Equipment
Korean Gadget Report, Pt. 1: Meet the Puttist
Since the days of Marco Polo, the Far East has been a source of mysteries, full of new wonders and…OK, that intro seems a bit much for today’s context, but nonetheless, I think a lot of GolfWRX readers in English-speaking countries will appreciate the many interesting golf gear available here in Korea.
With that said, I would like to share my experience with one of the most effective putting aids I have seen here in Korea, and something I haven’t seen anywhere else.
Direction vs Speed
What aspect of putting would you say is more important – direction or speed control? If you have three-putted as often as I have, I’d venture that you chose the latter. And most pros I spoke to also agree that speed or the amount of “weight” you put on a ball is more often the deciding factor of a good putt.
I consider myself a semi-serious golfer and put in a fair amount of practice towards both putting accuracy and distance control. I have bought many training aids over the years and have always had a large putting mat at home and the office for those days I couldn’t make it out to a practice green.
But looking back, I realized that all of my putting practice revolved around putting towards a hole or a target for accuracy. I couldn’t recall a single training aid or a putting lesson that really taught me how to control my putting distance. Most often, I would hear “it’s a matter of practice” but nothing more specific than that.
In addition, practicing longer lag putts necessitates that I visit a real putting green, and even then I would only be getting accustomed to that particular green speed only to start all over again on another course.
I had thought I was a pretty good putter from within 6 feet, but my score wasn’t reflecting it. Simply, my problem was not that I couldn’t make 6-footers, but that I was leaving too many 6-footers from the hole on my lag putts.
Enter the Puttist
The Puttist is a portable and rechargeable digital putting aid that helps golfers build muscle memory to consistently roll the ball to any distance between 6ft to 50ft. It is also labeled the world’s first”putter meter” as it uses a putting surface of only about a meter long.
Attached to the end of the putting surface is a smart sensor, an innovative technology that translates the force of the impact and displays the distance the ball would have rolled on a real green.
Similar to other putting mats of this size, the Puttist requires only one ball that allows you to stay relatively in place without having to go and fetch the ball from the hole after each putt. This provides a more effective putting session because I can save time while focusing more on maintaining the feel for the putt, stroke after stroke.
In addition to being easier on my back, the machine also offers a variety of putting games that mocked challenged me to putt better. For example, one game presents 7 random distances between 3~9 meters, and only the putts that go past the hole (but not beyond 50cm) are considered as successful putts. Like the saying goes,“never up, never in.” In terms of accuracy, the LED shows whether your putt was slightly pulled or pushed with an arrow if you miss the center of the “hole.”
I have been using the Puttist for over a year now, and I still find it tough to walk by without having a go at one of its games. The immediate feedback of whether a putt was successful or not, coupled with a visual total score after each game made for a powerful motivator. To this day, I have yet to get the Holy Grail score, which requires the perfect distance right on the number, seven times in a row.
Eventually, my body began to form its own baseline sense of “putting distance,” and I was able to visualize the amount of backswing and follow-through I needed to register a certain distance on the Puttist.
That’s all well and good as a game, but does this help on an actual course? After all, the green speed on golf courses will vary on any given day with some being painfully slow, while others may be as fast as glass.
The answer soon became evident on the practice greens before a golf round. While I was hitting some practice putts, I learned that the ingrained “feel” for distance only needed to be tweaked a bit to get accustomed to the different speeds of the green. For example, if my 10-foot putting stroke only rolls eight-feet, I’d simply adjust to hit my putts to 12 feet for that day.
In this simple manner, I was able to decrease the number of 3-putts from five or six times a round to almost zero, since I was now effectively lagging all my putts to tap-in distances. And it didn’t matter whether the greens were fast or slow as I just had to adjust for the new speed and let my ingrained muscle memory roll the ball to the distance I wanted.
To be sure, I wasn’t making one-putts any more than what I was used to. But the immediate absence of three-putting visibly improved my score.
I am sure there are many putting training aids out there that help golfers, but the Puttist was the only one I have encountered that helped to control my putting distance.
As for the price, it is about 170,000 KRW, which would be about $150. Personally, I think it is well worth the price, as golf lessons aren’t cheap these days. And even then, it is difficult to learn the feel for distance, as it isn’t something that can be taught easily.
The Puttist has now entered its 10th year in existence and has been voted as one of the best golf training gadgets here in Korea. And with Winter just around the corner, I predict we are going to be seeing a lot more of each other.
