The Smart Stick is a result of the tireless dedication by one of golf’s premier teachers, Mr. Martin Hall, recently ranked #12 of all teachers by Golf Digest. The device works by teaching the three P’s of the golf swing: Plane, Power and Precision.

Gain the tools you need to meet your potential and fully enjoy the game of golf.

Features Include: One Smart Stick Swing Training Device with instructional guide, Wrist Bar, 4 AAA Batteries, 2 4000 hour green laser diodes.

Power

The Power portion of the Smart Stick comes through the use of the wrist bar. The wrist bar shows proper positioning of the wrist – both at the top of the swing and at impact.

Precision

Precision comes through the ongoing use of the Smart Stick in your practice sessions. With the Smart Stick you will be practicing perfect with the visual feedback of the lasers moving on the proper path. You won’t have to guess if you’ve got the club in the correct position.

Available at our Precision Golf Pro-Shop

 Most people believe that club fitting is for those low handicap players and professionals and hope that one day that they will be good enough for club fitting. Let me tell you once and for all that club fitting is for everybody regardless of age, gender or ability. Everyone can benefit from customizing their equipment. Whether it is as simple as customizing your grip size or setting the loft angle and shaft profile of your driver club to maximize your driving distance, club fitting has distinct advantages over buying clubs off the rack. Think of buying golf clubs off the rack as walking into a shoe shop and buying a pair of men’s or lady’s shoes. Let’s take an average and expect everybody to wear this size of shoe. For some it will fit and for most it will not. Let’s say the average is size 8 but your shoe size is a 5 then you can be assured that you will not enjoy walking let alone running in that shoe and expect blisters sore feet with muscle aches and pains. As much I hate to think about – this is how most people play golf when they play off the shelf equipment.

 Your golf swing will inevitably change over time. Typically as your swing improves you should expect greater clubhead speed which will affect the deflection of the club shaft and the way the golf club lands on the ground at ball impact (lie angle). It is important that you see your club fitter periodically to check the way that your clubs are performing and make necessary changes. Typical changes include: increase or decrease in shaft flex and weight, swing weight and total weight, club lie and loft angle.

Data
The following data is compiled by the launch monitor after each shot.
-         Clubhead speed
-         Ball speed
-         Dynamic loft (loft of the clubhead at ball contact)
-         Launch angle (the angle the ball is launched when leaving the clubface)
-         Club head path
-         Clubface angle
-         Angle of attack of the clubhead
-         Rate of ball back spin and side spin
-         Displacement of the ball during and after flight
-         Carry and total distance
-         Efficiency or smash factor

How date is used to enhance the fitting process
The data from the launch monitor is particularly useful in fitting the driver club. Launch monitor is also useful in plotting incremental difference in shot distance between each club thus making it easier to work out the set make-up.
Traditionally it was believed that a ball that launched low and climbed higher during flight maximized shot distance when playing the driver. This method relied heavily on the ball roll after landing. Driver heads where designed with grooves consistent with iron club heads and were offered in lofts as low as 6 degrees. The problem here is that the main function of grooves is to encourage backspin. With the emergence of the launch monitor manufacturers and club fitters realized that a ball that spins too much creates too much drag against air resistance and hence the modern trend of offering drivers with higher loft and little or even no grooves began. Drivers with as much as 19 degrees are now available in the market.
The key to maximizing driver distance is to maximize carry distance. This is achieved by matching the ball launch angle and the backspin rate to the clubhead speed at impact. Simply the higher the clubhead speed the lower the launch and spin requirement. The lower the clubhead speed the higher the launch and backspin requirement. For example:
Clubhead speed of 100 mph requires a launch of 15 degrees and a backspin rate of 2400 rpm
Clubhead speed of 70 mph requires a launch of 21 degrees and a backspin rate of 3000 rpm

The optimum launch is achieved by matching clubhead characteristics such as loft weight and head design with shaft characteristics such as flex, deflection point and weight together with club length, total weight and swing weight (balance between the head and handle end of the golf club), together with your swing.
The angle of attack (or approach) of the clubhead to the ball is also a critical factor in maximizing distance off the tee. The angle of attack greatly influences the amount of backspin that is imparted on the ball at impact. It has been stated that the average attack angle on the USPGA tour is around 5 degrees and on the LPGA is around 8 degrees.

Testing shafts with varying shaft profiles during the fitting process aids the process of optimizing ball spin. Shaft manufacturers offer shafts with either low mid or high launch properties as well as high mid or low spin influences in many shaft weights. Typically slower swingers will be most suited to lighter, softer shafts with a high launch influence (low kick point) and faster swingers will be suited towards heavier, stiffer shafts with low launch influence (high kick point) however there are always exceptions.

