Golf robot hitting a hole-in-one at the 16th hole in the PGA tour – Scottsdale, Arizona (via Vimeo/The Golf Agency)
The PGA tour is putting a little more excitement in their lives by welcoming a golf robot on tour which shocked and amazed golfers and spectators alike by scoring a hole-in-one on the 16th hole of the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale Arizona.
The robot is named LDRIC after Tiger Wood’s real first name: Eldrick. It’s also a strange acronym for Launch Directional Robot Intelligent Circuitry (LDRIC). Maybe it will only be a matter of time before we see LDRIC v. Eldrick on the putting green. For now, we will have to settle for the PGA’s attempt at making golf hip as we follow LDRIC’s fun debut on the putting green.
LDRIC was created by Golf Laboratories and Gary McCord as a test robot for golf clubs. He supposedly can mimic the golf swing of any golfer and can also hit a golf ball up to 130 mph: faster than silly humans. In a display of good humour, they released a video on Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/151049022) where LDRIC talks a lot of smack about how awesome he is at golf and hints at taking down the greats on the green.
When LDRIC landed the hole-in-one on the putting green there was an uproar and spectators littered the green with beer cans without any care for the environment; this is a traditional salute of LDRIC’s triumph over man. However, it did take the robot 5 tries to actually hit the ball and land his hole-in-one. Still, everyone was a good sport and cheered, either because they were actually impressed or because it was the most exciting thing that happened all day.
While LDRIC and Tiger Woods have yet to go head to head, there is a pretty entertaining video of a similar golf robot created by Golf Laboratories versus Rory Mcllroy in a promo for the 2013 European Tour (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft2fLuz9mF0). I must say that the smack this robot talks is hilarious and he gives Mcllroy a run for his money.
All-in-all it seems like a golf robot tournament may be an upcoming future event... although it may also prove to be just as boring and momentarily hilarious as watching other robot competitions. It seems we are still quite a ways off from having true Androids walking around taking all of our jobs. So, until then, enjoy the good times while they last. LDRIC should continue trying to showboat during the PGA so perhaps you can catch the magic as it happens.