The mechanics of putting has many factors that influence the outcome of your putt: stroke type, impact angle, and tempo. If you want to get those measured, you could go and get a putter fitting with your local golf professional or club fitter. This is the traditional approach and may not be an option for some golfers, who don’t have time or the means to do so.

Wouldn’t it be great if a golfer could analyze his/her stroke type, impact angle, and tempo without getting a putter fitting? That’s what the Ping is trying to do with its free iPING app for the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch (4th generation). The iPING app works in conjunction with a Ping cradle ($30 MSRP), which holds the iPhone or iPod Touch onto the putter shaft, below the grip. Watch this video of Ping’s PGA Tour Manager Matt Rollins walk Hunter Mahan through using the iPING app.

About the iPING App

The iPING app analyzes and displays you consistency onscreen using the three criteria: stroke type (determined by how much the putter face rotates during the forward stroke); impact angle (the putter’s face angle at impact, relative to address); and tempo (a measure of the duration of the backswing relative to the forward swing).

The app works by computing consistency over a series of five putts where your stroke type, impact angle and tempo are measured, displayed and stored for every putt in that session. Your consistency scores are averaged over time to build a Putting Handicap (PHcp). As you improve your consistency, you’ll see your PHcp come down.

iPING Fit

The iPING Fit feature matches you with the PING putter models that fit your stroke type. Matching your putter to your stroke type is the key to greater consistency and lower scores.

Download the iPING app

The 93rd PGA Championship is set to begin tomorrow from Atlanta Athletic Club inJohns Creek, GA. and we’ve put together this handy guide for how to follow the action no matter where you are: home, office, or on the road.

TV/Cable/Satellite

Thursday & Friday, August 11-12:

TNT
1:00 PM – 7:00 PM EST.

Saturday and Sunday, August 13-14:

TNT
11:00 AM – 2:00 PM EST.

CBS Sports
2:00 PM – 7:00 PM EST

DirecTV PGA Championship Experience

Tiger Woods make his first appearance in a Major since the Masters, DIRECTV will bring viewers all the action – teaming up with TNT and CBS to provide expanded, interactive coverage of the tournament.

Designed to help viewers more easily follow the tournament and keep real-time track of scores and stats, DIRECTV’s PGA Championship Experience will feature the innovative Mix Channel (701) that displays four channels – all in HD – on one screen that includes the main network feed and three extra channels (703-705) dedicated to a marquee group, featured holes and players in-depth.

Viewers can select any of the channels and tune to full screen.  Viewers of the Mix and Feature Channels, as well as viewers of the current live network (“Home Network”) and the Network Mirror also have access to an interactive Menu of features – 24 hours a day and all four days of the tournament on the HD mix channel 701.

www.directv.com/pgachampionship

Online-Live Video Streams from PGA.com

Marquee Groups-Coverage of select groups(e.g. Tiger Woods, Tournament Leader, etc.)
Thursday & Friday 8:30 AM – 7:00 PM EST
Saturday & Sunday 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM EST

Par 3-Coverage of Par 3 holes
Thursday & Friday 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM EST
Saturday & Sunday 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM EST

360 Cam
Watch exclusive live coverage of the 93rd PGA Championship like never before with our 360-degree camera that provides a panoramic look and natural sounds of the Atlanta Athletic Club!

Snap and Share
Snap and Share” any of your favorite video clips from the TNT broadcast or the PGA Championship Live video stream and share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

www.pga.com/pgachampionship/2011/event/livelanding.cfm

Mobile/iPhone

93rd PGA Championship iPhone App

Watch live on your iPhone as golf’s biggest names compete for one of golf’s grandest prizes, the 93rd PGA Championship live from the Atlanta Athletic Club. Whether you are in your home, office or on the road, you can follow live as the strongest field in professional golf competes for the coveted Wanamaker Trophy.

Check out these great features:

Live Video
Watch every shot of the day’s Marquee Group and watch the entire field play through the Atlanta Athletic Club’ four Par 3 holes Thursday through Sunday, all for free.

Personalized Alerts (iPhone only)
Receive alerts for your five favorite players and breaking news alerts from around the course.

Custom Leaderboard
Search for your favorite players and add them to your custom leaderboard. Add or remove as many as you want. Change them as often as you want.

On-Course Features for Spectators
Attending the PGA Championship? Enhance your experience on course. Locate your favorite players, get spectator alerts and follow our live action coverage blog.

