Guests visiting the Morgan Stanley Fan Experience during THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass this month were able to play on the same greens as the world’s best golfers, thanks to a world-first activation delivered by TWO12 Events and Zen Golf.
Two 12ft Zen Green Stages were installed side-by-side in the Morgan Stanley pavilion to recreate putting challenges from the closing stretch of the Stadium Course.
These Green Stages had been pre-loaded by the Zen team with the actual green slopes related to the tournament pin positions at Sawgrass on holes 16, 17 and 18.
On each tournament day guests were able to attempt three real-life breaking putts from the day’s play on these holes, based on exact green gradient data, ball location and the daily pins.
After each golfer’s first putt the Zen Eye overhead projector, set to launch in summer 2026 and making its debut at a public event, was activated to assist players in making their next putt.
Prizes were given to whoever holed two or more putts.
With Morgan Stanley’s theme being ‘The path to greatness is to walk together’, the Zen Green Stage and Zen Eye added the ‘together’ with advanced putt analytics supporting the golfers’ decision-making as they aimed their putts.
And the twin Green Stage setup enabled two golfers to play simultaneously, reducing waiting times and introducing a competitive element.
This first-of-its-kind Green Stage activation was made possible by the new Zen Eye augmented reality technology, developed by Zen Golf and supplied to TWO12 Events for its live golf tournament debut.
Zen Eye overlaid visual guidance onto the putting surface while the Zen Green Stage adjusted to match the real gradients from that spot on the green. Zen Eye enabled golfers to see the break of the putt projected onto the floor, while standing on the physical slope beneath their feet, as well as the exact positioning of the ball on the green. Other data was also projected onto the floor including distance and – just to ramp up the pressure still further – the PGA Tour average make percentage for that putt.
Using this technology, including feeling the green move beneath their feet, Morgan Stanley’s guests faced similar green-reading challenges to those encountered by the world’s best golfers out on the iconic TPC Sawgrass course during the tournament.
TWO12 Events has produced participatory brand activations at major sports events for more than two decades, specialising in experiences which engage and delight the tournament’s spectators.
“This first-of-its-kind experience absorbed fans directly into the challenge of THE PLAYERS tournament in a world-first activation,” said Steve Bauerle, CEO of TWO12 Events. “Being able to hit the same putts as Cameron Young hit on his way to victory was incredibly cool, and the Green Stage / Zen Eye combination worked flawlessly all week.
“The adjustable Zen Green Stage, which we used at TPC Sawgrass and also at last year’s Ryder Cup, is the ultimate indoor putting green, and creates extremely high levels of engagement and emotion at golf tournaments. Adding the new Zen Eye made the experience even more special, and the fans loved everything that we put together at THE PLAYERS.”
Jess Schnurr, Chief Marketing Officer at Morgan Stanley, said: “THE PLAYERS Championship gives us a unique opportunity to connect with clients and fans around the game at its highest level. Our activation was designed to bring people closer to the moments that define the tournament – combining innovation with authenticity to create an experience that felt immersive, competitive, and unmistakably PLAYERS.”
Zen Golf company founder Nick Middleton said: “Zen moving floors place people at the centre of the action, realistically. At Sawgrass guests could watch THE PLAYERS drama unfold for real, and then step onto the Green Stages to stand over the very same putts – thereby experiencing a similar sense of pressure and consequence which defines performance.
“Standing on a Green Stage they became Zen-like in harmony with the greens, attempting to hole a true-rolling, breaking putt instead of a flat one on a conventional mat.
“Nowadays we hear a lot about Augmented Reality in golf, but much of it is simply eye candy. On a Green Stage, the Zen Eye’s version of AR is the truest augmentation of reality as it can be linked to actual putts hit in the heat of battle.”
On the TWO12 activation at THE PLAYERS Championship, Middleton said:
“With this clever use of Zen technology, TWO12 were able to recreate the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course greens in a very special way indoors.
“This meant that, in the Morgan Stanley pavilion at THE PLAYERS, guests were ‘in the moment’ like they had never been before at a golf tournament.”
The activation was the latest in a growing series of collaborations between Zen Golf and TWO12 Events. The companies previously worked together at the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black Course, where a Zen Green Stage experience delighted Citi cardholders inside a structure built beside the 9th green.
And in 2026 there are more technology innovations set to arrive from the Zen Golf team.
“With our new Trackman software integration about to go live, and a suite of advanced Zen Eye features in the pipeline, Zen Golf and TWO12 Events are preparing to bring even more immersive experiences to golf tournaments across the USA soon” said Middleton.
For more on the TWO12 Experience please visit https://www.two12events.com, and for more on Zen Green Stage, Zen Swing Stage and Zen Eye visit https://zen.golf/
All images credit TWO12 Events
