PING Launches Major Update for Apple Watch Including Enhanced "Golf Workout” Feature

(PHOENIX) - PING released an update to its PING app for Apple Watch that includes an enhanced Golf Workout experience, the Apple Watch feature engineered to capture and track fitness data, swing tempo and on-course statistics. The update also includes GPS, which is displayed as an easy-to-view overhead map that allows golfers to toggle between hole and green views while accessing precise distances to their targets.



The PING app is available for free on the App Store. The multi-functional app includes Golf Workout, iPING and PING Quiz. The premium Golf Workout experience is an in-app purchase ($4.99 per month or an annual fee of $39.99) with multiple features, including extensive workout data, swing-tempo measurements and GPS.



“We believe electronic technologies in golf should be delivered in the most organic and unobtrusive way possible,” said David Solheim, PING Vice President. “With the advancements in watchOS 3, Golf Workout offers an experience that renders the inherent appeal of golf more accessible and helps golfers improve their game via sensor data. The addition of GPS enables us to complete this experience by conveniently answering the ever-present question in golf, "How far?”



According to Solheim, PING’s in-house app development team focused on bringing more visibility to golf’s health benefits by using key exercise metrics gathered from Apple Watch. Golf Workout records heart rate, step count and calories burned in either the Swing Practice or Play Golf modes.



“With the Golf Workout feature, the Workout is accounted for in your activity rings. It’s a great way to bring the fitness element of golf into the general conversation of the many benefits golf has to offer current and future players,” said Solheim.

In the Swing Practice mode, the PING app utilizes the gyroscope and accelerometer sensor features of watchOS 3 to provide golfers reliable and accurate swing-tempo measurements. The Play Golf function allows the stat-focused golfer to track important data, including fairways hit, greens in regulation, and putts per round. You can also keep score using the PING app on Apple Watch.


“We look for technologies that improve a golfer’s experience and ultimately help him or her play better and enjoy the game more,” Solheim added. “We see Apple Watch as a way to further that strategy of innovation in a harmonious manner.”



The PING app also houses iPING, a putting-improvement tool that attaches to a putter shaft using an iPING Cradle, and works in conjunction with iPhone. The iPING feature provides golfers two options that lead to improved putting. In Practice mode, golfers can focus on improving key attributes of their putting stroke, including tempo. The Putting Handicap (PHcp) function analyzes a series of five putts to determine a consistency score, which equates to a handicap patterned after the traditional handicap system (lower is better). Each five-putt session is stored for comparison as golfers challenge themselves to lower their PHcp. PING offers iPING cradles for iPhone at http://www.ping-shop.com/product/iping-app-crdl-iphone-66s.



The app also offers PING Quiz to share the brand’s rich heritage and its focus on innovations that help golfers play their best. Users can learn the story of the PING brand while testing their knowledge of the company’s proud history, tour staff and product technologies.

PING for Apple Watch is available on the App Store within the Apple Watch app on iPhone.