Now if I can only find an equally good putting aid that helps me to read the breaks on the green, I’d be golden come spring… Any thoughts?
Stay tuned for more golf gadget updates from Korea!
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Equipment
Titleist launches Pro V1, Pro V1x and Pro V1x Left Dash balls with enhanced alignment
Titleist has today introduced Pro V1, Pro V1x and Pro V1x Left Dash golf balls featuring enhanced alignment.
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Equipment
Cobra launches 3D-printed LIMIT3D irons
Cobra released its first commercially available 3D-printed steel putter in 2020. Now, the company is bringing its first 3D-printed irons to retail with new LIMIT3D irons, which Cobra’s vice president of product architecture, Jose Miraflor, calls “the most significant technological advancement to happen to the category in the past 20 years” and “a look into the future of golf club design and performance.”
Cobra leveraged the expertise of computational design software firm nTop to create an ambitious design: a compact players blade that offers similar forgiveness as a larger, game-improvement style club and forged iron feel.
Speaking on the partnership, Mike Yagley, Vice President of Innovation & AI, Cobra Golf said, “nTop’s computational design tools integrated with 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, allowed us to create an incredible new design that looks and feels like a forged blade but performs like a larger, game-improvement iron. No one has done this before, and we’re excited to introduce these unique irons to the world.”
As Cobra explains, more forgiving irons are traditionally larger and sacrifice feel. Due to the limitations of casting and forging, creating a more compact, better-feeling iron that still delivers forgiveness was only possible with 3D printing. The resulting profile of Cobra’s LIMIT3D irons is smaller than Cobra’s King Tour irons.
LIMIT3D irons are 3D printed for 316L stainless steel with an internal lattice structure, which allowed engineers to position 33 percent of the iron’s overall weight to the exterior for greater MOI. 100 grams of tungsten is positioned in the heel and toe of each clubhead for low CG for ease of launch and high MOI for greater forgiveness.
Additionally, using nTop’s design software and additive manufacturing allowed for a substantially faster prototyping process, which enabled engineers to test more designs and mass placements for a superior finished product.
Cobra LIMIT3D irons: Pricing, specs, availability
- 350 individually numbered sets available in the U.S. and Canada (500 sets total worldwide)
- Available for custom order June 7
- Price: $3,000
- Set: 4-PW, RH only
- Full range of aftermarket shafts, grips
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Equipment
Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (5/14/24): Mizuno Pro 241 Azalea Edition irons
At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a set of Mizuno Pro 241 Azalea Edition irons.
From the seller: (@ayc25): “Brand new in box / plastic. 4-PW. Custom shaft bands, grips, ferrules. Dynamic Gold S200 Tour Issue. NO TRADES. Ships next day UPS Ground from Northern Virginia. $1695 shipped or best offer.”
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Mizuno Pro 241 Azalea Edition irons
This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules
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PUTTIST
Nov 23, 2020 at 5:37 am
Any question?
[email protected]
Ed LeBeau
Nov 16, 2020 at 12:33 pm
James, Please help the golfing world to give up the notion of “muscle memory”. Ask any doctor, psychologist, physical therapist, or biologist. Muscles have no capacity to remember. There is no such thing as muscle memory. Any effort build muscle memory is a fool’s errand. Muscles cannot remember. They can only respond. They respond to nerve input from the brain’s motor cortex. We can improve our distance control–but not through muscle memory.
Micah Kim
Nov 20, 2020 at 3:27 am
I agree that muscle memory is governed by the brain.
Scott
Nov 16, 2020 at 9:50 am
Are there different versions or are they all the same as the original?
Micah Kim
Nov 20, 2020 at 3:26 am
There are 2 kinds of things by the distance unit, meter or feet. Need to take care when buying. All is rechargeable in US.
PUTTIST2
Jul 25, 2023 at 1:01 am
PUTTIST II is now preparing to land in US. Maybe at Indigogo.com
Kevin
Nov 14, 2020 at 12:25 am
Where can I purchase one for the US? Does their site ship to US?
Douglas Kim
Nov 14, 2020 at 6:17 am
Amazon or ebay searching by PUTTIST
Micah Kim
Nov 20, 2020 at 3:30 am
We have some in Amazon warehouse and in Seattle area.
Carolyn
Nov 13, 2020 at 1:46 pm
Just another great part of Golf..Golf Gadgets and training aids….Golf is a hobby that lots people go crazy with or buy a set of clubs some topflight golf balls and enjoy the day, so many choices…Still making the tee time is number one.