[1][2][3] The Massachusetts state amateur champion and former Harvard golf team captain, Stimpson was a spectator at the 1935 U.S. Open at Oakmont near Pittsburgh, where the winning score was 299 (+11).
He developed a device, made of wood, now known as the Stimpmeter, which is an angled track that releases a ball at a known velocity so that the distance it rolls on a green's surface can be measured.
It is tapered at one end by removing metal from its underside to reduce the bounce of the ball as it rolls onto the green.
The ball is pulled out of the notch by gravity when the device is slowly raised to an angle of about 20°, rolling onto the green at a repeatable velocity of 6.00 ft/s (1.83 m/s).
A formula, based on the work of Isaac Newton, as derived and extensively tested by A. Douglas Brede, solves that problem.