The Top 60 Innovations Of Golf's Modern Era: 40-21

Since Golf Digest was launched in 1950, these 60 things have transformed the game.

illustrations by Harry Campbell

September 2010

Decades ago, the muscular physique of top amateur Frank Stranahan was considered freakish, an impediment to elite-level golf. Now, thanks to the likes of Gary Player and Tiger Woods, the rise of trainers and trailers that follow the tour, golfers recognize that a better body leads to better scores.

In 2001, the PGA Tour started mapping its venues so a digital image of each hole could be used to plot driving distance, accuracy, approach shots, proximity to the hole of those shots and putting lengths, giving fans, media and players a new level of enjoyment and understanding. ShotLink data is also vital to the game's distance debate: It was at least in part the inspiration for the USGA's push to roll back groove technology.

Can you imagine a final-round telecast starting with the news that a guy who finished hours ago was ahead by six strokes? The U.S. Open's customary 36-hole Saturday finish lasted until 1964. In 1965, leaders Gary Player (the eventual winner) and Frank Beard went off last at Bellerive.

The last decade has seen the launch monitor -- like Fredrik Tuxen's ingenious TrackMan system, launched in 2003 -- expand from vital R&D laboratory tool to consumer sales device, allowing players to find their optimal clubs and balls much more efficiently.

Sportswriter O.B. Keeler coined the term in 1930, after Bobby Jones had won the British Amateur, British Open, U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur. In 1960, sportswriter Bob Drum revived the term, with the Masters and PGA Championship replacing the two amateur events. Five players -- Sarazen, Hogan, Player, Nicklaus, Woods -- have achieved the Slam, but it has never been done in one season.

The 13 women who founded the LPGA in 1950 literally created a league of their own. They played, promoted, balanced the books and negotiated with sponsors. Sixty years later, this American creation is a global tour. The LPGA is the oldest and most successful women's pro sports organization in history.

The USGA first allowed ball marks to be repaired on greens in 1960; repair tools started to be sold soon thereafter. Now every golfer's bag contains one, often stamped with the name of a resort from a cherished golf trip. They've made greens better and turned us all into stewards of the game.

If your opponent's ball lay between yours and the hole, you had to play around it -- or over it. The USGA made golf simpler by abolishing the stymie in 1952; Bobby Jones said it shouldn't have.

The acceleration in golf-equipment technology can directly be linked to computer-aided design, which started showing up in golf R&D labs in the mid-'90s. Innovations that once took months to develop now happen in hours, and mistakes rarely make it to market.

In 1956, Charles Ginsburg introduced the first video-tape recorder; Sony's Betamax was launched in 1975. Today, DVR is the more common digital way to record -- and even pause -- live events on TV for later viewing, perfect if you want to play golf in the afternoon and then watch golf when you get home.

Invented by banker and golfer Edward Stimpson in 1935 but not adopted by the USGA until 1978, the Stimpmeter -- a simple metal strip that a ball rolls down -- measures green speeds, helping bring better, more uniform and faster (though too often too fast) putting surfaces.

If you're watching a tournament, it helps to know what's going on. Leader boards with scoring totals in red (under par) and green (even and over par) were introduced at the 1960 Masters; up-to-the-minute leader boards were seen in the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills; the PGA Tour implemented its first electronic scoreboard system in 1983.

Replacing night watermen with programmable irrigation systems was like capping a broken fire hydrant. Water could be applied only where needed, so fairways and greens didn't get spongy. New underground moisture sensors help achieve very precise, targeted results, saving water and keeping fairways firm, fast and healthy.

Systems that detect dangerous weather such as lightning have saved countless golfers' lives. Sadly, many courses still refuse to install them for fear of being sued if the device malfunctions.

The approval of ibuprofen (Advil) by the FDA in 1974 was a key moment for golfers in need of a quick fix for aching joints. Whether you take that or aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol) or naproxen sodium (Aleve), pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory pills have made it possible for golfers to survive that 36-a-day long weekend in Myrtle Beach.

A camera that could record moving images and sound was invented in 1956, but it wasn't until the '80s that camcorders became widely available. Now there are low-cost options for golfers and teachers who want to analyze swings.

Cable TV became available in the United States in 1948 and proliferated into specialist stations and networks. When The Golf Channel launched in January 1995, few thought there would be enough viewers for an all-day, all-golf network to succeed. It's now a fixture in tens of millions of homes.

Clothes are made from all kinds of things these days -- perhaps you play golf wearing silk boxers, nylon socks and an organic cotton golf shirt -- but breathable, waterproof rainwear is the biggest innovation in golf apparel, all thanks to Bob Gore, who developed Gore-Tex in 1976.

When the PGA of America threatened to take over documenting handicaps from regional amateur golf associations, the USGA responded in 1981 by founding GHIN, a national computation service. Dean Knuth developed the Slope system the next year: Each course is rated, and its difficulty is factored into players' Handicap Index calculations, allowing all golfers to compete on an equitable basis.

Consider this: One in five Americans will get skin cancer. The first sun-screens were invented in the '30s, but sophisticated SPF sunscreens that block harmful ultraviolet A and B rays have been around for only three decades.