As a golfer, don’t you just hate losing your balls? – it’s just so unfair, as of course is going out of bounds.

Remarkably, help may soon be at hand from – of all things – an Indonesian inventor, one Bapak Ir. Wijoko Dowido from Surakarta, formerly Director of Sales for Titleist here in Jakarta.

Though Pak Wijoko is not a golfer himself, he was to learn from the countless complaints he heard from his customers at his previous employer, of a very strong consumer demand for a ball which could be easily found when it strayed off-line into the bush and, better still, avoided going into the bush or OB altogether.

After 18 months of research and prototyping the creation of a ball that both incorporates, embeds and integrates GPS and near field communication (NFC) technologies to allow a ball to “know” where it is and indeed more importantly for the golfer himself, with the aid of an ingenious smartphone app, to know where it is too, Pak Joko as he is known, is doing final pre-production testing of the “Wi-Ball Mark I” and having recently learned of the existence of Tee Set through our website, decided we were just the sort of duffers who would be perfect for the testing job.

In fact the Wi-Ball Mark I incorporates just the “ball find” function which will however mean you need never again lose a ball. The app that allows you to find the ball is only available on Android Phones to start with, but will soon after be available to iPhone users; Pak Joko tells us that hiring iOS programmers was far more expensive than the Android variety and “that as soon as we start getting early sales revenues off the ground, we will port to the iPhone, though we are going to avoid using the Apple Maps App”. Very wise, Pak.

The “Wi-Ball Mark II“, which is in the early stages of development will “know” from GPS and readily available golf course mapping software on your smartphone, just when a ball appears to be heading off the fairway and, in combination with tiny steering pimples on the ball itself, apply a little judicious “course correction”.

When challenged, Pak Joko admitted that the ball will not be able to steer its way out of the grossest of hooks or slices – and is unlikely to get USGA approval, but that “the average club golfer won’t give a bugger about that, we will sell millions.”

For the test of the Mark I, a number of Tee Setters characters were selected, under vows of the strictest secrecy, to play with the ball at Jagorawi and PAngkalan Jati last week. It is an understatement to say that the results were an amazing success as these testimonials bear witness:

The Mark I is amazing and saved me at least 5 strokes – James Ross, A Big Hitter with directional issues.

“I am known for putting my balls in some very unusual places but I was never to lose track of them today” – Geoff Thwaites, Tee Set President

“I usually lose half a dozen or so per round but finding them was a snip this week, even the three I put in the water, though my caddy actually had to swim for one of them. Absolutely brilliant, and I can’t wait for the  Mk II which will rapidly pay for itself in Desmonds alone” – Mel Canterella, High Handicapper

“Didn’t make any difference to me, I tend to use the fairways and greens a lot” – Santi Miller, Low Handicapper

“Can’t tell you how many strokes the Mark I is going to take off my handicap!!” – Ric Wymer, Former Tee Set President

“This should make us very competitive in the Interleague Championship this year” – Peter Reichlmeier, Tee Set Vice President

Thanks to our support during testing, Pak Joko has agreed that Tee Set members will get a first shot at buying the “Wi-Ball Mark I” when it comes on the market here. If you are interested then, as a first step, register your interest here.

Please note that this is strictly a statement  of interest at this stage and that orders, if and when firmed, will be strictly limited to a maximum of two dozen of the Mark I per Tee Set member.

A production contract for the first million balls has now been signed with a Chinese contractor and the retail cost for a dozen is likely to be 1 million roops, a little over $100 and an amazingly good value considering their high technology and likely lifetime. Teeset Members signing up TODAY will receive a 50% discount on this price.

The Android App is free while that for the iPhone is likely to be $4.99.

©2013 Tee Set