Yup. It's the space I thought it was. This place is jinxed!
nypost.com
The irony is that Callaway was in the same situation then that E-Trade is in now. They planned this at the tail-end of a period of windfall profits when the golf industry few faster than anybody had ever thought possible. The golf equipment industry had it's own "bubble" - it just burst a couple of years sooner than the stock market...
Really cool stuff that they were going to move in there. (But I have to say that - I was working on it.)
The basic setup consisted of three separate computer systems. One, the "swing" system, took high-resolution fully-body video from multiple angles, which was then marked-up ("telestrated") by the Club Specialist to illustrate aspects of your swing. Another, the "launch system", took a multi-exposure still of the ball being launched off the tee, and derived launch parameters, such as speed, spin, and launch angle. This fed into the third system, the Pebble Beach Simulator. You hit into a video-screen net, and saw your shot played at Pebble Beach.
(They already had first-generation versions of these systems, which were deployed in their Carlsbad, Las Vegas, Orlando, and Pebble Beach Performance Centers. All but the Carlsbad Center have been closed. I think you can still make appointments to use the first-generation of this equipment in Carlsbad.)
Too bad it didn't happen. It's the most fun I ever had at work. But I'll bet the E-Trade guys had just as much fun setting-up their casino. :) |
