ZENIO Sports - Putting the Smarts into Putting Practice

- In early December, ZENIO Sports of Frankfurt, Germany launched a new training and fitting system that is designed to provide golfers with immediate and accurate data on their putting under natural conditions -- the actual greens where you play. The use of 21st century “smarts” is in the form of sensors that attach to a putter. They feed real-time data to a smartphone app via Bluetooth that is translated into easy-to-understand graphs; a major breakthrough for golfers seeking more consistency in their short game.

The system is called ZENIO. It was developed in conjunction with leading coaches and Tour players and made its debut in Europe, at the culmination of the Race to Dubai in November of 2009. The response was overwhelmingly positive from the global golf community.

A few weeks later it arrived in Las Vegas at the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) National Convention. From the looks of it, distributors should be lining up to sign agreements that will make them among the first to offer this truly smart approach to improving your putting. Version 1.0 shows tremendous potential.

What’s a ZENIO?

Measuring the size of a matchbox and weighing just 29 grams (that’s about half the weight of an old school, iPod Nano), the ZENIO is sort of a magic feedback collector that transmits information to the user’s smartphone or PDA using Bluetooth technology (the same form of wireless communication used for cordless cell phone headsets). The little ZENIO device can be attached to a putter in less than 15 seconds. Inside of it is sensor technology that has been especially tuned to measure the key parameters of the putting stroke: impact, rhythm, face angle and face loft/de-loft. That information, when accepted by the smartphone app, gets translated into graphical format so you can see at-a-glance how you are doing.

Imagine the possibilities. With ZENIO, you now have access to a bunch of data that has been automatically recorded during each practice session. You will be able to do things like chart your progress over time on all types of putts (straight, breaking, uphill, downhill) from a variety of different distances, on true putting surfaces. With this data, ZENIO can help you get a better understanding of your putting strengths and weaknesses. Most of all, it helps with your putting consistency.

The ZENIO approach involves the creation of a “Best” performance baseline from which all other data is compared. The software also includes a way to compare putting sessions with a Tour player.

The Logic behind ZENIO

The ZENIO system works well for putting because that aspect of the game requires fewer technical skills than the full swing or the short game chip and pitch. When it comes to putting, the areas of focus are on mental balance (rhythm) and stroke accuracy (impact and open close angles) at the same time and in real time. Those are what ZENIO measures.


Turning Data into Usable Information

Stepping away from mere stroke consistency, an even bigger benefit of using the ZENIO system is that it is supposed to help you find your optimum stance, grip and posture. Plus, by using the fitting option, it can even reveal which putter type is best for your stroke.


Getting Started

The premise behind ZENIO is brilliant in that you are not in an artificial environment. Rather, you are practicing on outdoor greens -- under true conditions. The idea is to get you into a state of mind where you are relaxed and calm. The “ideal” or benchmark is obtained from hitting straight, 10-foot putts. No tricky breaks. ZENIO believes that when you are in this sort of Zen mode, you will produce the best and most consistent results.

You start by playing three sessions of 7 straight putts each, where the data recorded will indicate your best impact consistency, your best rhythm and your best open close angle. That is all rolled into “My Best,” which is your personal benchmark.

Testing My Best

The next step involved putting challenges (i.e. different slopes and breaks, challenging distances). Maybe it is something you’ve never been able to nail before with consistency like a five-foot downhill putt. The ZENIO magic box records the data and lets you compare it against the “My Best” benchmark that has been established.

The graphical interface will make it easy to pinpoint areas to work on. And that’s where ZENIO completes the loop – with suggested putting drills.

Practice Smarter

Armed with your own personal putting information, you can go to the ZENIO website from your smartphone and see what kinds of putting drills you should be doing. Leading coaches have created these drills. The key is that you can get what you need immediately with the caveat of having mobile Internet access (some golf courses have limited 3G cellular).

Another option is to download drills before you head to the practice green, using data from previous sessions.

Lastly, ZENIO SPORTS has included a way for you to upload your putting data to an area on their site where it can be viewed remotely by a coach/instructor.

Areas Covered

Inconsistency at impact: Emphasis on stabilizing your body’s comfort zone. Drills focus on firming up your stance and reducing lower body shifts.

Inconsistency of rhythm: Emphasis on stabilizing your mental comfort zone. Focus is on your pre shot routine, your confidence regarding putting line and testing feel by putting with eyes closed.

Inconsistency of open/close angle: Emphasis on checking putter length, lie and loft, testing face balanced, half hang and full hang, checking different putter weights.

Conclusion

Since 2004, Dr. Richard Jaekel, the inventor of the ZENIO system, has been working with a number of Tour members to perfect it. He is proud of the fact that it is easy to use (15 second set up), highly accurate (using latest sensor technology) and efficient in real world conditions (on the putting green and on the golf course). He remarked, “With its mobility and immediacy, the ZENIO is a training tool that everyone can benefit from.”

The fact that the emphasis is not on being technically perfect, but rather finding a comfortable style that gives consistent performance, is huge. A lot of golfers tense up by trying too hard to be perfect, which can lead to frustration and diminishing confidence. Dr. Jaekel is onto something for sure.

The Road Ahead

There are a few issues that will hamper the success of ZENIO. First, it appears that it works only with Windows Mobile smartphones (i.e. HTC Touch Diamond, HTC Touch HD). Here in the States, the majority of the smartphones are either Apple’s iPhone, those running Google Android (DROID, Nexus One) or Research in Motion’s BlackBerry. For this ZENIO approach to catch on it needs to be available as an app on the types of phones golfers have with them.

The second problem is lack of distribution in the U.S. On the ZENIO Sports website, when you click on the Shop tab you are offered three options: European Union and Germany, European Union with VAT-ID, USA, Canada and Rest of World. When you tap USA, you are shown options that are listed in Euros (i.e. The ZENIO Tour Edition is available with a brown or black leather case. € 587.40). You can Google the exchange rate and see that this translates to roughly $835 with another $30 for shipping. Clearly this could be an issue.

Plus, at that price point, golfers will want to try before they buy. Hopefully, ZENIO Sports will be able to ratchet up their product line and distribution so that their putting training system will be “demo-able” and readily accessible later this Spring or in the early Summer.

For more information, visit www.zeniosports.com