Golfers Survey

CLH1234

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Hi all,

I am currently studying Marketing at university and have been tasked to design an innovative product for one of my modules. For this, I’ve decided to design a premium golf ball that is capable of recording the following:
  • GPS Location
  • Spin Rate
  • Shot Distance
  • Speed
  • Launch Angle
  • Torque
  • Impact Points
All of the above will be recorded via a mobile app with the hope it enables golfers to improve different facets of their game.

As part of this process, I’ve had to design a survey as a means of gathering data from current golfers and was wondering whether I could gather any responses from this page?

I’m not actually a golfer myself, so I apologise for any incorrect phrasing or assumptions.

Any feedback would be great.

*Edit: This is purely a concept testing assignment with the aim of deciding whether this product would be feasible in the current market, I am in no way assuming this product would be successful.

Thank you.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CX9KXWL
 
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HomerJSimpson

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Welcome. First and foremost a golf ball capable of producing such information would be illegal for competitive play. As a premium ball I'd also suggest with the technology inside it would be hugely expensive and therefore cost prohibitive. I would also be concerned with the durability of the technology within a ball being hit regularly and the forces a driver would exert. The concept itself is interesting but I don't really see a market for it. As for the majority of the stuff being measured, most of these are already covered by launch monitors like GC Quad and Trackman. Sorry if my post sounds negative and/or blunt but I hope you can take the points on board and maybe consider another idea
 

CLH1234

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Welcome. First and foremost a golf ball capable of producing such information would be illegal for competitive play. As a premium ball I'd also suggest with the technology inside it would be hugely expensive and therefore cost prohibitive. I would also be concerned with the durability of the technology within a ball being hit regularly and the forces a driver would exert. The concept itself is interesting but I don't really see a market for it. As for the majority of the stuff being measured, most of these are already covered by launch monitors like GC Quad and Trackman. Sorry if my post sounds negative and/or blunt but I hope you can take the points on board and maybe consider another idea

Thank you for a quick response! Extremely interesting feedbak with some information I was completely unware of. Thank you for your help.
 

Grant85

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Yes - agree with Homer. It's largely impractical and not cost effective - even if it was legal.

A GPS ball would be good and make it much harder to lose a ball - assuming you change it on holes with water hazards.

I'd imagine that technology exists to produce this and make it almost exactly the same as a current premium ball. Certainly easily good enough for amateur golfers.
And people would be willing to pay more for it - and it would make golf more enjoyable if you could pin point your ball in the rough and not spend even 1 minute looking for it.

But realistically, a ball is going to be beat up after 3 or 4 rounds of golf and so cost is still going to be an issue for many people.
 

CLH1234

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Yes - agree with Homer. It's largely impractical and not cost effective - even if it was legal.

A GPS ball would be good and make it much harder to lose a ball - assuming you change it on holes with water hazards.

I'd imagine that technology exists to produce this and make it almost exactly the same as a current premium ball. Certainly easily good enough for amateur golfers.
And people would be willing to pay more for it - and it would make golf more enjoyable if you could pin point your ball in the rough and not spend even 1 minute looking for it.

But realistically, a ball is going to be beat up after 3 or 4 rounds of golf and so cost is still going to be an issue for many people.

Perfect, thank you. Taking the illegality away, it does seem as though durability would be the main issue facing its success. Thanks again for your response.
 

Bunkermagnet

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Interesting concept purely as a practice aid, but it isn't something I would buy on cost basis and it being illegal to use. I imagine also the weight would be dramatically different to a real ball so all the data it could give you would be irrelevant to the real game.
 

duncan mackie

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As a training aid I am afraid I don't see advantages over existing technology, and some down sides.
Measuring the balls position(s) with GPS tech externally is both cheap and uses common technology (mobile phones). This also enables you to avoid the complexity of performance compromise resulting from the embedding of anything inside the ball that isn't part of the technical materials any premium ball utilises. What ever is embedded would need to be perfectly positioned and weighted (in itself) not to compromise ball flight and some of the other things you are proposing to measure as well.
In the same way, measurement of spin rates etc with external devices are pretty easy and require no special ball.
In conclusion, if it was possible to embed in range balls at a really low unit cost such that it enabled the average golfer to use their mobile phone as a launch monitor for each shot - that I can see having a benefit and market. I appreciate that on the face of it that represents a challenge (but that's someone else's problem!).
Fwiw ball location finding set ups already exist and you might find some interesting information in that area relating to embedding technology in balls.
 

Slab

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If you're able to change the concept a little, what golfers really want is a ball 'with ears'

If you spend any time on a course you will soon hear players shouting instructions at the recently departed golf ball as it flies off. Apart from the odd occurrence that we'll put down to 'luck' the average golf ball (even premium quality balls) pays no heed whatsoever to the players instructions (it almost seems like its deliberately being disobedient!)

I for one would pay a pretty penny for the ball that 'listens'
 

jim8flog

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As well as other reasons for such a ball being against the equipment rules, weight of the ball being one of the factors not mentioned, I would expect such a ball to have a major impact on it's performance and therefore unlikely to attract golfers who are very particular in the type of ball they play.

Outside of playing golf on a golf course and abiding by the rules, a very similar ball is already in existence and is used at Top Golf Ranges. At these ranges you aim at targets and score according to how close you get to the target. The balls have a tracker inside them which is programmed to be unique to the player hitting that ball so the points are put on their screen display in the bay they are using .
 

Hobbit

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Interesting idea.

First thing that comes to mind is what would a golfer do with the data? A pro or a club fitter might say you need to change x,y,z to play better but the average Joe wouldn't have a Scooby.
 
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