GEARS Golf Swing Analysis System

[billchao]

 

Stuff: An MRI For Your Golf Game | Golf Digest

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Want to know why you slice? This product can tell you *exactly* what's going wrong.

  Quote

TrackMan uses radar technology to inform you what happens to your club and ball when you swing, but the Gears product focuses more on the movement of the body and its effect on your swing and ball flight. Think of it as golf's version of an MRI, says Michael Neff, the director of Gears Golf.

The Gears system, which retails for a whopping $39,500, records all kinds of data when users hit shots wearing a motion-capture suit featuring 26 sensors placed at key spots around the body and six additional locations on the club.

Using eight high-speed cameras and special software, Gears can determine a lot of interesting—and telling—information.

Expand  

Seems excessive. I'm a big proponent of high speed video, radar, and all sorts of tools to help analyze the golf swing, but do I really need to know how fast my clubhead is rotating through impact, or what groove the ball made contact on? I can see a lot of data and information being gathered, but can it really be applied positively to fix someone's swing? I don't think so, but maybe I'm limited in vision.

What do you guys think?

[RJH999]

Looks interesting. A little wacky...the real question here is what happened to Win McMurray avatar that was there for 6.4 seconds. :-P

[billchao]

  RJH999 said:

Looks interesting. A little wacky...the real question here is what happened to Win McMurray avatar that was there for 6.4 seconds.

I like the bird better. :-)

[RJH999]

  billchao said:

[SPOILER=OT]I like the bird better. :-)[/SPOILER]

[SPOILER=OT] LOL. Greatest quote ever. I like birds too.

[iacas]

We checked it out at the PGA Show in January. I can say quite a bit about it, and there's about a 5-10% chance we get one at Golf Evolution.

[billchao]

  iacas said:

We checked it out at the PGA Show in January. I can say quite a bit about it, and there's about a 5-10% chance we get one at Golf Evolution.

So I take it I'm wrong about my assumptions and this thing is super useful?

[mmoan2]

  billchao said:

So I take it I'm wrong about my assumptions and this thing is super useful?

Either that or they don't want to take out a mortgage to buy one.

[billchao]

  mmoan2 said:

Either that or they don't want to take out a mortgage to buy one.

Maybe, maybe not. But the fact that they'd consider getting one suggests that it has practical applications, so I'd be wrong in my original assessment of it (but I'm used to that by now).

[iacas]

  billchao said:

So I take it I'm wrong about my assumptions and this thing is super useful?

It can be useful. Plus, golfers will be attracted to it. Better golfers. College teams. PGA Pros and some of their top-tier members. Aspiring high school players. Etc.

  billchao said:

Maybe, maybe not. But the fact that they'd consider getting one suggests that it has practical applications, so I'd be wrong in my original assessment of it (but I'm used to that by now).

There are definite practical applications. And we have the room for it. If you think about it, it's a 3D "camera" that's 300 FPS. So… quite good. Plus it kind of has a "built-in" launch monitor since it can track the clubhead and some of the ball flight (not that you wouldn't still use the FlightScope to truly measure the ball).

[RJH999]

Seems like just a luxury. If(When) I become a billionaire, I will mail one to all of you.

[billchao]

  iacas said:

There are definite practical applications. And we have the room for it. If you think about it, it's a 3D "camera" that's 300 FPS. So… quite good. Plus it kind of has a "built-in" launch monitor since it can track the clubhead and some of the ball flight (not that you wouldn't still use the FlightScope to truly measure the ball).

Yea, I thought about it some more and realized that I was too quick to dismiss it. In it's most basic function, it has eight high speed cameras filming simultaneously from different angles. I've always wanted to record my swing from four angles, so eight would definitely be better. It's still excessive for looking at my swing, but I'm not a top tier player.

It's also pretty cool and interesting stuff. Honestly, if I had access to one (assuming it didn't cost me a fortune), I'd probably use it more often than I think I would.

[iacas]

[billchao]

  iacas said:

Ok you got me, that thing is really freaking cool.

[nevets88]

I've seen this video but rewatching it recently, I really noticed how good this guy's Key #2 is and how it really shows weight forward and rotation at the same time. Also, that middle line going down to the ball, not sure if that's CoM, CoP or just tracing his pelvis position. The DTL view is cool as well and check out the numbers on the side. You can get the gist of this w/o paying a small fortune for Gears Golf w/high speed video, but it sure is pretty darn cool.

 

[Dave2512]

That is freakin' rad.

[davechen]

40 grand!  What a bargain!  I'll take 2.

Looks like they've adapted a motion capture system from the special effects business for golf.  They have systems like that at research hospitals too, to study gait analysis and things like that.

[Mr. Desmond]

I know an instructor who uses the Gears -  he experimented a lot with it, and he set me up with it as an experiment with driver to see how it worked. Besides the initial expense, the sensors are expensive, and if they fly off a swing, then it takes time to put them back on, etc. But last I heard, they were staying on, and he has some clubs set up with it when he wants to use it. It's interesting data. Can't remember much - last time I used it, was in March.

[SavvySwede]

Looks exactly like the ENZO motion capture system they had at PING but set up to monitor the whole body instead of just the club.