Best Swingers In Town
By Nils Lorenzen
Scientists are sometimes accused of sticking their noses in where they don’t belong and the game of golf is the latest pursuit to receive the science makeover. Apparently, if you want to improve your handicap, you need to listen to your swing.Anyone who has ever duffed a shot around their ankles or sliced one into the trees will know the pain of wondering just what went wrong. Ten minutes ago it was going straight down the middle, but now that little white ball has a mind of its own.
Luckily, for all those concerned, a professor of applied physics has developed a novel method of monitoring and analysing your golf swing and the biomechanics that lie behind it.
Bob Grober of Yale University uses low power microelectronics and sensor systems to measure the golf swing to provide audio feedback on the motion of the club. The sensor is inserted into the shaft of the club and the swing motion is transmitted wirelessly to a belt-worn headset.
The swing is converted to musical tones; slow swings are indicated by low pitch, while fast swings increase the pitch. The idea is that golfers can improve their swing as a result of hearing how good their last swing was.
According to Grober, "All great golf swings have great rhythm, tempo, and timing. These essential factors allow the best golfers to move in harmony with physics and unleash huge forces to generate soaring golf shots.”
The question on the minds of most club golfers is how do you know if you are building good habits or reinforcing bad ones? But are headphones really the answer and has that much really changed from the 15th century when golf first started?
The older generation are left unconvinced and prefer to stick to a more tried and tested routine – keep your head down, slow back-swing and sweep it off the tee. As for listening for the sonic boom, I think I’ll pass.
For more madness:
Cosmic Golf - Gold plated 6 iron used in space
Patent Lunacy - Great ideas that never quite made it
Didgeridoos - How the hell do they work?
Animal Sex - Chimps swing both ways
Image: W
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