Popular GPS and club-tracking app, GolfLogix now includes Putt Break Maps, which show players where their approach shots will roll and how their putts will break. This marks the first time recreational golfers will have access to similar information as contained in the putting green portion of professional golfers’ yardage books.

Putt Break Maps are sold as in-app purchases with annual, monthly and two-day purchase options for each mapped course. Putt Break Maps are available for over 5,000 courses currently, and the company is adding more than 200 new courses each week using a proprietary mapping process.

I spoke with Pete Charleston, President of GolfLogix, about his company’s new technology, specifically, and the use of technology during play more generally.

BA: Can you talk a little about the history GolfLogix and how you decided to develop Putt Breaks?

PC: My partner Scott and I founded GolfLogix back in 1999, and we partnered with Garmin, and we came out with the first handheld GPS device, which was sold directly to golf courses. Then, when the USGA and R&A changed their stance on electronic measuring devices…we transitioned into selling that same Garmin device with our software at retail. We were hugely successful. We had [Peter} Kostis and {Gary} McCord pitching our deal. We had one of the most successful infomercial campaigns ever.

Then, mid-2008, it was one of our best years, the first phones started coming out with GPS on board. And we sat there are were like, “man!” Why would anyone spend $300 on a device when they can get the same information from an app on their phone? So we went full bore. We were the first company to launch a golf GPS app (in 2009). The first iPhone came out right about the same time, and we launched on that in early 2009. Since then, we’ve been really the No. 1 app for golf. We’ve had over four million downloads…We’re a company who keeps investing in our product and making it better. We’re not just collecting people’’s money.

To kind of take us up to current, about two years ago, we heard about Tour pros using…green contour books. We kind of dug in and got our hands on one and said, “Why can’t we do this for the average golfer?” A year-and-a-half, two years later, we launched…Putt Breaks at the PGA Show. We basically have taken this extremely accurate data–accurate to three centimeters–and taken each green on each course and turned it into a digital putt reader.

BA: And what does Putt Breaks look like in practice?

PC: So there’s two new features included in the GolfLogix app (the paid version). Now it automatically pops into Approach Mode. In Approach Mode, you’re able to see what’s in front of you. You’re able to see the green. You’re able to see the contours. So from 175 yards out, you know exactly what the green does, so you can pick and choose what to avoid. For example, if you’re got a back left pin and the green really falls off, you can aim for the front or middle of the green. So, for the better golfer, it’s unbelievable at helping plan approach shots. And for the average or higher handicapper, at the very least they can know whether to take more or less club.

Then as you walk or drive up to the green, it jumps into Putt Mode. In Putt Mode, you simply walk up and drag the ball and cup to where they are and basically hit “read my putt.” It rotates your view and shows you from behind your ball exactly what the putt does. So it’s just like what the pros have. You can see with absolute certainty whether the putt is going left or right, uphill or downhill…It’ll change your life out there.

Our goal is to eliminate the three-putt…There’s nothing worse than when you’re out on the golf course–whether you’re scratch, or 10 or 20–everybody,some days on some holes, can’t see the putt. We take that guessing game out of it. You know with certainty where the putt is going.

BA: I think it’s interesting that one of the elements of the anti-technology argument is the whole “Well, if we allow rangefinders in competition, it’s really going to slow things down.” But your technology, other technologies, if used reasonably by the golfer, is only going to speed up play.

PC: Most people, can’t read greens. I didn’t start playing until I was 30. I’ve gotten decent, but my biggest challenge is reading greens. I just don’t see the break. And it’s frustrating, because I’m a good putter…if I have a great caddie that tells me to putt to a spot. But sometimes I look at these putts, and either I don’t know, or I’m not sure, but either way you’re not putting a confident stroke on the ball. Next thing you know, you’ve got that damn five-footer.

We did a tremendous amount of focus group and user testing out there. And you’ve got three groups [low, mid, high handicappers]. That five, six, seven handicap. This is a gamechanger for them, because they’re already decent putters. Now you give them a tool that takes the guesswork out of it…we were seeing improvements of three, four, five strokes per round.

BA: Right. You’re talking about more birdies. These are the people that can make the putt if they know the break.

PC: Yeah. And then eliminating the three-putt. The most surprising part: I had a guy who was a +1 handicap. He finishes the round…shoots like 68…says, “I think I saved three strokes today…When I looked at [the app] I was unsure [about the putts]. It confirmed I read them right, and I putted with confidence.

In the past, GolfLogix…we’ve never been in the lower handicapper’s bag, unless they were stat freaks. Now, all of a sudden, this is a tremendous tool for them.

BA: Yeah. You hear the best players talk, and it seems without that baseline of confidence and commitment, you’re not going to hit consistently good shots or putts.

PC: It’s been a fascinating project, and we’re really looking forward to our first golf season. We’ve got about 5,000 courses mapped, and we should have another 5,000 courses done this year…We’re investing incredibly heavily in this technology. No one has it at this scale.

BA: Your mapping process: This is all going to locations, boots-on-the-ground stuff?

PC: Yep. No satellites. Satellites are generally plus or minus two yards, and that doesn’t work on the putting greens. We have 3D scans at every course, accurate to about three centimeters

BA: So what about the murmurings at the USGA and their concern over the use of yardage books and green mapping? I mean, the way I think about it, whatever happens at the professional level should be dictated by the tours. But for the amateur, and I guess if you’re in the USGA, you’ve gotta submit to their rules, but for the average golfer in the casual round, we’ve gotta have bifurcation. I don’t know why anyone would want to take something like this out of the hands of the average golfer.

PC: It makes no sense. We’re at a time when people have less time to play. We’re trying to get younger people to play golf. One of the biggest challenges, and I don’t care how much time you have, if it’s not fun and you suck, this game is hard to keep coming back and playing. So, anything we can do as a company, and anything any of these companies can do to bring in technology that helps golfers play better, score lower, and have fun out there so they keep coming back…it’s a no-brainer. The industry has gotta change in that way.

BA: Yeah. The reality is, handicaps aren’t dropping. Yes. We fixate on distance on the professional level, but somehow there’s this bizzare equivocation that everyone’s bombing it and shooting under par at their local club, but obviously that’s not happening. I don’t know why we want to take anything off the table.

PC: Yeah. The USGA, obviously, just took a stand on electronic measuring devices, and they’ve been more positive about allowing them in play…USGA-sanctioned play. And for us, all we’ve done is digitize the green-reading book the Tour pros are using.

I was talking to ASU’s coach, and he says his players have come to rely on books, and he says it really speeds up their process.

BA: Even at the professional level, the thought that taking the books away will speed up play is odd. As far as I can tell, they’re not there flipping through their books for half an hour. It’s all the other processes. Thank God they have that information, because if they didn’t, imagine how long it would take.

PC: Our goal is to give golfers a quick read so they don’t have to walk around the hole five times. We’ll reduce the amount of three-putts, which is also going to save time.

BA: Right. OK. Back to the app. What are the price levels?

PC: We have a standalone Putt Breaks membership within the app, which is $29.99 per year. Then for $49.99 per year, we have our premium features and Putt Breaks combined.

BA: Good stuff. Thanks, Pete.

You can find GolfLogix on the web here.