GOLF DATA COLLECTION

1 . A method for data collection, comprising:

providing an apparatus arranged to be worn about the body of a player during a game;

determining, using the apparatus, one or more locations of a player during the game;

reading, using a tag reader, a club held in close proximity to the apparatus around a time of striking of a ball; and

correlating, using a processor, the one or more locations of the player with the time at which a tag is read to enable the path of a ball throughout the game to be determined.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the game is one of golf, baseball, cricket, football, hurling and rugby.

3 . The method of claim 1 further comprising reading, by the apparatus, an identifier from a tag on the club, said identifier being unique to and associated with said club.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the identifier includes an indicator of the club type with which said tag is associated.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein reading the club further comprises using a passive tag reader.

6 . A data collection system, comprising:

an apparatus arranged to be worn about the body of a user during a game, the apparatus including:

a positioning system for determining various locations of the user during the game;

a tag reader for reading a club tag only when held in close proximity to the apparatus around a time of striking a ball; and

a processor for correlating the location of the golfer with the time at which the club tag is read to enable striking and resting locations of a ball throughout the game to be determined.

7 . The system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein said apparatus is arranged to read an identifier from said club tag, said identifier being unique to a club.

8 . The system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the identifier includes an indicator of the club type with which said club tag is associated.

9 . The system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein said tag reader is arranged to read a club tag only when the club tag is positioned within approximately 2 cm of said tag reader.

10 . The system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the apparatus comprises one of a dedicated portable apparatus, a cell phone, a portable digital assistant (PDA) or portable computing device.

11 . The system as claimed in claim 6 further comprising a set of club tags, each club tag being arranged to be fixed to a respective golf club in a golfer's set of clubs.

12 . The system as claimed in claim 11 , wherein each club tag comprises an electronic device encapsulated within a housing, said housing being arranged to be fitted to the top of a golf club.

13 . The system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the apparatus further includes a communication sub-system arranged to transfer data obtained while the apparatus is powered-on to remote non-volatile storage.

14 . The system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the system further comprises analysis software arranged to access data stored for a golfer and to extract relevant information on a specific game of golf or trends from multiple games of golf for review or analysis.

15 . The system as claimed in claim 14 , wherein information extracted includes number of ball strikes per hole, distance for each shot, type of club used per ball strike, the overall score for a particular game of golf.

16 . The system as claimed in claim 6 wherein said apparatus is operable in a practice mode, wherein the apparatus is responsive to user interaction to determine a location of the apparatus around the time of said interaction as a first striking location and wherein the processor is arranged to record a location of the apparatus for a plurality of subsequent club tag readings enabling the respective resting locations of a number of shots struck from said first striking location to be determined.

17 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the game is one of golf, baseball, cricket, football, hurling and rugby.