PLD’s Ping placement lab showed me something I had never seen before

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PLD’s Ping placement lab showed me something I had never seen before

I recently took a trip to the Ping PLD Putting Lab in Phoenix, AZ and tested their new Scottsdale TEC putter system, including wearing Tobii Eye Tracking goggles to learn more about their new Eye Q alignment features.

Along with reading about their new putters and the ‘Quiet Eye Theory’ research that goes along with them, I’ve taken away a few important things to post.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Ping is nothing short of impressive, and the tools they use and share with golfers are constantly opening up new experiences.

Here are 3 things I found while testing with Ping.

1.) You have a routine, even if you don’t

I’m not the most consistent person on the golf course. I can’t say I have any kind of routine, and if I do, it certainly doesn’t apply to every putt I take, or so I thought.

However, Tobii’s glasses don’t agree.

So did the PLD Bebeka Lab staff I worked with. Immediately, we saw a pattern. I look at the hole, the putter, my toes, and then back to the ball. I was doing it completely unconsciously. I was adamant that I did the same thing before every putt I hit, not to mention standing in one spot, hitting multiple putts like I was in the lab. But this knowledge is exactly what led Ping to look deeper into the Quiet Eye Theory, and develop their Eye Q alignment aid.

2.) It only takes 2 seconds

Erik made a direct point to me during the test that all research done on the Quiet Eye Theory is based on the two minutes before the athlete, in our case, the golfer, begins their activity. My job, of course, was to putt the golf ball, so the two seconds we focused on were the two seconds before I started to get the putter out.

It doesn’t seem like a ton of time, but a lot can happen, and that’s when their Eye Q compatibility starts to prove its benefits. With the empty putter and the full line putter, my eyes were not aligned until I put the putter back.

With the Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Onset with Eye Q alignment, my eyes were locked for more than that two-second limit, meaning I was sold on my job. Having this level of concentration helps calm the mind and nervous system. That focus and that silence allows the athlete to start his work “cleanly” without distraction or anxiety. Actually, it’s funny enough to me, why I chose dot sight blade putters for so long. There is less distraction, and the dot helps me focus.

3.) Putting is probably the most logical thing in golf

If I’ve learned nothing in my time at the PLD Lab, it’s that there’s a big side to putting that into perspective. It’s all based on what your nervous system is doing at any given time on the greens, stepping on the ball, and controlling the shot.

The amount of effort that Ping puts into understanding the psychological side of putting is very deep, and it’s great to be included in other experiments and to understand how they look at things differently. Tobii’s eye tracking glasses are really fun to play with, but if you watch the full video, you’ll hear Erik talk about how they’ve used research with players, some of their findings and how they’ll continue to dive into the mental and personal side of putting back on physical putters.

At this point, I have to say that the putter you end up choosing is determined more by what it does to your attitude, focus, and skill than what it does in actual practice. There’s a lot to digest here, but we’ll keep updating as we learn more.