OTTO: Bridgestone’s Autonomous Ball-Fitting Machine
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OTTO: Bridgestone’s Autonomous Ball-Fitting Machine

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OTTO: Bridgestone’s Autonomous Ball-Fitting Machine

OTTO: Bridgestone’s Autonomous Ball-Fitting Machine: Key Takeaways

  • OTTO is Bridgestone’s new ball-fitter on wheels.
  • OTTO leverages 15 years of Bridgestone ball-fitting data and a proprietary algorithm.
  • Walk-up use at a driving range or indoor facility
  • Free to use

Say hello to OTTO, Bridgestone’s autonomous ball-fitting machine. He’s new, he’s unique, he needs no operator and is completely self-contained. Think of it as the R2D2 of ball fitting.

And may The Force be with you.

If nothing else, OTTO is unique. It’s a self-contained, operator-less machine that will watch you hit three driver shots. And then, according to Bridgestone, it’ll automatically process your swing data and fit you into a golf ball quickly, easily and with no human interaction whatsoever.

The tech that makes OTTO possible presents an interesting story and is the result of 15 years’ worth of Bridgestone ball-fitting data. Just how accurate it is, however, remains an open question.  Let’s get down to some answers.

Bridgestone OTTO ball fitting

OTTO: The Autonomous Ball Fitting Machine

Bridgestone says OTTO can fit you into a Bridgestone golf ball after just three swings. And you won’t need a person there to watch you or even run the machine.

“One of the areas we’ve been thinking about is how do we take all the data that we own from all of our previous fittings and apply that to some sort of algorithm?” says Bridgestone Golf Ball Marketing Manager Elliot Mellow. “That would allow years of human fitting data to be used and converted into a way to digitally fit someone.”

Bridgestone, with some justification, claims to be the father of modern golf ball fitting. It introduced live fitting in 2006. Since then, it has added its V-FIT ball fitting app as well as a guided online fitting program. That has given Bridgestone data from more than three million fittings and 2.5 million individual swings. Bridgestone has used all that information to create a fitting algorithm and has programmed it into OTTO. He’ll watch as you hit three driver shots and then the math takes over.

“OTTO takes into account demographic information and launch conditions,” says Mellow. “And then he determines what ball we’d fit that person in if our master fitter was there.”

Bridgestone OTTO ball fitting

El Solo Lobo

OTTO occupies about two square feet of space and stands about 36 inches high. He works solo; a lone wolf if you will. You’ll find him sitting by himself on a driving range, at a golf show or at a demo day, minding his own business and waiting for the curious golfer. There’s no attendant or operator. He’s completely self-serve.

To use OTTO, you punch in your name and email or cell number via the touch screen. He’ll then ask you what brand and model ball you use and then you go in front of it and hit your driver. The onboard MEVO+ launch monitor reads your swing speed, ball speed, launch angle and spin rate. OTTO will then tell you—literally—your carry and total distance.

Bridgestone OTTO ball fitting

“After each swing, it yells out your driver distance,” says Mellow. “After your first drive, it might say something like. ‘Great drive, you hit that one 246. Now hit another one.’”

Once you’ve hit your three shots, OTTO crunches the numbers. Once he’s done, he’ll either text or email you a custom-fitting report and ball recommendation.

“What it’s doing with that info is saying if you were at one of our live events with one of our master fitters, this is the ball they’d recommend,” says Mellow. “We’re getting all that data from all the live fittings we’ve done over the past 15 years.”

It’s a little more in-depth than saying, “Alexa, fit me for a golf ball,” but you get the idea.

Advantages and Limitations

No reasonable person would argue an OTTO fitting is better than a detailed in-person fitting using driver, iron and wedge. But then again, few reasonable people would argue an OTTO fitting isn’t better than no fitting at all.

The same question fills the comments section on every ball-fitting story we’ve ever done: Where can I go for a ball fitting? The good news is OTTO loves to travel. He’s portable and shippable and all five OTTOs will be hitting the road this spring. And, like Terminators, more OTTOs will follow.

In addition to accessibility, Bridgestone has also identified comfort as a major hurdle for ball fitting. More precisely, dis-comfort.

