Apparatus, system and method for golf club recommendation
Contents
1. 45 50 10 for each golf club of the plurality of golf clubs deter mine at least one recommended golf club for the user based on the golf club data and display the recom mended golf club to the user determine an actual golf club from the plurality of golf clubs used in the shot determine an actual final location of the shot calculate a deviation between the intended final location and the actual final location store in the database the calculated distance as corre sponding to the actual golf club used in the shot provide a predetermined deviation limit for the actual golf club compare the deviation between the intended final location and the actual final location to the deviation limit mark the shot as a quality shot if the deviation is less than the deviation limit and update the golf club data for the actual golf club based on the deviation between the intended final location and the actual final location and whether the shot was marked as a quality shot 11 The system of claim 10 wherein the software is further operable to average a plurality of calculated distances for each club of the plurality of golf clubs so as to calculate a yardage recommendation for the golf club 12 The system of claim 11 wherein the software is further operable to calculate the distance between the starting location of the shot on a golf course and the intended final location where the user intends to land the golf ball2. In some exemplary embodiments once system 100 has performed training process 400 a sufficient amount of times to begin averaging recorded shot yardages for example a sufficient amount of times to record five quality shots training process 400 and recommendation process 500 may be performed simultaneously as a combination training and recommendation process 600 as shown in FIG 6 In other words the system may recommend a golf club for a particular shot and then calculate and record the results of the shot substantially as described above The recorded shot average for each club can thus be maintained as a simple moving average and the percentages likelihoods of achieving a qual ity shot may be calculated from a desired number of the most recent shots This can enable system 100 to continuously adapt its recommendations to the user s performance as the user s performance evolves Portions of the interface of system 100 may be provided as voice messages to the user via sound output device 122 These voice messages may be recorded and may be stored in data base 124 The voice messages may provide alerts and recom mendations to the user For example the voice messages may alert the user regarding ambient conditions such as wind speed and provide club recommendations based on the ambi ent conditions Furthermore any communication between system 100 and the user that is described herein may be provided via voice messages
3. The various features and user preferences of system 100 may be accessible via a user operable menu interface which may include various menu groupings related to game play clubs and user preferences Game play menus can include shot options related to recording shots tracking fairway US 8 529 380 B1 7 shots tracking putts tracking penalty shots and tracking sand shots Recording shots can allow the user to set whether the system records the shots performed during the round of golf that is currently being played The recorded shots can further be subdivided into fairway shots putts penalty shots and sand shots The user can toggle whether each of these shot categories is tracked and recorded The game play menus can further include environmental factor settings such as eleva tion geography temperature and wind The elevation menu can allow the user to input the relative elevation between the user s location and the intended location of the shot so as allow system 100 to make appropriate recommendation adjustments as described above The geography menu can allow the user to input the elevation of the present course above sea level so as allow system 100 to make appropriate recommendation adjustments as described above The tem perature and wind speed menus can allow the user to input the ambient temperature wind speed and direction so as allow system 100 to make appropriate recommendation adjust ments as described above I
4. U S Patent Sep 10 2013 Sheet 5 of 6 US 8 529 380 B1 500 NY 502 504 Select intended shot destination 506 Retrieve club yardage and deviation data 508 Compared stored data to distance between current location and intended destination 510 Determine club having yardage and deviation that encompasses the distance of the shot 512 Consider additional factors 514 Recommend at least one club Fig 5 U S Patent Sep 10 2013 Sheet 6 of 6 US 8 529 380 B1 600 AY 502 Determine location 504 Select intended shot destination 506 Retrieve club yardage and deviation data 508 Compared stored data to distance between current location and intended destination 510 Determine club having yardage and deviation that encompasses the distance of the shot 512 Consider additional factors 514 Recommend at least one club 4 40 410 412 Determine actual position of ball 414 Determine deviation between intended destination and actual position 416 Record club yardage and deviation data 418 Update average yardage for recommended club 420 Calculate quality shot likelihood Fig 6 US 8 529 380 B1 1 APPARATUS SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GOLF CLUB RECOMMENDATION BACKGROUND It is commonly known that the selection of a particular golf club from a set of golf clubs can depend on the distance that the player intends that the ball travel However other aspects can also influence the choice of club for a particular shot Such as
