Every tour player does it regularly and I couldn’t resist anymore. Just like Davis Love III in this picture, I booked some time with a pro for an extensive Trackman session.

For the ones who don’t know, Trackman is a radar device which analyses golf swings seconds after a shot. It instantly tells the user details about the swing speed, plane angle, club face angle at impact, spin rate and indicates the ball flight providing information on distance, trajectory and spin.

All very useful information for players to improve on details within the swing process. Be it hand rotation, level of the swing plane, speed or just overall coordination. Sure, these are just numbers and everybody has to interpret these for himself, but with the support of an experienced pro I believe players are able to adjust their swing for the better, with less trial and error, instead relying on numbers as a matter of fact. I’m really very excited about this!

As a frequent reader you might know that I’m playing a constant draw which from time to time (or more often unfortunately) comes out as a hook. To avoid this I booked two hours with Robert Schmalfuß today, a young PGA pro based in Friedberg, north of Frankfurt. Apparently he’s a Hank Haney Associate Pro (whatever that encompasses), Healthy Swing instructor, golf physio coach and generally knowledgeable in terms of using high-tech to support the practice sessions, be it the Trackman system for the long shots or the Zenio device for putting.

Something I’m looking forward to also is the video recording of my swing. Yes I could do that myself, but I want to rely more on a high-speed camera showing exactly my wrist action at impact, swing plane and a comparison to the “ideal swing”. I think I’m one of the visual learners and once I see my problems on screen I might be able to address them more properly.

Can’t wait for my high-tech golf practice session, have to wait until September though – this guy is pretty booked out! And I will let you know afterwards how it was and whether you should do it as well! #Project12

More information:

• Trackman videos: vimeo.com/trackman/videos
• Trackman website: www.trackmangolf.com
• Robert Schmalfuß (German): www.robertschmalfuss.de