The talk of the city is about the extra-ordinary improvement in science and technology. We prefer carrying handy cams to record the unforgettable moments in any place. We love to use web cams to have video conference and chats. But most of us never think about the role of technology in sports particularly in golf. Especially the video recorders have changed the world of golf.

The technology in golf has undergone extra-ordinary metamorphosis right from ancient times. Primitive tools and techniques were replaced by advanced equipments and technology. The game golf is being played by the people right from eleventh century. So this game has nurtured lot of successful golfers just because of its great advancement in its technology. This wonderful golf game is the fore father of all the other games in the advancement of technology. the term golf technology not only indicates the advancements in the equipments but also the maturity in the mind of golfers, their nutrition, their way of treating injuries, techniques in tilling grounds and maintenance of greens on the course.

Newer varieties of machines with advanced technology are used in case of golf. The advancement in video capturing technology has drastically influenced the advancements in technology of golf. Earlier, human eye was the only measure in assessing the flaws made by the golfer but recently, the sudden boom in electronic video capturing and recording technology helps the people in assessing the mistakes made by the player much accurately, much precisely and much quickly than manual. this video technology not only helps in assessing the faults of the player but also it helps in finding out the exact speed of the golf ball, the force exerted by the golfer on the golf ball, the velocity with which the golf ball travels in space, the swing of the golf ball. It even predicts whether the hit of the golfer over the golf ball could reach the target or not. In such a way the camcorders assists golf lovers. Recently an advanced tool named launch monitors is invented. The purpose of using this launch monitor technology in golf is that it greatly helps in finding out the golf head speed, and angle of motion of the golf ball in flight, its orientation in space and trajectory of the projected golf ball. This remarkable achievement is not a one day match. It took a long course of time to reach this state. The club heads are designed specially by the design engineers.

The greens in the grass are cared by the grass keepers .primitive tools were earlier used in tilling the golf courts but the techniques used at present would have been a un imaginable thing to the prior workers who strained a lot manually in tilling the entire area of golf court. The same is the case with the care takers of greens in the golf court. The wedges used by the player in hitting short and precise shots were earlier made of low quality iron which is now replaced by strong alloy of iron. The modern clubs are made of special variety of wood namely ‘hybrid’, but during earlier times the name hybrid would not have been familiar. Continuous efforts of the scientists in making the golf ball let to the invention of a new technology which is named as ‘RFID’ technology.

The advantage of this technology in making golf balls is that the golf players are able to locate the errant shots accurately. Each and every field in this world undergoes some advancement in technology. But as far as the field ‘sports’ is concerned, golf has achieved the ‘fore front’ status in technological advancements.

Much has been written and said of late regarding Baby Boomers. Naturally, as one myself, I take notice as many of us have. A couple of themes seem to be repeated when we talk about boomers; technology and health. It is well known that boomers are well adapted to today’s technology; indeed having invented quite a lot of it. Also boomers are quite concerned about their health especially as we age. One area in particular where health and technology have converged is brain health.

It is widely believed that to maintain mental abilities and sharpness as we age is through keeping the brain active. Like the rest of our body, remaining mentally active as we age is a means to a hopefully healthier old age. Exercising our gray matter is every bit as important as exercising our major muscle groups and good nutrition.

While we can remain mentally healthy by reading or playing challenging games like chess or bridge; another alternative based on recent neural science research and exploiting the internet has emerged. I am referring to the emergence of services such as Lumosity and Posit Science amongst others. I became a user of one of them last autumn after seeing some TV ads they were running in Canada. I signed up for a trial and then decided to sign up for a subscription. These services are all basically about the same and cost pretty much the same for an annual subscription of about $60.

These services provide individuals a fun way to remain mentally sharp. Basically they provide online games which exercise several mental areas such as speed, attention, flexibility, problem solving, and memory in the case of Lumosity. You are encouraged to play a set of games lasting about 20 minutes each day and scores are kept for each category and also overall. Your history is available so that you can chart your progress and compare yourself to your peer group.

While I found the games a bit childish at first with their cute cartoon graphics and old fashioned pin ball machine sounds; I soon realized that these were more challenging than they first appeared because as you become more proficient in one game the level of difficulty increases. Most of the services have about 40 games available covering the five areas of measurement. So you remain constantly challenged and motivated to improve your scores and your ranking within your peer segment. The system also periodically adjusts your training sessions in order to concentrate on your areas of weakness while maintaining your better areas.

I am using my service 5 to 6 times a week since I began and I have improved my scores in the measured areas of speed, flexibility, memory, problem solving, and attention and I am now ranking in the 85th percentile for my age group 55 to 59. When I started in October my initial blended score was about 1/3 of where it is now. So as you use the system and the level of difficulty rises so should your score.

But it’s not the scores that are important. They just feed one’s ego. But they do act as a source of motivation. What is important is that you challenge yourself mentally and as you succeed you will notice you feel sharper overall. Like it has been said; use it or lose it. Like the body the same holds true for the brain. Perhaps keeping ourselves challenged mentally will help us out as we age and hopefully ward off for as long as possible any serious decline in our mental abilities or ward off Alzheimer disease.

In conclusion; I recommend remaining active on all fronts including the brain. Solving crosswords, soduko, chess, and bridge now have a viable alternative provided by science and presented to us through internet based services such as Lumosity, Posit, Fit Brains amongst others.