“The people who attend our live ball-fitting events play substantially more golf than the ‘average golfer,’” says Mellow. “One of the biggest hurdles we’d had is people who are unsure about swinging in front of someone they don’t know.”

Bridgestone OTTO ball fitting

In theory, OTTO removes that level of discomfort.

And, as obvious as the advantages are, so are the limitations.

Three swings. Driver. That’s it.

If you believe ball fitting should start at the green and work backward to the tee, that’s a big limitation.

“It does have a fitter mode where you can go more robust,” says Mellow. “It can do multiple shots and multiple clubs hit but that part isn’t fully autonomous yet. We need to gather more iron data for that.

“We do have 2.5 million driver swings in our data set. So we do have enough data that we can cover pretty much any scenario in which a player would be hitting a ball.”

Bridgestone is also working on a software update that will expand fitting to include 8-iron and wedge.

The Importance of Being OTTO

Give Bridgestone a pretty hearty golf clap for coming up with something unique that can potentially fill a crater-sized hole in ball fitting.

“Right now, we have about five of them,” says Mellow. “They’ll be placed at strategic accounts throughout the country. We’ve already talked with a couple of courses that will have an OTTO for a few weeks at a time. It’s battery-powered so they’ll leave it out on the range, wheel it in at night, charge it up and wheel it back out in the morning.”

Don’t worry about OTTO getting wet. Bridgestone is sending him out there with a little five-foot tent in case it rains.

Bridgestone’s goal with OTTO is twofold. The first is obvious: to reach more people with a unique ball-fitting experience. Second, to the extent it can, is to fit those people into the best possible Bridgestone ball for them.

“We know if we get somebody into a ball that works well for them and they have a good experience, the more likely they are to come back and buy that ball from us again,” says Mellow.

In its beta testing, Bridgestone found golfers who wouldn’t ordinarily even think about ball fitting will interact with OTTO. “It was interesting to watch,” Mellow says. “A whole group of players who were on the fence about fitting before was now all of a sudden competing against each other to see who’s getting recommended what ball.”

OTTO’s Future

OTTO makes his debut tomorrow at the PGA Merchandise Show’s Demo Day. All five units will be on hand for people to try. After that, OTTO takes his show on the road.

Currently, OTTO is set up for outdoor, downrange shots using range balls (or your own gamers, if you don’t mind losing them). By the time you get to meet him, OTTO’s software will be updated for use with a hitting net both indoors and outdoors. That way you can use your gamers without donating them to the driving range.

“There’s a to-be-announced fitting tour,” says Mellow. “We’re looking at regional golf shows, demo days at retailers, country clubs, private courses, driving ranges. We’re not sure where the best niche will be yet.”

Mellow says right now OTTO features a male voice. “But if this thing takes off like we think it’s going to, we have plans to personalize it.”

I, for one, will gladly whip out the credit card if they can get that your-cousin-from-Bawstin guy from the Sam Adams commercials to handle New England.

“Oh, dude! You hit that ball wickid faahhh …”

Oh yeah, I’m in.

Bridgestone OTTO ball fitting

Bridgestone says the OTTO project started about three years ago as a pie-in-the-sky idea. The pandemic and travel restriction, however, gave OTTO a little kick in the pants.

“Once a consumer gets in front of it, they’re engaged,” says Mellow. “It’ll kind of sit there on the range but once the first person touches it and everyone on the range hears it talking, the interest is there.”

So Golf Spies, what are your thoughts on OTTO, Bridgestone’s Autonomous Ball Fitting Machine?

And, just for a laugh or two, what kind of voice would you like him (or her, I suppose) to have?

For You

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John Barba

John Barba

John Barba

John is an aging, yet avid golfer, writer, 6-point-something handicapper living back home in New England after a 22-year exile in Minnesota. He loves telling stories, writing about golf and golf travel, and enjoys classic golf equipment. “The only thing a golfer needs is more daylight.” - BenHogan

John Barba

John Barba

John Barba





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      LJ

      3 years ago

      As there are/will be so few OTTOs, hopefully Bridgestone will both post and update on its website the locations of the devices so that one may try it if it appears nearby.

      Reply

      Bruce

      3 years ago

      I’d love to try it but with over 2000 driving ranges in the US what are my chances of ever seeing it on one of them close to me..

