Update On Tour, Microsoft Putting Tracking Effort

It was a year ago that the partnership was announced and some of us got to see demos of the PGA Tour/Shotlink/Microsoft effort to enhance both the presentation and culling of ShotLink data.

The most interesting component appears to be the upgrade of putting stats, which will give players some incredible data on their tendencies. But as Doug Ferguson reports, the ability to put the lasers to good use could some day have a profound effect on a telecast.

This is from ShotLink's Steve Evans...

"With this system, let's say it's a 30-foot putt. We'll know a foot off the putter how fast the ball is moving," Evans said. "It's gives us a much more accurate projection on where it will end."

Imagine how fun it would be if that information could be incorporated in a graphic popping up on the screen a bit off the putter face what the percentage chances are of the ball going in the hole?

It's still a ways off but that could be just the kind of fun use of technology revolutionizing the least interesting and most heavily seen part of a golf telecast.