2011 PGA Championship
The PGA.com iPhone app gets you closer to the action at one of golf’s premier events like never before. Download the PGA Championship App now and get ready for “Glory’s Last Shot.”

93rd PGA Championship iPhone App

Social Media

Get pictures, tweets, live updates and more by following the official PGA Champhionship facebook and twitter accounts.

www.facebook.com/pgachampionship
www.twitter.com/pgachampionship

In honor of the start of the Masters and to commemorate its partnership with the Tiger Woods Foundation, Shotzoom is giving away one-of-a-kind Tiger Woods memorabilia.

From now through April 12, Shotzoom, the leader in active lifestyle mobile applications including Tiger Woods: My Swing, is offering Golfshot community members the chance to win one of six prizes:

• Grand Prize: One winner will receive a 1997 Masters Flag signed by Tiger Woods
• Second Place: Three winners will receive game-worn golf gloves signed by Tiger Woods
• Third Place: Two winners will receive a game-worn golf hat signed by Tiger Woods

To enter, just register at http://golfshot.com/contests/tiger-woods/. You increase your chances of winning by telling your friends about the new Tiger Woods: My Swing app for the iPhone.

Tiger Woods: My Swing, the first instructional app from Woods, lets golfers capture videos of their swing so they can analyze it, compare it with Woods and their friends, and see their swing improve over time. Woods serves as a virtual coach, teaching golfers how to use swing line analysis and providing tips on specific areas of improvement. Like all of Shotzoom’s golf apps, My Swing integrates with the Golfshot community, the world’s largest active golf community with more than half a million active members.

The 2011 Masters kicks off tomorrow and we put together this guide for how to follow the action at Augusta National Golf Club, whether your at home, in the office, or on the road.

Television Coverage

Thursday April 7: First Round Live Coverage
ESPN: 3:00 PM – 7:30 PM*

Additional Air Times
ESPN: 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM (First Round Replay)
CBS: 11:30 PM – 11:45 PM (Highlight Show)

Friday April 8: Second Round Live Coverage
ESPN: 3:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Additional Air Times
ESPN: 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM (Second Round Replay)
CBS: 11:30 PM – 11:45 PM (Highlight Show)

Saturday April 9: Third Round Live Coverage
CBS: 3:30 PM – 7:00 PM

Sunday April 10: Final Round Live Coverage
CBS: 2:00 PM – 7:00 PM

*All times listed are EST

DIRECTV Coverage

DIRECTV will lead into Tournament coverage, which begins April 7 and runs through April 10, with a series of broadcasts of the 2010 Official Masters film (premiering March 31) and the 2011 Masters Preview show (debuting April 3) on its exclusive The 101® Network, along with all video highlights and a course tour on DIRECTV On Demand. DIRECTV will also air 3D coverage of the Tournament on ESPN 3D (Channel 106).

Online

Visit the Masters Tournament Live Coverage Page to watch the action from Amen Corner, holes 15 & 16, featured groups 1 & 2, and players warming up on the driving range before their round.

Masters Radio Online
Tune into a live streaming radio broadcast of the Masters Tournament

Twitter
Get your updates from the Masters by following the official twitter feed @The_Masters

Mobile

Do you own an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad? Download the official Masters iPhone App and follow the action everywhere you go. Best of all it’s free!

The Official Masters Tournament iPhone app includes:

FIVE LIVE STREAMS OF VIDEO CONTENT

• Wednesday’s Par 3 Contest
• Tournament play at Amen Corner (Hole Nos. 11, 12, and 13)
• Tournament play at Hole Nos. 15 and 16
• A Featured Group channel covering play of the second nine
• Player press conferences live from the Press Building
• All video will be viewable with 3G and Wi-Fi connections

(Live video is available to view in the United States only.)

ON-DEMAND VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS AND FEATURES

REAL-TIME SCORING

• Interact with the live Leader Board, which features up-to-the-minute scoring and video highlights of the greatest moments on the course

COURSE OVERVIEW

• Detailed course information with imagery, flyover videos, and par and yardage for each of the Masters Tournament’s prestigious 18 holes

COMPREHENSIVE NEWS COVERAGE

• Pairings, tee times, player information, alerts, and all of the latest news and updates from the Masters Tournament.

