Design engineering specialists Performance Engineered Solutions (PES) has joined the Zen Golf project which aims to create the world's most technologically-advanced golf driver and break a world record.
PES, based in Yorkshire’s Advanced Manufacturing Park, will aid an attempt to break the long-standing world carry record, which stands at 408 yards 10 inches.
The golf record attempt is scheduled to take place in 2015 on the Hakskeen Pan in South Africa at the location where the Bloodhound SSC, the world land-speed project the company has links to, will also make its bid for the world title.
Mike Maddock, managing director at PES said: “As a company we’re honoured to be working on this project. This is an opportunity to push the boundaries of innovation, combining technologies to showcase the capabilities of British engineering.
Rotherham high-tech precision manufacturing firm Newburgh Engineering Ltd is already working with the Bloodhound SSC project, which is intended to highlight British innovation and inspire the next generation of engineers in line with the government’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education and apprenticeship goals.
Dan Fleetcroft, PES engineering design director added: “What’s going to be interesting is using experience from engineering in Formula One, and putting that into the golf driver.
“In F1 every potential performance gain is explored to its fullest, and we’ll be looking for any area where we can find that extra something to help hit the ball a little bit further.”
Nick Middleton, founder of the Zen Golf project, put together a team which also includes current world-record holder, British golfer Karl Woodward, believes the project will create a legacy for British sports engineering and innovation.
“The club will be a completely new design, with grip, shaft and club head all being created from the archetypal clean sheet of paper. This is an opportunity for British design and engineering to show that it still leads the world – and in the most spectacular way possible,” he said.
