Zen & Quintic’s Putting Index will set golf’s new measure of putting difficulty
21 January 2025 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Pictured: Post-putt results on Zen Green Stage from Quintic Overhead Putt Tracker
CLEARWATER, USA – – Can a 15ft foot putt ever be easier than a 10ft putt?
When gradient is involved, the answer may be yes. A new research study by putting technology leaders Zen Green Stage and Quintic is seeking the answers.
The two organizations will announce details of the new global Putting Index research study at the PGA Show on Wednesday 22nd January 2025, at 3pm on Zen’s booth #ETC13.
Putting Index, an initiative by Zen Golf in collaboration with Quintic, aims to become a new golf industry standard for the measurement of putting difficulty, taking into account the wide variables created not only by distance, but also by gradient and prior success rates.
This new study will initially evaluate the relative difficulty of iconic putts from Major championships, Tour events and Ryder Cups.
Participants in the study will be faced with a series of historic putts featuring a variety of gradients, including subtle breaks such as Jack Nicklaus’s Masters-clinching putt in 1986, and Jon Rahm’s fearsome left-right 2021 U.S. Open blockbuster at Torrey Pines.
This extensive research project is made possible through the recent software integration of the Quintic Overhead Putt Tracker system with the Zen Green Stage, which can recreate any breaking putt on its virtually limitless slopes.
Existing attempts to use augmented reality (AR) technology for putting typically use explicit aiming and ball trajectory lines projected onto the putting surface. These have become popular since they effectively remove uncertainty by providing players with ” cheat ” lines.
But conversely, they also remove the essential realism of putting since the player no longer acquires the essential co-dependent search, decision-making, and effective task execution from the learning process. It is further considered that AR could lead to the phenomenon of Guide Dependency and associated cognitive dissonance.
Therefore, participants in Putting Index research will not be given the line of the putt via Quintic’s overhead projector, before they hit the putt.
“If you give the golfer a solution for a putt before they hit it, they simply will not learn how to read greens properly” said Quintic’s Dr. Paul Hurrion.
“We prefer to keep the putting process intact, and only project the results of our ball tracking after the putt. That way the process retains integrity, with the same conditions as faced by golfers on undulating greens.”
Zen founder and CEO Nick Middleton said: “Quintic users benefit from unique insights that create the clarity and resilience required to master the art of putting, making this a perfect partnership for our Zen Green Stage adaptive playing surface, which can move with great precision.
“Many golf coaches appreciate that implicit learning using guided discovery, where golfers improve their skills by developing their own experiences, is the sure path to success.
“We believe that too, and when we publish the results of the Putting Index study, conducted under real-world gradient conditions, we predict that it will become a powerful asset for putting coaches worldwide.”
Announcement details
- Introducing the Putting Index: Revolutionizing Golf Coaching
- Venue: Booth #ETC13, PGA Show, Orange County Convention Center
- Time & Date: 3pm, Weds 22nd January, 2025
- Speaker: Dr. Paul Hurrion, renowned Sports Biomechanist, founder of Quintic
- Speaker: Nick Middleton, creator of Zen Green Stage
- Length: 15 minutes
To discover more about the Putting Index project, please contact Nick Middleton at Zen Golf, +44 (0)7971 403627 / [email protected].
For all Zen details see www.zen.golf or call +44 (0)1226 781000, or follow @zengreenstage on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube.
For all Quintic details see www.quintic.com or call +44(0)1676 530 730, or follow @quinticgolf on social media.
Ends.
Contact Zen Golf
Andy Hiseman | www.zen.golf | +44 (0)1226 781000 | [email protected]
Zen Studio, 1 Europa View, Sheffield Business Park, S9 1XH, United Kingdom
ABOUT ZEN GOLF
www.zen.golf | @zengreenstage | #golfsmovingfloor
Zen Green Stage and Zen Swing Stage are golf’s most accurate and reliable moving platforms with the best playing surfaces and the widest range of movement – ideal for capturing new performance data suitable for elite training, or for recreating the golf course indoors for a more enjoyable golf sim experience. Golf’s leading launch monitors and simulators, putting technologies and force / balance plate systems are brought to life on Zen’s precisely-adjustable gradients. Our customers in 25 countries include the PGAs of America, GB & Ireland, Australia and Germany; many leading major venues and universities; PGA Tour and DP World Tour players and their coaches; national governing bodies; serious golfers with home studios; and a wide range of different golf clubs, golf equipment companies including PING, golf academies, golf coaching facilities and commercial entertainment venues. The company is based in Sheffield, UK, with a network of Zen Certified Installers worldwide.
ABOUT QUINTIC
www.quinticballroll.com | @quinticballroll | #launchmonitorforputting
Quintic revolutionizes putting practice with high-speed camera analysis and ball-roll precision. Our technology is trusted by leading golf manufactures, top professionals, and coaches globally. Founded in 1997, Quintic Consultancy Ltd specialises in Premier Sports Video Analysis Software, Sports Biomechanics & Performance Analysis Consultancy. It is through our extensive consultancy work and constant liaison in the fields of elite sport, equine, physiotherapy, podiatry and education that our three levels of premier sports video & biomechanical analysis software have evolved. It is this unique contact that allows us to produce easy to use, market leading software systems which specialise in Biomechanical Analysis.