Starting the ball rolling…
March 1st, 2008 | GEL Golf, Putting Biomechanics, Quintic Video SoftwareThe following article is a feature that appeared in the March 2008 Edition of SGB Golf (The European trade Magazine). The interview and article was written by Duncan Lennard, Editor of the magazine, during the 2008 PGA Orlando Trade Show.
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Dr Paul Hurrion (pictured) of GEL Golf discusses his research into the science of putting – research that has led the likes of Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Henrik Stenson to his door. He also outlines how a mix of science and biomechanics has helped him fashion his first signature range of putters.
We are in the middle of a pulsating 2008 PGA Orlando Trade Show, however Dr Paul Hurrion’s mind is miles away, focused on a tranquil early-morning practice green,
soaked with dew. “We’ve all seen it,” he says. “You strike the putt across the green and it takes a while before the ball starts making a solid line in the dew. Before that the ball is airborne, hopping and skipping across the ground. At this point it can easily be deflected.
“We’re in the business of getting that solid line to start a lot closer to the ball’s address position.”
Hurrion’s new range of four GEL putters, constructed with the help of his Quintic computer system (www.quinticballroll.com) – essentially a launch monitor for putts – is designed to do just that. The most obvious design trait of his new range is the face grooves (GEL stands for Groove Equipment Limited), which are oriented upwards at an optimal yet undisclosed angle to impart forward spin on the ball. And while a putter with grooves might still sound as odd as a face-balanced wedge, to Hurrion it’s simple common sense.
“It’s exactly the same as grooves in a wedge,” he insists. “You wouldn’t dream of using a wedge without grooves. It’s just that with a wedge the grooves are to impart backspin. They’re at 90 degrees to the face, with much of the spin created through angle of attack. Our putter grooves are effectively smoothed upwards, reversed to created forward spin.”
Hurrion discounts the theory that forward spin can be created by angle of attack.
“One of the things the Quintic system showed us was just how briefly the ball is on the face during a putt. We are talking less than a millsecond; there is no compression of the ball at all. That’s very little time for the angle of attack to have much of an effect; plus those who try to putt low-to-high are always in danger of missing the putter’s sweetspot vertically; the sweetspot doesn’t just run from heel-to-toe, but up and down the face.”
To download the full article please click on the following link:
Page 1 : SGBGolf_Mar08_p30.pdf
Page 2 : SGBGolf_Mar08_p31.pdf
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