I am a TM owner, advocate and user on all my lessons. My question is this: How do we quantify the effects it is having on the golf community? Are handicaps coming down? Is the scoring average on the tour coming down? What criteria do use to rate the effects of all the new technology? We know it helps us as teachers; are the students the benefactors of our new ability to measure? I'm asking because I have a hunch here...
Technology
- Thread starter DCgolf
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...Do go on...
Id like to get a few ideas before i go on, if i may
magicmarker
New
Tiger for one looks a WHOLE lot better from tee to green since he began using trackman than he did for the last five years without it.
Oops, sorry DC.
I'm sure there's going to be a lag (no pun intended) until you see the real impact. No doubt the benefits will, like everything else in our sport, be felt by the tour pros first and then trickle down into the amateur game.
Oddly enough, I haven't heard any tour pros singing the praises of Trackman, at least not in public (although I'm sure they'd probably want some sort of endorsement deal before they do!)
As for gauging the effect of new technology by using average handicap, that, IMHO, is fraught with myriad difficulties, especially in light of the statistics thread that has been running here for a few days.
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mgranato
New
LM's definitely help with what they are tasked to do, but there is a lot more that goes into universally reducing handicaps or scores than what LM's are capable of "seeing". They do streamline and focus the amount of time spent of the full swing (and now short game), so in essence they "create" more time for the other areas that also have a bearing on scores and caps. All that said... I vote yes.
But he AVERAGED 68 and slightly above a few years without it. What about winning the Open by 15 without it?
So back to my original question: how do you think we should rate its effect?
mgranato
New
By the ones who oppose it.
94monarch
New
Great question, as a new FS owner I would say my first blush is the people it will help the most are the ones it is hardest to quantify results with. Truthfully, I spend 85% of my teaching time with weak grip throwers and very bad fundamental players. My average lesson is just lousy or has been a 14 his whole life and is happy there, but has been playing like a 22 for a few weeks and wants to get back to being a 14. And he or she wants that right now. I am going to try not to let my excitement for my new toy override the common sense that most players whose improvement can be documented with better scores or handicaps will not benefit from it. I think we have to go with the spoken word of the better players in this one which is tough to measure. I would love to hear Brian, Michael or any Manzella instructors responses.
Not to tip-toe through the tulips, but qualitatively
Kevin Shields
Super Moderator
How bout we look at metrics.
Pray tell...
magicmarker
New
some could say that if he had a trackman back then he wouldn't have veered so far off that course to begin with.
If he finishes fourth in a tournament now everyone knows he played poorly. That's crazy talent. It's the standard he set. He knows it, that's why he uses a TM, competitive advantage. If someone that talented see's value in it then there must be something there IMO.
If he finishes fourth in a tournament now everyone knows he played poorly. That's crazy talent. It's the standard he set. He knows it, that's why he uses a TM, competitive advantage. If someone that talented see's value in it then there must be something there IMO.
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I believe that the effect it will have for the Tour player is that their ball striking will become more consistent. I don't think you will see players being really hot for 1or2 weeks then dropping out of site for a prolonged period of time. With the technology, slumps won't last as long. They already know how to swing the club, otherwise they wouldn't be where they are. You simply can't fake being a Tour player. The biggest difference will be for them knowing why their game is not on and by looking at their " numbers" they will be able to correct at a much faster rate.
Matt Bryda
New
You mean before and after numbers like the ones they never show you on tv of the tour players shot by shot?
aoa, cf, hsp, sp etc.
It will suck the intoxicating mystery out of the game; people will quit golf en masse, so we can measure the impact by the decline of golf! A joke, of course. At the end of the day the good will get better; the bad...not so much. Sort of like the Matthew Effect. I sincerely believe it will expose (as it already has) the golf swing guru huckster. So there will be a regression to the mean for the price of golf lessons (Brian's will therefore have to go up!) So perhaps mortgage default of high-end gurus is a stat worth paying attention to. Not to fear Uncle Sam and the banks will cut you a check for $1,500, or so. Lets see...angles of attack will shallow out, so there is another number to watch. We are all going to be picking it like Moe! Guys are going to optimize their drivers, so the best are going to hit it longer than ever (and the luddites are not going to be able to say that it has nothing to do with great technique!) People will be taking out home equity loans to buy refurbished Trackmen,precipitating yet another credit crisis (but at least the former gurus will be there to keep them company.) That is all I can come up with...for the now.
A joke, of course. At the end of the day the good will get better; the bad...not so much. Sort of like the Matthew Effect. I sincerely believe it will expose (as it already has) the golf swing guru huckster. So there will be a regression to the mean for the price of golf lessons (Brian's will therefore have to go up!) So perhaps mortgage default of high-end gurus is a stat worth paying attention to. Not to fear Uncle Sam and the banks will cut you a check for $1,500, or so. Lets see...angles of attack will shallow out, so there is another number to watch. We are all going to be picking it like Moe! Guys are going to optimize their drivers, so the best are going to hit it longer than ever (and the luddites are not going to be able to say that it has nothing to do with great technique!) People will be taking out home equity loans to buy refurbished Trackmen,precipitating yet another credit crisis (but at least the former gurus will be there to keep them company.) That is all I can come up with...for the now. I think the easiest way to tell would be on a case by case basis. Can't use handicaps, because there are way more "normal" players who don't use, or have access to, a Trackman. An improvement in overall tour metrics would be difficult to use because, IMO, they're so good already that the overall improvement in statistical numbers would likely be too small to tell the real story.
I think that the people who'll notice the effects the most will be instructors. Because the numbers are right there, instructors (particularly open-minded instructors) will likely shape their instruction around improving the player's numbers, rather than improving their swing's look for it's own sake. The irony behind that is that this new technology may even take golf back in the direction of more individual looking, less cookie-cutter swings. Wouldn't that be something?
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