5. Audio O Fig 1 200 Input personal information Select set of golf clubs 206 Select average yardage recommendations Select deviation limits Fig 2 U S Patent Sep 10 2013 Sheet 2 of 6 US 8 529 380 B1 N WOOD ES Ga SI ta pf fo OO Wyo ZE oa ro No H J S WEDGE 64 WEDGE Fig 3a E HANDICAP DE TS DO 20 0 10 pa 07 173 2 WOOD 150 550 245 135 peo 150 fs woop 160 215 235 125 1500 freo swo po p 210 105 135 imo 7 00 o p 155 150 140 E TRON 150 Bs peo 1500 ES 20 80 O 130 135 ELU 180 125 150 180 5 IRON 180180 200100 125 8 E TRON IST TOs 90 ro Is IRON po yo po eo ua SE IRON E A 140 E es E TRONO 110130 e000 mw rpw J6D tos 120 50 o eo 5 60 eo i0o o 50 6 E 5 JE JO 5 15 5 Emo 50 7 Ho 50 fu so 7 em js 15 5 58 JE JE 7 psa 5 0 5 35 Mo 5 7 EE EO E EE E E E N A N A U S Patent Sep 10 2013 Sheet 3 of 6 EE CE Fig 3c US 8 529 380 B1 U S Patent Sep 10 2013 Sheet 4 of 6 US 8 529 380 B1 a een 404 Select intended shot destination 406 Select golf club from bag 408 410 Complete recording 412 Determine actual position of ball 414 Determine deviation between intended destination and actual position 416 Record club yardage and deviation data 418 Update average yardage for selected club A20 Calculate quality shot likelihood Fig 4
6. In a non limiting manner volatile memory can include RAM for data storage In a non limiting manner non volatile memory can include ROM EPROM EEPROM and Flash memory for program and operating parameter stor age In at least one exemplary embodiment a microcontroller can include a LCD driver Software 104 may be stored on memory 114 and executed by processor 106 Software 104 may be operable to perform the methods as described further below At least one database 124 may further be stored on memory 114 and accessible by software 104 so as to facilitate performing the methods described below System 100 may be operable to display via display device 108 a visual representation of a golf course a golf course hole or a portion thereof If desired the portion of the hole that is displayed may be the portion of the hole that surrounds the location of apparatus 102 The location of apparatus 102 may be ascertained by system 100 via GPS device 112 Sys tem 100 can further be operable to display distances between the location of apparatus 102 and any hazards and the dis tances between the location of apparatus 102 and the front center and back of the green System 100 can further be operable to display a visual representation of the green the contours of the green as well as the depth and topological features of the green System 100 can also be operable to display any other points of interest on the particular hole Additionally system 1
7. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining the at least one recommended golf club for the user based on the golf club data and at least one of a plurality of additional factors wherein the additional factors comprise wind speed and direction relative elevation elevation above sea level temperature and lie conditions US 8 529 380 B1 9 3 The method of claim 1 wherein providing golf club data further comprises providing default average yardage and deviation limits for each club of the plurality of clubs 4 The method of claim 1 further comprising averaging a plurality of calculated distances for each club of the plurality of golf clubs so as to calculate a yardage recommendation for the golf clubs 5 The method of claim 4 wherein determining the at least one recommended golf club for the user based on the golf club data further comprises calculating a distance between the starting location of the shot on a golf course and the intended final location where the user intends to land the golf ball comparing the calculated distance to the yardage recom mendation and deviation limit for each golf club of the plurality of golf clubs selecting at least one golf club of the plurality of golf clubs wherein the calculated distance is within the deviation value of the yardage recommendation of the selected golf club 6 The method of claim 4 wherein the calculated distances used for averaging consist of calculate
8. may include a default set of yardage recommen dations an example of which is shown in FIG 3b The system may then automatically select a set of yardage recommenda 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 tions based on the gender handicap input by the user at step 202 However the user may also edit the yardage recommen dations manually by entering any desired yardage recommen dation value based on gender handicap and inputted range for each club In some exemplary embodiments additional factors for yardage recommendations may be contemplated and provided as desired At step 208 deviation limits in yards or meters for each club may be selected System 100 may include a default set of deviation limits an example of which is shown in FIG 3c The default deviation limits may be provided for each club or may be provided for a range of clubs However the user may also edit the deviation limits manually for each club The deviation limits may be entered within a range of for example between 0 to 30 yards or any other desired range The deviation limits may be utilized in conjunction with training system 100 as described further below FIG 4 shows an exemplary method for training the system for golf club recommendation 100 At step 402 the user s location at a particular hole may be determined The user s location may be determined by ascertaining the location of the apparatus 102 via GPS device 112 Sy
