Clubfitting and MySmartGolf

22 06 2010

The importance of clubfitting is becoming more and more apparent to players of all abilities.  We learned of an experience of a golfer that showed how MySmartGolf led to the identification of a clubfitting issue.  Although MySmartGolf requires input of a bit more information than traditional stat programs, it results in a very large amount of useful information to the player.  With just a few mouse clicks, this player scanned his ball flight for all the clubs in his bag and noticed that the ball flight of his six iron was different (with more miss hits) from what he saw for all his other irons.  He also admitted that he did not have a lot of confidence when hitting that club and tended to avoid using it.  Sure enough, his six iron did not match his other clubs in that the lie was different.  A clubfitter fixed the problem and the player noticed the difference right away.  He now has more confidence in that club.

Players interested in detailed statistics are amazed at how much information MySmartGolf gives them based on their round input.  As an example, for each approach shot club a player can see ball flight, how often the green is hit, how close to the pin they hit it, and where shots that miss the green finish.  This is valuable information for players who want to analyze their games.





Hitting From the Rough

16 06 2010

They call it rough for a reason. It’s not easy! You really have to put your thinking cap on when you find your ball in the rough. From a nice lie in the fairway, most golfers think about yardage to the green, the correct shot shape to approach the flag, wind conditions as well as numerous other variables. When you are in the rough, the lie dictates what you can do. Just because you are 150 yards from the green doesn’t necessarily mean you can reach the green if the lie is down too much.

Think of this as a chess move. You want to assess the situation and plan what you can do to improve your position for the next shot. As my coach said in college, don’t try to be a hero. If you try to pull off a miracle shot, the most you can ever save is one stroke. If you don’t succeed, it often costs you two or more shots.

Most golfers have experienced the US Open lie where you just have to hack the ball out into the fairway. They have also experienced the lie when the ball is down a little bit limiting the distance they can advance the ball. The least understood of these shots is the flier lie. This is the one that looks like the ball is up on a tee. This ball will come out of the rough like a rocket. It flies farther, has less spin, and does not curve. This occurs because the moisture and grass promotes a slippery surface on the clubface that lessens the friction on the clubface. You will see even more flier lies on tour this year because of the new grooves. Again, there is less friction which means less spin. Flier lies can be great when you are trying to advance the ball as far as you can up the fairway but they become dangerous when you try to approach a green. Missing the green long tends to lead to high scores. My suggestion is to err towards the shorter club and if you miss the green short, you tend to have an uphill chip or pitch which is not that bad.

Every golfer will hit it in the rough many times during a round. The one that is armed with he knowledge of what can be accomplished with each lie has a significant advantage. Unfortunately, driving ranges are not set up to allow golfers to practice these lies, hence golfers tend to really struggle out of the rough. Next time you get a chance to  play golf by yourself, throw some balls into the rough and experiment what you can do. With good decision making and experience the rough will become less…rough!





MySmartGolf helps coaches connect with their players.

4 06 2010

A coach from a college team was having a difficult time getting a player to work on his putting.  The player thought that his putting was pretty good, that he was the best putter on the team, and he should be working more on other parts of his game.  The coach thought otherwise and spent a few moments looking at the rankings of his players in several of the putting categories that MySmartGolf provides.  The coach’s suspicions were confirmed, this player was just an average putter.  Using the information from MySmartGolf, the coach was able to get the player to buy-in to work more on his putting.  Only MySmartGolf provides that kind of easy access for coaches to such a wide variety of potentially very useful information.

Among the features a coach using MySmartGolf has at his or her fingertips is the ability to rank players in more than 20 areas of the game including:

  • Driving distance
  • Driving accuracy
  • How close approach shots finish
  • Putts per GIR
  • Lag putting
  • How close short game shots finish
  • Putts made from various distances
  • And many more







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