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Pin Mapping Green Guide Feature Review

By: | Wed 07 Jun 2017


Over the past few weeks I have been reading a lot online and in the press about the greens' books being used on the PGA tour and how much they are adding to the issue we have in the game at the top level with slow play.  This was recently shared via Twitter by Ian Poulter.

 

 

As you can see, complicated doesn’t even scratch the surface.

So imagine my interest when I got approached by ‘Pin Mapping’ claiming to have a simply designed, easy to use alternative to the complicated green books some of us may have seen/used like above.

Pin Mapping

Pin Mapping offer golf clubs around the country the opportunity to provide their visitors and members alike with 2 items. First is a more traditional course guide, otherwise known by the Pin Mapping team as ‘Strategy Guides’. The second, and the main reason for the 5 hour round trip to West Sussex Golf Club, are the Green Guide.

The green guide is a very simply mapped out guide to each individual green on the course. Using an easy to understand colour system identifying different degree and direction of breaks to different pin positions. Using the green guide in conjunction with the specially designed Pin Mapping Ball marker you simply line up the ball marker towards the hole, check your position on the green and align your ball with the desired colour as shown in the guide.

Pin Mapping Ball Alignment

The green guide is smart in the sense that for each pin position you can see breaks mapped out for the entire green, and then a secondary smaller guide that is within 10ft of the hole as seen below.

The bigger diagrams will also help with any kind of chip/pitch shots around the greens and the smaller circles with add so much confidence to your putting.

So the theory had me and I couldn’t wait to put it to the test as the practical side is always the most interesting part.

As we approached the 1st green at West Sussex (Par 5, both on the green in regulation) my ball had gone 12-15ft past the hole, my playing partner was pin high but about the same distance away to the right. So firstly we had to work out which pin position and which direction we were putting from. It may sound complicated but by the 2nd hole we had a grasp on how to use the guide properly.

We were playing to pin position A, as seen below. As I had gone past the hole so I had the ‘yellow’ break and from the diagram I was putting back down to the hole so was a slight left to right. My partner was on the right of the diagram therefore also had a left to right – although what he saw from his eye was a right to left…….and how wrong he was. I couldn’t see much break in mine to the naked eye, but trusted the book and bar the pace it would have dropped rather than the lip out.

Pin Mapping Green Guide

At this point I feel the need to point out that even trying to describe this in words is hard as I feel this is by far a practical based idea and the best way to get a true understanding is to  give it a try.

As the round continued I found a couple of things.

Firstly, I couldn’t get to the green quick enough! Part excitement of using the guides and part excitement of the fact that after 3 holes – having already holed one putt from 10ft and a lip out from 15ft – I genuinely felt I was going to hole everything.

The second was the help it offered me when greens were missed. Getting up and down once or twice a round is good for me, so the 4/5 times during this round was a welcome addition to the experience.

The greens at West Sussex were like lightening and subtle breaks everywhere. To get round 18 holes without a 3 putts was crazy. My average of around 34/35 putts was a distance memory and the added confidence from inside 10ft was incredible.

Pin Mapping is easy to use, doesn’t slow play down and can really benefit your golf game like you wouldn’t even imagine as well as adding to the experience of your round and aiding your game.  I would jump at the chance to use the Pin Mapping guides again and would highly recommend anyone else jumps if they get the chance!

Pin Mapping have also successfully broken into the professional game by mapping for a number of East Region PGA events with great success and feedback and a potential move away from the complicated guides currently available to Pin Mapping’s solution may also speed up play. The guides will be priced around £10-£15 depending on the course – compared to other more detailed green guides which can retail between £40-£50.

If you want to find out more on how to get the greens at your course you can contact [email protected] to request information and find out more.

You can also follow Pin Mapping on twitter @PinMapping_Golf
 


What do you think? post your thoughts and feedback on the Golfshake Forum: https://forum.golfshake.com/


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