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The Golf Lab Members-Only Newsletter
Tournament Players’ School and Radar Launch Monitors
June 20, 2006
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in this issue
-- Seaver Golf Academy Tournament Players’ School
-- The Next Stage in Clubfitting – Outdoor, Radar-Based Technology
-- New Kid on the Block – Trackman
-- Flightscope Fights Back -- Test Radar-Based Launch Monitors for Yourself -- A Special Invitation for High Handicap and Beginning Players
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Seaver Golf Academy Tournament Players’ School ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you haven’t got your golf worked out for this
weekend, there’s a great opportunity to improve your
game on Saturday at the Eric Jones' Seaver Golf
Academy Tournament Players’ School. It’s a serious,
all-day deal starting at 8:30 AM and going straight
through the day with a combination of seminar
presentations and range time, finishing with an on-
course playing lesson at 5:30. Breakfast and lunch
are included as are all the range balls you can hit and
greens fee for nine holes with cart at the end of the
day.
For tournament players, mastery of the mental side of the game is a prerequisite to achieving peak performance. The School includes a half day with Dr. Glen Albaugh, one of the world’s foremost authorities on peak performance golf. The presentation will alternate between classroom learning and applied techniques on the range. Dr. Albaugh has helped PGA Tour Pros like Scott McCarron and Kirk Triplett reach their potential. The Tournament Players’ School is unique because the focus is on helping you understand how to take advantage of the abilities you already have to play better golf, particularly in tournaments and pressure situations. The second half day will rotate between short game, scoring, putting and driving stations on the range. The Golf Lab Tour Van will be on site with its state- of-the-art radar-based launch monitors, the Trackman and the Cheetah to check the performance and fit of your clubs. The Cheetah will tell you your exact carry distances, a critical element for competitive performance. If your clubs need loft and lie checks or new grips call ahead to make sure we have the right model on board and the work will be completed the same day. The Tour Van compliment of exotic test clubs will also be available for testing by School participants. The cost of the Tournament Players’ School is $295 for the day. You can register by phone or on the Internet. www.seavergolf.c om or 650-274-3890.
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The Next Stage in Clubfitting – Outdoor, Radar-Based Technology ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A year ago, we outfitted the Golf Lab Tour Van with
the EDH Flightscope, a small box of electronics that
contains the most powerful radar licensed for civilian
use. The idea was to bring indoor clubfitting
technology outdoors. We made good use of the
Flightscope, but over time became more familiar with
its limitations than strengths. This was mainly
because we have two other launch monitors at the
Golf Lab, the Achiever – a laser-based technology
and the Max Out Launch Max – a high speed
photography-based technology. For driver fitting,
we rely on the Launch Max which only works
indoors. The reason? We’re convinced that the
Launch Max gives the best spin rate and launch
angle numbers – the most important factors in
determining the best launch conditions. The Launch
Max has an optimization routine built into the
software that compares each shot to theoretically
perfect. Indoors, you can test the balls you play.
Range balls don’t behave the same. The Launch Max
does fitting magic.
Our experience with the Flightscope was that it gave spin rate readings that were too high – even with range balls. We were never quite sure that the launch angle readings were absolutely accurate. Finally, we had difficulty figuring out just where the Flightscope was aiming. To be fair, the Flightscope was very good at some operations. For players who wanted to know exactly how far they carried each club in their bag, it was terrific to track each ball with radar. “Club gapping” is a service that turned out to be very valuable for tournament players. We liked the ball speed numbers. Overall, for a rather scary $15,000 investment, we had the best technology that was available at the time.
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New Kid on the Block – Trackman ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EDH is a South African company. ISG is a Danish
company. In the past the Danes tried to work with
the South Africans but couldn’t make a deal. In the
spirit of entrepreneurial business, the Danes built
their own radar-based launch monitor – the
Trackman.
The Trackman solved a lot of the problems of the Flightscope. The system has a built in camera which allows you to target very accurately. The routines to measure spin have been greatly refined, coming close to matching our indoor results with the Launch Max. The most amazing of the Trackman’s features is that when you set it up, you hear a little electric motor take over and level the system automatically. The launch angle and spin rate numbers appear to be very accurate. The Trackman is definitely state-of- the-art. It has been purchased by most of the major OEM’s for use in their fitting and testing programs and it has been adopted by the PGA Tour to take over a part of the labor-intensive Shotlink system. So, since we’re crazy golf techno-nuts, we laid down another $25,000 for our own Trackman. We simply can’t stand the idea that there might be a better system out there for understanding how to fit clubs and balls to a particular player’s swing. Our first outing was at the Amateurgolf.com Monterey Bay Classic tournament at Bayonet/Blackhorse. The Trackman lived up to expectations, keeping some players occupied for long stretches.
