Advances in technology and playing trends are changing the way golfers approach the sport

James II of Scotland banned golf in 1457 because the game was distracting the men from their archery practice. 

Almost 600 years on, no one claims the sport threatens the realm, but plenty claim the obsession with long drives down the fairway and putts for par continues to divert men and women from more fundamental responsibilities. 

Those complaints haven’t changed, but nearly everything else has. New technology has impacted clubs, golf balls and the methods of analysis players and coaches use to bring them closer to scratch. Today, you don’t even need an actual golf course to play. 

With the advent of artificial intelligence, duffers now have more information at their fingertips than ever before. Whether better tech will translate into consistently lower scores remains an open question. Skepticism abounds. 

Golf in the AI Era

AI has changed nearly every business and enterprise, and golf is no different. 

“Now you can get practically everything you want on your iPhone,” says Lane Lewis, owner of the historic Old Brockway Golf Course on Tahoe’s North Shore. “All you have to do is set it up, swing and it’s gonna tell you.”

It’s true. Apps like Sportsbox AI and GOATCode use a phone’s 2D camera and turn a golfer’s profile into a 3D avatar, measuring everything from pelvis lift to chest rotation to wrist angles.

Other AI apps operate like a digital caddie, including one developed by Arccos Caddie and another by Garmin. In addition to performing traditional tasks like providing yardage and proper club selection, the apps also analyze a golfer’s swing traits against environmental factors like wind, elevation and historical performance to help formulate the smartest shot. 

Furthermore, these digital caddies can analyze your entire round and identify the areas where you are adding strokes, whether it’s driving, lag putting from 20 feet or longer or the short game, helping you refine your practice to address specific deficiencies. 

“The information is just way too much for most golfers, but it’s definitely helping the mid to [good] golfer get better,” says Robert Bruce, golf operations manager at the Golf Courses at Incline Village. 

Considerable technology has also been applied to the construction of clubs. Bruce warns not to put too much stock into all the latest golf club construction fads, but he acknowledges the possibility for marginal improvement. 

“They say next year’s driver is always longer and straighter,” Bruce says. “Well, eventually, at this point, we should be hitting 500 yards.” 

However, the latest clubs that incorporate AI-driven designs feature larger sweet spots, so duffers don’t get punished as ruthlessly for mishits. 

“Most golfers can’t break 100, so those are the people they’re focusing on with that design,” Bruce explains. “They are trying to help people be able to get the ball going the same distance, whether it’s on the toe or heel.”

Despite the advances in technology, Lewis says he believes golfers still need the human touch to turn all the metrics and information into better scores. 

“I think you still need the professional to make those adjustments for the individual golfer,” Lewis says. 

Limiting the Long Game

One of the most controversial changes in the sport is centered on golf ball technology.  

The USGA and R&A, which jointly determine the rules of golf worldwide, announced in December 2023 that they would reduce the distance golf balls travel. The specifics relate to the “Overall Distance Standard,” which is currently set at 317 yards (with a tolerance of 3 yards). 

As the USGA explains: “Golf balls are tested according to three established launch conditions: clubhead speed (120 mph), launch angle (10 degrees) and spin (2,520 rpm). They are intended to represent the swings of golf’s longest hitters. Starting with the 2028 testing cycle, the Overall Distance Standard … will remain the same but the three testing conditions will be changed to 125 mph clubhead speed, 11-degree launch angle and 2,220 rpm.”

In practical terms, the changes will reduce the distance golf balls travel by 9 to 15 yards for elite professional players and 5 yards or less for the average player. 

“We have guys hitting 400 yards now, 350-plus,” Bruce says. “It’s like, OK, now you’re just taking over golf courses, and I can’t make them long enough. So they (the USGA and R&A) are trying to set a ceiling.”

While balls used in any competition “must be on the 2028 conforming list,” according to the USGA, recreational golfers have until 2030 before the new standard takes effect. 

“It’s probably not going to affect any average golfer whatsoever,” Bruce says. “We just don’t hit the ball that far.”

Popularity Boom

Part of the reason the equipment debates are so sharp is that golf is at a high-water mark. The National Golf Foundation reports that 48.1 million people over age 6 played the sport in 2025, an all-time record and a significant increase from the 30 million who played in 2014. 

No longer an old man’s sport, golf is attracting more younger participants and female players, photo courtesy Incline Village Golf Courses

“COVID was the best thing that ever happened to golf, because during that period of time it was one of the only things you could do recreationally,” Lewis says. “And it has just continued to explode from there.”

