Nike Golf Oven - Putting Lab- 05.28.10
On geeking out at the Nike Golf Oven ~ i love their Putting Lab! (You saw the rest of the Nike Golf Oven Testing facilities in the last post!) A super lit platform to test putters ~ surrounded by video cameras from above, beside, in front all capturing every moment as the striped ball rolls from the moment of impact… determining the exact amount of skid, rotation speeds, and more. The physics lessons learned during Nike Golf were so fun, if only someone had explained it to me in those terms when i was younger, understanding how putters differed would have made far more sense! (The gist of it ~ minimize skid, to get it rolling faster, faster it’s rolling the more stable it is.) So take a peek on the next page of the multiple camera set up, as well as the custom software made in collaboration with Vertex Golf to handle and process the various feeds. Thanks to Dusty from Gear Patrol who is the putting model in all of the shots and footage (and yes, the putt did go in)! So check out pics of the set up, the UI, and close ups of the Nike Golf Method Putters on the next page!
Here’s Dusty warming up… you can see the computer set up to the left, cameras above, in front, and besides him… as well as another Oven guy waiting to catch his ball if he misses… (which he didn’t!)
On the very bottom, you can see how it tracks how far it skids before the rotations begin… very cool to see how it skids far less than traditional putters, and even nike’s older original putters… and the difference is noticeable in the hands of casual players as well as pros!
Now for some close ups of the Method putters themselves… there are 5 models in the line, and the detailing is amazing, more to come on the making of them in the next post!
The back of the grip totally looks like a face, no?
Tiniest grooves are apparent when you look at the 005 up close…
The details like the shifting sizes of the crosshatching on the face are beautiful… and thats before even looking into the “polymetal groove technology” that creates a fascinating hybrid face which helps to minimize the skid…
Nike Golf has been generous enough to surprise us all with the Method putter of our choice at the end of the Putting Lab Tour, here’s a pic of a few of the others testing them all out!