Whether a top cyclist, an Olympic athlete or a Worldwide Golf Tour Professional it’s a fact that technology of some kind is probably influencing their performance and training.
So now we live in a era where your mobile phone can measure your steps, perform photographic wizardries and link to apps for just about anything – so can technology help or hinder your golf?
Apart from raft of free internet swing advice the avid golfer looking to improve is exposed to, the many wonderful electronic gadgets, sophisticated radar ball, body and club tracking systems are a recommended must if you want to improve.
I’d like to clarify that striking a golf ball true and consistently to your intended target will always be a joyful but elusive and fluid pursuit. We now have at our disposal means to measure exactly what your body is doing, what path your club head is travelling on, the degrees of club face orientation to the target and path plus where you struck it on the face. Not only can we now measure your centre of gravity and forces applied to the floor, we can also plot and measure how much the missile like golf ball is spinning, the speed and angle it’s launching plus countless other parameters.
BUT, as I point out in this video, much of this info is retrospective, the real key is using the data or feedback to then tweak, refine and improve what you are doing. Golf is about what the ball does and since the advent of early video 30 some years ago I’ve been able help golfers ‘see’ and feel the improvements they need to make. Whether you are using a simple head cover tucked under your arm or a several thousand pound machine to measure your stroke and shots- one thing is for sure, you need to understand the new feeling and you need to learn it ‘unsupported’ by any aid or machine.
Ultimately golf is a human endeavour and once the ‘crutches’ are taken away you need to replicate the motion with consistency and accuracy. As any experienced golf coach will advise, the advanced data and feedback has to be used in the right amount, at the right time and for the right reasons. No training aid, machine or kit can do it for you! But it may create a feel, a picture or make ‘the light come on’ in your head which allows you to make that next leap forward.
Depending on your tendencies it may not be wise be exposed to 10 sets of analysis when you only have one particular area that needs attention. So technology will help you improve if you and your coach target the areas which are going to provide the quickest, simplest and most reproducible improvement in your ball flight.
Enjoy my thoughts and with your coach explore what keys help communicate the ideal thoughts, concepts and feelings that help you make your best swings and ultimately lower scores.