Zen to unveil new ‘moving floor’ tech at 150th Open Championship – with a historic twist

By
Dan Owen
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Moving floor pioneer Zen will unveil two new sister products to its Green Stage adjustable indoor putting green at next month’s 150th Open Championship in St Andrews – and there’s golfing history to be made, too.

A purpose-built Zen Green Stage indoor demo room has been created just yards from the 18th green of The Old Course, inside The St Andrews Golf Company shop, home to the world’s oldest clubmakers and foremost hickory specialists.

Zen’s two new products will be revealed alongside a 16ft Green Stage, which has been set up to recreate a series of famous putts from the last 40 years of Majors and Ryder Cup golf as part of a unique Hickory Putting Challenge.

If you are in the golf industry, and are visiting The Open in Scotland this year, you can book a free appointment for the Zen Green Stage Experience at www.zengreenstage.com/open150/.

In a bold contrast of old vs new golf technology, historic hickory putters and old-fashioned guttie, featherie and 1.62” golf balls will be available to try on the Green Stage’s slopes, which are digitally-adjustable to within 0.1% of a gradient.

The Hickory Putting Challenge will be the first time in the world that genuine hickory equipment will have been used on the Green Stage, which offers golf’s leading Adjustable Playing Surface (APS) technology.

There’s a second Zen Green Stage inside the tournament itself, on the practice ground in the Sky Sports Open Zone. The public will see it in action as Sky TV presenters present from it. Sky has been using the Green Stage’s adjustable slopes live on-air since the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in 2017.

“We want the whole industry to come and try golf’s moving floor at The Open this year” said Andy Hiseman, Zen’s General Manager. “We believe that we’ve created the perfect indoor putting experience just a few steps away from The Old Course, and with a couple of sizeable surprises up our sleeves I think it will be a memorable hour for visitors!

“The Hickory Putting Challenge, which takes just a few minutes, will be an immersive world-first experience which shows how golf technology has evolved through the ages. After feeling the floor move beneath your feet, can you then hole Seve’s Open-winning putt from 1984 at St Andrews, using a putter from the 1860s? That’s three new experiences at the same time – it promises to be a lot of fun.”

 

St Andrews Golf Company Chairman Hamish Steedman, said: “This is a terrific opportunity to step back in time, to see how golf was played throughout the last 150 years, while standing on the amazing Green Stage. Goodness knows what Old Tom Morris would have thought – hopefully, he’d have loved it!”

Zen founder Nick Middleton said: “The adjustable Green Stage is already revolutionising indoor golf around the world, and we have only just got started.

“It opens up new coaching, learning and entertainment opportunities for players, PGA coaches and golf clubs, and we intend to make our technology available to anyone who has ever hit a putt, or swung a golf club.

“We have had overwhelming interest in the Green Stage in the last 18 months from across the world, since we revealed the latest version. When we start to integrate with other popular golf tech such as launch monitors we expect demand to rise still faster.

“So we are thoroughly looking forward to meeting our friends in the golf industry, both old and new, in St Andrews next month.”

The 8ft-wide Zen Green Stage can recreate every makeable putt on the planet, and can also accurately reproduce real-world gradients for full-swing golf indoors. It is available in both On-Floor and In-Floor versions, and in lengths of 12ft, 16ft and 20ft.

Appointments to take part in the Zen Green Stage Experience are available from 0800 – 2200 from Tuesday 11th to Saturday 16th July, and from 0800 – 1800 on Sunday 17th July.

Call +44 (0)1226 781000 or see www.zengreenstage.com for all Zen Green Stage product information, or email andy.hiseman@zen.golf. For St Andrews Golf Company call +44 (0)1334 840860, see www.standrewsgolfco.com or email hamishsteedman@standrewsgolfco.com.