. If true, it's partly cultural. But I could see it helping some duffers, so maybe we'll see more of it in the future.

Then she says something goofy again.

The long ball's allure creates a slippery slope. Baseball heard the siren song of power and sold its soul for magic pills. Hitters bulked up to keep up. Pitchers juiced up to spike their endurance. The game was rewarded with money and fame until Balco revealed the secret behind the long-ball success.

The fallout from Balco also revealed how the power obsession was just a mirage. In truth, fans longed for a return to nuance, to the beauty of a stolen base, to the grace of a diving catch, to the roots of the game. Fans, as it turns out, truly loved the game without the homer hype.

What is the evidence for this? He's not on roids, presumably, but people love what Derek Lee is doing. That's not homer hype?

The Baltusrol course where the USPGA will be played is 7392 yards long, helped by the par-five 17th which measures 650 yards.

Colin Montgomerie has never been a massive hitter and is not a fan of the fad that to make a course more of a test, tournament organisers have to put back tees...

...He said: 'Length is becoming a big issue. Every course we go back to seems to be lengthened. We haven't been here at Baltusrol for 12 years and I don't remember this course being as long as it is.

'I do think the length is outdoing technology. Over 18 holes I'm probably 100 yards longer than I used to be but this is course is 300 yards longer than it was so I've lost 200 yards somewhere.