Golf club apparatuses and methods

Abstract

Methods and systems for managing golf clubs and for collecting golf data, such as golf strokes, are described. In one embodiment, a golf data collection system includes a golf accessory worn on the golfer's wrist, such as a watch, equipped with a GPS receiver, impact sensing and motion sensing means, and a transceiver to communicate with golf club tags (e.g. at 2.4 GHz such as Bluetooth). The golf accessory senses the motion of the golf club being swung by the golf and/or senses the impact of the golf club striking the golf ball. When swinging motion or impact is sensed the device uses the transceiver to communicate with golf club tags. The closest golf club (i.e. the club in the golfer's hand during the swing) is captured as the club used by the swing based on RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator). Other embodiments are also described.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for determining whether a golf club has been removed from a golf bag, the apparatus comprising:
 a housing configured to be coupled to a golf club;   a processing system coupled to the housing;   at least one light sensor coupled to the processing system, the at least one light sensor being configured to activate the processing system from a sleep state and being configured to provide a current light meter value;   an impact sensor coupled to the processing system, the impact sensor configured to detect an impact of the golf club hitting a golf ball;   an RF transmitter coupled to the processing system, the processing system being configured to cause the RF transmitter to transmit an identifier of the golf club and an indicator of a status of the golf club relative to a golf club bag, wherein the status is one of: (a) in-bag or (b) out-of-bag; and   wherein the processing system is configured to determine a motion status of the golf club, the motion status determined, by the processing system, from light meter values measured over time by the at least one light sensor; and   wherein the processing system is configured to cause the RF transmitter to transmit a signal, to a golf GPS rangefinder, indicating that the golf club was used to take a stroke, the processing system causing the RF transmitter to transmit the signal based upon the combination of (1) the motion status indicating that the golf club was in motion and (2) data from the impact sensor that indicates the impact occurred.