THE SWINGTEC DIFFERENCE
We headed back into one of the center’s two instruction rooms. Eaton fired up Golf Tec’s proprietary TECSWING system, which was designed and calibrated after the company’s technicians reviewed thousands of swings, from Tour pro to mid-handicapper.
Comprised of a large indoor virtual reality screen, small camera/sensor unit placed next to a hitting bay with varying thicknesses of artificial turf and a computer running powerful TECSWING software — the company’s version of Trackman, basically — the system captures every element of a swing that matters: The club’s path and angle of attack, ball backspin and sidespin, bclubhead speed at impact and, most importantly (to me, anyway), launch angle and angle of descent at the target.
Eaton showed me where to take my stance and place the clubhead within the sensor’s range, and after a few warm-up swings and shots, we were ready to dig in.
First up, Eaton got some readings with my Brigestone 7-iron as a baseline — the “control group,” as it were — then with my 50-degree A-wedge. Distances with each were about what I expected, especially the 155-160 yards I was getting out of the 7.
“You hit a high ball, with a steep angle of descent, which cost you distance,” he reported.
“Yeah, I figured,” I replied. If my nickname is “Hack,” my middle name might as well be “Balloon-Ball.” I also tend to hood the face slightly at impact which, combined with a steep delivery of club to ball, leads to pull-hooks, which I’ve learned to live with. To a point.
Gladly, there were remedies. That’s what good clubfitting is all about.
