Golf gps device with hole recognition and hole selection

Abstract

The disclosure herein provides a golf GPS device with a sensor mechanism to automatically switch between video and audio only modes of the device. More particularly, when a player attaches the golf GPS device to a piece of clothing or hat, the device automatically switches to audio-only mode. When the player detaches the golf GPS device, the device automatically switches to video mode, with or without audio. The golf GPS device further includes one or more processors configured to repeatedly determine in which one of the plurality of holes the device is located, to repeatedly compute a distance between the device and a feature of the determined hole, and to cause to display the hole number of the determined hole and the computed distance on the display screen.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A portable information processing and viewing device for use in a golf course comprising a plurality of holes, each of which is pre-assigned a hole number, the device comprising:
 a GPS receiver configured to receive GPS information;   one or more memory devices configured to store data;   map data stored in the one or more memory devices, the map data comprising map information of each one of the plurality of holes;   a display screen configured to display information; and   one or more processors configured:
 to determine if the device has moved from one of the plurality of holes to another of the plurality of the holes, 
 when determined that the device has moved from a first one of the plurality of holes to a second one of the plurality of holes without passing another hole of the golf course, to determine whether or not the second hole is immediately subsequent to the first hole in terms of the pre-assigned hole numbers of the first and second holes in the golf course, and 
 when determined that the second hole is not immediately subsequent to the first hole in terms of the pre-assigned hole numbers of the first and second holes in the golf course, to cause to display, on the display screen, information for use in selection of a hole number of the golf course by a user.