When Chris Thomas of Avonwood Developments approached Dunlop with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) application for golf balls they said it couldn’t be done. Such a clichéd reaction could be attributed to the industry’s reluctance to find a method for locating golf balls – this would essentially put them out of business. In addition, the practical aspects of putting a chip inside a ball have always been a barrier.
But Thomas came up with a totally different application – an RF golf range. With the impetus and backing of World Golf Systems Group he did his homework and overcame the technical obstacles.
"Of course we had problems," he says. "We had to overcome the anti-collision and dual-antenna aspects of the design. The core had to be of the same density as the outer ball. But all the time the management guys at World Golf were pushing me."
The World Golf team probably realized they had little option but to force Thomas back to the drawing board time and time again. They had looked at barcodes and optical colour recognition, but had realized these were less than practical. As Chris Thomas comments, how do you maintain an optimum barcode reading angle for a golf ball?
RF balls roll out worldwide
The result of all the hard work was TopGolf, whose first game centre opened in Watford a year ago.
Peter Corbett, IT manager, describes the hardware. "We have a DL350 Compaq cluster server with a back-up storing our database information. The playing systems bays run on thin client Compaq T1000 PCs that run each individual game. Each is the size of an A4 book. These terminals emulate onto a Citrix Metaframe MS SQL server."
Corbett says his organization was impressed with the resilience of the golf balls. He points out that they are being hit with drivers a lot more than they would out on a course but he says they are lasting longer than expected. In addition the balls break before the chips do; in fact no chip has yet malfunctioned.
Another endorsement is membership at the club – it has increased to 38,000. There are other attractions within the site: a leader board gives a constant update, and there are amusements, a putting green and a bar to keep those waiting to play entertained.
There is no dress code, no distinctions are made by ability and families are welcome. Up to six people could comfortably play per bay, and there are free clubs available.
"We are so popular at the moment we have found people waiting for up to two hours to play at the weekend when we are at our busiest," says Jonathan Ludford of TopGolf.
Accurate shots
Every member has a card, and the database means that his or her playing status is constantly updated. Such up-to-date information also allows for targeted mail shots and customer relationship management.
This is a novel application that may inspire others to do more with RFID. It proves that RFID can be fun!
