The Robot Caddy Is Par for This Course

SANTA CLARA —  It can’t do all the things the old tried-and-true, how’s-by-you, red-beezer, beer-belly, oh-God-not-the-nine-iron, rumbling, stumbling tumbleweed of a T-shirted caddie used to do.

But the InteleCady can do plenty.

The brainchild of GolfPro International in Santa Clara, the InteleCady is a sleek, yardage-spouting robot, about as tall as a shopping cart, that can follow a golfer around the dips and crannies of the course, rushing up toward the green when needed, dropping silently into the background when the golfer wants no whiff of iron breath in the air, no mechanical geek bearing digital maps encroaching on the approach.

“We believe InteleCady is the most significant product ever introduced in the history of golf,” said Ron Davies, president and CEO of GolfPro. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the world’s first autonomous personal-service robot.”

Davies, 54, started working with other investors about four years ago to find a replacement for what GolfPro saw as a gaping maw in the face of golf: the loss of human caddies.

“In the last 30 years, human caddies sort of disappeared from the face of the Earth,” he said. “They’re only available at elite clubs, and being an avid golfer--as are my business partners--we realized preserving the right to walk was important to the long-term and continued success of the business of golf and the game of golf.”

A robotic caddy, rented at golf courses, “would make it possible for a significant number of the 26 million people who play golf to enjoy it the way the pros do: not packing or dragging their bag around,” said Davies.

The robot is being tested at the San Jose Country Club, with an eye toward full operational status before the end of the year and distribution throughout the Sun Belt by next June. After that, GolfPro wants to go worldwide.

But no robot can hold a candle to an everyday caddy, said Mike Deves, who has caddied at Pebble Beach for 10 years.

With the drop-off in caddies at some courses, he said, “I’m not surprised this is happening. But there is absolutely no comparison.

“We stand 5 1/2 hours with the client, talking about their lives, talking about our lives, taking the lay of the land and the wind conditions,” said Deves. “No robot can do that.

“The big thing with caddies is the green, and how is a robot going to read the green? They shouldn’t be on the green.

“We’re not going to be 100% correct,” said Deves, who makes $45 per bag. “But at least we can give the golfer an idea of what to do, at least they can talk with us about the shot.”

A robot can save you money though, said GolfPro’s Davies, who sees InteleCady being rented at $5 to $10 per bag. “When I was a young kid caddying back in the ‘50s, I’d make $5 carrying two bags, so this opens up the market to virtually all golfers,” he said. “Golfers will again be able to play with a caddy.”

Not just any caddy--a caddy hooked up to the Global Positioning Satellite system, a robot offering a detailed map of the course, a robot knowledgeable in golf etiquette.

“For example,” said Davies, “the robot can track the golfer at long distances. It doesn’t need to follow or stalk the golfer. It can kind of let the golfer wander off by himself and meander around the golf course 10 to 15 yards behind.

“It won’t pass in front of another golfer trying to hit his ball or trying to concentrate. . . . There are multiple ultrasound sensors, firing and picking up sonic images, that let the robot identify and avoid above-ground obstacles, their speed and direction. And it has a set of rules as to how to deal with those obstacles.

“It can steer away from the point of impact, go right or left, and come to a quick emergency stop if something jumps in front of it,” said Davies. “If the golfer goes up on the green, the robot knows to follow. But it also knows the distances allowable by the golf course superintendent.

“It will not encroach on the chipping area or on any approach shots. If the golfer knocks a divot 15 yards away, he can fetch it and take it back without the robot puppy-dogging him,” said Davies. “That kind of courteous behavior is programmed in.”

To create InteleCady, GolfPro cemented a $43.50-million deal with Burns Ventures Inc. of Atherton. Development costs, about $9 million thus far, have paved the way for the first tryouts, and Davies is hoping for a fleet of 30 to 40 InteleCadys to be in place at each interested club within a year.

Davies sees no up-front investment required by course operators, and points to the $10 rental cost per round as a significant savings from the $35 to $60 usually charged by human caddies.

Guided by GPS satellites, InteleCady follows a golfer with a stored digital map of the course, reporting changes in distance to the greens and hazards with every shot. The robot is programmed to avoid bunkers, water hazards and tees, and can proceed to the end of the green to await the golfer’s putt. When the round is completed, the robot returns unattended to the staging area to replenish its batteries for the next round.