05/14/2015

The information we can access these days about our golf swing seems to be endless, but as PGA Professional Todd Kolb shows us, even some of the most basic information out there can really help us figure out what is going on in our swings.

PGA Teaching Professional Todd Kolb here with another segment of Teaching with Technology.  One of the great things about being a golf instructor at this moment in time is for the first time ever, we have access to information that—simply—we did not know was happening before.  I’m using my Swing Catalyst system here, and I’ve integrated it with the Flightscope; and what I’m able to do now—and any golf instructor’s able to do if they have these systems available, this technology available—is look at any moment of the golf swing and see exactly what’s happening.

Now today, we’re focusing on the impact position; and if you’ve watched me in any of my previous videos on Teaching with Technology, you know already at impact—with my Swing Catalyst system—we can look and see exactly where the weight is at on my feet, left or right.  I can see not only where the weight is at, but also where is the pressure on that foot—is it on the toe; is it on the heel—all those types of things that are valuable information for me as a golf instructor to help my students play better.

I can also integrate that with the Flightscope system, or a radar system; and I can look at the actual flight of the ball, I can look at distance; but today what we’re talking about is the moment of impact, the moment of truth.  I can look at the angle of the face at impact.  Where is it pointing?  I can look at the swing plane, or what we might also call the swing direction, or kind of a terminology called D plane.  The point for you as a golfer is to know this:  instructors now have access to information like this, and we can integrate them to work together to provide you with information that we could not before.

Now most of you might be looking at this and think “wow, that looks really confusing.”  But here’s the thing:  if you’re working with a qualified instructor who has access to this information, they’re going to take it, they’re going to simplify it, and for you, it might be a simple change of ball position or maybe aim that changes all of this information, all of this data that we as golf instructors have available.

So here’s what I want you to take away from this is that this information is available, and if you find a qualified instructor who has access to this type of technology, they can make the game even that much simpler; and hopefully for you, change your ball flight with just one or two simple keys.