By Emmett Burnett
Photo by Brian Heaton
With a press of a tiny button, an embedded computer chip in a 1.68-inch diameter orb comes to life. Powered by Bluetooth, the little sphere’s electrical sensors gather and send data to a nearby mobile device.
Your golf ball probably does not do that yet. Brian Heaton’s does.
The Fairhope resident invented the PuttLink Smart Golf Ball, which went to market last summer, and along the way, achieved the Best New Product 2023 PGA Show Winner award.
The ball looks, feels, and putts, like any another other golf ball with one distinction. “Ours has a computer in it,” Heaton notes, and he demonstrates.
The Eastern Shore inventor takes a putt at the pristine greens of Fairhope’s Lakewood Golf Club. As it rolls, the ball gathers and reports information. Heaton’s smartphone immediately announces, “7 feet, 6 inches” – the length of the putt.
The golf ball registers other datapoints, via mobile device, including green conditions, ball speed, cup entry detection, and cup entry speed.
In addition, the personal putting statistics are stored in the phone’s app and viewed as graphs and charts. Knowledge is power. “This information was not readily available for most golfers before our PuttLink Smart Ball,” Heaton says. “Now it’s accessible as the putt is in progress.”
Such instant data can be beneficial in determining the golfer’s strengths and weaknesses because now, there’s an app for that.
Heaton’s inspiration for this sphere of distinction was his son, Michael, who at age 16 has won state championships. “But like most golfers, Michael disliked putting practice,” noted his father. “I wanted to make putting drills fun for him, so I designed an interactive golf ball that would make a cheering sound, when he did good or made the cup. I thought that was cool.”
“Cool” led to another idea. Heaton recalls, “I realized adding more information to the program running in the golf ball could be beneficial to golfers.” It could be a valuable training tool if the app recorded the ball’s speed and distance, track statistics, and other putting applications.
“Putting practice is mundane,” he says. “Unlike the instant gratification of hitting a 200-yard drive, watching it in flight, and shouting, ‘Wow, look what I did!’, you’re often alone and rarely receive recognition or statistics. But you should because putting is vital.”
Approximately 40 to 60 percent of a golfer’s strokes are in putting. The putter is the most important club in your golf bag. As Heaton adds, “Almost every golf hole ends in a putt.”
Competition on the green
The ball records data and achievements that can be shared with other golfers anywhere in the world. In addition to making putting practice exciting, it can be competitive as users try to outdo each other’s stats.
Now one would assume hollowing out a small cavity in a 1.68-inch orb, inserting a battery, blue tooth transmitter, and sensors, transforming the golf ball into a rolling computer, is a sizable task. One would be correct.
“I worked on a couple of prototypes but two years into it, I knew I needed help on the app. I’m a mechanical engineer by trade, but not a computer software engineer.”
He reached out to three talented men for their expertise: Matt Smith in Nashville and Jeremy Hamilton of Portland, Maine are the computer program designers. Mike Smith of Atlanta is the marketing/development specialist. Heaton’s duties include overseeing assembly, inventory, distribution and sales.
“There is nothing quite like it,” Mike Smith says, explaining the PuttLink Smart Ball. “Brian’s innovation was unique, but it came with challenges, like how do you get something in a golf ball that doesn’t impact the roll? Also, the timing of the Bluetooth low energy that powers the ball had to be just right. We had to improve the ball’s battery life (two years) too.”
Creation to market covered 5 years. “It took us a year to figure out how to cut the ball precisely,” Heaton recalls. “We developed specialty saws to split the golf ball right down the middle with surgical precision.”
The ball must roll identically to a “real” golf ball, and it does. “Our golf ball must be the same weight (46 grams) and measurements (1.68-inch diameter) as a ‘real’ golf ball, and it is.”
Photo by Emmett Burnett
As for production, PuttLink Smart Golf Balls’ circuit assembly is in Canada, the balls are from Louisiana, and final assembly and packaging are done in Brewton, Alabama. Orders are processed in Fairhope. “Everything is done in North America,” Heaton says. “We are proud of that.”
PuttLink officially launched on June 1, 2023. The smart ball products began delivery to customers a few days earlier than the company startup.
But the innovative golf balls were first introduced to the golfing community earlier in the summer at the 2023 PGA Show and scored a hole in one. PuttLink’s smart ball won Best New Product of the Year.
“We were honored to receive the award,” Heaton says. “Everybody at the show seemed interested in our product and since then, customer feedback has been good.”
To date, PuttLink has the only smart ball for putting in the world. The PuttLink team emphasizes that the ball is for putting practice, not actual golf games.
Other neat facts: A PuttLink’s ball’s transmitting range is up to 30 feet. It works through a light sensing system. Every time the ball rolls it “sees” light and dark and calculates decisions based on what it sees.
PuttLink Smart Golf Balls support Apple and Android mobile devices and will come soon to smart watches.
One caveat before you divot: The electronic ball is designed to be struck by a putter and no other club.
Currently, PuttLink’s Smart Balls are available through the company website, puttlink.com. Other sales venues are being explored, including big box sporting goods stores and internet sales. “I love the potential for this product,” Mike Smith says. “We are taking what the industry calls a ‘crawl, walk, run,’ concept. The product was launched in June and now we are going after the bigger guys to sell it, including major golf retailers.”
An idea born in Fairhope may soon have a world customer base, as PuttLink’s Smart Golf Balls keep rolling along, as they are supposed to, each with an onboard computer, ready to help golfers in need.
More info at puttlink.com.
