IU Dedicates New Golf Facility, Coaches Already Seeing Results
2/3/2016 5:37:00 PM | General, Men's Golf, Women's Golf
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana men's and women's golf haven't had their new training facility adjacent to the Cecil W. Weathers Golf Team Center long. They're actually just beginning to uncover the new learning center's capabilities.
But it hasn't taken the coaching staffs long to draw favorable opinions of their new training grounds.
"It's exceeded all of our expectations," women's head coach Clint Wallman said.
Said men's coach Mike Mayer: "The players deserve a facility like this."
The new year-round training complex was dedicated Wednesday after construction finished over the winter. The facility features a pair of training stations equipped with some of the latest technological innovations introduced to the game of golf that the Hoosiers will use to analyze their swings regardless of the weather.
Ironically, both Mayer and Wallman described the technology-based training grounds as a throwback of sorts to the game they learned growing up.
Before video became as involved as it is in the modern game, most golf swings were based exclusively on ball flight. Players that were hitting low hooks would try to correct what they were doing wrong mechanically by hitting high slices to work from one extreme to the other hoping to find common ground somewhere in between.
The technology available in the center promotes that same type of learning with the additional twist that players can see their real-time swing data instantaneously through a device called Trackman. Later, they can go study the video to further confirm what the numbers are telling them if they so choose.
"When it's all said and done, it's given the players the ability to feel and see what is good," Wallman said. "We did it growing up on ball flight. If you were hooking it, you tried to slice it. But this generation of players doesn't do that. They look at it on video and try to fix it from there. The technology we have will allow them to do both."
The Trackman, which has become a staple among PGA Professionals across the country, is portable and can be used anywhere the players can hit balls. The monitoring device itself isn't much bigger than the size of a briefcase.
The unit measures key factors such as launch angle, carry distance, spin rate, ball speed and smash factor, among other things, and report it back to the players within seconds of the ball landing. The Trackman stores this data along with video capturing more than 20,000 frames per second to pinpoint and isolate all the variables that go onto a golf swing.
"Modern players, these kids are more in tune to this kind of instant information," Mayer said. "It serves as, I think, a reinforcement to what we're teaching. You tell somebody, 'Man, your path is probably coming from the outside. Your spin angles are probably wrong and you're spinning it too much.' They might have a hard time believing you, but all you've got to do is flip the switch and show them. Just show them. It's absolutely unequivocal."
One of the most helpful parts of the technology is that it helps players pinpoint their best swings, Wallman said.
Not all golfers are identical. Some have naturally over-the-top swings or maybe come in shallower than other players, but that's not always a bad thing. The data being analyzed at the new facility allows players to discover what swings work best for them and work toward making those swings more consistently.
"The neat part about it is they understand each of them has a specific range of how they need to swing," Wallman said. "It's whatever works for them. If they're outside the range, then we can start tweaking."
The Trackman technology has also instilled competition on both teams.
Players go through what's called a "combine" where they're asked to hit shots to certain targets with the Trackman measuring their progress. The closer they get to their targets, the higher their scores.
The Hoosiers' numbers are then not just measured against their teammates, but against the world. Anyone who has the technology can compete against one another in the combine and add extra motivation to a typical driving range session.
"Bringing the competition is a great tool because you're not just hitting balls," Mayer said. "You're getting scored on every single shot you hit and your scores going to be out there for everyone else to see. That little change to what we're doing should make us even better competitors."
Both head coaches reported that their teams are well ahead of schedule compared to past years where they didn't have the new facility. Wallman went as far as to estimate that his women's team was a month ahead of where they were at this point one year ago while Mayer said his men's team is "leaps and bounds" beyond where they would normally be.
And that's just after a few weeks of training.
With time, the learning center is expected to becoming increasingly useful to both teams, particularly during the cold months of the season where they can remain competitive. Perhaps more importantly, the new facility keeps Indiana on par with what the top programs in the nation are doing.
"This type of facility is exactly what our players needed," Mayer said. "I truly can't say enough good things about it and how much it will help our players."
But it hasn't taken the coaching staffs long to draw favorable opinions of their new training grounds.
"It's exceeded all of our expectations," women's head coach Clint Wallman said.
Said men's coach Mike Mayer: "The players deserve a facility like this."
The new year-round training complex was dedicated Wednesday after construction finished over the winter. The facility features a pair of training stations equipped with some of the latest technological innovations introduced to the game of golf that the Hoosiers will use to analyze their swings regardless of the weather.
Ironically, both Mayer and Wallman described the technology-based training grounds as a throwback of sorts to the game they learned growing up.
Before video became as involved as it is in the modern game, most golf swings were based exclusively on ball flight. Players that were hitting low hooks would try to correct what they were doing wrong mechanically by hitting high slices to work from one extreme to the other hoping to find common ground somewhere in between.
The technology available in the center promotes that same type of learning with the additional twist that players can see their real-time swing data instantaneously through a device called Trackman. Later, they can go study the video to further confirm what the numbers are telling them if they so choose.
"When it's all said and done, it's given the players the ability to feel and see what is good," Wallman said. "We did it growing up on ball flight. If you were hooking it, you tried to slice it. But this generation of players doesn't do that. They look at it on video and try to fix it from there. The technology we have will allow them to do both."
The Trackman, which has become a staple among PGA Professionals across the country, is portable and can be used anywhere the players can hit balls. The monitoring device itself isn't much bigger than the size of a briefcase.
The unit measures key factors such as launch angle, carry distance, spin rate, ball speed and smash factor, among other things, and report it back to the players within seconds of the ball landing. The Trackman stores this data along with video capturing more than 20,000 frames per second to pinpoint and isolate all the variables that go onto a golf swing.
"Modern players, these kids are more in tune to this kind of instant information," Mayer said. "It serves as, I think, a reinforcement to what we're teaching. You tell somebody, 'Man, your path is probably coming from the outside. Your spin angles are probably wrong and you're spinning it too much.' They might have a hard time believing you, but all you've got to do is flip the switch and show them. Just show them. It's absolutely unequivocal."
One of the most helpful parts of the technology is that it helps players pinpoint their best swings, Wallman said.
Not all golfers are identical. Some have naturally over-the-top swings or maybe come in shallower than other players, but that's not always a bad thing. The data being analyzed at the new facility allows players to discover what swings work best for them and work toward making those swings more consistently.
"The neat part about it is they understand each of them has a specific range of how they need to swing," Wallman said. "It's whatever works for them. If they're outside the range, then we can start tweaking."
The Trackman technology has also instilled competition on both teams.
Players go through what's called a "combine" where they're asked to hit shots to certain targets with the Trackman measuring their progress. The closer they get to their targets, the higher their scores.
The Hoosiers' numbers are then not just measured against their teammates, but against the world. Anyone who has the technology can compete against one another in the combine and add extra motivation to a typical driving range session.
"Bringing the competition is a great tool because you're not just hitting balls," Mayer said. "You're getting scored on every single shot you hit and your scores going to be out there for everyone else to see. That little change to what we're doing should make us even better competitors."
Both head coaches reported that their teams are well ahead of schedule compared to past years where they didn't have the new facility. Wallman went as far as to estimate that his women's team was a month ahead of where they were at this point one year ago while Mayer said his men's team is "leaps and bounds" beyond where they would normally be.
And that's just after a few weeks of training.
With time, the learning center is expected to becoming increasingly useful to both teams, particularly during the cold months of the season where they can remain competitive. Perhaps more importantly, the new facility keeps Indiana on par with what the top programs in the nation are doing.
"This type of facility is exactly what our players needed," Mayer said. "I truly can't say enough good things about it and how much it will help our players."
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