Chirrp-Golf

I forgot to answer the stimp rating question. We have two carpets available and we'll give people the choice. The slower carpet is about an 8-9 range and the faster version is about 11-12.

One other thought we've had is to add a second target in front of the first. Then you could practice putting beyond the target if that is your practice goal. Would be trivial to just add a second target and to have a setting the app for "through-the-hole putting" practice. The Wellputt system has something to that effect - you putt through the first target and try to stop it on the second. If that's the mental strategy many folks are wanting to practice, we could simulate that pretty easily. Just having a target about 4 inches down our ramp would effect putting 8-10 inches beyond the cup. Would it be worthwhile in your opinion for us to add that?

So, this is a question we get a lot. The ramp "lengthens" the distance you are putting because it is uphill. If you rolled the putt flat, it would be about 18 inches beyond the cup. That said, whether you putt to die the ball in the hole, or you putt 12 or 18 inches past the hole, the main thing you need is the ability to accurately control your pace. Regardless of flat or inclined, you are practicing the muscle memory to hit shots reliably. When I go on the course after using the system, I putt on the practice green a bit taking various strokes that I practice on my mat and determine how far they roll on the green. Then I know what my "distances" are going to be on that course on that day. The key is that many mats don't have you working on distance control reliably at all. If your mat has a hole in it, your distance control will not be as good as rolling a putt until the ball stops. The ball falling into the cup at different speeds greatly affects your ability to practice distance. Our system has a flat cup so you can practice stopping the ball at exactly the same place (as do many flat putting mats). The difference is that our system tracks how often you do this and how accurate you are. From experience, you can probably get much more accurate than you are today (depending on your skill level) practicing with this setup. Then you just test your putting on the practice green and choose your strategy for the round. Does that make sense? I guess my contention is that perfect pace is hitting it to where you want to. If you figure out how far your ball rolls on a repeatable stroke, then you just adjust a bit to roll it 4, 8, 12 inches past the hole or whatever works for your putting strategy. Thanks!

As you saw, local multiplayer is an option. My ten year old is a killer putter and is thrilled when he beats me on it once in a while. It's a lot of fun. Our app is cross platform and supports both iOS and Android - pretty much should work on any recent device (less than 4 years old or so). Question for you - we've been thinking about adding additional targets and launch points. Maybe putting a small target on each side and then starting "tees" kind of randomly all over the mat. They would be numbered and we'd say "putt at target 3 from tee #6" as an additional challenge. These would not have alignment guides and you'd have to line up the putt yourself. We can tell where the ball ends up so we can rate the putts the same way. Would it be worth it to you to have more targets and many more starting positions? Thanks for looking!

Hi Spies! I bought a putting mat a few years ago to practice during the winter and putted some straight putts. Well, that was underwhelming, but I saw some potential so I fixed it. I wired it up with sensors and started having it automatically track my make/miss percentage and streak (20 in a row, etc.). Suddenly, I could concentrate more on putting and get some feedback on how my practice session really went. Two years later, a couple of friends and myself have created our own system with an app that tracks speed, accuracy, tendencies, make/miss percentage, and many other stats. It also lets you play different practice games and lets you compete online. We're wondering what the spies think and if any of you are interested in backing our Kickstarter (link: Chirrp Golf Kickstarter) - You can see a video of the system at the Kickstarter page. We're literally a three person team trying to bootstrap a company and need all the feedback and support we can get. Critical feedback is important, too. We know the product won't be for everybody, but for those who it fits in the wheelhouse of, we want to know what improvements are needed or what questions you have so we can make it meet as many of your needs as is practical (keeping manufacturing price in mind). I've attached a couple of photos of the system to this post so you can get a quick look. Thanks so much for taking a look. We really appreciate it. --Nate

Hi everyone! I’m a golfer from Maine - rare thing, but there are probably others out there. 1. How long have you been playing golf? What’s your handicap or normal score? I’ve been playing golf for nearly 30 years - started as a teenager in California. I haven’t had an official handicap in years but generally shoot around 90. 2. What do you love about golf? My favorite thing about golf is hitting the pure shot and being outdoors. Just the one fabulous shot (or sometimes more) a round keeps me coming back. That said, I used to love competing and getting better, but that's been on hold while I've been raising kids (that golf). I'm hoping to get more serious golf time as the kids get older and I get a little more spare time back. 3. What brings you to MyGolfSpy? Do you already know any other Spies? I've read the articles for years when looking at equipment purchases, but my reason for joining the forum is to get advice and hopefully support for a golf business I'm trying to start. I don't know any other spies that I know of. 4. Where are you from? What is your home course? My home course is Spring Meadows in Gray, Maine. It’s really a gem in pretty rural Maine. 5. What are the best and worst things about golf in your region? The worst thing about golf in my region is winter - tough to get any golf in. The best is fall - the views of the foliage when on the course are just spectacular. 6. What do you do for a living? I’m a software developer. 7. How’d you pick your user name? My username is the name of my company - a domain I bought when I thought I would write some sort of Twitter app, but it ended up being a great name for a putting business that I’m working on. Thanks again and nice to meet you all.