History
The first launch monitor is believed to have been developed by Acushnet the parent company of Titleist Golf some back in the 1970’s. It featured a large mainframe computer with a camera that captured the ball and club at impact, and the ball about 12 to 18 inches into flight.
“Way ahead of its time,” Acushnet CEO Wally Uihlein said.
As with other advances in equipment, launch monitors are now portable, smaller and more efficient.

Types of launch monitors
There are currently two types of launch monitors in the market. One technology is using radar technology to track the ball its entire journey and the other uses high speed digital imagery of the ball and calculates the shot characteristics based on images immediately following impact. Both have their advantages however the radar systems do require more space in setting up. Perhaps the greatest thing about the expensive radar technology is that it confirms that the cheaper image based systems are in fact very accurate at calculating and simulating the actual ball flight and are a fraction of the price.
 
The Launch Monitor on Tour
 “There’s a lot of reasons the ball is going farther, and one of them is the launch monitor,” Jeff Sluman (PGA Tour professional) said. “You can really dial in the exact ball flight and get the right shaft and the right club, and that combination will maximize your potential off the tee.”
Brenden Pappas used a launch monitor for the first time two years ago while on the Nationwide Tour. He found the equipment for optimal launch angle and spin, and now tests himself every four or five months just to make sure his driver is reacting the way it should.  Pappas is tied with Tiger Woods at 10th in driving distance on the PGA Tour. “I’ve changed drivers to get extra spin on the ball,” he said. “If you don’t embrace technology, you fall behind. I use everything at my disposal. You’d be crazy not to.”

The launch monitor is not singularly responsible for players hitting the ball farther. It’s simply the catalyst for players being matched up with the best equipment — clubs, shafts, balls — for their game. “It shows players what it will take to play power golf,” said Bill Morgan, executive vice president of research and development at Titleist. “The information shows players how to make changes that give them increments of distance. For some, it was big. For others, it was not so big.”

Phil Mickelson showed at the start of his season in Phoenix how much he was putting that information to use. “The spin rate has been knocked down. The launch angle has been sent up. The ball is just taking on a whole different orbit,” he said in Phoenix. “From last year, I’ve got a 2-degree higher launch angle, 8 mph faster ball speed and about a 15- to 20-yard overall distance difference.”

Charles Howell III was still in junior high when he first went to the Callaway Golf’s test center and worked with a launch monitor. He came away with a lesson in engineering. “I learned that it was a lot of numbers involved in driving,” he said. “I had tried a bunch of different drivers. At that age, you’re just trying to hit the ball far, and you don’t understand why one driver goes farther than another. Now, you have numbers to put to it. I was lucky enough to have that when I was 13 years old.”

Dick Rugge, senior technical adviser for the U.S. Golf Association, believes the launch monitor simply speeds up the process of finding the right equipment. “It’s a catalyst,” he said. “It doesn’t create more distance, but it makes getting there quicker. Through trial and error, somebody could keep trying different clubs, balls and swings, and sooner or later they would get there. But the launch monitor makes it happen much quicker.”

Skill – your golf swing and short game technique

Physiology – your body condition (strength and flexibility)

Psychology – your ability to think correctly or effectively

Strategy – your ability to manage your shots in playing on-course

Equipment – having the proper tools for YOUR game

(In no particular order)

Golfers strive for great technical skills and often golfers get too hooked up in this one element of the game and forget about other equally important elements.

Don’t get me wrong an effective skill level is necessary to play golf to any real standard. Remember that golf is both a mind and body game. Know when to think, what to think about and know when to switch off and play in your subconscious. A good coach will advise you of this.

 Your body is probably one of golf’s most important equipments. Both good strength and flexibility is required to swing the club athletically with power and precision.

Golfers who do not have good strength and flexibility are disadvantaged however having good short game skill can easily weigh up such disadvantages.

 Effective strategizing of your shots on course can aid in lowering your scores. It is important that golfers understand their relative strengths and weaknesses and learn to play to their strengths. Also sound knowledge of golf’s rules and exercising a proper etiquette on-course are also great assets for golfers particularly when making decisions on the rules and procedure of play.

 Equipment is one area were most golfers tend let themselves down greatly. Golf is a marketers dream and decisions on which equipment to use is based mostly on marketing material and which equipment that the tour professionals are using through endorsement. Golfers must understand that each golfer differs greatly in physical presence as well have varying swing types. Golfers serious about effective learning and game improvement must seek the services of a qualified club fitter with extensive knowledge of the golf swing and demand excellence in the build quality of their clubs.