Nobody knows exactly what the future of sports is likely to resemble, but it sure is fun to predict the future of golf and where we think the sport is going. At a time when there is a lot of controversy and reform in the world of golf, it is interesting to see how the world of golf thinks things are going to shake out in the future.
If you’re a fan of making predictions, you might already be into gambling, and you can bet on tournaments in the future with the best sports betting app options allowing you to track the latest odds on tournaments throughout the world, including PGA Tour events and even some of the brand-new LIV Invitational events.
Incremental changes have been made in the world of golf for some time, and one of the areas that have shown the progress to be striking is in the art and science of driving the ball.
Both technology and technique are improving. Golf clubs are released every single year, and the designs tend to change with every new generation, featuring different loft, angles and other aspects of the design of the driver, allowing golfers to hit the ball even further.
We aren’t going to see many 400 or 500 yard averages any time soon, but over recent years, we’ve seen some big increases in the average distance of drives. These small, incremental changes can go a long way to make the difference between mediocre golfers and good golfers.
The distance of drive isn’t the only factor, but it certainly does play a part.
Science will play a bigger part in golf
Science and data analysis are already absolutely huge in the world of golf, and even amateur or aspiring professional players can analyze their swing and other parts of their game.
There are many training systems such as RoboGolfPro, which allows you to record the swing and many different aspects of the technique, including the impact, direction and the speed generated in the clubhead.
A huge amount of technique in the world of golf is building this swing technique. Technology and science are bound to play even more of a part as the availability of top-level equipment becomes more mainstream.
Data (and AI) might inform the caddie
Did you know that there are already some AI solutions to help you to improve your game? This is likely to continue to grow, too.
Arccos Caddie is an AI caddie that has been developed by using Microsoft technology on the cloud, and uses “more than 61 million shots hit by the Arccos community, 368 million geotagged data points on more than 40,000 courses and weather conditions including forecasted wind speed, precipitation, temperature and more.”
All of this can allow you to learn more and more about your game, with the AI caddie giving you even more insight than before, and possibly more than you would have got with a human caddie. This technology is only likely to improve.
Prize money has always gone up over time, but this could hit record levels over the next few years.
Of course, the popularity of golf, from gambling to huge television audiences, plays a part in the financial backing of the sport, but the recent LIV Invitational tournament could prove to be a gamechanger. Golfers getting involved have been guaranteed tens of millions of pounds, and each of the events on this controversial tour will have prize money of up to $4m for the winner, from a purse of $25m.
Who knows whether the PGA is in a position to give their stars more money to try and keep up, but it is almost inevitable that with more money going to these players, finances are going to hit crazy levels in the coming years, especially when we consider things like sponsorship and the money that brings.
The LIV tournament is certainly controversial, but it is proof of a global appetite for the sport. With recent winners of massive tournaments originating from all over the globe, it is almost inevitable that the sport will continue to grow, and with even more in the way of media coverage and televised events to go along with a tour presence in Asia, Europe, America and now the Middle East, don’t be surprised to see even more fans start to flock to the sport.
