What Will the USGA Say About Elective Amputation?
Dr. Yoseph Bar-Cohen of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, has developed the technology of "artificial muscles" on robots for use in a NASA rover that may be sent to an asteroid. The muscles are composed of layers of flexible plastic strips that work in waves like human fingers when the current is turned on. Bar-Cohen thinks that in the future artificial muscles will be used in humans here on earth. Similar technology is growing at a rapid pace.
Suppose a brain chip could be implanted that would allow you to play better golf. You could get a sharper set of eyes, or swallow a device made with nano technology that lives in your blood stream and perfectly controls your stress level, flooding you with adrenaline for long drives and steadying your nerves for the three footers. Steroids, testosterone and other drugs are on the ‘do not do’ list but how about these technologies – and what about artificial limbs?
Fast-forward to the year 2016 when golf is in the Olympics and countries worldwide have spent years pulling out all the stops. And suppose there is a prosthetic golf leg available that the owner could alternatively program for a golf swing followed by a natural stride. What about a pair of bionic hands that produce an always perfect, vice-like hold on the club? Here is the question: If the artificial prosthesis forces the golfer to swing correctly but there is no medical reason for the operation --would the golfer be allowed to play? Think all of this is just science fiction - think again!
An Austrian man voluntarily had his hand amputated so he could be fitted with a bionic limb. The surgery is the second elective amputation to be performed by Viennese surgeon Professor Oskar Aszmann. Bionic hands move in response to signals from the brain modulated by sensors in the forearm.
Would a golfer go as far as ‘elective amputation” to improve a golf game? It’s not out of the question. I know of a 32 year old woman golfer who underwent breast reduction surgery because her instructor mentioned that her chest caused her to pick the club up.
My sense is that the important issue in golf in the years to come will not be about nonconforming equipment but nonconforming players. From the dart throwing constable in the movie "Young Frankenstein" to the 70ties TV series, the Six Million Dollar Man” we've had a love affair with our bionic hero's. But the question is when they become real -- will the USGA/PGA let them play golf?
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