THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

Ever since he was little, Klaus has loved hitting golf balls. He was, he says, “a good player but not a great one”, although talented enough to represent his country in the Eisenhower Trophy.

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Ask him what he enjoys most about the game, though, and it wouldn’t be competing; it would be that never-ending quest to get better. Practice. This is no great surprise to hear, for Klaus Eldrup-Jorgensen is the co-founder and CEO of Trackman...

We learn the full story of the Danish company when we visit its state-of-the-art headquarters in Horsholm, a small coastal town just north of Copenhagen. In just 25 years, what started out as a small group of engineers working out of Eldrup-Jorgensen’s garage - an “interesting time” he jokes - has grown into a company with more than 850 employees in seven offices, selling its products in more than 70 countries. But more than that, its small but powerful invention has changed the game of golf in a series of ways that not even they could have predicted.

They are the masterminds behind those bright orange boxes that sit behind a large number of tour pros on the range. To put it more precisely, Trackman is a Doppler radar-powered launch monitor with optical tracking that provides countless parameters of ball and club data. While most golfers don’t own one personally, every golfer will have come across Trackman technology at some point, whether it’s on the range, during a lesson, at a custom fitting or simply through watching tour golf on television.

Revolutionising practice

Back in 2002, Eldrup-Jorgensen found himself wondering how golfers could get better feedback when they practised: how could it be made more fun, more effective? Then he met a radar engineer responsible for tracking bullets and missiles for the military industry. His name was Fredrik Tuxen and he also happened to like his golf. They teamed up.