ZealousGolfer.com

Nevertheless, I am a computer nerd. To that end, I am an enormous fan of virtually anything that comes out of the mysterious Google Labs.

If you follow tech news at all, you probably have heard something about Google Wave. You may have read online about people trying to get "invites." If you are like me, there is some amount of conclusion surrounding this product.

Here are the basics. Google Wave is, supposedly, the future of e-mail. If you take a look at your email inbox, you likely have a few series of e-mails in which there is a thread of your e-mails the replies of recipients.

To Google and many internet users, this is a waste. Often, you are forced to send the same message to several e-mail accounts, and the sender is forced to do a significant amount of work coordinating responses.

Welcome to Google Wave. In essence, Google Wave is a high tech, professional version of instant messenger. Rather than an e-mail, you open a "wave," which is an online document you can continually edit and revise as you so choose. More importantly, you can select multiple people to participate in this conversation just as you would forward an e-mail to multiple accounts.

If you are on Twitter or Facebook, you may have noticed many people asking about invitations. Because Google Wave is only being tested right now, it has not been introduced to the general public. Google has released the new product for free to a limited number of people. Right now, each new user is given 8 invitations to bring their friends into the network for free.

That is basically the idea. Although the concept is fairly simple, new users are often overwhelmed by the layout of Google Wave. Count me in that group. Keep in mind that it is being tested right now, and you are seeing a trial version. If you have time to play around (maybe 15 minutes), you should be able to understand how the tool functions.

Alright. Back to the golf blog. I think Google Wave could have significant implications for golfers. As soon as I started using this,

Let's say you and your buddies are all part of Google Wave over the next several months. Google Wave could be an effective tool to:

a) Allow your friends to say they will make it to the course on Saturday

b) Suggest and debate different courses you could play on your Saturday outing

c) Decide what form of golf gambling you will engage in

i) Select the stakes

ii) Decide on the rules of the game

d) Plan a golf trip from start to finish

There are certainly other applications for Google Wave in the life of a zealous golfer.

In short, I think Google Wave is a great tool to anyone who needs to work with multiple people to perform some function. Of course, golfers often face these types of internet dilemmas, and Google Wave could make your life substantially easier if it takes off over the next year.

If you would like to give Google Wave a try, post a comment in this thread and say how you would use it for golf. I will send you an e-mail and hook you up.