golf

Golf Tracker for Excel provides golfers with ways to track their statistics over many courses and matches. While the layout looked familiar and simple, its trial limitations kept us from fully testing it.

We were so instantly comfortable with the program's interface that we skipped the instructional Help file. The program is based around Excel spreadsheets, looks the part, and was a cinch to navigate. We were surprised by how professionally the entire program was designed, especially since it was built from spreadsheets, but its areas to enter golfer information, courses and scores looked great. The Scores section was … Read more

Store, calculate, and take a closer look at your golf scores with Golf Handicapper. Though it may take time to learn, the results are simple enough that certain golfers will love tracking their history.

The program's basic interface isn't winning any awards for flashiness. Golf Handicapper's sparse simplicity leaves users without much direction as they manage through the black and white buttons and command screens. The dense, wordy Help file takes a lot of close reading to really digest. Users looking to track their scores must first enter the course's information into simple data boxes, including … Read more

Handicap Manager for Excel provides golfers with an opportunity to calculate and store their scores on a limitless number of courses. This program's organization makes it simple to operate.

The program's interface is familiar and intuitively laid out, thanks primarily to being based on Microsoft Excel. With simple menus that lead you through the various spreadsheets, you won't have trouble tabulating statistics. Fill up this program first by navigating through the Golf Course information. You enter a course's name, par, rating, and slope, which all helps calculate the handicap later. Next, enter all your information, such … Read more

Volkswagen takes its fun, compact GTI and makes it even smaller in the new GTI Project Web game.

In the GTI Project, you find yourself behind the wheel of a Volkwagen GTI that's been reduced to the size of a slot car. VW's engineers demonstrate some of the GTI's performance prowess, then put you in control as you race around the track toward low lap times. Navigating the track is a single button affair. You control only the throttle in an attempt to go as quickly as possible without spinning off of the course.

There are neat … Read more

Let's Golf is a new game for the iPhone and iPod Touch that lets users play 63 holes in four distinct locations that have been remodeled in 3D. Those locations are referred to as Fiji Beach, the American Mountains, the English Countryside, and Scottish Lochs. You can choose to play as one of four customizable characters, and you can compete with friends via a Wi-Fi multiplayer mode. Let's Golf boasts scalable game modes ranging from Advanced, which allows you to add spin to the ball, to Causal, which is easier and lets just about anyone experience a Tiger … Read more

To go along with my obsession with software, games, and all things iPhone-related, I also have a healthy(?) obsession for basketball. March Madness is over, but there's still the NBA playoffs coming up on April 19. A few teams are still in the playoff race, even with only a few games to go in the regular season. While my team didn't even come close to making the playoffs (Hint: We Believed), I will still be watching a few of the playoff matchups and can't wait to see who makes the NBA Finals.

This week's apps include … Read more

Let's Golf offers up great graphics, solid gameplay, and is reminiscent of the popular platform golf game, Hot Shots Golf. Drawn in smooth 3D graphics with a cartoonish appeal, you can play three skill levels, on four courses, with your choice of four cartoon-drawn players of varying skill. Surprisingly, the touch screen almost performs better than traditional controllers, making it easy to aim shots via the touch screen and quickly check an overhead hole map to precisely aim your shots. You have your choice of playing the front or back 9 of any of the courses, or go in … Read more

I know people will do anything online these days.

But it is hard not to rubber-neck when someone does something so astonishingly witless that even your serially drunken aunt wouldn't do it at Christmas dinner.

Please consider the curious case of Benjamin Ryan.

He gets himself a VW Golf. He has it tweaked for maximum torque. Then he goes a little torque mad. He decides to race a friend of his along a freeway, his friend being the proud owner of an Audi RS4. They travel at speeds that touch 130 mph.

It so happens that another friend rides … Read more

What's green, weighs 650 pounds, goes 3.5 mph, and costs more than $25,000?

Not something you or I will ever buy, but a gadget golf course superintendents may go gaga over.

The RG3 (Robotic Greens Mower 3) from Precise Path debuted a few weeks ago at the 2009 Golf Industry Show in New Orleans. It's a robot lawnmower that uses two lead acid batteries to run its 24-volt DC motor, and one to run its computer, offering about three hours of mowing before needing to be recharged.

"Our robot could provide the human precision necessary to upkeep, actually better than a human is capable of, and not costing the large amount in intensive labor costs," Precise Path co-founder, president, and CTO Doug Traster told CNET News in a phone interview.

The founders of the company decided to craft a robot lawnmower for the golf industry because they saw a need that could be filled with a bot, and an industry that would not scoff at a hefty price tag for high-tech maintenance equipment. While the company hopes to continue to develop the tech to bring the price down, right now the RG3 has a suggested retail price of $29,500.

In addition to mowing golf greens, the company is developing add-ons for the device that would allow golf course superintendents to use the robots to also mow fairways, rake sand traps, and spot treat with pesticides and fertilizers.… Read more