1 Quintic Ball Roll v2.4 The Launch Monitor for Putting www.quinticballroll.com Introduction The putter… the most used club in the bag but the most overlooked part of the average golfer’s practice. Golfers around the world are using the technology available in today’s market to help analyse and improve their golf swing. Technology has transformed golf tuition and club fitting, offering golfers three dimensional frame by frame swing analysis, high-speed video and precise spin rates and launch angles that apply to the golf ball after impact. However, when it comes to putting, rather than analysing what our putting stroke and the ball are doing in detail, we simply opt to buy another putter with little more than hope as to whether it will truly improve our putting performance. Quintic Ball Roll Technology The brains behind the Quintic software is Dr Paul Hurrion - Quintic Consultancy Managing Director and international sports biomechanics adviser. Paul’s passion for golf has led him to a specialism in putting analysis and advice, assisting European Tour Professionals, holding PGA accredited Putting Clinics and being an invited Member of the Titleist Performance Institute’s Advisory Panel. He is probably best known for his work since 2002 with Padraig Harrington, Paul also works with many other top Tour Professionals including Rory McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Oliver Wilson, Robert-Jan Derksen, Lee Westwood… But what is Quintic Ball Roll Software all about… ? Quintic Ball Roll software utilises a high-speed camera (up to 260 frames per second) tracking the golf ball for the first 12 inches (30cms) of the putt. It then instantly and clearly provides all of the information you need regarding the putt, graphically and numerically in a way that was formerly only available for full swing analysis software for irons and woods. Following a simple calibration procedure (right or left handed golfers), the software can be used indoors in a controlled putting studio or outdoors on the putting green with the same degree of accuracy. Quintic Ball Roll v2.4 software instantly shows: • Skid, Backspin & Roll • Launch Angle & Bounce • Ball Speed • Angular rotation & revolutions • Hook or Slice Side Spin • The point of True Roll • Push & Pull • The average of the last twenty putts, and the range & standard deviation for easy comparison of putters and putting technique 2 www.quinticballroll.com Quintic Ball Roll v2.4 – Free 21 day Trial Version To use the FREE 21 day Trial: • download and install the program – QuinticGolfBallRTSpin2.4_setup.exe from the website: www.quinticballroll.com (Link on Home Page) • click Run & follow the directions on the screen. • once the install shield wizard is complete click finish. • a new icon has been created on your desktop called Quintic Golf Ball Roll v2.4. • double click on the icon. • click on “Register later” to access the program for up to 21 days • open the example files via the “yellow folder” icon at the top left hand • choose from the five folders, select one of the folders, then select an example putts • the selected putt will load into the Quintic Ball Roll program • view the statistical analysis • view the frame by frame movement of the ball • consider the statistics and graphs • think how you would use Quintic Ball Roll for putter fitting and recommendation? • think how you would use Quintic Ball Roll to aid putter sales? • think how you would use Quintic Ball Roll for analysis and coaching of putting technique? • think how you would use Quintic Ball Roll to increase the price of your putting lessons? The FREE 21-day Trial Version of the Quintic Ball Roll v2.4 program has a number of sample putts you can view and analyse. In addition there are five example putting sessions collected from European Tour Players. To access the information, click on the yellow folder icon (top left of the screen) and select a putt from one of the five example putting sessions. To access a Putting Session, click on Summary, Load Putting Session, open the memo pad and select one of the five examples. (Please Note: It is not possible to film and record your own putting strokes within the FREE 21-day trial software) 3 www.quinticballroll.com Button Functions • The Composite icon witches you between seeing all the balls or just one ball in a single frame. • The Roll icon turns on and off the green line through the two left dots indicating skid and roll. • The Marker icon will put the 3 X's on the dots of the ball for the frame you are on. You can use this feature to see if it missed a dot in any of the frames. • The Ball icon will