Download the Masters iPhone App

Today’s record-setting 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan, followed by a tsunami with devastating high tidal waves took many lives and caused millions of dollars in damage. To help support relief efforts in Japan, Seeitgolf is donating 100% of world wide sales through March 13th.

To get a sense of the magnitude of the damage caused from the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, watch this video.

It’s nice to see the golf community and companies like Seeitgolf give back to people who really need our help. To do your part visit: www.seeitgolf.com

Like a lot of golfers you’ve probably gone to Google and searched for a golf drill or an instructional video to help improve your game.  You probably came across one of the many videos from PGA Instructor Jeff Ritter, who was named by Golf Digest one of the Best Young Teachers for 2010-2011. At the 2011 PGA Merchandise Show, I caught up with Jeff to get a sneak peek at his soon to be released Jeff Ritter Golf iPhone App.

The free iPhone app features HD instructional videos and drills, access to Jeff Ritter’s YouTube library, podcasts, and much more. Additional premium video content will be made available via in-app purchases.

What I saw of the Jeff Ritter Golf iPhone App seemed extremely promising, with a lot of great looking content. I look forward to reviewing the Jeff Ritter Golf app when it launches in March 2011.

www.jeffrittergolf.com

Finding the right golf gift can be a little stressful, with so many options out there. Here are our picks for the best golf gadgets  for the golfer in your life.

rulesixteen Divot Repair Tool

rulesixteen from rulegolf is the first divot repair tool and putting alignment ball marker designed to make both green repair and putting simpler. The rectangular shape of its ball marker allows you to visualize your putting line and sink more putts. Its well-weighted stainless steel body is easy to find in your pocket. And its flip-and-slide action even gives you something to fidget with between shots. On the greens, rulesixteen puts precision within reach. www.rulegolf.com $15

Trion: Z Active Wristband

Rickie Fowler, Brittany Lincicome, Rory MciLroy, and Ryo Ishikawa wear them, so why not give the Active from Trion:Z wristband a try. Active combines the negative-ion and magnet technology that has made Trion:Z products so popular among professional athletes with a waterproof silicone band to be the perfect combination for active sports enthusiasts. Colorful, stylish and comfortable, the Active™ is sure to be a hit among young and old alike. www.trionz.com $21.99

Ladder Golf Tournament Edition

No this isn’t a gadget, but this game will be a huge hit at your next party. Leave the Corona Beer (maybe not the Corona) and frat boy lifestyle behind and graduate to some serious fun with Ladder Golf. Just setup the ladders 15 feet apart and start hurling your balls (bolas are made of real golf balls, specially designed brass inserts and premium nylon rope) and hope for it land on a rung or knock your opponents off. First person to score 21 points wins! Comes with 2 ladders, 4 sets of balls, and nylon carrying case. www.laddergolf.com $104

Golfscape Augmented Reality Rangefinder iPhone App

Golf GPS and rangefinders on the iPhone are nothing new, but this app takes the cake as the must have app for your iPhone. Why? Golfscape is unlike any other rangefinder because it uses augmented reality to pinpoint your position on the golf course, allowing you to identify potential hazards, choose your desired landing area and see real 360-degree viewing while on the course. With over 35,000 courses mapped and no annual subscription fees, this will be your first and last GPS rangefinder app for your iPhone. Golfscape iPhone App $19.99

Bushnell Yardage Pro XGC+

So you don’t own an iPhone, but you want a GPS rangefinder with no subscription fees, a color screen, and won’t break the bank. Problem solved with the Bushnell Yardage Pro XGC+. The Yardage Pro XGC+ features 16,000 course preloaded and ready to play, distance to any point on the hole, auto course recognition, and hole advance, and 2.2″ color screen. Best of all it’s tournament legal. www.bushnellgolf.com $180

Oh, you shouldn’t have

OptiShot Golf Simulator

You don’t need a ton of space or a ton of cash to have an indoor golf simulator thanks to this affordable golf siumulator from OptiShot. Optishot Infrared Golf Simulator combines Dancin’ Dogg’s award winning accurate swing and shot analysis with our own proprietary three dimensional visual golf software called “3DD Golf”.  All in the comfort of your own home. OptiShot $399

The mental game of golf is one of the hardest things to practice, because we often have a million other things on our minds when we address the golf ball. You’ve probably read in your favorite golf publication, that one of the ways to improve your golf game is to visualize your shot. But, can visual imagery really improve your game, especially when it comes to putting?

