PuttView X Review
What if you were always dead-on with your green reading skills? How good a putter would you be? Personally, I think I would be the boss of the moss in my foursome. Because most of my bad putts have more to do with poor reads or not trusting my reads than they do with the strokes themselves. When I know exactly what the line is, I have a pretty good chance of making it.
For example, during a round, if there’s another player on my line who putts before me and that golfer rolls a pretty reasonable putt, I feel really good about my chances of making said putt, as long as it’s inside 10 or 12 feet. And if it’s longer than that, I like my two-putt chances.
But what if you could get a read that was exactly right every time? Well, that’s exactly what the new PuttView X promises. And it appears that it delivers as well. If you’re not familiar with PuttView, you’re like most golfers. The Hamburg, Germany-based technology company debuted its PuttView Indoor a couple of years ago. That technology uses a projector to illustrate every aspect of a putt directly onto an indoor green. In other words, no matter where you putt from, and what the breaks are on that green, PuttView shows the exact line at the optimum speed for every putt. Several tour players, as you might have guessed, as well as celebrities, CEOs, and other people with a good amount of disposable income, have these systems set up at their homes. Among the tour players using PuttView are Justin Rose, Tiger Woods and Bryson DeChambeau.
Of course with a home setup, you can only use it there, not on the greens at your club. But the original goal of PuttView’s founders was to create augmented reality goggles that can be used on any green anywhere. That goal has now been realized through the new PuttView X, which was introduced at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando in late January and should be ready to ship to customers in June.
Like the indoor version, PuttView X calculates the slopes and breaks of any putt, but it does it by using a sophisticated app that is paired with the goggles. The user wears the goggles, makes a few commands, and then can see the line of any putt on the heads-up display in the goggles. PuttView X calculates distance, break, slope and speed, transforming the green into an interactive learning platform. With its see-through displays, PuttView X overlays putt information such as start line, ball path, speed animations, and contours onto the green - providing a holographic view of any putt.
I recently had a chance to demo the PuttView X. I probably rolled 30 putts of varying lengths and breaks using the PuttView X, and I remember missing maybe one or two (and not by much). My confidence after a few putts was pretty high, it really is one of the best golf simulators in terms of wow factor. Of course, it’s impractical to take it on the greens while you’re playing with others, but I would think it’s an incredible practice tool. My guess is if you use it enough, you’ll learn to recognize traits of greens better. It would also help you build confidence and a feel for all kinds of distances.
There is a rub, though. It costs $14,480. Can you imagine forgetting this in your cart after a round? (This would make losing a rangefinder seem like losing a sleeve of balls.) If you order early, you have to hold it with a $500 deposit, but early buyers also get a $500 discount after purchase.
Will the price come down eventually? Logic says it will, but how soon and how much is anyone’s guess. In the meantime, this is pretty cool technology and one of the best golf training aids around. For those of us who can’t afford it, we just need to find someone who has one. For those who can, what a fun toy this is, one that very well could turn an average putter into a great one.
