iPING Putter App Review

PING Golf recently released an app that puts a wealth of personal putting information in the palm of your hand—the iPING putter app for the iPhone 4 and fourth-generation iPod Touch.

The app is free, but can only be used with a companion cradle ($30) that attaches to the putter shaft. In the words of PING, “It's a very cool innovation that gets to the very heart of what we do at PING: help people play better golf.”

So is the iPING app just a gimmick in the vein of "too much information," or a truly helpful tool that can make a positive impact on your putting performance? Following is PutterZone.com's iPING putter app review.

The View from PutterZone.com

The iPING app delivers a technological hat trick—it’s innovative, intuitive and effective. You strap the device onto your putter shaft, press the virtual start button and stroke your putt, and the results are instantaneous.

At first, you can simply stroke some practice putts to get acclimated to the app, which measures your tempo, stroke type and impact angle.

Your tempo is measured as the timing ratio of back stroke to forward stroke. Your stroke type is calculated as Straight, Slight Arc or Strong Arc. The impact angle is determined as difference between the putter’s face angle at address compared to its angle at impact.

Once you play around with it a bit, it’s time to enter the “Measure” mode, during which you stroke five consecutive putts with no need to look at or interact with the device. Once you have completed your five putts, the app reveals your aggregate results for tempo, stroke type and impact angle.

At this point, you can begin to ascertain your putting consistency. The results are color coded, with green signifying “most consistent,” yellow signifying “moderate” and red signifying “low consistency.” The app can also record each five-putt session, building an ongoing “consistency score” to ultimately measure your “putting handicap.” As you demonstrate more putting consistency, you lower your handicap.

You can also set the app to record and compare results for different users, such as friends and family. You can also view corresponding putting results from PING staff professionals such as Angel Cabrera and Bubba Watson.

To have all of this information in the palm of your hand is remarkable and, quite frankly, revolutionary. Yes, there are other systems and technologies that can offer similar measurements, but none do it as cost effectively or conveniently as the iPING app.

Of course, this all begs the question: What do you do with this information? Well, collectively, the information you gain is both a putting training tool as well as a putter fitting tool.

If your tempo, face angle or stroke type are wildly inconsistent, you have a problem—but you also now have a tool that can help you remedy the problem by measuring your efforts to improve.

Additionally, as I explain in my putter fitting book Putter Perfection, you want to calibrate the balance of your putter to your stroke type: "A 'face-balanced' putter will generally appeal to golfers who employ a more straight-back-and-straight-through putting stroke, while a putter with 'toe hang' will generally appeal to those with an arcing stroke."

So, for example, if the app tells you that your stroke is Straight, you may want to make sure that you have a face-balanced putter. Once you make sure your balance fits your stroke, you may see the consistency of all your measurements improve, including tempo and face angle.

To make it easier for you to ascertain the best fit, PING will soon release seven new Anser putters of varying balance properties, with each identified by one of three different colored shaft bands marked for Straight, Slight Arc or Strong Arc.

Putter weight is another aspect of putter fitting, and it can impact your tempo, so it's worth noting that the attached iPhone adds no small amount of weight to the putter. It helps that the cradle attaches to the shaft near the balance point of the average putter, so the added weight is easy to control. Nevertheless, it’s fair to speculate how much the added weight will impact the golfer’s tempo and total results (the iPod Touch is lighter than the iPhone, and I hope to test one out soon, at which point I will update this review). That said, there’s really no way around the added weight, not at this price and convenience.

(Follow-up note: I have since been able to compare usage of the iPod Touch and the iPhone. The difference is subtle but noticeable, and the less weight the better, so I would recommend the iPod Touch as the ideal device for using the app)

I do believe that the cradle is overpriced at $30. I understand that it’s costly to build the mold and manufacture a custom item like this, but at the end of the day, it’s just a thin piece of plastic. Perhaps the cradle should come with some sort of rebate—say $10—on your next purchase of PING equipment, to help defray the cost while keeping it all in the family? I don’t know, maybe I’m just being idealistic. I just hate the idea of some golfers holding off on experiencing this app because of the cost of the cradle.

Then again, $30 is less than a box of premium balls, and the cradle will last a lot longer and do more to lower your score in the long run. So the iPING experience is ultimately a conceptual bargain, if not a material one.

The Bottom Line

PING's late founder Karsten Solheim would be proud, as the iPING putter app does considerable justice to his legacy of innovation. Better yet, it offers an intuitive interface and meaningful measurements that you can track to improve the fit of your putter as well as your putting performance.

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The Greenside: Spiders and Connoisseurs

We are pleased to announce that the latest episode of The Greenside is now airing at The Hacker's Paradise, as well as on iTunes via podcast.

The Greenside is a collaboration between Josh of The Hacker's Paradise and Sean of PutterZone.com. The latest episode touches on the new TaylorMade Ghost Spider putter, the upcoming Never Compromise Connoisseur putters, and the iPING putter app. It also covers the topic of putter grip style and size, and how a putter grip is part of your larger fitting equation.

The show also reveals how you can enter to win a complimentary copy of Putter Perfection, the new putter fitting book by PutterZone.com. Tune in and let us know what you think.

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Darren Clarke's Putter: Cameron Tour Rat

Amid the squalls of sideways rain and screaming wind, it was Darren Clarke who remained rock steady to the end and hoisted the Claret Jug in victory on Sunday.

Darren Clarke's putter is a Scotty Cameron "Tour Rat" prototype by Titleist, an offset Anser-style blade with Circle T weights incorporated into the sole. The putter is similar to Cameron's popular Newport model, but features softer cornering.

The Tour Rat putter was unveiled on the professional circuits at the beginning of the year. Interestingly, Clarke's Tour Rat features a dark finish with yellow paintfill accents, which is similar to the old Cameron putter that Clarke retired before the British Open, as reported by Golf.com.

Apparently, Clarke knows what he likes when it comes to the color of his putter, and there's certainly no arguing with the results.

Meanwhile, on this side of the pond, the nagging question from this year's British Open is whether or not Phil Mickelson's struggles on shorter putts were just an aberration, or a portent of things to come. Prior to the tournament, Mickelson did talk about changing his approach to accommodate the softer greens found on the British links, and you have to wonder if maybe he psyched himself out.

P.S. Tour professionals like Darren Clarke routinely employ putter fitting as a vital part of their game. Why? Because they know that a proper fit is essential to maximizing your putting potential. To learn how you can get fit for better results, check out Putter Perfection by the editor of PutterZone.com.

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Putter Buzz from The British Open

The 2011 British Open is upon us, and come Sunday, it may very well come down to a final putt or two. On that note, following is some of the "putter buzz" surrounding the greens at Royal St. George's Golf Club...

Phil Mickelson said that he is going to change his putting approach this week. "I have not putted well" at earlier Open Championships, he said. "The grass is a little bit more coarse, a little thicker, has a little bit more effect, and you need to putt with less break and more aggression is what I've come to find. I'm going to try to do that...and see if that doesn't combat some of the issues that I've had putting here."

In Mickelson's words, we're hearing echoes of Tiger Woods at last year's British Open, when he famously switched putters for the first time in more than a decade. Said Woods, "I've always struggled on slower greens. I've always putted well on faster greens. This putter does come off faster. . . . It rolls the ball better and rolls it faster. So these greens, I've had to make very little adjustment in how hard I'm hitting it compared to if I had my older putter."

It typically doesn't bode well when longtime giants of the game start questioning their putting approach on the eve of major tournaments. You don't hear Rory McIlroy or Jason Day questioning themselves right now, eh?

Speaking of Day, we presume that he will again be wielding the TaylorMade Ghost Spider putter, and that he will generate a lot of airtime with it, as he did at the Masters and U.S. Open. It will be amusing to see this unconventional white beast of a putter stalking the old links.

Rory McIlroy will likely use the same Cameron Newport putter that he wielded to win the U.S. Open. It's a newer putter for McIlroy, who had been using a Cameron Fastback in tournament play for more than a year leading up to the U.S. Open.

Meanwhile, Golf.com just published an interesting story about an old Cameron putter that Darren Clarke is retiring, despite using it to recently win his first tournament since 2008. Clarke is having the putter restored and repainted, after which he will stick it in his trophy case.

To which we ask: Why restore it? Why not keep it as is, with the weathering and battle scars of tournament play, instead of making it look like new again? Well, that's his prerogative, and ultimately the story is yet another example of how the putter is the most personal and intimate club in the bag.

