GLOW GOLF

Glow Golf is a minimalist, experimental LED game. The project aims to bake golf down to a line of light and one input. Colour correspond to the elements of a golf course; Green is grass, blue is water, yellow is sand, dark green is rough, black is the hole and white is the ball. 

Players have a scaling input split between two settings: Putt and drive. As in golf, putting allows short distance, precision shots whilst driving allows the ball to clear obstacles such as bunkers and ponds. Pink is putt, red is drive. 

What is the project made of?

Glow Golf is run on an ESP32 with a custom chip and displayed on a 5 metre strip of LED rope. 

For the last year, Glow Golf has been operated with a pinball launcher fashioned from a walking stick. I've recently changed the controller to a door handle paired with a potentiometer for a more granular, tactile control . 

Videos

Here's footage of Glow Golf at AMAZE Berlin in 2024

Here's footage of a workshop being run at Now Play This using GLOW GOLF as a project to build  their own cardboard controllers for. 

Here's footage of Glow Golf with it's new 5 metre rope and of the new doorhandle controller.

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What do I mean by approachable design?

The controllers used by the industry to engage people within the medium of games are hostile and unfamiliar interfaces to audiences outside it. By fusing recognisable objects with hardware it's possible to reach new, unexplored audiences and challenge the assumption that joypads and keyboards are the most intuitive interfaces for play.

Here's a talk discussing this topic from earlier this year.

Exhibition Sites:

2024

- Now Play This - April 9th

- AMAZE Berlin - May 8-11th

- AMAZE Sheffield - Aug 2nd

- Sensoria - Oct 2-5th