Nike Files Patent for Futuristic Golfing Glasses
Los Angeles – On Thursday, March 8th 2018, Nike filed a patent application for golfing glasses that show all types of data while playing. The glasses would allow golfers to track their ball and read putting greens with a heads-up display. Needless to say, if the glasses work as claimed, for golfers they could become as ubiquitous as golfing shoes and a visor.
Along with the patent, Nike filed a diagram illustrating a hi-tech golf ball which would communicate with the glasses. When paired together, the golf ball will send information back to the person wearing the glasses. The glasses have a display on a small screen so the golfer will be able to check the data seamlessly while playing. Some of the information the user will be able to quickly access will be the following:
• Your current score
• Golf ball’s speed and location
• Spin rate
• Carry distance
• Distance to the pin
• Velocity of your last swing
• Fairways hit
• Average putts and holes
• The slope of Greens
The patent suggests the glasses will also have a camera to help track where you are in the course, plan the trajectory of your next shot, display an enhanced image of the golf ball, and, of course, capture and record images of the golfer’s swing and then send the images to a processor for suggestions on improvement. The glasses can also warn the golfer of any hazards such as water and sand traps.
It would seem that the glasses would also be able to collect data about each golf course to allow data about how often a putt was missed and in which direction, which the golfer could factor in on the next putt. The ability to track the terrain of the course would obviously be superior to the golfers view and would help with club selection and suggested angles for the next swing. The technology that makes this possible is called augmented reality technology, which overlays the topography of the land around the golfer’s location.
Though some patents never turn into real products, it seems that there is a high likelihood that the ideas covered in this patent will come to fruition. It is easily to see the potential this technology has to improve a player’s golf game, and how it could quickly turn into an arms race if golfers begin to use the technology on the course.