P.S. DIRECTV is offering innovative multi-channel coverage of the British Open, including a channel dedicated to British commentators. In other words, they are essentially offering a Chris Berman mute button, for which many will be grateful.

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The End of Tiger's Putting Run

Exactly one year ago, we witnessed the beginning of the end of the greatest run of putting in the history of golf.

Sure, you might say that Tiger Woods’ putting troubles started earlier than that, but it was on the eve of the British Open last July that Woods did what would have been unthinkable just months earlier: he switched putters. In retrospect, it was the first vivid sign that his putting armor was cracking.

After all, until then, Woods had used the same putter for the previous 10 years, a period in which he dominated professional golf—and dominated the greens along the way.

It's Woods’ epic, fist-pumping, tournament-winning putts that really stand out in our collective memory. But those moments should not obscure something equally remarkable, and that would be his otherworldly consistency on the green.

Indeed, an April 2009 feature in Golf Magazine—six months before that fateful November night—showcased Woods’ eye-popping putting stats. For example, from 2002 forward, he sank 2,691 out of 2,700 putts from three feet. His “average total distance of putts made” per round was six feet longer than the PGA Tour average, so that on a per-putt basis, he was sinking putts on an average of four inches longer than the field. As the article concluded, “He makes the long ones others miss, and rarely misses from up close.”

In other words, the dude was a peerless putting machine.

Yet today, when we hear “Tiger Woods” and “putting,” the word “dominance” is suddenly far from our minds. Instead, the words that come to mind are “grasping” or “searching.” It’s not that he’s become a putting slouch, but when he missed two crucial four-footers on the back nine at Augusta National earlier this year, it was clear that he is still far from recapturing his old putting magic.

After switching to a new Nike Method blade at last year’s British Open, Woods switched back to his trusty Scotty Cameron putter, then switched to a new style of putter earlier this year: a toe-down Nike Method mid mallet, which he had flirted with in an earlier tournament.

This latest switch was apparently tied to his swing changes under the tutelage of Sean Foley. Said Woods, “I have to change everything. It's the whole release pattern…how I release the putter, how I release the short game, how I release irons, drivers, they are all related. You just can't have one swing and not have another; they are all interrelated.”

In a recent Golf Magazine feature, an “anonymous pro” was quoted as saying: ”Tiger relied on his putting to make up for a lot of bad ball striking in recent years. That’s why I don’t understand why he went to a putter that’s harder to putt with, a putter with a face that releases even more. Most people go to putters with less face rotation, not more." (for more information on putter balance and release, check out PutterZone.com's putter fitting guide Putter Perfection)

We’re not going to make judgments on whether or not Woods is playing with the right style of putter. Nor do we want to remotely imply that there’s something wrong with Woods’ putter—after all, the Nike Method putter has won three major tournaments in the hands of three different players, none of whom are Tiger Woods.

No, today we’re here to simply mourn the passing of the greatest run of putting in the history of golf. Whatever your feelings are about Woods, there's no denying that he once electrified the putting green like no one else. It's hard not to feel a little wistful about that. There was something addictive about watching the man sink those epic putts, which he did with startling regularity.

There were some flashes of putting brilliance at the 2011 Masters, but they quickly faded. We're still not going to rule out another run by Tiger Woods. He has earned the benefit of the doubt.

But it was exactly a year ago that Tiger Woods switched putters for the first time in more than a decade, and now we know that the end of an era was upon us.

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TaylorMade Ghost Spider Putter Review

Just as TaylorMade was set to announce the upcoming retail release of its new Ghost Spider putter, Jason Day used one to finish the U.S. Open in spectacular fashion, ripping off 45 straight bogey-free holes to claim second place. Needless to say, the resulting airtime only heightened the buzz about this beast of a putter, which is set to be available via retail in mid July.

The Ghost Spider ($179) is essentially a union of two putters: the original Monza Spider mallet first introduced in 2008 and the newer white Ghost line. In other words, it is a Spider draped in white.

So is this a match made in heaven, or a marriage doomed from the start? Following is PutterZone.com's TaylorMade Ghost Spider putter review.

The Storyline

Time sure flies. It seems like just yesterday that the original Monza Spider mallet crept onto the scene, making headlines with its unusual design and its immediate PGA Tour success.