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Flightscope Fights Back ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After having been left in the dust for the last year,
EDH is fighting back with a new release. The new
Flightscope, code-named the “Cheetah” is patterned
after the Trackman, with camera-based targeting, an
improved leveling system and much more accurate
spin detection technology. It will be interesting to
see how the competition plays out. In the spirit of
competition, EDH upgraded our Flightscope with the
new Cheetah model. We have only had it out for one
day of side-by-side comparison with the Trackman
but so far the units seem to deliver comparable
results. Many more hours will pass before we know
which one is the very best, or at least which one is
the best for any given operation. For players who
are interested in outdoor, radar-based launch
monitors, the Golf Lab provides the absolutely unique
opportunity to test the results of both outdoor units
for yourself and then compare those numbers with
the Launch Max indoors. In our experience and
testing, it is absolutely clear that all launch monitors
have quirks. A week doesn’t go by without a player
showing up at the Golf Lab who got goofy results
somewhere else. Launch monitors are fundamentally
computer systems so the results can be “tweaked”
to show results the operator wants to show. If your
launch monitor gives you too much good news, it’s
probably lying.
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Test Radar-Based Launch Monitors for Yourself ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the weekend of July 14-16 the Golf Lab is
sponsoring a “Technology Shootout” at
Poppy Ridge Golf Course in Livermore. We plan some
interesting demonstrations as well. Eric Jones will be
doing a long drive clinic. But the main event will be
the “Technology Shootout” between the
Cheetah and the Trackman - $50K worth of
electronics. In order to provide an incentive for
interested players to make the trek out to Poppy
Ridge, we’re offering a low price and upgraded fitting
options to make the trip worthwhile. You will have a
full hour of undivided attention from a Golf Lab club
fitter. You will have either the Trackman or the
Cheetah (or both) at your service. You will have the
complete Golf Lab array of hundreds of demo
combinations (drivers, shafts, irons, fairways, utilities
and wedges) available. You will have the factory
consultation from Matt Frelich from ISG. Fit your
clubs, fit our clubs, test demo clubs, perform club
gapping, whatever you want to accomplish. We will
answer all of your questions. You get unlimited
range balls and the Golf Lab Tour Van at your
disposal. The price? $75 for a full hour of launch
monitor fitting. Plus, you are free to stay and test
clubs for as long as you last. Reservations are
required, so please call the Golf Lab at 650-493-1770
to reserve your time. We will have enough personnel
on site to accommodate two players at the same
time, so friends can come together. Leith, Bob,
Eric, “Iron Byron” (Patrick Boyd), Andrew Losik and
Heather Hughes will all be on hand the entire
weekend so you can meet up with the Golf Lab Gang,
have some fun and tune up your game at the same
time.
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A Special Invitation for High Handicap and Beginning Players ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From time to time, new customers show up at the
Golf Lab and say something to the effect that they
finally got “courage” to come in for a fitting. They
imply that they didn’t think that they were “good
enough” to employ Golf Lab services. Somehow, our
presentation intimidated them. Like all small
businesses, the Golf Lab is constantly in need of new
customers. There’s a problem when you sell golf
clubs and do a good job of it. Your customers are
satisfied and don’t come back for three or four years.
That’s why we’re broadening our services to putter fitting, outdoor fittings, advanced players’ schools, in depth demos of irons, wedges, utilities and fairways for testing off of grass and more. We aim to make it fun and productive to come back to the Golf Lab frequently. In the next year, we’ll be moving to a new location which will be much more comfortable than our current premises. We’d appreciate your help to expand our customer base. If you have a friend that you can recommend for any of our events or fitting services we have a nice present for you. You have your choice of a top- quality Golf Lab divot tool and hat clip ball marker set or a copy of Tom Wishon’s new book about golf equipment The Search for the Perfect Golf Club. Especially for beginners and high handicap players, custom clubs can be a good investment that can help them achieve their goals sooner. You will be doing your friends a favor as well and we’ll make that they receive the most friendly and professional attention available anywhere. Best regards,
Leith Anderson and Bob Huff
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Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:
leith@calgolftech.com
phone:
(650) 493-1770
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