[View with PicLens]

That’s what Seeitgolf’s iPad/iPod Touch App aims to accomplish, make practicing the mental game easy. The initial Aaron Baddeley Seeitgolf app which we reviewed, was just a movie that you loaded and watched on your iPod/iPhone. What makes the new app different, is that it’s a fully interactive native iPhone/iPad app, broken into three parts: Original film, Audio Training, and Visual Training.

App Features:
The Original Film with Aaron Baddeley, is the exact same version we reviewed prior or Baddeley visualizing his putts, but at a little over 15 minutes, you might not have enough time to watch. That’s where the two new features of this well designed and developed iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad app really shine in my opinion.

Audio Training with the Stan Utley allows you to repeat the sounds of success, by linking the sound of the ball hitting the putter to the ball rattling in the cup. You can listen to one of 9 audio clips of putts of varying distance and breaks (3’, 6’, and 9’, Straight, Left-Right, Right-Left) by ingraining the sound and imagery of success through repetition. I found the audio training feature is great for when you don’t have time to watch the original film with Aaron Baddeley or the Visual Training. It would be cool if you could loop the audio clips, to really immerse yourself in audio training. Imagine falling asleep to a loop of the ball hitting the putter and rattling into the cup, the night before your round or tournament. I bet it would help you visualize success.

How many times have you listened to a song in your head and started visualizing something or day dreamed? For me it’s quite a lot. The Visual Training section is another cool new feature for performance and mental training, where you can associate your favorite song from your iPod/iPhone/iPad song library with one of the 40 different visuals.

The Visual Training feature is what makes this app worth paying $9.99 for a golf training app in my opinion. You start out by selecting one of the 40 putts, broken down by Distance (4’,5’, 6’,8’,9’,12’, 17’,27’) and Camera Angle (top view, down the line, overhead, overhead with path, and right camera angle). Once you select the putt you want to add you just drag it to the right column. You can add as many as you like, up to 10 different putts.

Next you can add a song or songs from your iPod, by clicking on the Music button. Select your songs and press load, and play the music with the visuals you picked in the previous step. The science behind this is to train your mind to associate the song with visual imagery of success. This is quite clever in my opinion and great way to practice the mental game with your putting.What’s cool is that you can save this playlist and share them with your friends via Twitter, facebook, or email.

Will the Seeitgolf App Make you a better putter?
Yes and no. The Seeitgolf app will help you improve practicing visual success with your putting, but it’s not going to correct any technical flaws you have. With that said, the Seeitgolf app did help me improve my visualization with my putting. I liked being able to practice my visual training without actually having to be at the practice putting green. The portability and customization of the app to suit my training needs are what makes this a hole-in-one. Sorry for the cliche, I couldn’t resist!

If you own an iPhone/iPod Touch, iPad, or all three, this is a must have golf training app worth purchasing.

Seeitgolf $9.99

The Ryder Cup is set to begin this Friday at Celtic Manor in Newport, Wales. With the timezone difference, following the coverage can be a bit of challenge. No need to worry, because we’ve put together the best ways to follow the 37th Ryder Cup.

2010 Ryder Cup iPhone App

2010 Ryder Cup iPhone App

Watch live on your iPhone/iPod Touch as golf’s biggest rivalry writes another chapter at the 38th Ryder Cup matches at Celtic Manor in Wales. Wherever you are, you can follow Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and the U.S. try to defend their title and defeat the Europeans on European soil for the first time since 1993.

2010 Ryder Cup iPhone App Live Video

Live Video & Radio
Watch live video and follow along with live radio coverage provided by SiriusXM from Celtic Manor’s holes 2, 6, 12 & 17 Friday through Sunday with the premium content in-app upgrade ($1.99)

Personal Live Alerts
Get alerts for hole-by-hole scoring, session scores, match results and news from around the course.

Live Scoring
Search for your favorite players or follow your home team.

Daily Video Highlights
Miss some of the action? Catch up quickly with exclusive highlights from the Ryder Cup.

Chat
Use FaceBook Connect to chat with Team USA and Team Europe supporters.

Other features include Player/Team profiles, News and a Course Overview. The PGA.com iPhone/iPod Touch/ iPad App gets you closer to the action at one of golf’s premier events like never before.

Download the free iPhone Ryder Cup app!

Watch Online with Ryder Cup Live

Ryder Cup Live

Starting Friday October 1st, 2010 you can get live video, leaderboard, chat, scorecards, and live updates from your computer all day long. Coverage schedule is 2:45 AM – 1PM EST Friday & Saturday, and Sunday from 6:30 AM – 12 PM EST.

The players may not be able to tweet this week, but you can get updates from @rydercup .

On Television

The time zone difference is a major downer for U.S. viewers, but night owls can opt to watch live coverage on ESPN for the first day of competition.
Friday, October 1
2:30 a.m. – 1 p.m EST (ESPN, live)

Saturday, October 2
ESPN/Live 2:30 a.m- 8 a.m. EST;  NBC/Live 8 a.m. – 6 p.m EST

Sunday, October 3
NBC/Live 4 a.m. – conclusion EST

How will you be following the Ryder Cup?

The iPhone has ton of uses when it comes to golf, like using it as a GPS, digital scorecard, training aid, etc. Now you can add swing analysis to the list, thanks to iAnalyze Golf by Ten Times Design.

[View with PicLens]

iAnalyze Golf Swing App
If you have ever taken golf lessons over the past couple of years, your instructor probably used a video camera and special software to record and analyze your golf swing. With the widespread adoption of the iPhone, you are able to do the same thing with iAnalyze Golf Swing, for a fraction of the cost your golf pro charges, and not have to invest in a video camera and special software.

How it works
The basic approach of this app, is to break down the golf swing into images of distinct positions in the golf swing for purposes of analysis and comparison with other golfers/images. You can analyze just one photo or a full ten-photo sequence. The app allows you store up to 200 sequences for each golfer and store a golf profile, which can be color coded by type (pro, student, etc.)

If you have an iPhone 3Gs or iPhone 4 you can also record your swing and have it analyzed by iAnalyze Golf Swingand the default Pro Golfer in the app, depending on the type of shot (Driver, Long Irons, Mid Irons, Short Irons, Pitch, Sand, Flop, Chip, Long Putt, Medium Putt, and Short Putt).

Analyze Your Swing
What’s really nice about the iAnalyze Golf Swing, is that for each of the different types of shots, there is a video and photo sequence of each shot, plus a down the line view and face-on view, which is great for learning. The app can be used to build a library of swing sequences used to help you visualize and emulate. The images can come from your phone’s camera or downloaded off the web, which makes it great for learning how to emulate Tiger Wood’s swing.

A really cool feature allows you to compare your swing to another golfer in the app, which is very easy to do and display them side-by-side. And the controls allow you to play each frame of the swing sequence of each golfer for comparison. In addition, you can also draw lines, enter notes or comments on your sequence or the pro golfer you are comparing, just like your golf instructor would. But probably the coolest features had to be the Merge feature, which super imposes your swing sequence over the pro golfer and simulates motion, so you can analyze your swing.

With all these cool ways to analyze your golf swing, you might be thinking that iAnalyze Golf  Swing would be a great way to learn how to play golf or forgo golf lessons all together. While you can learn a lot by taking a 5-10 second video of your golf swing, the app isn’t meant to be a substitute for professional golf instruction. I think its a great learning tool to use in between lessons.

The export function of the app makes it very easy to share or post your swing via email, twitter, facebook, etc. The only problem I had with the export function is that I didn’t know that I exported anything after I clicked the “Export” icon. It would be nice if the future version of the app displayed an alert message, otherwise you might end up clicking the “Export” button over and over again.

The app itself has a ton of features which a lot of people are going to like, but I did find that iAnalyze Golf Swing home screen and some of the submenus to be a little bit confusing to use. A perfect example, is on the video sequence screen for my swing I recorded. In the bottom left and right, there are two icons that hide different useful features. The one on the left looks like a fastforward icon, which it is, but it’s for the playback speed of the video. The icon on the right looks like an upload icon, but it’s hiding a ton of useful features like, displaying a grid on your sequence, drawing tools, photo sequence of your video. I would have passed these by, if I didn’t click on them and can be easily corrected with better icons in a future release.

Overall, iAnalyze Golf Swing is full featured app that is great way to leverage the power of the iPhone to help you analyze your swing in between golf lessons. The $9.99 is a bargain for this app, considering what it would cost to buy a video camera and specialty golf swing software for your computer.

iAnalyze Golf  Swing $9.99