Arithmophobia

[iacas]

Andy Plummer (@andy_plummer) • Instagram photos and videos

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32 likes, 3 comments - andy_plummer on April 15, 2026: "Rory Mcilroy. What do you see? 2 images of the same player. Masters Champion Rory Mcilroy. One is a still photo from a video, the other Is an AVATAR from a...

The text is:

Rory Mcilroy. What do you see? 2 images of the same player. Masters Champion Rory Mcilroy. One is a still photo from a video, the other Is an AVATAR from a 3D system of the same player. The 3d system AVATAR fails to represent the reality of the trail shoulder, arm, or wrist position. Or much else for that matter.
This raises the question, Which is a more accurate representation of reality the still photo or the cartoon? Next, To demonstrate the value of systematically comparing still photos I have included 2 images of Rory to train your eyes. Is the trail shoulder the same? The trail arm? The trail wrist?

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:sigh:

I love when people think they’re punching back, but they’re just punching themselves in the face.

The rest of this post is a compilation of some text conversations. 😄 

Andy, and all of S&T have, for years now sought to diminish the role of measurement tools in the game. Whether that's force plates, 3D, perhaps HackMotion, etc., they continue to rely on their interpretations of 2D photos and video to "show" what the game's best players do. In reality, they do very little of what S&T teaches, and often do the exact opposite of what S&T teaches.

With the post above, Andy continues to find new ways to demonstrate his stupidity. With this post, he's effectively comparing… a 2D photo to a 2D photo of a 3D avatar.

GEARS owners/users know… it's not about the avatar. It's about the numbers, the measurements, etc. GEARS doesn't capture your exact body dimensions. The trail elbow has been a little goofy for a long time. But you can compare one swing to another, and compare the data. And the data continues to show that golfers do not move like S&T or Andy Plummer insist that they move.

Either Andy doesn’t know that, which is a big concern, or he’s lying about what he’s saying. Andy is essentially saying that no numbers are good because no avatar will match his random still image.

Who can blame him? The last time Andy tried to use numbers, we got… stuff like this:

How do S&T "network" folks and GEARS owners like Manavian and Sales feel about being pooped on by their "leader"? How will Andy (or will he at all) moonwalk this one back with them?

How do GEARS users use GEARS? To get the numbers, to compare the numbers. Occasionally you can compare a "before" avatar against an "after" avatar, but in those cases, you know the "camera angles" are perfect and, more importantly, consistent or uniform.

With GEARS Hybrid, too, you can put the numbers right on the actual person. My two color cameras are pretty close to FO and DL views, so… I see the pretty common angles.

Other times, you're just looking at the data, and the avatar is "just for show."

To put that together: The GEARS Avatar is a representation. Occasionally you compare the “before” avatar to the “after” avatar, and you can rest assured when doing that the camera angles are perfect and consistent… but that it’s more about the measurements and data/numbers.

I'm reminded of this quote: It Is Difficult to Get a Man to Understand Something When His Salary Depends Upon His Not Understanding It (or variations at the link). It doesn't fit perfectly, because outside of a shrinking band of devotees, S&T has a horrible reputation amongst golfers and golf instructors. It likely has more to do with a desire to "be right" than to "get it right." And a healthy dose of good old-fashioned stupidity.

I hate poor golf instruction. It grinds my gears, no pun intended. It works against what I've spent the last nearly 20 years of my life doing: helping golfers to play better golf. I hate it when people do not advance their knowledge. They dig in, insist that they "got it right" fifteen years ago, and ignore all advances in technology. They keep their heads in the sand and reject everything that doesn't match what they think they saw years and years and years ago. They don't adapt or grow. They make up "data" and hold golfers back from getting better. It's sad, and frustrating as a golf instructor trying to help golfers to battle the misinformation put out by the stubborn and ignorant.

And… that's enough time spent on this.

[Ty_Webb]

12 minutes ago, iacas said:

 

It likely has more to do with a desire to "be right" than to "get it right."

Nailed that one right on the head. Force the data to match the theory, not the other way around. Come on people!

[saevel25]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

It likely has more to do with a desire to "be right" than to "get it right." And a healthy dose of good old-fashioned stupidity.

Yea, I think it is just human nature. It could be subconscious as well. 

The studies on Belief Perseverance, Cognitive Dissonance, Confirmation Bias, Motivated Reasoning are all interesting topics in psychology. 

Being that people are probably on a spectrum regarding how susceptible they are to these behaviors; I am not shocked by his response. It helps me cope with this sort of thing as well. I am like; Oh, they can't help it. Honestly, they probably can't with out some sort of major pattern changes in how they process information.

1 hour ago, iacas said:

GEARS owners/users know… it's not about the avatar. It's about the numbers, the measurements, etc. GEARS doesn't capture your exact body dimensions.

I wish, I would be like 80-lbs lighter than I am now! 🤣

I am glad the GEARS avatar doesn't blow up in size to match the person's outline. 

 

 

 

[boogielicious]

6 hours ago, Ty_Webb said:

Nailed that one right on the head. Force the data to match the theory, not the other way around. Come on people!

I ran into this during my career. Sometimes people passion for a project clouded the reality of data. They would often say it was, “bad data” when it didn’t match their expectations. Our reply would be, “Data is just data, neither good nor bad.” All it can give you is information and a direction for the next testing or experiments.