OTL / EQUIPMENT
The Search for a Better Swing
28
Goes High Tech STORY BY MARC HOENIG You may have heard the saying, “If you want to play golf, don’t get into the golf business.” I would add “or have a bunch of kids.” I have four daughters so my golf time is limited. I love to play, but I have to pore over several school and dance calendars to find a six-hour window to hit the links. Then, I have to negotiate with my wife to get the green light. Why am I sharing this? Because like many of you, I do not have a lot of time to go hit balls and work on my game. Even if I did, I would probably be practicing the wrong things. When the last holidays came around, I gathered up my gift cards and scoured Amazon for the right backyard net and mat. I even bought a launch monitor to tell me how far I was hitting each club and one of those elastic bands to keep my arms together during the swing. The goods arrived and I started swinging. The family didn’t particularly care for the new addition to the backyard. They thought the net looked ugly and thought I looked ridiculous wearing a glove and soft spikes to hit off a mat. ‘Dad you look like those weird people who bring their own clubs to Top Golf.’ I didn’t care. I was pumped. I’d go out between sales calls and hit a few. Back to the home office for more calls. Then to the backyard to swing some more. I was convinced I’d build muscle memory and be a scratch in no time. This is probably a good time to tell you about my game. I play about eight times per year. I usually land in the low 90s. Even though I don’t play often, I get mad when I don’t play well. It really makes no sense. But I’ve tried to convince myself that I shouldn’t get upset because I don’t play much and up until now, I haven’t practiced. On the advice of a buddy, I downloaded the V1 Golf app. He told me that I might benefit from recording my swing and watching it back from different angles. I’ve always been an analytical person, so I figured I’d be able to identify my swing flaws by seeing them. I recorded some swings over the next few weeks and watched them back in slow motion. Then I used the app to compare my swing side-byside against the best players in the world from the V1 video catalog.
THE ‘O’ ISSUE 2021
I was hitting a lot into the net and I could feel my swing getting better because I was making better contact. This went on for a few days. And, then, golf happened. My swing took a turn for the worse. I shanked one over the neighbor’s fence. Then I hit it INTO the fence. It was loud. I scared their dog pretty good. I went back to the app to try to figure it out. No such luck. I didn’t look exactly like Louis Oosthuizen, but my swing still looked pretty good. Back outside. Same result. I was freaking out about my recent case of the shanks. I expressed this to my family over dinner. They didn’t care and made it clear that they didn’t want to know if I was hitting them pure or 45 degrees to the right. Monday, May 17th. First round in three-plus months. Also, the first round since the mat acquisition (and the shanks). Nervously, I arrived at the beautiful Fazio Canyons Course at Omni Barton Creek Resort. Was up half the night, petrified that my new swing ailments would join me at the course.
