Zen Oracle Golf is a UK-based specialist golf equipment and coaching business whose customers include winning professional tour players and teaching academies. Their latest product is the Zen Green Stage, a dynamic putting green that transforms to simulate every putt from within fifteen feet from the hole. Aware of technological possibilities for expanding the appeal of their Zen Green Stage, they turned to Sheffield Hallam University for their technical expertise to develop and realise its potential.

Through the Yorkshire Innovation Fund, the company asked our Materials and Engineering Research Institute to help them enhance their product by providing a number of additional features, enabling them to launch it into a wider market.

One of the University's electronic engineering specialists, Dr Fabio Caparrelli, designed and implemented an embedded electronic system that provides real-time information about the green’s contour, displaying the information graphically on a large monitor. The project is ongoing, and future developments will include the automatic control of the green’s contour and a computer vision application to develop a golf/putting game that can be played on the same green.

The University has now become a valued member of the company's team, developing custom circuit boards and software at a price point the product can sustain going forward.

Zen Oracle's Nick Middleton said, 'The new Zen Green Stage project is a significant diversification and the search for a company to undertake the development was proving both difficult and expensive. Research had shown us that what we wanted was definitely achievable, but it was beyond the skills of anyone within the existing company.'

'Sheffield Hallam, with funding from the Yorkshire Innovation Fund, has realised this idea and developed it into a unique selling point for our product that has significantly increased its appeal and usability. We very much hope to continue this relationship to further expand the product into new markets in the future.'

Further information about the system can be found on the Zen Oracle website.