And the Signature putters still come with Gel's horizontal grooves?
Yes. We have also given the putters a slightly thicker top line than traditional putters, with a view to raising the centre of gravity of the putter face. A lot of putters have a very low centre of gravity, but if you think about kicking a soccer ball, the kind of strike I am trying to encourage is like those free kicks with low spin, when there is true power moving from the foot and through the football. Backspin is created if the power comes from below the equator when the ball is struck. It's the same with a putter face: if the centre of gravity is too low it will create backspin.
Are the different putters suited to different types of player?
Selecting a putter is down to individual choice. Something we are going to do to help this process in the UK is open Gel fitting centres, because if a putter is not the right length or the right lie then golfers won't be reaping the benefits of the technology. The first fitting centre is opening soon and the plan is for that to be the first of many.
Are you still finding time for coaching?
That is primarily what I am doing. My five guys are Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinley, Rory McIlroy, Robert-Jan Derksen and Lee Westwood.
How do you rate McIlroy's putting this year?
He is still young, and on the putting side there were a few things we needed to address when we started working together. It was a case of going back to basics, and now we have done that work and all the drills, we are starting to see him find the feel and the flow and his tournament putting is really coming along now. He's got the basics behind him now. There's no doubt he is going to go from strength to strength.
How does your work with McIlroy vary from the coaching you give someone like Harrington?
With Harrington our work concentrates on keeping him along the straight and narrow. You can play one week in windy conditions and it can have an effect on your putting stroke that stays with you, so with all the travel and tournaments you can drift into bad habits, so there are always little tweaks to address. You have a reference point of where neutral is, and you just need to make sure you don't move too far away from that point.
The work I am doing with Padraig is quite different from what I am doing with Rory, because Padraig's putting has had the five years of work.
So what's next for you?
We have a new version of Quintic software coming out, and we have just developed some ball-roll software - all of which we do in-house - which is basically a launch monitor for putting, which has great benefits from a custom-fitting point of view. The software side of the business is growing, and education is the key market. Quintic is really established in providing schools and universities with software for sports science. The software is a way of bringing textbooks to life.
