New golf technology in town

NEW TECHNOLOGY: The Rotorua Golf Club's FlightScope, held by club professional Anthony Barkley, analyses 24 variables of a golfer's swing to identify faults. PHOTO/BEN FRASER 290814BF2

Every golfer will know what this is like. You're teeing off on any given hole and a nearby player or bystander decides to check out your swing.

It might even be the groundsman who has taken a short break from mowing the lawns to watch.

Naturally, you want to impress. Or at the very least get the ball off the tee and somewhere near the fairway.

My point, you ask?

Yesterday I was invited to the Rotorua Golf Club to try out the region's latest piece of golfing technology - a $13,000 FlightScope machine.

Instead of having a bystander or even the golf professional watching over my shoulder, a military-style radar was set up behind me. This was certainly a new experience.

The club recently invested in the flash machine - which uses the same technology as missile trackers - to help with club-fitting and coaching.

It's hoped it will help improve coaching in the region and is a first for Rotorua.

Rotorua Golf Club professional Anthony Barkley set the FlightScope up behind me, on the edge of the first fairway, to track my swing and the golf ball's flight.

As I started to hit balls (in all directions) I had mixed thoughts about how well I was doing. Instead of impressing a casual bystander, I was having to contend with the most sophisticated piece of golfing technology in the region.

Anthony threw me some encouragement but I knew the FlightScope might be more critical.

The machine transferred all the data from my swing on to an iPad. Anthony broke it down for me including the club speed, distance, smash factor, spin and loads of other variables.

I must say I was really impressed with the quality of feedback. There were good points to my swing, with the driver as well as the irons, but a lot to work on. My big issue was the amount of spin produced, resulting in a slice.

The FlightScope gave me some good visuals on impact and what was going wrong after measuring 24 variables.

Local golfers are encouraged to go down and have a session with Anthony and the FlightScope, for club-fitting (choosing and testing clubs) and coaching. To book a session, contact the Rotorua Golf Club pro shop on (07) 348 4051. Sessions are about $100 an hour.