Where should we start when talking about the game of golf? It is impossible to relate to other sports because, for example, basketball doesn’t make you change courts 18 times as soon as you score, baseball doesn’t make you choose between 14 different bats every time you go up to hit, football doesn’t make you try to kick a field goal into something the size of a coffee cup, and so on. Golf is a wonderfully unique and challenging game that has captivated people’s interest for centuries. Perhaps the challenge is what has been so captivating. For those who have stayed committed to the game, with years of practice, costly lessons, and improved club technology, golf shouldn’t be that hard, right? Of course it is.
May we even venture to candidly say, it’s really hard, despite all the aforementioned effort (read: time and money). But for those of us who continue to strive for the elusive consistent, mechanically-sound swing, we keep at it and push through the shanks, tops, and fat shots. Why would we put ourselves through that kind of torture? Because that is the beauty of golf. It perfectly encompasses the adage that we always want what we can’t have.
Any golfer knows that one of the hardest parts about the game is locking in a good swing, or rather, knowing when you have a good swing.
Sometimes good shots just feel lucky. Other times you think you’ve really dialed it in at the range but then have a whole different story on the course. When you are self-taught it can be hard to qualify what went right or wrong and that can leave you feeling lost and frustrated. Golfers and instructors alike dream of one perfect swing model for everyone to emulate, but unfortunately that’s just not the case. The swing that gets you the best ball flight and distance might not work at all for the guy or gal hitting next to you. If you play long enough you may even notice that your own swing changes entirely as your ability changes. There are certain general qualities that can be recommended for most golfers, such as ideal tempo, but in the end different ages, body types, ranges of flexibility, and muscle memories all come together to create a unique swing fingerprint (swingerprint?) for each player. So, yes, your mother was right, you are special and unique.
Watch Larry & Mike’s Review Of The Club Hub Golf Swing Analysis Kit
Now that we’ve covered that golf is hard, we are all different and those two facts put together make getting better at golf even harder, it’s time for the part where modern technology can come in and provide some much-needed assistance. But, before you say you don’t need any gadgets to get better, let’s consider that you are not on the PGA Tour and we can all use some help sometimes. Let us provide a four shot example to illustrate our point.
Shot 1
You are hitting balls at the driving range before your round and you just hit your best shot of the day. Maybe even the best shot of your life. Beautiful ball flight. Dead straight to target. You even had the good fortune that your buddy was watching, and you can now brag about this one shot for the rest of your life. Not only that, but ClubHub was watching, too. While you were reveling in the splendor of your shot, ClubHub recorded your swing for you to replay over and over on your phone, not just in your head. In conjunction with the mobile app, ClubHub is a sensor system that records your swings and provides a 3D video and swing analytics for every shot you take on the course and at the range. Before rushing to hit the next ball, you quickly save that shot in your Favorites in the ClubHub app. By saving that shot, you will have that swing’s parameters, like club head speed, tempo, face angle, and so much more on your phone and available to reference at any time.
Shot 2
You are teed up on hole one and have the confidence of Tiger in the early 2000s. You are one red mock-turtleneck away from true embodiment of the Big Cat. Looking down to your target you almost chuckle, thinking, my ball will see you there in a quick second. You wind up your backswing knowing you got this. Then, suddenly, as your downswing starts, your body realizes you really don’t got this. BAM. Ball impact happens and that previous perfect shot is nothing but a distant memory fading behind the sight of your playing partner curling over in laughter.
Did this shot feel different? Most definitely. Do you know why it felt different? You do because ClubHub does. Taking a quick look at this shot’s parameters compared to the shot you saved as a Favorite, it will show you exactly how different. If it was a rushed shot you might see a quicker tempo, faster backswing time, and more open face angle at impact. That tells you to slow things down, take a longer backswing, get back in rhythm, and hold your wrist set for longer on the downswing.
Shot 3
You’ve been through a lot at this point. You’ve been put through the wringer. Your glimpse of glory was so swiftly undermined by your overzealous confidence. The thought of packing it up and calling it a day is getting more and more appealing. Yet, you can’t let yourself end on that note. You take a deep breath and take into account the powerful comparative information that you have in your pocket on the ClubHub app. You take your third shot and think, let’s not rush this one. BAM. Shot flies…kind of. You over interpreted how much you need to slow things down and didn’t get enough power into the swing. Although, on the plus side, it wasn’t nearly as horrendous as the previous shot. Tempo was a little better, you took the club as far back as you normally do, and your face angle at impact was more square.
Shot 4
By now you have mentally matured by some measurable amount. You have your war story that will put your spouse to sleep when you tell them about it later. Other players would have given up and posted their clubs on Craigslist by now. But not you. With ClubHub you have a unique tool that will help keep your swing under control. As you line up to take your next shot you have a sense of calm because ClubHub has steered you to your perfect-fit swing, not unlike Goldilocks finding her ideal mattress. BAM. It flies straight to target. It falls slightly shorter than your first shot’s distance but still a respectable shot that will certainly work to your advantage on the course. Taking a look at that shot’s parameters in the ClubHub app, you see that your stats were almost identical to the first shot, except for a slightly lower swing speed.
You take another hard look at the set of parameters from the favorite shot on the range and you make a pact with yourself to stay true to those parameters and no others. You know that you can revisit those parameters when you warm up for your next round. They can be used to quickly get you back on track when you start to stray from your ideal swing style and not let an entire range session or round go to waste anymore. You will remember this battle the next time you think your game is starting to degrade on the back nine and proactively monitor your swing. A feeling of confidence starts to creep back, and, although you are not envisioning yourself in the classic Tiger-Sunday- best anymore, you know that you will have the right mindset and awareness of your ideal swing to help you play more consistently.
Our four-shot saga is of course over dramatized for reading pleasure, but the point is there. It is crucial to know why a swing went right or what went wrong to be able to properly assess where you should focus your efforts. With the data you get from ClubHub, you can dial in your swing in a matter of a few shots if you take the time to note what is happening in each and how they differ from one another. Then you can take the good shots that seem to be a magical coincidence of everything going right, and turn them into a resource for you to reproduce to make part of your day-to-day swing, on the course and on the range.
About ClubHub and Kinetek Sports
ClubHub is the first ever fully integrated shot tracker and swing analysis sensor system that records every swing on the course and at the range. ClubHub provides golfers with real-time data about their game, including club head speed, face angle, hinge value, angle of attack, tempo, transition angle, and a 3D representation of every swing. Additionally, ClubHub’s shot tracking technology allows golfers to record rounds and scoring stats such as driving distances, fairways hit, greens in regulation, and putting. ClubHub offers a complete solution to golfers and instructors.
Kinetek Sports is a sports technology company with expertise in science, technology, brand management, and sporting goods. We develop personal, portable and affordable sensor systems that are authentic and nonintrusive. Kinetek Sports was founded in 2009 on the principle of maximizing athletes’ kinesthetic sense through technology. For more information, please visit www.clubhubgolf.com.