9. personal computing device The handicap menu can allow the user to select automatic or manual handi caps to edit the handicap values as well as to toggle automatic adjustment of handicaps based on recorded shots as described above The statistics menu can allow the user to toggle the display of game statistics such as fairway shots green shots hazard shots putts and scorecards For example the user can toggle the statistics to be displayed after 18 holes after 9 holes or after each hole The foregoing description and accompanying figures illus trate the principles preferred embodiments and modes of operation of the invention However the invention should not be construed as being limited to the particular embodiments discussed above Additional variations of the embodiments discussed above will be appreciated by those skilled in the art Therefore the above described embodiments should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive Accordingly it should be appreciated that variations to those embodiments can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims What is claimed is 1 A method for golf club recommendation on a portable apparatus including software executed by a processor config ured to perform the steps of providing user data related to a user the user data including a user s gender and handicap and a plurality of golf clubs associ
10. rough the system can adjust the selected club by one club upwards if the intended location of the shot is over 100 yards away Ifthe current lie is in heavy rough the system can adjust the selected club by two clubs upwards if the intended location of the shot is over 150 yards away If the current lie is in a bunker the system may recommend a sand wedge for a greenside bunker and adjust one club upwards for a fairway bunker The condition of the current lie may be input by the user or may be determined by the system based on the location of apparatus 102 and the layout of the golf course which may be stored in database 124 At step 514 the system can recommend the determined club to the user and further display the percentage likelihood of making a quality shot with the club If the distance of the shot to be taken is encompassed by the average yardage and deviation limit values of more than one club the system can recommend all such clubs to the user Out of this plurality of recommended clubs the system can further mark the club with which the user has the best likelihood of making a quality shot for example by determining which of the plu rality of recommended clubs has a quality shot percentage inside of the shot to be taken Alternatively the system can mark the club which has a higher yardage to the distance of the shot out of the plurality of recommended clubs The user may then select the recommended club and perform the shot
11. 00 may be operable to display a cursor on display device 108 The user can direct the cursor by any desired input method to any location on the displayed hole System 100 can display the distance between the cursor and the location of apparatus 102 FIG 2 shows an exemplary method 200 for set up of the software 102 The set up method may need to be performed once although the user may later execute any portion of the set up method as often as desired to alter the set up param eters At step 202 the user can input personal information regarding themselves Such personal information may include but is not limited to the user s gender and handicap At step 204 the golf clubs that are used by the user may be selected The selected golf clubs may be added to the user s bag which can store thirteen clubs plus a putter or any other desired amount of clubs System 100 may include a default set of golf clubs an example of which is shown in FIG 3a However if a user desires to add a golf club not present in the default set or to remove any golf clubs he may edit the set of golf clubs manually At step 206 the average yardage recommendations for each club based on gender and handi cap may be selected Step 206 may be executed manually by the user when the system is in an amateur mode Step 206 may be also performed automatically by system 100 when the system is in a semi pro mode or pro mode for example the system
12. 22 473 223 before Sep 30 2013 and retrieved from URL lt http ernestsports com wp content uploads 2013 02 ES12 User Manual September 58 Field of Classification Search 2013 pdf gt 18 pages USE tte di ds 473 222 223 407 See application file for complete search history cited by examiner 56 References Cited Primary Examiner William Brewster U S PATENT DOCUMENTS Assistant Examiner Jason Skaarup i 4 815 020 A 3 1989 Cormier n 4731407 14 Attorney Agent or Firm Maier amp Maier PLLC 5 294 110 A 3 1994 Jenkins et al lt 473 407 5 364 093 A 11 1994 Huston etal 473 1407 57 ABSTRACT 5 434 789 A 7 1995 Fraker etal 473 407 5 591 088 A 1 1997 Biancoetal 473 1312 curate nie oe pg pa ae E 5 664 880 A 9 1997 Johnson etal 473 407 inc u e providing user data relate to a user the user ata 5 689 431 A 11 1997 Rudow etal 701 454 including a user s gender and handicap and a plurality of 5 779 566 A 7 1998 Wilens 473 407 golf clubs associated with the user providing golf club data E E A abn AE dE e pri related to each golf club of the plurality of golf clubs the golf 58783 69 A 3 1999 Rudowetal 701 470 club data including average yardages and deviation limits 6 059 672 A 5 2000 Zeiner Gundersen 473 407 determining a starting location of a user on a golf course 6 263 279 Bl 7 2001 Bianco et al 701 450 determ
