PUTTING PERFORMANCE

We have validated the testing protocol for our putters.

By Inesis

May 2^nd, 2023

Since his arrival at Inesis Golf Park, our robot putter "Archie" has not been idle. Clément, a field test engineer, has entrusted him with the mission of developing a method for testing the performance of a putter. Nothing better than to test our range of Inesis putters.

THE BEST OF US

Why use a robot to do this test?

In a hardware test, we need to find the most accurate and reliable player possible. Indeed, the variability of the player must be less than the variability of what we are looking for. For example, if the putter is accurate to 1 cm at 3 meters, but the player has a variation of 5 cm at 3 meters, we will not be able to detect the performance of the putter because it will be drowned in those of the player.

Archie has almost 100% putting accuracy. So we know that any variation in results will be related to the putter and only the putter. And that's clearly what we want.

3 DISTANCES

We have established 3 distances corresponding to 3 lengths of putts:

short putt: 6ft - 1.83 meters
medium putt: 12ft - 3.66 meters
long putt: 21ft - 6.40 meters

Why these distances? For three reasons. Firstly, they reflect the reality of the putts to be made during a game and on which we can try to aim at the hole and not just the area. Secondly, because they are common distances in putting tests, such as at MyGolfspy for example, which is a reference in the golf industry. Finally, because these are distances (6ft, 12ft, 21ft) that are marked on our Wellputt indoor putting green, which makes it easier to read the results.

We made sure that the ground is perfectly straight, which is confirmed by the first test putts, the ball follows its line perfectly.

THE NOMINEES ARE :

We tested our 4 models of putters according to this protocol. From left to right:

Inesis Blade, Toe Hang, head weight: 365g, MOI = 4830g/cm2
Inesis Half Moon, Toe Hang, head weight: 360g, MOI = 3430g/cm2
Inesis Mallet, Face balanced, head weight: 365g, MOI = 3961 g/cm2
Inesis High M.O.I., Face balanced, head weight: 370g, MOI = 5850g/cm2

It will be very interesting to see how the characteristics of each putter translate on the green, which would be very difficult to perceive for a normal player.

A VERY SIMPLE PROTOCOL

For the 3 distances, we hit the ball (Inesis Tour 900) in the center face (this is ideal), but also in heel and toe to test the tolerance of the putter on these off-center shots.

1. At 6ft / 1.83 meters

Calibration of the robot in center hit at 6ft
10 shots center face
10 shots in heel (check calibration every 5 putts)
10 strokes on the toe (check calibration every 5 putts)

2. At 12ft / 3.66 meters

Calibration of the robot in center hit at 12ft
10 shots center face
10 shots in heel (check calibration every 5 putts)
10 strokes on the toe (check calibration every 5 putts)

3. At 21ft / 6.40 meters

Archie calibration in center hit at 21ft
10 shots center face
10 shots in heel (check calibration every 5 putts)
10 strokes in toe (check calibration every 5 putts)

Then, measurement and ball cloud for all the shots that do not fit.

The second point to emphasize is that even when using a robot on a synthetic carpet indoors, not all balls behave exactly the same.

For example, the picture shows the position of 10 balls hit by the Blade putter at 6ft / 1.83m.

Imagine the variability on a natural green subject to the elements...

RESULTS BY DISTANCE

First lesson, at 6ft, 12ft and 21ft, all the balls hit in the center of the fairway went into the hole (except for the Half Moon where 4 balls out of 10 went very slightly under the hole at 21ft / 6,40m). It is therefore worthwhile to work on your putting technique because we will see that the results are much worse for less well executed putts.

On off-center hits, it's no surprise that the High M.O.I. putter gets the best results. By definition, its very high moment of inertia (MOI = 5850g/cm2) allows it to transfer almost the same energy to the ball no matter where it is hit on the face. The balls are almost the same distance and stay in line. This makes it our most forgiving putter in the line.

Balls hit into the heel always end up short and to the left of the hole. Balls tapped into the toe finish to the right of the hole and are less short than those tapped into the heel.

All missed putts can be considered "given", except for Blade and Maillet putters, where heel-strokes leave a putt of around 70cm at 21ft / 6.40m.

IN CONCLUSION

The initial objective was to validate a putter performance test protocol. This has been fully achieved. Our Archie robot allows us to go into a level of precision and detail impossible to achieve with a human player. Are some putters better than others? Yes, but beware of jumping to conclusions. In practice, there are other parameters for the player to take into account: