At a recent European Tour event, German company Viewlicity GmbH, based in Hamburg, showcased the outdoor version of its augmented reality product, PuttView, to professional golfers and coaches.
PuttView, which as the name suggests, focuses on putting practice, enables players to visualise the ideal ball path and see relevant practice information, with the ultimate goal of improving performance. It is broken up into to two products, based on if it is an an outdoor or indoor environment. In 2016, PuttView won an “Auggie” Award for “Best in Show” at the first Augmented World Expo (AWE) Europe event in Berlin.
PuttView Outdoor, demoed at the Porsche European Open event at the Green Eagle Golf Courses in Hamburg, saw professionals wear augmented reality glasses. With these over their eyes, players were able to see a virtual putting line and information on the distance from the hole, all delivered in augmented reality.
The outdoor version is not currently available as an off-the-shelf-product, but the company does create custom builds of the product. For example, following the Porsche European Open there is now a permanent PuttView Outdoor installation at the Green Eagle Golf Courses where anyone can try it in a putting clinic.
Meanwhile, PuttView Indoor does not rely on augmented reality glasses, but instead projects an animated light path directly onto the putting surface, enabling users to see the line and pace of a breaking putt. The product is available now for purchase and is aimed primarily at golf academies.
In an interview, Lukas Posniak, Managing Director at Viewlicity GmbH and one of the creators of PuttView, detailed in written comments how the opportunity to showcase the technology came about.
“When we heard that the Porsche European Open was coming to Hamburg we thought: ‘this is it!’
“Thankfully we found the best possible supporters in the two owners (of the Green Eagle Golf Courses) Michael Blesch and Ralf Lühmann. They followed their own vision for the week in hosting a major European Tour event, but still found the time to support us as we followed ours. The planning and preparation for this event took more than six months.”
In a press release to accompany the demo day, a number of professionals praised the product. Johan Edfors, who has won three European Tour events said: “PuttView gave me a totally new putting experience.”
Asked why he felt the company needed to demo the product to professionals, PuttView’s Posniak wrote that “Tour pros would provide us the best-possible feedback.”
“If a person who depends upon golf for his living tells you he would use your product for regular practice, then that product will be good for every golfer. The feedback we got was amazing, especially concerning the accuracy of our visuals, the flexibility of how it can be used and the usability.”
Regarding if it was planning further demo days at other professional golf tournaments, there are “no fixed plans yet,” according to Posniak. “We are always open to new ideas and encourage everyone to get in touch with us to discuss them together. PuttView is not only for professional golfers and coaches, after all, and if you are running a golf event it offers a unique and memorable experience for whoever is there.”
“We will have between one and two dozen PuttView Indoor systems in play by the end of this year,” while also according to Posniak, entry into the U.S. market was of critical importance for the company in the short term. “Our main focus is currently to prepare our pre-launch in the US, and to install the first PuttView customer systems this year. We plan to be fully operational in the US in 2018.”