13. US008529380B1 az United States Patent 10 Patent No US 8 529 380 B1 Hubenthal et al 45 Date of Patent Sep 10 2013 54 APPARATUS SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR 2004 0147329 Al 7 2004 Meadows etal 473 131 2009 0082139 A1 3 2009 Hart 473 407 2011 0183779 Al 7 2011 Bakeretal 473 407 76 Inventors Dale Edward Hubenthal Stafford VA 2011 0230986 Al 9 2011 Lafortune et al 700 93 US Robert James Lee Stafford VA 2011 0237358 A1 9 2011 Carpenter oe 473 407 US 2012 0053708 Al 3 2012 Bonito 700 92 2012 0289354 Al 11 2012 Cottam etal 473 223 Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this OTHER PUBLICATIONS patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 0 days Description of ES12 Digital Golf Assistant published by Sports Entertainment Specialists Inc available on or before Mar 7 2012 and retrieved from URL lt http web archive org web 20120307050233 http www sportsentertainmentspecialists com es12 launch monitor html gt 4 pages Deserption of ES12 published by Ernest Sports available on or before Feb 3 2012 and retrieved from URL lt http web archive org 21 Appl No 13 589 760 22 Filed Aug 20 2012 51 Int Cl web 20 12020300463 1 http www ernestsports com es12 gt 13 A63B 57 00 2006 01 pages 52 U S Cl ES12 User Manual published by Ernest Sports available on or USPC 473 407 473 2
14. ated with the user providing golf club data related to each golf club of the plurality of golf clubs the golf club data including aver age yardages and deviation limits determining a starting location of a shot on a golf course determining an intended final location where the user intends to land a golf ball accessing the golf club data for each golf club of the plu rality of golf clubs determining at least one recommended golf club for the user based on the golf club data displaying the recommended golf club to the user determining an actual golf club from the plurality of golf clubs used in the shot determining an actual final location of the shot calculating a distance between the starting location of the shot and the actual final location of the shot calculating a deviation between the intended final location and the actual final location storing in a database the calculated distance as corre sponding to the actual golf club used in the shot providing a predetermined deviation limit for the actual golf club comparing the deviation between the intended final loca tion and the actual final location to the deviation limit marking the shot as a quality shot if the deviation is less than the deviation limit and updating the golf club data for the actual golf club based on the deviation between the intended final location and the actual final location and whether the shot was marked as a quality shot 2
15. club recommendation FIG 2 shows an exemplary set up process for a system for golf club recommendation FIG 3a is an exemplary default set of golf clubs for a system for golf club recommendation FIG 36 is an exemplary default set of yardage recommen dations for a system for golf club recommendation FIG 3c is an exemplary default set of deviation limits for a system for golf club recommendation FIG 4 is an exemplary training process for a system for golf club recommendation FIG 5 is an exemplary recommendation process for a system for golf club recommendation FIG 6 is an exemplary combination learning and recom mendation process for a system for golf club recommenda tion DETAILED DESCRIPTION Aspects of the invention are disclosed in the following description and related drawings directed to specific embodi ments of the invention Alternate embodiments may be devised without departing from the spirit or the scope of the invention Additionally well known elements of exemplary embodiments of the invention will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of 20 35 40 45 50 55 60 2 the invention Further to facilitate an understanding of the description discussion of several terms used herein follows As used herein the word exemplary means serving as an example instance or illustration The embodiments described herein are not limiting bu
16. compare the calculated distance to the yardage recommen dation and deviation limit for each golf club of the plu rality of golf clubs select at least one golf club of the plurality of golf clubs wherein the calculated distance is within the deviation value of the yardage recommendation of the selected golf club 13 The system of claim 12 wherein the calculated dis tances used for averaging consist of calculated distances for quality shots 14 The system of claim 10 wherein the system is further operable to provide a visual representation of a golf course hole prompt the user to indicate the intended final location of the golf ball using the visual representation of the golf course hole 15 The system of claim 10 wherein the apparatus further comprises at least one rangefinder device 16 The system of claim 10 wherein the apparatus further comprises a wireless communication device
17. cribed herein may include a smartphone or features com monly associated with a smartphone tablet or any similar device Additionally it may be appreciated that any exem plary embodiments described herein may be utilized on or with a smartphone tablet or any similar device The various components of apparatus 102 may all be operatively con nected Display device 108 may be for example a color liquid crystal display or any other display that enables system 100 to function as described herein Input device 110 may include one or more user operable buttons keys or any other input device that enables system 100 to function as described US 8 529 380 B1 3 herein Alternatively display device 108 and at least one input device 110 may be provided as a touch screen display which may be operated by the user s fingers a stylus and so forth In at least one exemplary embodiment the processor 106 and memory 114 can be provided by a microcontroller as is known to one having ordinary skill in the art Numerous microcontrollers are commercially available and can be selected by one having ordinary skill in the art for use with events recordation device embodiments In addition to the conventional arithmetic and logic elements of a conventional general purpose microprocessor microcontrollers integrate additional elements such as read write memory for data stor age read only memory input output interfaces timers driv ers and the like
18. d distances for quality shots 7 The method of claim 1 wherein determining a final location comprises providing a visual representation of a golf course hole prompting the user to indicate the intended final location of the golf ball using the visual representation of the golf course hole 8 The method of claim 1 wherein determining a starting location of a shot comprises utilizing a global positioning device to ascertain the starting location 9 The method of claim 1 wherein determining a starting location of a shot comprises utilizing a range finder to ascer tain the starting location 10 A system for golf club recommendation comprising a portable apparatus the portable apparatus comprising a processor memory a display device at least one input device a GPS device and a non volatile medium storing a database and software wherein the database comprises data relating to a user the user data including a user s gender and handicap and a plurality of golf clubs associated with the user wherein the database further comprises golf club data related to each golf club of the plurality of golf clubs the golf club data including average yardages and deviation limits wherein the software is executed by a processor and oper able to determine a starting location of a shot on a golf course determine an intended final location where the user intends to land a golf ball access the golf club data m 5 25 35 40
19. each club as described above The deviation menu can allow the user to choose automatic or manual deviation limit selection and to edit the deviation limits for each club as described above User preference menus can include a GPS functions menu date and time settings menu measurement menu target menu sound menu course download menu handicap menu and statistics menu The GPS function menu can allow the user to reset the GPS system and to select the number of GPS satellites with which the system may communicate The date and time menu can allow the user to input the date and time or to select automatic network time synchronization The mea surement menu can allow the user to choose metric or English units for use by the system The target menu can allow the user to toggle the display of deviation rings around the intended location target of the shot For shots to the green the target menu can allow the user to determine whether the system defaults the intended shot location to the front back or center of the green The sound menu can allow the user to toggle the voice message capabilities of the system to record voice messages and to select pre recorded or user recorded voice messages for the system to use The course download menu can allow the user to retrieve course maps and any other 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 desired course data from another location such as a web site internet server or
20. ining a final location where the user intends to land a E E E 7 e ail sess i e ae golf ball accessing the golf club data for each golf club of the E cDon eta Es gt Tas 8070 628 B2 12 2011 Denton et al SASTAO plurality of golf clubs determining at least one recommended 434 252 golf club for the user based on the golf club data and display 8 314 923 B2 11 2012 Yorketal 356 4 01 ing the recommended golf club to the user 8 355 869 B2 1 2013 Balardeta et al 701 532 2002 0019677 AL 2 2002 Lee cococicininonncnononacn nononos 700 91 16 Claims 6 Drawing Sheets 8 303 311 B2 11 2012 Forest Select intended shot destination Retrieve club yardage and deviation data Compared stored data to distance between current location and intended destination 510 E Determine club having yardage and deviation that encompasses the distance ofthe shot 512 di Consider additional factors y Recommend at least one club Determine actual position of ball Determine deviation between Intended destination and actual position 416 F Record club yardage and deviation data E Update average yardage for recommended club Calculate quality shot llkelihood U S Patent Sep 10 2013 Sheet 1 of 6 US 8 529 380 B1 100 NY 102 Power Source Rangefinder 108 HO Display Input Device Memory 116 Processor Wireless Memory 1 0 124 Database Software
21. n make no adjustments to the selected club Ifthe wind speed is between 5 mph and 9 9 mph the system can adjust the selected club by one half club upwards or downwards depending on wind direction Ifthe wind speed is between 10 mph and 19 9 mph the system can adjust the selected club by one club upwards or downwards depending on wind direction Finally if the wind speed is 20 mph or above the system can adjust the selected club by two clubs upwards or downwards depending on wind direction Similarly if the ambient temperature is over 50 F the system can make no adjustments to the selected club If the ambient temperature is below 50 F the system can adjust the selected club upwards by one club If 0 m 5 20 40 45 55 65 6 the relative elevation differs by more than 10 yards the sys tem can adjust the selected club for every 10 yards of eleva tion difference if the intended location of the shot is lower than the user s location the system can adjust the selected club down and if the intended location of the shot is higher than the user s location the system can adjust the selected club up If the elevation is greater than 2000 feet above sea level the system can add 2 to the average yardage of the clubs for every 2000 feet above sea level As to lie conditions if the current lie is in the fairway or light rough the system may not make any adjustments However if the current lie is in medium
