FAQs

Chirrp has many potential scoring modes. Depending on your choice during practice, you can set up the system to concentrate on speed (the default setting), accuracy, or varying degrees of both (casual, amateur, pro, insane). Speed-focused settings are mainly concerned with how close to the hole the ball ends up whereas accuracy-focused putts are mainly required to go in the hole and any that miss are scored much lower than putts that traveled through the cup.

We also plan to have a kids and family mode where the putting scores trend high and are forgiving for less accomplished putters. My kids enjoy putting on the system and it makes them better putters. As they get better, they’ll choose to putt harder settings to increase the challenge, but the easy settings make it fun for beginners.

During competition, our competition scoring mode is always used. This mode rewards putts that enter the hole dead center and then subtracts points for speed and distance from the cup. It is a tough scoring mode, but ensures that everyone has a fair challenge.

For competitions between players in person or in local groups, users will be able to set the scoring mode for the session.

Currently, our scoring modes are not user selectable, but these features are expected to be made visible to the user for the initial product release.

We have a number of ideas/games in the pipeline for future expansions of the app. The nice thing is that we can add games nearly anytime through app updates and many creative ways to encourage practice are possible. Here are a few ideas we have that are either in progress or are on our future plans:

• Bowling – Each putt you attempt is scored like a bowling shot. A 95 or above is a strike (“X”) and anything less is scored as a number of pins knocked down. For example, an 87 might be scored as an 8 count and you’d have 2 pins to get for the spare. A two pin spare would require a score of 85 or higher to make the conversion. Then we calculate a bowling score through a series of 12 frames – about 12-24 putts depending on your skill. See if you can average 200 – that’s a challenge, but it should be a lot of fun. This game will also feature league modes where you play a weekly match against other players online and tournament play. Currently, this game is a concept only.
• Melee – similar to our duel, this will be a game based on rounds of 3 putts. We’ll start with a lobby full of players – perhaps 20 or 30 and we’ll putt a round. After each round, a fraction of the players 1/3 or 1/2 will be cut if they didn’t beat the average score. The result will be that after a few rounds, we’ll be down to two players who will hit one round of three putts to be crowned “Melee Champion”. We’ll issue champion badges and you can see how many you can collect over your putting career. This game is also only a concept currently.
• Putting Course – wouldn’t it be great to putt one of the best courses in the world? We think it would be and our goal would be to let you putt eighteen holes on a simulated version of some iconic courses around the world. We’d drop the ball on the green and you’d have to read the putt to pick your line. Then you’d hit a putt of appropriate distance and see how accurate you putted. If you hit a bullseye, you’d have a good chance of the ball going in and would either one-putt or be left with a short tap in (which you would then putt). If the initial putt was 30 feet from the hole, we’d multiply your 8ft attempt by 3.66 in terms of speed to get an approximation for where the ball would have gone. That way we can simulate many distances and you can test your accuracy across many situations. This game is also only a concept currently.
• Streaks and Challenges – there are many ways to practice putting and we have a large number of challenges that players can earn badges for completing in the app. There are challenges for making 20 six footers, 50 four footers, etc. Additionally, we have challenges that combine accuracy and speed such as 20 six footers with an average score of 80 (bronze), 85 (silver), and 90 (gold). When the system is scoring putts, it combines speed and accuracy to give an overall putt rating that increases the challenge versus simply getting the ball in the hole. Streaks are currently in development and are expected to release with the initial product release.

The Chirrp Putting System currently features three main game modes:

• Open Practice – hit putts from the distance you choose while the system tracks your successes, speed, and plots stats about your session. Check out the Open Practice video here.
• Daily 30 – you are required to putt 30 putts from distances randomly assigned by the system. The order of the distances changes every day and helps you practice setting up and striking a putt rather than putting a bunch of putts from the same distance. This mode is great for building confidence at creating a good stroke when stepping over the ball on your first attempt.
• Duel – competitive duels are a fantastic way to work on your putting game. The duel system works in person or online (where you play against another owner of the Chirrp Putting System). In person, you add players to your app and then choose who will play against each other. The system then selects the player who will go first and the putting distances for each round. The duel is a best of five rounds with three putts per round. The first player to win three rounds is the winner. Each round consists of three putts chosen by the system (ie: 4ft, 4ft, 8ft). You may get three putts at a single distance or putts across random distances. The system tracks your score across all three putts and calculates your average score for the round. Your opponent putts the same putts and then you see who wins the round. It’s great fun and really brings the pressure. Good luck! Check out the Duel video here.

Your Chirrp Putting System comes rolled in its own shipping and storage box. Always roll your carpet back up when storing.  Folds in the carpet result in humps that are hard to flatten and can influence putting.

Store your Chirrp in its box when not in use.

Roll carpet backward to flatten. The carpet may require kneading to loosen the backing and keep the carpet flat.

Double-sided tape can keep the carpet flat and stationary.

Check out our System Care and Upkeep video here:

How accurate is the Chirrp Putting System?

Overall, we find the Chirrp Putting System accurate enough that we get a good challenge and excellent practice every time we use the device. It does occasionally fail to detect a putt. Using our prototype systems, we see a small number of misses depending on lighting conditions. Additionally, shadows can bias the putt results to one side or the other of the actual ball path as well as affect the speed calculation.

However, we are continually evolving the software analysis system to improve the accuracy of the system over time. Generally, we expect you’ll be satisfied with the detection accuracy. If the system ever makes a big mistake on a putt, you can use the “Fix Putt” screen to correct the putt scoring (unless you are in a competitive match).

We’ve found great success with our prototype systems and expect that our future users will find that the system meets your expectations.

The Chirrp Putting System works across a wide range of lighting conditions, However, since we used a light-detection based system there are some limitations.

• Rapidly varying lighting conditions are susceptible to misreads.
• Shadows cast over the system when using incandescent lighting or sunlight may cause misreads or extra putts.

Our system works best when used indoors with LED or fluorescent lighting. Generally, shadows do not cause a problem unless there is a lot of infrared light in a room (caused by incandescent lights or direct sunlight).

Closing curtains and placing the system out of direct sunlight, insures the system performs with its highest degree of accuracy and provides the best putting experience.

Check out our lighting management video here: