My Tour of the USGA Research and Test Center

Last week I was very fortunate to a get tour of the USGA Research and Test Center in Far Hills, NJ. The Senior Technical Director Dick Rugge led the tour and provided a great explanation of the role of the Center, as well as a breakdown of the testing and research performed at the Center.

On my drive to the Center I was amazed at just how beautiful Far Hills New Jersey is, and felt like I was entering a quaint university as I turning up the street leading to the USGA headquarters. Check out these photographs of the amazing USGA campus.

The Research and Test Center is housed in a separate building on the campus that is loaded with high technology toys that would put a grin on the face of any golf gear-head. Sure, it contains swing robots, COR / CT testing equipment, groove profile measuring tools, club face surface roughness testing devices, noncontact grip scanning devices, MOI measuring equipment; but what really amazed me was the ball testing equipment and the fact that they have a full machine shop and electronics lab to keep all the equipment up and running. There is some serious brain power in the Center.

Here are a couple pictures of one of the swing robots.

My pictures of the ball testing equipment do not do them justice. The first photo below shows a very precise ball launcher that controls the velocity and spin of the ball being launched. It is like a very advanced high-tech baseball pitching machine. The launcher sends the balls sailing down a long tunnel (poorly seen in the second photo below) that contains multiple high-speed measuring stations. The data collected is then fed into a piece of software that accurately models the flight of the golf ball, which is why the beautifully manicured driving range no longer gets the use that it once did.

Unfortunately, I was at the Research and Test Center on a Monday; the one day of the week that the Museum is closed. Fortunately, that gives me a reason for another visit to Far Hills.

Lastly, anyone can take a tour of the Research and Test Center, so I encourage you to take advantage of it. You will never look at your golf equipment the same again.

Other than some great clients, the tour has been the best perk of starting the Golf-Patents blog!

Dave Dawsey  – The Golf Lawyer