22. n some exemplary embodiments the game play interface of system 100 may allow the user to select an appropriate skill level for example an amateur semi professional or profes sional skill level For each skill level the system may provide different levels of assistance and may also consider diverse numbers of factors in providing the assistance For example for the amateur skill level the user may select desired golf clubs but may also be restricted to using only the default values for the features user preferences and environmental factor settings For the semi pro skill level the user may select desired golf clubs and may be able to adjust all the features user preferences and environmental factor settings For the pro skill level the user may the user may select desired golf clubs and may be able to adjust all the features and user preferences but may be restricted from adjusting the envi ronmental factor settings Club related functionalities may be provided via a my bag menu grouping which can include a club selection menu a club averages menu and a deviation limit menu The club selection menu can allow the user to choose automatic or manual club selection to edit the clubs located in the user s bag and to input any clubs not present in the default selection as described above The club averages menu can allow the user to choose automatic or manual yardage recommenda tion and to input yardage recommendations for
23. ocation of the apparatus may be marked after a predetermined amount of time elapses after apparatus 102 becomes stationary for example 60 seconds 120 seconds or any other desired amount of time At step 410 the recording of the shot may be completed or terminated The user can complete the recording of the shot for example by selecting a stop recording shot or mark widget on the interface The distance of the shot and the location of the lie of the ball after the shot is then recorded by system 100 at step 412 for example by determining the location of apparatus 102 via GPS device 112 At this point he user can also mark the shot as landing in the fairway the rough a bunker the green and so forth At step 414 the system can evaluate the deviation between the intended location of the shot and the recorded location of the lie of the ball after the shot If the deviation between the two locations is within the given deviation value for the par ticular club the shot may be marked as a quality shot Ifthe difference between the two locations is outside the given deviation value for the particular club the shot may be US 8 529 380 B1 5 marked as a non quality shot At step 416 the system can add the recorded shot including yardage and deviation to the set of recorded shots for the particular club used The system can maintain any desired number of recorded shots for each club for example 20 shots The
24. on According to at least one exemplary embodiment an appa ratus system and method for golf club recommendation may be disclosed The embodiments disclosed herein can facilitate providing recommendations to a user as to which golf clubs to use in a particular location on the golf course The recom mendations may be based on a variety of factors including but not limited to the lie of the ball the weather conditions the elevation of the target relative to the lie of the ball the geography and layout of the particular hole the handicap of the user and so forth Additionally the user s past perfor mance with a golf club or plurality of golf clubs may be factored into the provided recommendations FIG 1 shows an exemplary system for golf club recom mendation 100 including an apparatus 102 on which an exemplary method for golf club recommendation may be implemented and software 104 for implementing the method for golf club recommendation The apparatus 102 can include a processor 106 a display device 108 at least one input device 110 a GPS device 112 memory 114 a wireless communica tion device 116 input output ports and slots 118 power source 120 sound input output device 122 and any other desired features In some exemplary embodiments apparatus 102 can further include a rangefinder 126 which may be a laser or infrared rangefinder or any other rangefinder known in the art Additionally the apparatus and any element des
25. pects can include environmental factors such as wind speed elevation temperature and so forth Furthermore a significant factor when choosing a club is the player s own past performance with the club A system for golf club rec ommendation that takes into account various factors includ ing past performance is therefore desired SUMMARY According to at least one exemplary embodiment a method for golf club recommendation is disclosed The method can include providing user data related to a user the user data including a user s gender and handicap and a plurality of golf clubs associated with the user providing golf club data related to each golf club of the plurality of golf clubs the golf club data including average yardages and deviation limits determining a starting location ofa user on a golf course determining a final location where the user intends to land a golf ball accessing the golf club data for each golf club of the plurality of golf clubs determining at least one recommended golf club for the user based on the golf club data and displaying the recommended golf clubs to the user BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES Advantages of embodiments of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments The following detailed description should be considered in conjunction with the accompanying figures in which FIG 1 is a diagram of an exemplary system for golf
