You’ve now seen the Nike Golf Oven Testing Facilities, and the awesome Putting Lab… i’d be remiss not to show you some of the fun machinery in the Nike Golf Oven Grind Shop, Machine Shop, Tour Shop, Engineering Labs, Durability Testing Labs and more! Personally, the manufacturing/prototyping/testing phases of industrial design have always fascinated me so ~ and there is some of the cutest iconography on the warning labels! So take a peek at fun machinery, labs, close ups into microscopes, prototypes and more on the next page!

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Tags: factory - golf - nike - sport - technology - texas

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!

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Tags: factory - golf - nike - technology - video

Nike Golf’s R&D Facilities, The Oven, in Fort Worth, Texas are a little golfing haven all on their own (far from the Beaverton, OR Nike HQ!) ~ Amazing to hear the stories all of yesterday about how Nike has broken into the more traditional golf industry moving from apparel and footwear to balls and most recently to clubs the last decade… and their shift into clubs didn’t start from scratch, they acquired the 5 man team of IMPACT, lead by Tom Stites ~ an impressive golf focused engineering team with years of experience working with top brands and athletes… and they let them continue doing their thing in Fort Worth! Now here’s the part that i found most fascinating at the facilities ~ their testing space is essentially like an indoor putting green equivalent to a 6+ car garage, and on a nice day, you just open the three large garage door/windows and instant driving range clear out into their own short course complete with water features! What i’m hearing from all of the golf fanatics on the trip is that Nike takes a very technologically focused approach to product development and are one of the most daring with visually innovative designs in contrast to the traditional companies… so when it comes to testing, no wonder their set ups are fascinating! Between endless heads and shafts to mix and match in this one room ~ you have an incubator (a fridge FILLED with golf balls), walls of premade clubs to test, the robotic golfer, and a putting lab. More to come on the putting lab next, but first take a peek at the testing facilities on the next page!

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Tags: factory - golf - nike - sport - texas

Just RFID mini-golfed behind the scenes of MOCA... and ate donuts. Rumor has it that for every ball that went into a hole a donut hole was made... and when your RFID foamy golf ball went into a hole you also got a call on your cell with audio rambling and randomness... quickly got the feeling that far more people showed up than anticipated, or this was a project that wasn't set up to scale well, although there were a LOT of security throughout... and mix crazy mini golf course + alcohol + quite a few pushy/competitive hipsters + a sneak peek at a side of MOCA you never see + not nearly enough space for all these people to be wandering through, let alone trying to golf through... and yea. Wow. It was pretty crazy... It's hard to explain with words really, but i took a bunch of pics for you to take a peek at the world behind MOCA! (And unfortunately there's one pic plain clothes security made me delete... it was a fun look at all the security screens of the museum though!)

This was part of First Thursdays at MOCA ~ "KNIFEANDFORK, founded by Brian House and Sue Huang, presents three new works for ENGAGEMENT PARTY, MOCA's series of interventions by local artist collectives" ~ and this was the first! Emptiness is Form (Golf and Donuts) - Voice interventions by Nathan Phillips, Donuts by Deanna Moody of Dee's Bakery and Donuts, DJ set by Wendy Yao, Blogging by Guthrie Lonergan...

See the pics on the next page for the full effect!

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Tags: art - golf - los angeles - museum - technology - travel

Karma Balls! I am in love with the packaging for these Nike Karma Golf Balls ~ apparently, for the golfers, these are more forgiving on slower swings - they are " Nike's softest compression ball designed for added feel and distance." You can read a review on the balls from 07 over at The Sand Trap... i discovered this fun grassy/cardboardy/vectory packaging over on BeSportier. Larger image on next page!

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Tags: gifts - golf - packaging - shopping - sport