PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The PGA of America’s space-age Learning Center now has all of its state-of-the-art electronic diagnostics tools in operation. Activation of the last units was recently completed.
“It’s an exciting place to work,” said instructor Eric Johnson. “We don’t have to deal in judgements, but in actual facts as recorded by videos and computers.”
In use at the Learning Center are three different types of computer-based equipment, with a combined value of about $150,000. The systems are used only for schools or when working with one of the four PGA staff instructors. Instructor’s fees are $80 to $100 per hour, with no additional fee for use of the computerized devices.
The simplest of the three is the VI Digital Coaching System, of which the Learning Center has three units, valued at $13,000 to $15,000 each. One is used on the lesson tee and two inside the Learning Center. They’re made by Interactive Frontier of Livonia, Mich.
The VI consists of video units, on which the golfer is photographed from all sides. The instructor can then view the motion and stop at any point to mark on the screen deviations from the most effective swing positions. For putting, the same exercise is done inside the Learning Center, with the addition of a camera directly above the golfer.
The Learning Center has one each of the other two devices, Full Swing Golf of San Diego and the Swing Dynamics of Carlsbad, Calif., which involve monitoring shots and player movement while hitting balls into nets.
The Full Swing Golf Simulator, by Full Swing Golf of San Diego, is a $50,000 item which, along with varied diagnostic uses, can be used to play simulated full rounds on 52 famous courses projected on a target screen.
Golfers hit off a tee or mat and the simulator records ball speed off of the club, launch angle, yards in the air and total distance. Ball flight patterns are projected on the screen, and all records are retained and averaged out for each individual user.
Determining the most advantageous driver specs for each golfer is one of the uses of the simulator. “The issue isn’t just the loft built into the clubface, it’s the loft of the club as it contacts the ball,” said Johnson. “Testing can determine at what loft a particular player gets most carry.”
The Swing Dynamics device, which carries a $58,000 price tag, has both a ball flight monitor and player motion monitor system.
The Swing Dynamics ball flight monitor prints a report on each ball hit, showing shot carry distance, deviation from target line, launch angle, height at peak of trajectory, ball spin rate (rpm), ball initial velocity (mph), clubhead speed at impact (mph), power transfer index (how efficiently clubhead speed was transferred to ball speed), clubface angle at impact (degrees open/closed), backswing and downswing clubhead path, and swing time (consistency of tempo).
The body motion analysis program works from sensors strapped onto the upper torso while the golfer hits into the net. The swing is videoed, and the video may be stopped at any point in the swing to read the following statistics: shoulders (degree open or closed), hips (degree open or closed), spine tilt (degree right or left), forward tilt, weight (percentage on right or left foot), side hip tilt (degrees right or left), forward hip tilt (degree right or left, x-factor (ratio between shoulders and hips to determine amount of stored energy).