26. s playing from At step 504 the user can select the location on the hole where the user intends for the shot to land This selection may be made for example by the user moving the cursor to the intended location on display device 108 If the user moves the cursor to the green the intended location may default to the center of the green for convenience The user may adjust the intended location as desired At step 506 the system may access the stored average yardages deviation limits and percentage likelihoods for all clubs currently in the user s bag At step 508 the system can compare the stored average yardages to the distance between the user s location and the intended location of the shot At step 510 the system can determine which club or clubs have an average yardage and deviation limit values that encompass the distance of the shot to be taken and select that club or club for recommendation to the user In some exemplary embodiments at step 512 the system may take additional factors into consideration for club rec ommendation Such factors may include but are not limited to wind speed and direction relative elevation between the user s location and the intended location of the shot elevation above sea level temperature and lie conditions Depending on the conditions the system can adjust the selected club up or down by at least one half club For example if the wind speed is between 0 mph and 4 9 mph the system ca
27. stem 100 may then compare the location of apparatus 102 to the location of a particular golf course hole or cursor which may be stored in database 124 and which encompasses the current location of the apparatus The specific location of the user on the golf hole may then be determined and displayed on display device 108 Additionally the user may input which teeing area of the particular hole the user is playing from At step 404 the user can select the location on the hole where the user intends for the shot to land This selection may be made for example by the user moving the cursor to the intended location on display device 108 If the user moves the cursor to the green the intended location may default to the center of the green for convenience The user may adjust the intended location as desired At step 406 the user can select a club from the user s bag with which the user intends to make a shot At step 408 the recording of the shot may commence This can be initiated by the user for example by selecting a start recording shot or mark widget on the interface The initial location of the shot may be recorded by system 100 as the location of the apparatus 102 when the recording is initiated by the user The location of apparatus 102 may again be ascertained via GPS device 112 as described above If the apparatus 102 is in motion when recording is initiated by the user the shot data may not be recorded The initial l
28. system can also maintain the number of putts for each round The recorded shots can sub sequently be used to provide golf club recommendations as described further below The recorded shots can also be dis played to the user in the form of a scorecard at the end of the round At step 418 the system may calculate and store an average yardage for the particular club based on the set of recorded shots for the club An average yardage may be cal culated once at least five recorded shots are stored for the club The system may be restricted solely to quality shots for calculating the average yardage At step 420 the system may calculate a percentage likelihood for achieving a quality shot with the particular club based on the proportion of quality and non quality recorded shots stored for that particular club FIG 5 shows an exemplary method for golf club recom mendation At step 502 the user s location at a particular hole may be determined The user s location may be determined by ascertaining the location of the apparatus 102 via GPS device 112 System 100 may then compare the location of apparatus 102 to the location on a particular golf course which may be stored in database 124 and which encompasses the current location of the apparatus The specific location of the user on the golf course may then be determined and displayed Additionally the user may input which teeing area of the particular hole the user i
29. t rather are exemplary only It should be understood that the described embodiment are not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advanta geous over other embodiments Moreover the terms embodiments of the invention embodiments or inven tion do not require that all embodiments of the invention include the discussed feature advantage or mode of opera tion Further many of the embodiments described herein are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by for example elements of a computing device It should be recognized by those skilled in the art that the various sequence of actions described herein can be performed by specific circuits e g application specific integrated circuits ASICs and or by program instructions executed by at least one processor Additionally the sequence of actions described herein can be embodied entirely within any form of non transitory computer readable storage medium such that execution of the sequence of actions enables the processor to perform the functionality described herein Thus the various aspects of the present invention may be embodied in a number of different forms all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter In addition for each of the embodiments described herein the corresponding form of any such embodiments may be described herein as for example a computer configured to perform the described acti
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