Golf swings into high-tech

• Ultimate gadget for geeks who golf

By Jerry Potter
USA Today

Fifty years ago, when a teaching pro needed help to get a point across to a golf student, the pro might wrap a belt around the student's arms, cover his elbow with a milk carton or put a golf ball under his foot. All were tried and true ways to correct flaws in the swing.

One wonders what the old pros would say if they saw the electronic equipment that's available now: software that enables a player to work on the swing at home and wristwatch-like devices that analyze the performance during a round.

Even high-tech lessons can now be accessed with the click of a mouse.

"We have more sophisticated equipment than we've ever had," said Rick Martino, who runs the PGA Learning Center in Port St. Lucie, Fla. "It certainly makes the better players better, and it has the potential to make all players better."

At the recent PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla., companies unveiled the latest in software and global positioning systems, all designed to help golfers improve their swings and their ability to play a course.

Golfers can now work on their swings anywhere they can set up a video camera and reasonably up-to-date home PC. It has rendered obsolete videotaping lessons.

Martino has been teaching touring pros with digital video for about seven years.

Last fall, Interactive Frontier of Livonia, Mich., introduced the V1 Digital Coaching System (www.v1golf.com), which allows swing analysis online through the Internet Golf Academy.

"Without the powerful new home computers, we couldn't have developed this system," said Christopher Hart, president of Interactive Frontier. "It has opened up a whole new world."

With the software, a computer, a video camera, access to the Internet and a practice area, golfers can film their swings, file them on the Internet and have a teaching pro review them without leaving home.

"We believe face-to-face instruction is still the best," Hart said, "but this system could be used as a follow-up after a golfer attends an instruction school."

Hart said Butch Harmon and David Leadbetter, two of the most respected teaching pros, use the system in their instruction programs.

For example, a touring pro in South Africa could get instruction from a teacher in Scotland by using the system. Or an amateur in Ohio could get help without having to travel to his pro.

"It doesn't take a real high-tech person to use this equipment," Martino said. "Naturally, if you have computer skills, you can adjust to the system quicker."

The professional version of the software, introduced in 1995, costs $1,900, but the home version introduced last fall sells for $89.95.

Martino thinks there are more advancements on the horizon.

"Someday we'll have lasers that will give us instant measurements in the swing," he said.

Ultimate gadget for geeks who golf

Introduced at the recent PGA Merchandise Show, the G9 from Suunto, a Finnish company, is far more than a watch. Officially it's described as a personal golf instrument wrist-top computer.

The G9 (www.suuntousa.com) measures distances, records scores and stores golf data for analysis. Using a global positioning system, it can measure the distance of a shot, help compute the distance for another shot, record the score for each hole and hold data that can be transferred to a teaching pro who will analyze your game.

All this for a suggested retail price of $725.