Move Over Stimp: STRI Trueness Meter In Use At The Players
/The Stimpmeter is usually blamed for fueling the chase for speed, though I'm pretty sure there would have been a green speed obsession even without a device to quantify pace.
Richard Windows measures TPC Sawgrass green trueness. (Click to enlarge)For the first time on our shores, a device invented to put a number on smoothness and trueness of ball roll was used to document The Players greens.
On Saturday, PGA Tour agronomist Paul Vermeulen introduced me to Richard Windows of the Sports Turf Research Institute, who is here measuring the vertical and lateral movements of golf balls on the TPC Sawgrass greens. While the first reaction would be to assume this means another device that emphasizes our over-obsession with greens, I would counter that the data collected could allow for quantifying quality conditions, therefore quieting critics who say silly things about grain or wigglyness of putts.
A short explanatory video from the STRI:
