Every year at National Instruments NI Week in Austin, TX the GDCA team gets to enjoy a wave of hot weather that is only overshadowed by a tide of hot technology innovation. NI Week does a wonderful job of providing a forum for education and inspiration. As one of the few conferences where GDCA has a booth, we decided to challenge the NI Week attendees putting skills by bringing out “The Beast”—10 feet of the most challenging green we’ve ever encountered at a conference. Because we were keeping in mind the balance of innovation and legacy, we had two putters handy for people to try: a state of the art putter supplied by Ethan, and a legacy putter from the 1930s supplied by our in-house golf champ, Arlin.

When supervising the game, we found that neither putter gave a noticeable advantage. This game hasn’t changed much since the world’s first golf tournament was played in 1860. True, the tools have evolved and changed, becoming streamlined and high-tech, but a legacy putter definitely had a “tried and true” feel and a vintage “cool” factor that still attracts attention.

We continue to be impressed by the NI commitment to collaborating with world-changing programs and supporting long-tail customers. As we experienced with Ethan’s putter, there is definitely something sexy in combining pure skill with the latest and greatest technology. In keeping a good thing going, I suppose GDCA is like the legacy putter, bringing with it an appreciation for quality that never goes out of style, and a love for the “tried and true” system that hasn’t changed much since it was established.

Kaye & the GDCA Team