The Spider concept was advanced by the subsequent release of the Itsy Bitsy Spider, which was essentially a miniaturized version of the original. But the later Spider putters, such as the Spider Balero and Spider Vicino, failed to maintain the momentum and, some would say, veered off the tracks.

Then along came the white Ghost line, starting with the Corza Ghost mallet, and followed by the Tour Ghost putters—and suddenly TaylorMade had another headline-making, tournament-winning hit on its hands.

After more than a year of hibernation, it looked like the Spider might have (pardon the pun) given up the ghost. But then an exotic creature was spotted on the professional circuits this spring—an original Spider boasting the Ghost line's all-white finish.

According to TaylorMade, several staff professionals maintained a fondness for the old Spider, but also an appreciation of the Ghost’s alignment-enhancing finish, so they requested a hybrid of the two, and thus the Ghost Spider was born.

The Ghost Spider is billed as a perfect merging of the top selling points for each putter: the high MOI (moment of inertia) and corresponding forgiveness of the original Spider with the high-contrast alignment benefits of the Ghost. With high MOI, the putter is more resistant to twisting and turning on miss-hits. With the white finish and contrasting black sightlines, the golfer can more easily stay square to the line.

The Ghost Spider features TaylorMade’s new Pure Roll grooved surlyn insert, which replaces the AGSI+ titallium insert. The Ghost Spider is face-balanced, and comes in two available shaft configurations: straight with no offset and single bend with half-shaft offset. The stock head weight is 360 grams, the loft is 2.5 degrees and the lie angle is 70 degrees. With TaylorMade’s optional Moveable Weight Technology kit, you can also customize the head weight.

The View from PutterZone.com

In this era of seemingly disposable putter models, it’s cool to see a putter like the original Spider thriving more than three years after being introduced to the market.

To TaylorMade’s credit, they didn’t mess with the distinctive shape or alignment markings of the original—this is truly the same Spider that you’ve always known and loved (or not), but with a slightly different insert and a new white finish. In other words, it’s an update, not a reworking. And with dimensions measuring roughly four by four inches, the Spider remains one of the more imposing mallets on the market.

So the first question is: What happens when you paint a Spider white? In my estimation, you get a better Spider.

In my review of the original Spider, I remarked, “Personally, I find the Spider to be a bit noisy in the visuals department.” The Ghost Spider isn’t what I would call quiet, but the volume has happily been turned down. It's still not going to charm the average traditionalist, but it's easier on the eyes compared to its predecessor.

With the Ghost putters, I've always appreciated how the leading edge of the face pops against the green of the grass. It’s sort of like seeing your putter’s face angle in high definition. Setting your putter square to the line is easier said than done. Many golfers set their putters closed or open without even noticing, and the white finish can prove to be a helpful remedy.

The Spider’s alignment markings are a tad busy for my tastes, but as stated earlier, I can appreciate the fact that TaylorMade is staying true to the original. I'm not sure why TaylorMade used the color black for the bands that join the rear wings to the chassis (see above photo), as they seem to visually compete with the black alignment markings. Why add another contrasting bit of black unless it adds something to the alignment equation? The average golfer may not notice or care, but it’s still a head scratcher for me.

The feel of the Ghost Spider is a bit tinny, but such is the price you pay for the aluminum core and open chassis that enable TaylorMade to stuff the putter with high MOI. In other words, you’re trading feel for forgiveness, and for many that’s a trade worth making.

Indeed, the Ghost Spider swings like it’s locked into the path of your stroke, and miss-hits seem to be met with considerable generosity. With its beefy profile, high-contrast leading edge and forgiving nature, the Ghost Spider inspires confidence that is particularly handy near the hole.

The Ghost Spider putter is also tastefully appointed with a sturdy magnetic-closure head cover and a Winn grip that features a spooky spider graphic along the front. TaylorMade has also remedied an annoyance found on the Tour Ghost putters by eliminating all markings below the spot where the lower thumb rests on the grip, adding quietude to visuals at setup.

The Bottom Line

The Ghost Spider is essentially the same as the original Monza Spider, only better. The high-contrast white finish reduces the visual noise of the original while offering added alignment benefits. As expected, the Ghost Spider putter also excels in matters of forgiveness. If you don’t mind your putter being a bit of a beast, you will find that the Ghost Spider has a nose for the hole.

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