Tech that helps find your ball.

Today I was golfing on a leaf covered course and got to thinking, while I was looking for a ball that I swear I saw land on the fairway, what if the ball would have a RFID chip in it to help you find it? Is the ability for the ball to be lost an integral part of the game? Would it speed up play if groups did not spend 5 minutes looking for balls on every other hole? Could a chip be put in a ball without changing it's playability? These are the kind of things I think about when I am out there by myself.

Looks like there's a company in the UK that makes them; http://www.prazza.com/prazza-golf-balls.htm

I would have thought Timex would have come up with this idea first.

Nice, but do they embed them in a premium ball?

Just the thought of hitting anything other than a premium ball with a long iron makes my hand hurt. I suppose the other option is to get to scratch, then I don't need to worry about the heels/shanks.

There goes my million dollar idea. :-D When I was playing today I was waiting at a tee box that was elevated. From the tee box I could see 4 foursomes. At one point 3 of the four groups were looking for balls. None of the 3 were in deep rough or hazard they were either fairway or rough. The rough was about 3-4 inches. The issue was all the fallen leaves made it hard to find a ball even if you knew where it was. I can only imagine how much faster the round would have been if everyone could have driven or walked right to their ball. It seems like most changes in golf are driven from the top (PGA Pro) down. Unfortunately I don't really see a use for this technology for the pro. Interesting idea anyway.

A portable leaf blower that fits into your golf bag might be another approach?

I could have used this today.   I lost three balls in the fairway, somewhere under the leaves.

How about this ball that is eco-friendly ...  http://ecogolfballs.com/home.html

Environmentally Friendly Characteristics:

The Eco Golf Ball is made from wood.
Wood in its natural form is 100% biodegradable.
The Eco Golf Ball is safe to hit into fresh or salt water.
The Eco Golf Ball will float, and can be picked up and used over and over.
If the Eco Golf Ball is left in the sea it will degrade naturally within 3-6 months.
The Eco Golf Ball meets all MARPOL V Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution by Garbage from Ships.
The Eco Golf Ball is approved by the United States Coast Guard to hit into the sea.

This would save me so much time looking in the trees. Does it conform to the rules for handicap purposes?

Finding the ball each time would shave some strokes on my game.

Just looked at the site. Discontinued stock for the U.S. retailer, probably because it's not allowed for handicap rounds and cost $300 for the unit plus it looked like 3 golf balls. Kind of a Brookstone novelty at that price...or if you're rich.

My guess is that the balls probably perform like the generic brands golf stores sell for $8/dozen, and at $300 for the kit it would take a lot of golf balls lost to justify it.

At a cost of about $13 per ball. Doesn't do you much good in a water hazard either. ;-)

I think one of the major ball manufacturers would need to introduce the technology for the golf industry to take it seriously. I wonder what price range would make them work. I would certainly pau double if they were premium quality balls. Maybe more. A ProV1 with a chip in that I can always find unless I put it in the drink for $100. Per doz? I would sure think about it. Combine this with a Game Golf style shot tracker? I doubt it would ever be species for official handicap but then I never thought I would see replay in baseball. Sometimes even the most stayed organizations bow to the pressure to change.

Most better players, the ones that buy most of the premium balls, lose relatively few balls. Far more balls are ultimately taken out of play after they get scuffed up than are lost outside of the water..... I wouldn't pay much, if anything more for an RFID ball. I'm putting a new ball in play at the beginning of each round anyway.....

I believe TM has a utility patent on RFID in golf balls but I believe the use was mainly to distinguish them from knockoffs.  The other issue is would be cost and performance.   I'd think the RFID would have to be placed under the cover in order to provide the strongest signal.  With it so close to the outside cover I'd think there would be an impact on the ball balance so there has to be some weight compensation within the layer under the cover to offset the RFID weight.

Obviously the addition of an RFID sensor would add to the manufacturing cost which would have to be passed on to the consumers.  Even if they played like Pro V1's I think the decision to buy them comes down to whether you go through more balls because you lose them or scuff / cut the cover.

I'm surprised they last that long. I was guessing 3-4 holes before they start feeling like rocks.

BTW, @newtogolf I like TM Lethals, but I doubt they would perform as well with a UHF chip/antenna in them. Once they start making 77GHz tags, the antenna will be on the chip. This might make it possible to use without affecting the performance.

I think the move to day glow colors like yellow is the most practical approach to making golf balls easier to find.

Another approach I've thought of is a pair of glasses that filters out every color except the ball color. Mark (or buy) balls in that specific color and they should stand out (not sure if this is possible, but it would be a neat idea).

Remember, golf ball makers don't want you to find their balls. They want you to lose a lot so you'll buy more, so I doubt they are going to jump through a lot of hoops to make balls easier to find.

You could also coat them with a metallic paint (not too much metal), then just use a high frequency (24GHz or 77GHz) FMCW radar to detect them. You might have a few false readings, but anything with trace copper will show up quite well.