Zen Green Stage at Auchterlonies

Did you know there is a Zen Green Stage in St Andrews? Did you know that it has been here since the 2022 Open? No, neither did I, but it's been sitting quietly in the back room of the St Andrews Golf Co and can now be accessed by Adam Legg of Auchterlonies for putter fittings.

How many readers knew this was here?

The Zen Green Stage is an excellent piece of technology. Many of you will have seen it on Sky Sports or other golf channels and may already be familiar with it. If you're not, head to their website here for a detailed look. The Zen Green Stage "is the most advanced UKCA certified moving floor in the world" and can "recreate the contours of 700,000 putting greens from around the world". Imagine if you could recreate that awkward 12-foot, downhill, left to right putt on the 13th hole of The Old Course that is your nemesis. What an amazing bit of kit for fitting putters and practicing your technique. I wish I had one in my garage!

First impressions and why I was there

Regular readers know that I have an obsession with putters and putting. When Adam Legg told me that Auchterlonies now had access to the Zen Green Stage and asked if I would like to come and give it a try, I couldn't get down there quickly enough.

Currently, given construction work underway at Auchterlonies, you can only access the green through the St Andrews Golf Co store. This makes it a brilliantly quiet and private space where you can be fitted with minimal interruption. That's a nice change from the Odyssey room at the Academy, where you often have driving range users staring in the window at you! That's usually me trying to get a glimpse of what new putters they have in there....

My first impressions were very positive. This is a fantastic space to showcase new putters and have a fitting. Despite having no windows, it is a bright and open space where I never felt claustrophobic or closed in. The room has been fitted out nicely, and I particularly loved the pictures of The Old Course surrounding the green. The green itself rolls nicely, and it was great fun checking out its functionality. If Adam had let me, I could have stayed in there all day.

What are Adam and Auctherlonies using the space for?

At the moment, due to the renovation work in Adam's studio, the Zen Green Stage is being used primarily for putter fittings with SAM Puttlab (link), one of the benchmark products for putter fitting and analysis (other products are available).

As described in my post about custom fitting, I urge you to come to a putter fitting with an open mind and not limit yourself to one option. The data from SAM, coupled with Adam's experience, are invaluable when finding a putter that "fits you" rather than adapting your play to fit the putter. I'll write another post about my SAM session today, but it proved, yet again, that my putting stroke is best suited to the type of putter I currently play and backs up the improvement I've seen in my putting since committing to it.

SAM Puttlab requires that you are fitted using a straight putt. This provides the insight into your aim and swing that allows Adam to fine-tune his recommendation before trying some different putters and then reaching a conclusion. That is pretty much as far as any standard putter fitting will go - SAM data, recommendation, try some straight putts with the recommended club and then decide. However, the Zen Green Stage allows Adam to go further than that. By adding slope, he can see how the recommended putter performs in different scenarios. Other fitters, like the team at the Academy, can take you outside to the practice green to do something similar, but that's not always practical in Scotland in mid-February. When it's cold and wet and the greens are in poor condition, it's definitely much nicer to do this indoors. It's also a lot quicker!

What did I think of it?

I think this is an excellent facility for fitting putters, where the missing ingredient for me has always been slope. Just because I can aim a straight putt doesn't mean I can read break and aim well on a sloping one. I know from my SAM analysis that I aim my putter slightly left and then compensate with a slightly open face at impact. A result of that is I am more comfortable with a right-to-left breaking putt than with a left-to-right one. Having the ability to test a recommended putter with borrows that I know cause me trouble would be a great addition to the process.

The green can also mimic a 6.5° slope. Steeper than that, the ball will roll back to you if you miss. The benefit is that this allows you to simulate a much longer putt. How does the putter react when you need to hit it harder? Does your stroke change when hitting it harder? This is all invaluable information when evaluating a new putter.

However, where I think the Zen Green Stage really comes into its own is for practice and coaching. Imagine having the option of 700,000 different putts to practice with. Learning how slope changes line and pace. How early break and late break interact and impact your initial aim. How uphill putts reduce break and tricky downhillers emphasise it. The possibilities are endless and you could stay there for hours. Unfortunately, it's not currently available for that sort of use.

If I had to make one criticism, it would be that the surface is too perfect! I know that may sound slightly strange, but real greens have many marks or imperfections, and I like to use those as intermediate aim points when aligning putts. It was much harder to do that on the Zen Green Stage. You'll be fine if you aim with a ball line, but I'd like to see a surface with more speckles to help with my aim.

Final thoughts

I know I'm a putter geek, and many others won't get so excited about a putting green, but I was very impressed with the technology and would love to have regular access to a Zen Green Stage for lessons and practice. I hope that Adam and Auchterlonies can retain access to the Zen Green Stage and make this a permanent arrangement once their renovations are complete. I can't think of anywhere else in Scotland (certainly local to St. Andrews) with a facility like this. I believe it would provide a real point of differentiation for their putter fittings.

Have you ever used a Zen Green Stage? If you have, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. If you are in the St Andrews area and would like to have a putter fitting with Adam, then get in touch via his email adam@auchterlonies.com

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