PuttTrue Uses Colors, Shapes to Make You a Better Putter
After retiring as a patent attorney in 2013, Andrew Spriegel picked up golf four years later and quickly faced a common putting conundrum that has vexed many players since the game's creation.
He had difficulty with alignment and execution.
The issue led Spriegel, also a longtime engineer credited with a plethora of patents, to search for a fix. With so many putting aids littering the market — backed by untold amounts of money — he figured a simpler, cost-effective tool could be invented.
Discovering a putting solution can be like understanding a mysterious archaeological find — captivating and exciting at first, but too often winds up turning into head-scratching calisthenics.
Borne out of Spriegel’s thousands of hours of work came PuttTrue. It incorporates colored and diagrammed patent-pending ball markers printed on balls that control both distance and alignment, coupled with the "Quiet Eye" (QE) technique. And it can be used on and off the course.
Every golfer wants lower scores, which is what Spriegel claims will happen with PuttTrue by using golf ball performance markers (imagine seeing crosshair optics while looking through a rifle scope) along with the proper training.
According to Spriegel, the PuttTrue GazeEye performance marker is custom created by using putting data recorded with an instructor, taking slope, green speed, increased gaze time, alignment and unlevel feet into consideration. Based on the data, an algorithm determines the marker pattern that is designed specifically for each golfer. Each pattern then helps a golfer with alignment forms, which leads to a more accurate putt.
The GazeEye system focuses on various factors: color and shape psychology and Quiet Eye, which athletes such as Steph Curry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Serena Williams, to name a few, have integrated into their games.
Based on reviews, Quiet Eye has shown to improve a golfer’s putting ability. England's Dr. Samuel Vine worked with QE creator Joan Vickers, a kinesiologist and former NCAA Division I college volleyball player, on a study that showed low-handicap golfers using QE training reduced their score by two strokes per round versus untrained QE golfers. They took 22 golfers — 11 of whom were trained and 11 untrained — and reviewed the data.
The study caught Spriegel's eye. He concentrated on right-eye dominance first, finding that more times than not that when he set up to a putt, the hole looked like it was to the right of his intended aim.
"So I started taking a permanent marker out on the course and found that colors influence your putting distance," he says. "When you look at the color red, your respiratory rate goes up and your heart rate rises. All colors influence you in some way, and that's been proven scientifically. I was putting shorter so I started putting red marks on my balls."
For instance, he began drawing triangle inscriptions on his balls to help with alignment. This idea became the genesis for having different marker shapes printed on balls, depending on what needed improvement. Spriegler assimilated 15 prescriptive QE symbols on the markers to promote a hard-to-miss focal point.
"We have color that controls distance, we have markers that control alignment and now we have the QE incorporated as well," says Spriegel.
As his putting improved, he connected with acclaimed sports vision expert Dr. Larry Lampert, who has worked with many athletes ranging from PGA and LPGA golfers to Major League Baseball players and Olympic athletes. Dr. Lampert, now a PuttTrue spokesperson, came away impressed.
Dr. Lampert told Spriegel, "I absolutely love this. I've been training people on the eyes all this time, and that's a lot to remember. With this, you're striking the ball with your natural stroke."
Soon Spriegel, who was in four golf leagues, started helping other players by marking their balls with permanent markers. It eventually paved the way to the more professional-looking performance markers that can be printed on any golf ball.
After luring 50 golfers to serve as testers, Spriegel was convinced he was onto something. All his data resides in an Excel spreadsheet at Penn State University.
The process goes like this: An instructor plugs in data to various questions that are then fed into an algorithm. Golfers are instructed not to use a mat with lines since it can throw off putts. Instructed to putt with a natural and comfortable stroke, the golfer takes 20 putts from either 8 or 10 feet. Each ball location after a putt is recorded.
After the first 20 putts, the golfer receives education on the science of vision, color and other proprietary factors. They then take another 20 putts while instructors record facial expressions, breathing and rapid movement. The algorithm determines what markers should be printed on balls, which the golfer uses as the training aid.
"Part of it is just geometry," says Spriegel, who secured funding from Ben Franklin Portfolio Program, a venture capital group, and has received support from Edinboro University, Gannon University, Mercyhurst University and Penn State.
PuttTrue offers balls with varied directional logos.
PuttTrue
Spriegel received a cursory blessing from the U.S. Golf Association, which told him the logoed balls don't require a separate listing on the List of Conforming Golf Balls "when the local rule requiring that the player must use a ball that is on the list is in effect. As noted, the alignment logo must not obscure or encroach upon the pole and seam markings of the golf ball upon which it is applied."
In terms of demographics, PuttTrue likely would benefit the middle- and lower-handicap players, although it has caught the attention of some professionals. The LPGA Tour's Nasa Hataoka, who recently won the DIO Implant LA Open, used PuttTrue and shared with Spriegel that it's one reason she has ascended to No. 6 on the Rolex Women's World Golf Ranking (as of May 4). Amateurs Kathy Kurta and Corey Weworski, both USGA championship winners, also reported improvements after using the product.
The product may be most appealing to teachers, says Spriegel.
Using TrackMan as an example, some instructors have invested upwards of $20,000-plus into those devices and might be challenged to recoup that money through lessons. In PuttTrue's model, instructors would first need to be certified for $1,250. The list of certified instructors is growing, which includes high school and college golf coaches, as well as public course instructors. Spriegel and his wife are also certified instructors.
The certification process involves two sessions without a client where they conduct practice sessions, then run a live client lesson as a certified instructor watches. There are also documentation and video tutorials, and at-home training. In the meantime, Penn State is developing an app to collect data.
For clients, virtual lessons are $100 along with $125 for the marked balls.
"It's a no-brainer, and on top of it we can show — because we have the Quiet Eye mark — that you will reduce your score," Spriegel says.