AboutGolf have recently applied their industry leading software technology to recreate three of Jack Nicklaus’ most memorable golf shots from his glittering major championship career. AboutGolf were approached by RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) to assist them transform their RBS Jack Nicklaus Majors Challenge into reality.
The challenge invites members of the public to try and beat some of Jack’s greatest shots in a state-of-the-art AboutGolf simulator. The global competition aims to find the golfer who can replicate one of Jack Nicklaus‘ greatest ever shots played at each of the Majors (excluding the Masters). Events have been held at key global financial centres in the USA for the US Open and the USPGA, and in the UK for The Open Championship.
Jack’s shots include:
• The 17th at Pebble Beach, 1972 US Open
• Jack’s drive on the 18th at St Andrews from The Open Championship in 1970.
• The 16th at Firestone at the 1975 USPGA Championship
Golfers have three attempts to replicate Jack’s shot and the winner from each location takes the ultimate prize of a round of golf at Jack’s home club, as well as a set of custom fitted Jack Nicklaus clubs. The London event at Broadgate Arena included an appearance from Jack himself where he was on hand to offer advice to members of the public.
Simon Burrows, managing director of AboutGolf Europe, commented, “When RBS approached us with the concept, naturally we were absolutely delighted to get involved with what was clearly going to be a fantastic project. The brief was to bring to life three famous golf holes and recreate three of Jack’s most memorable shots, a requirement that allowed us to demonstrate the skills of our in house software team to maximum advantage.”
The process began with photographically recording each of the golf holes from a multitude of different angles. Software developers then set about the simulation process that focused on recreating every fine detail so that the end result was as close to the real thing as it could possibly be: it even includes architectural detail of buildings that run along side the 18th fairway at St Andrews.
AboutGolf say that its software developers have distributed more PC golf games than any other company. Over ten years they have developed totally 3D environments. Flags blow with the direction and intensity of the wind. Detailed algorithms translate the data from the sensor to accurate representations of golf ball behaviour relative to course conditions, physical environment (including rocks, carts, slopes etc.) and terrain. The in-house team is dedicated to the development of golf simulation software and constantly strives to push the boundaries even further.
AboutGolf www.aboutgolfeurope.com