I recently took a trip to Ping’s PLD Fitting Lab at their headquarters in Phoenix, Ariz.
When they develop their new ones Scottsdale TPP putters, Ping used studies in the The “Quiet Eye” Theory. to help develop their new eye alignment aid. Help has since gone on to give Tony Finau his first ever strokes gained by leading an event as well as powering Wyndham Clarke for some wins this season. The question is, what makes eye alignment so intriguing? I caught up with Ping’s Erik Henrikson.
As explained in the video, the new Scottsdale TEC eye alignment aid design comes from the team studying the ‘Quiet Eye’ theory. The study involves using eye-tracking glasses to examine what a golfer does in the two seconds before starting the shot. Studying a wide range of machines with a wide range of different alignment tools, they settled on their Eye Q alignment design that includes a very small front sight dot married to a crown line. (Here’s a great article on The Quiet Eye in Sports You Can read here.)
The quiet eye theory is something that is widely used outside of golf and with the help of eye tracking glasses like Tobii glasses I wore in the video, it’s easy for engineers and scientists to collect data on people’s ability to focus on their target or objective. I’ve actually seen this tested when I worked in the firearms industry and it’s something I’ve always found quite fascinating.
As a competitive handgun shooter, we used to watch video replays of how the best shooters in the world would go through stages while wearing eye-tracking technology to see how they approached a multi-target scene. Understanding how people focus, and more importantly what they might be distracted by, can be critical information. In the video you hear Eric tell us that as they began to go through their testing, they realized that something as simple as the placement of the shaft band sticker was affecting how players were or were not able to focus on their shot.
I went into this test really skeptical, but also accepting that as an engineering-first company, Ping would probably prove me wrong pretty easily. I mean, how much can an alignment aid design actually help a golfer focus on what they need to do? More or less as I understood.
;)
Ping Golf
I actually prefer not to have any alignment helpers on my machines. If anything I just want a nice clean look. What it turns out actually makes a lot of sense. With a mallet that has long extension lines, I just don’t feel comfortable standing on the ball. There’s just too much going on. But with the small view point on the Scottsdale TEC, I was pleasantly surprised by the comfort it provided, and there was no arguing with the eye tracking data.
My eyes were all over the place without any lining. I felt like I was searching and ended up focusing on the golf ball itself. With just a standard line, my eyes focused a little more in the center, but I was still looking for a landing spot between the face and the ball. With the help of Scottsdale TEC’s Eye Q scope, my eyes were drawn to the small point of view that breaks the long line of the crown.
PING Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Custom Onset Putter
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Again, Ping delivers on its promise of engineering and science. As I said above, I can’t say I’m surprised. There’s so much going on within those walls at Ping HQ, and every trip I take I learn the answers to questions I didn’t even know I needed to ask. Now the question becomes, which Scottsdale TEC player might end up on the sack for me? Tony Finau is doing better than ever, and Wyndham Clark is winning … so there must be something there!
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