New iPing App helps improve putting
No company in golf knows more about putting than Ping Golf, whose founder, Karsten Solheim, basically invented putter technology as we know it today. Now Ping Golf is introducing the iPing putter app – a free, wireless, go-anywhere putting improvement tool that it says identifies a player’s stroke type, analyzes their impact angle, and measures their tempo. After a series of putts, the iPing app records the golfer’s consistency in each area and establishes a Putting Handicap (PHcp), which gets lower as the player improves their consistency, the key to holing more putts.
Normally I would view such a thing as just another techno gimmick, but because it’s Ping, I take it serious. You should, too.
The iPing app is a free download from the iTunes App Store for the iPhone 4 and the smaller iPod touch (4th gen). It works in conjunction with a Ping cradle ($30 suggested retail price), which holds the mobile device and clips onto the putter shaft just below the grip. Cradles are available for either the iPhone 4 or iPod touch (4th generation) due to the different sizes of the devices.
The iPing app will be on iTunes on June 20th. Ping cradles will be available on the same date through key golf retailers’ websites. Other Ping retailers will offer the cradles in early July.
The iPhone 4 and iPod touch (4th gen) are the only mobile devices that contain accelerometers and gyroscopes – the key technology features that allow iPing to measure and record data. The accelerometers measure linear acceleration, while the gyroscopes detect rotational speed.
“Innovation takes many forms,” said Ping Golf Chairman John A. Solheim. “My father, Karsten Solheim, started Ping with a single putter design. The engineering principles of that design and subsequent models ignited a revolution in golf club design and putter fitting. The Anser putter, which he designed in 1966, still dominates the Tours today more than 45 years later.
“The iPing app continues in our long tradition of innovation by allowing golfers to analyze their putting strokes more closely than ever. It works like a launch monitor for putters by measuring key aspects of your stroke. It will help every level of golfer see better results by adding more consistency on the putting green. Besides that, it’s a lot of fun to use and has several other features.”
