Golf Magazine USA – September 2019

71

BY JONATHAN WALL

Photography by Bobby Doherty

The WHOOP 3.0

strap is a next-

gen activity

monitor that’s

helping Tour

pros grind it out

without running

out of gas

related variables at a rate of 100 times

per second, including sleep patterns

(time spent in each stage), strain (how

the body responds to cardiovascular

stressors) and heart-rate variability (a

measurement of how you’re improving

athletically).

The data collected from the strap,

which can be seen in real-time on the

company’s app, is plugged into an

advanced algorithm that provides daily

suggestions on the amount of sleep,

exercise and rest needed to keep a

Fitness

TECH WE LOVE: CAPTO

Arnold Palmer once said, “Put-

ting is like wisdom—partly a nat-

ural gift and partly the accumu-

lation of experience.” While the

former might not be controllable,

the latter certainly is. Capto best

helps maximize that experience,

relaying feedback via 20 points of

data through a lightweight sensor

attached to the putter.

In the midst of preparing
for the Memorial Tournament
earlier this year, Rory McIlroy
spied Scott Stallings on the
practice green and made a beeline for
him just before teeing off. He had a
question only Stallings could answer.
“When you swing, does it ever—get
in the way?” McIlroy asked, pointing to
the strap fastened to his right wrist.
Professional golfers are used to trying
out the latest high-tech training aids
in the name of job security and major-
championship hardware, but the band
in question on McIlroy’s wrist isn’t
designed to boost clubhead speed or
extra yards off the tee.
It’s all about having enough juice in
the tank to perform at the highest level
possible for 72 holes.
In an era where athletes are more
aware of their bodies and how they
perform and recover than ever before,
Boston-based Whoop is at the forefront
of a seismic shift in the sports world.
“It used to be a badge of honor to get
four hours of sleep and keep grinding,”
said Whoop CEO Will Ahmed, who
founded the company out of Harvard’s
Innovation Labs. “What we’ve learned is
that’s not really the case.”
The waterproof Whoop 3.0 strap
(right, top) on McIlroy’s and Stallings’
wrists looks fairly nondescript. But
there’s a lot going on underneath the
hood, beginning with an optical monitor
featuring green LEDs—technology
common to other activity-tracking
wearables—that collects five health-