Mastering the perfect golf swing is a lot harder than it looks, and putting is even harder than blasting a golf ball down the fairway. So while it will probably never be approved for use in PGA tournaments, the Jedi Putter — designed by students at Rice University — provides real-time feedback helping an amateur golfer master their putting game.
The putter’s oversized head is packed with all kinds of wonderful technology including an accelerometer, a gyrometer, and a magnetometer that all work together to ensure the motions of a putting stroke are accurate and consistent.
During a stroke the person holding the club can not only see a set of LEDs on the club head that light up in different colours indicating what they’re doing wrong, but the putter’s handle will also vibrate until their swing is linear and straight.
Because a putter packed with electronics wouldn’t be permitted in any kind of official stroke play, the students have created a duplicate version that weighs and feels the same as the Jedi Putter. So if a golfer masters their putting stroke using the augmented club, they will be able to switch to a legal dummy version of the club that feels the same in hand, but won’t give them an unfair advantage outside of their newfound skills. [Rice University via Damn Geeky]