The University of Stirling has hosted a demonstration of G·GRIP, an AI-enabled golf club designed to measure grip pressure and club movement in real time.
Representatives from South Korea’s Korea Institute of Industrial Technology and sports technology company SGLAB presented the club at Stirling’s Golf Studio and driving range on 4 September. The visit formed part of a partnership between the university and KITECH, established through a Memorandum of Understanding signed in July 2025.
SGLAB has also supplied Stirling with golf technology equipment valued at more than £13,000. The equipment is expected to aid research into golf innovation and performance analysis through the university’s Centre for Research and Innovation in Sport.
How G·GRIP measures the golf swing
G·GRIP places pressure sensors inside the grip and motion sensors within the shaft. SGLAB says this allows the club to measure how a golfer holds and moves it throughout the swing, in addition to ball-flight data.
The club connects to a smartphone through Bluetooth. Its companion app displays metrics including face angle, club path, attack angle, club speed, hand speed, tempo, path and face-to-path data.
SGLAB says golfers can use that information to examine the relationship between grip pressure and swing direction. The system can also compare swings with previous data, synchronise measurements with video and offer AI-generated coaching suggestions.
G·GRIP is intended to gather its data without an external launch monitor or wearable sensor. Its maker says the embedded hardware preserves the shape, weight and balance of a conventional club, although no independent measurements were supplied to support that claim.
The official G·GRIP product page also describes automatic swing detection and individual calibration. Wireless charging is built into the system.
Research could test its value for golfers
The university described G·GRIP as the world’s first AI-powered golf club and said it could give players and coaches objective information about hand-to-club interaction. The supplied material does not include independent testing of measurement accuracy or evidence that using the system improves technique, consistency or scoring.
No golfer-adoption figures, research timetable or details of general public availability at Stirling were announced. Its practical value will therefore depend on whether the planned collaboration produces measurable results beyond the company’s demonstrations.
Dr Sungkyung Kim, a lecturer in sport management and researcher at Stirling, said the combination of a performance golf programme and sports research centre attracted the South Korean delegation.
“During the visit, we agreed to take forward collaborative research,” Kim said in the university’s announcement.
That work could examine whether grip-pressure data gives coaches useful information that is missed by launch monitors and video analysis. The announcement did not specify its research questions, methodology, publication plans or schedule.
Stirling provides a high-performance testing environment
Stirling’s performance golf programme is led by Walker Cup captain and former European Tour winner Dean Robertson. Its facilities include indoor simulators using Trackman technology, a driving range, short-game areas and sports-science support.
The university says its programme has produced 10 Curtis Cup players, four Walker Cup players and one Solheim Cup captain. More than 100 Stirling golf scholars have gained international honours.
G·GRIP received CES Innovation Awards in 2025 and 2026, according to the university, along with a Special Mention in TIME’s Best Inventions of 2025. Those awards recognise the product concept but do not provide controlled evidence of its accuracy or its effect on golfer performance.
The next stage of the Stirling partnership is collaborative research. Details of how golfers will participate, what outcomes will be measured and when findings might be available have yet to be released.
Simon Bale
Simon Bale is the publisher of Golf Today. A low single-figure handicap golfer, he was previously a major shareholder and course reviewer for Top100GolfCourses.com for over a decade, starting in 2010. Through this role, he developed extensive knowledge of golf course design and architecture while playing more than 300 courses worldwide.