Hope you all had a great Christmas!

I wanted to share about some recent travels and content coming soon.

I’ve always been a fan of the way Ping shares their research. It's something they definitely don't have to do (and most other companies don't).

Over the years, Dr. Paul Wood, VP of Engineering at Ping has been kind enough to join the podcast and collaborate on videos.

So, when the opportunity came up to visit Ping HQ and dive deeper into their work, I jumped at the chance. I wanted to see the research in action, learn more about their cutting-edge tools, and, of course, pick Dr. Wood’s brain.

What followed was a two-day experience that completely blew me away. Here’s what happened...

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The first evening, we arrived at Ping HQ for the very first time. The building didn’t stand out—just a plain structure in a part of Phoenix I had never been to before.

Paul met us at the door, and we started walking through a maze of hallways and offices. After passing through a few different buildings, we stepped into the Ping Putting Lab.

Right in the center was this huge, raised putting green.

Here’s the cool part: the green isn’t just flat—it’s perfectly flat. It’s actually a piece of concrete, part of the building’s foundation.

We were there to learn about the four ways people align their putters. Ping has studied this and discovered most golfers fall into one of these four archetypes.

To dive deeper, we used eye-tracking glasses worth $25k. There's a camera that looks at the eyeball and one outward showing exactly where we were focusing.

It’s a big deal because of something called “quiet eye.” Research says you perform better when your eyes stay locked on one spot without wandering.

The idea is simple: quiet eyes lead to a quiet mind. And that’s the best state for putting.

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The next morning, we visited the epic 3D Focal Room. This is a research-grade system that tracks movements with crazy detail.

Most 3D systems show you how the body moves, but this one flips the script. At Ping they're focused on clubs so the data on clubs is WAY more than anything I'd seen elsewhere.

I hit some wedge shots, looked at the data, and learned about Ping’s study on wedge shots.

It was fascinating to see how attack angles change depending on when you strike the ground. Turns out, clipping the ball off the mat is harder than it seems.

After that, we headed to the proving grounds—a driving range where Ping runs experiments and does club fittings.

This time, we tested how mud and water affect shots.

The reliability and speed of the results blew my mind, but you’ll have to watch the video to see why.

Next, we hopped on a golf cart with Pete, our media guide for the week. He drove us through Ping’s massive warehouses—a full city block—before stopping at the Anser building.

Inside, we saw row after row of people assembling golf clubs. The scale of it was really cool to see in person.

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Finally, we checked out the Ping Man room. That’s where their robot hits shots for testing.

We talked about how to optimize distance by adjusting shot shape and contact location. Does hitting the center of the clubface really matter?

Spoiler: It was crazy how badly the robot had to mishit it to cause it to go shorter.

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Friday morning, we drove south of Phoenix to Whirlwind Golf Club to meet Frederick Lindbloom.

You’ve probably seen him on social at some point. Fred is an incredible player and putting coach, plus he owns Short Game Gains.

Fred helped me dial in my putting practice and even put me through a series of tests to see where I needed the most work.

Let’s just say some things went great, and others… not so much.

We wrapped up the day playing nine holes with head pro Brandon and assistant Dan.

The course was stunning and the weather was fantastic.

Especially after getting home I had to clear a few inches of snow off my car 😂
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All the videos are in the edit que!

We have an epic list of vids dropping starting in Jan.

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Plus some other big news I'm excited to share. Thank you so much for following along and being part of this community.

I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to go out and find these interesting stories to tell and share with you all.

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Till next time,

-Cordie

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✍️ Written By: Cordie Walker.
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