Bruce agrees, saying that while the number of players has increased at the Incline Village Championship Golf Course, a pronounced demographic shift also bodes well for the long-term health of the game. 

“Everyone’s playing,” he says. “More kids are playing. Every type of genre is playing … You’re seeing these 30- to 40-year-olds playing now. You used to have that gap where you didn’t start playing until you were 50. It was an old man’s sport. Not anymore.” 

Another trend is the number of women and girls who have adopted the sport. According to the National Golf Foundation, a record 4 million juniors played in 2025, and 35 percent of them were girls. It’s a significant spike from 2000, when only 15 percent of juniors were girls. 

Taking an Outdoor Game Indoors

These days, more golfers than ever are playing off-course thanks to tech-enabled driving ranges, indoor golf simulators that feature various courses virtually and entertainment venues like Topgolf.  

Of the 48 million golfers counted by the National Golf Foundation, 19 million, or 40 percent, played golf exclusively off-course in 2025. 

“In the winter, when we’ve got 4 feet of snow outside, you can come in my golf shop and hit golf balls on the simulator,” Bruce says. “We’ve got 100 golf courses you can play. You can get lessons, work on your swing, even when it’s snowing outside.”

This not only allows players to get in their work year-round, regardless of weather, it also attracts new players to the game who might not have been exposed otherwise. 

The Short Course

Golfers also tend to play shorter rounds these days—nine holes or even fewer—or just bang out a couple of holes on an indoor simulator. Had these options been available for fifteenth-century archers, King James II might not have bothered with his ban. 

Lewis knows the trend plays well for his course, which is consistently ranked among the best and most scenic nine-hole courses in the country. 

“At Lake Tahoe, people are up here vacationing for the week with their families, and dad wants to go sneak a round of golf out there,” Lewis says. “He can’t afford to spend five and a half hours. By the time he checks in, gets out there and plays, it takes up the whole day. I can get him that same golf experience in two and a half hours.”

Bruce says the Incline Village Mountain Golf Course also caters to people who want a more efficient outing, as the 18-hole course features all shorter par-3 holes and takes about three and a half hours to play. If duffers opt for only nine holes, they can be done within two hours. 

“If you want to play a quick nine in the morning and then spend the rest of the day down by the beach, it’s not taking up your whole day,” Bruce says. 

Traditionalists in the New School 

While the newfangled approaches to the sport are drawing more golfers to courses in Tahoe and around the world, Bruce and Lewis say the core of the sport remains largely unchanged. 

“Until AI learns how to start swinging, it’s still on the person holding the club,” Bruce says. 

Likewise with the other elements of the course experience. Both Bruce and Lewis say they have explored robot mowers and range pickers, and while both still opt to have their course curated traditionally, they admit the technology is not far off. 

“Someday soon, we’ll have it like the ski resorts, where you go through an automated gate to get to the first tee,” Bruce says.  

There could be a robot marshal who makes sure the golfers are keeping up with the expected pace of play. 

While some of these innovations may arrive sooner than later, Lewis says traditional customer service will always matter. 

“Having somebody out on the course as a course marshal, meeting and greeting, is more important to me than having a drone flying over to say, ‘Hey, your group is behind. You’ve got to speed up,’” Lewis says.  

Bruce agrees, saying the golf industry should still be a customer-oriented business: “I don’t want to get everything automated, but you’ve got to find that right middle avenue.”

Despite the AI technology applied to golf clubs, Bruce says he’ll gladly pay a premium to have his clubs made the time-tested way.

“I’m a traditionalist, so I’m probably always going to have that hand-milled golf club,” Bruce says. 

That may be what’s most appealing about golf right now: The sport stands at the crossroads of innovation and tradition.

The innovation brings cheaper equipment, more forgiving of error while adding more distance. There is more information related to swing analysis, pin distances, putt reads, weather conditions and all the factors that converge on the course. 

And you don’t even need the course. People can play Pebble Beach or Augusta National on a simulator in their home. 

However, the fundamentals of the game—proper grip, appropriate posture, repeatable backswing, etc.—remain the same for contemporary golfers as the men who skipped out on archery practice all those centuries ago. 

Golf will never change in that regard. And as any serious player will attest, old-fashioned practice and patience remain the best ways to polish your game. 

Matthew Renda is a Santa Cruz-based writer and former Tahoe resident who is very bad at golf, but enjoys the game nonetheless.