put a red circle around the ball showing you which frame you are on. • Underneath the main image, on the left you have your Play, Pause, Reset and Scroll Bar. These buttons enable the individual frame (composite turned off) to be viewed. It is also possible to scroll frame by frame by clicking on the arrows on the scroll bar. • The Loop icon when active will continual loop the video when in Play mode. • Centre of the Ball trajectory shows you the amount of vertical bounce of the ball. • The Camera icon enables the user to create a single jpeg image of the current screen. It is possible to copy, save or print the screenshot. • The Video Camera icon enables the user to create a frame by frame video file of the current putt. It is then possible to copy or email this video to your client. • State – Putt Analysis 97% frames valid – GREEN • Right Hand / Left Hand Putt • 200.66 fps – Recording Speed of the USB2 Camera • Create your own company logo 4 www.quinticballroll.com Results Table • Average Ball Speed: the average velocity the ball achieved during the first 12” (30cms). This is a very good tool for determining if the golfer is hitting the ball consistently out of the sweet spot. Have a person take ten putts of the same distance. If for example, the results show a range of more than 1 mph on a fifteen foot putt, then there is likely to be an issue with pace control for that golfer… Factors to consider would be, not always hitting the ball on the same spot (hopefully sweet spot) on the putter face, inconsistent ball position, too much acceleration or deceleration in the stroke…. One suggestion would be to try using a putter with a bigger sweet spot putter... Every putt is a straight putt, so unless the golfer has good pace control (consistent energy transfer from club to ball) then it will be very difficult to read a green correctly. It is also possible using the Vertical Bounce graph, to view the ball speed at each individual frame position. It is interesting to note how quickly a ball loses speed as a result of its contact with the ground, especially if it is bouncing… • RPM Cut or Hook Spin: will tell you whether they are putting cut or hook spin on their putts. Again have the golfer hit 10 putts and look for patterns. If the spin rate is between 10–20rpm's (either cut or hook) the number will turn Orange, anything over 20rpms it will turn Red, under 10 it will be Green. Anything under 20 rpm's either cut or hook is an acceptable degree of spin and will not have a significance on the path. Once the RPM starts to go above 20 rpm you may need to change the fitting of the putter: for example lie angle, face balanced vs. toe heavy to correct the spin rate without changing the technique of the golfer. However, if you have a SPIN rate of above 40 rpm, you need to fix their stroke…. >20 rpm of Cut or Hook spin is enough side spin to cause the golf ball to change its intended path (i.e. miss the hole) when putting over a distance of 10ft! • Start of Forward Rotation: will tell you whether the golf ball has positive RPM rotation or negative rotation at the point of impact. In certain instances during impact, the golf ball is imparted with backspin and hence has a negative rotation. In this instance the ‘Start of Forward Rotation’ is the point the ball stops spinning backwards. • True Roll: is the calculated point at which true roll (roll with no skid) occurs. (Even a 7 iron ‘bump and run shot’ will eventually achieve 100% true roll). Research undertaken at Quintic Consultancy Ltd, has shown that the sooner a ball achieves true roll, the more consistent the ball is at holding its intended path. For example, compare two putts of the same distance: Putt 1, 190 degrees forward rotation at 12 inches, 35 RPM of Cut spin: Putt 2, 165 degrees forward rotation at 12 inches, 2 RPM of hook spin: Which putt achieves True Roll the earliest? The answer, Putt 2. Side spin is detrimental when trying to maximize the point of 100% True Roll (no skid!). True roll is ultimately what the design of the putter and your stroke mechanics should be trying to achieve. The ideal true roll number is <10% of the distance of the putt. For example a 20ft putt should be able to achieve True Roll by 2ft (24 inches)… • Initial Launch Angle: provides you with the launch angle of the ball leaving the putter face. This is helpful to see if the ball is going too high in the air or being driven downwards into the ground and bouncing back up! The ideal launch angle is based upon the green speed and type of grass; however ideally you are looking for a launch angle of between 0.5 degrees and 1.5 degrees.