      Reply

      Brid Stone

      3 years ago

      I want my ball to fit my mid-irons and wedges first. I question if getting fit for a tee shot — or using the recommended swing speeds Bridgestone puts on the boxes — for that 3/4 wedge that isn’t a 106 mph. I love Bridgestone balls, but still confused about which one I should play, after trying them all. Seems to me, if a ball maker is doing the best, the ball goes far and straight with my driver and feels like butter and stops on a dime with my half wedge.

      Reply

      Steve C

      3 years ago

      I don’t think people are going to like a machine announcing their driving distance out for everyone to hear. The guy that believes he hits it 250 does not want to hear ” That one carried 217″.

      Reply

      Jeddy

      3 years ago

      I don’t need Lil’ OTTO yelling out to everyone at the range, “You sliced it!. You sliced it, again! Maybe we should see other people!” unless it’s Duffman’s voice.

      Reply

      Leon

      3 years ago

      make the voice selectable from a few famous pro’s … Tiger, Phil, Rory, Poults, Michelle Wie, Lexi Thompson, the Korda sisters, Paige Spirinac, for example … then, code for gender of user vs. preferred voice so a man choosing a female voice or vice versa sounds lovey-dovey romantic, whereas choosing same gender as the customer sounds more like a cheerleader / coach … just for laughs

      Reply

      rlowe

      3 years ago

      No, no, no. The voice should be that of a profound intelligent woman. Someone like Bubbles, Trixie, or Boom Boom.. ????

      Reply

      Greg

      3 years ago

      So are you hitting 3 range balls after you’ve told it what your gamer ball is? Or are you sacrificing a sleeve of gamers for it to get a slightly better read?

      Reply

      John Barba

      3 years ago

      As of this morning, OTTO is programmed for outdoor, downrange use only, so it’ll read range balls or, as you say, you’ll have to sacrifice your gamers.

      HOWEVER – and this is a big HOWEVER – by the time OTTO hits the road, he’ll have a software update that will allow for hitting into a net, so it can be used indoors or outdoors, and you won’t have to sacrifice your gamers.

      Also, a subsequent update will expand the fitting to include 8-iron and wedge.

      Reply

      BadMath

      3 years ago

      I think it was MGS that taught me ball fittings should be from the green (wedges) back. This magic box needs a mere 3 swipes of the driver. Groundbreaking!

      Reply

      Mike

      3 years ago

      Sounds great, where do I find it? As for voices, I couldn’t care less. How about just a simple voice telling me the specific details.

      Reply

      Bill

      3 years ago

      3 swings seems low, but I get it. People want speed and ease of use.

      Whatever happened to ping Ballnamic database. Any test runs to see if that thing spits out good recs? Why dont I see more places jumping on that subscription?

      Btw if new bridgestone ball line can get me B-XS feel with B-X driver results, sign me up.

      Reply

      cksurfdude

      3 years ago

      I’d totally try it! Would be interesting to see if it coincides at all .. or diverges completely .. from the MGS ball lab tests and what I might pick out for myself from there.

      And the voice?
      How about Gilbert Gottfried??? ;-)

      Reply

      paperclip

      3 years ago

      As the Aflac Duck?

      Reply

      Paul

      3 years ago

      Only issue I see is it uses Mevo+ which isn’t entirely accurate. Meh.

      Reply

      TomBomb

      3 years ago

      Exactly my thoughts. Spin numbers on the MEVO are wildly inconsistent which is the most important piece when fitting for a ball. I also love how Bryson’s face is all over the MEVO but obviously he doesn’t use one, he uses a GCQuad. $$$

      Reply

      Brandon M

      3 years ago

      Exactly, my MEVO+ can barely figure out spin or attack angle. Probably the 2 most critical factors for ball fitting other than ball speed. At least according to PING’s fitting charts…

      Reply

      MGoBlue100

      3 years ago

      Without a question: Samuel L. Jackson. Might be a NSFW (or the range) ball fitting, but it would be epic!

      Good on Bridgestone for continuing to try and get peeps to play a better ball for their game. I’m interested to interact with Otto. I’ll be looking for a chance.

      Reply

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