Designed for fitters, by fitters, Swing Labs® optimizes distance & control, matching clubs that have been independently, performance-tested for a golfer’s measured swing characteristics, in less time and with improved results. Testing with over 25 thousand golfers shows gains of 10, 20 or even 30 yards off the tee, and 8-9 yards with irons, without changing a golfer’s swing
RIDGELAND, Miss., January 25, 2012…Today at the 2012 PGA Merchandise Show, SkyGolf®, maker of SkyCaddie®, the # 1 Rangefinder in Golf – – unveiled Swing Labs®, the industry’s first, unbiased, performance-based fitting solution designed to help fitters leverage the full benefits of the vast improvements in club technology, so the amateur golfer can now experience the same type of gains in distance and control that professionals enjoy on the PGA Tour. Swing Labs is an efficient club fitting solution that represents a win-win for club fitters, PGA Professionals, retailers, club makers, launch monitor companies and especially golfers, as fitters of all levels can now easily and quickly optimize a golfer’s distance and accuracy.
“For Tour players, improvements in clubs, shafts and balls have produced huge gains in distance. They have been so significant that many golf courses are moving the tee boxes farther back, while the USGA has curtailed club improvements with very limiting specifications,” said Richard Edmonson, CEO, SkyGolf. “The question remains, however, are recreational golfers seeing significant improvements in distance? Are they moving back to play longer tee boxes? No, in fact, the industry is developing campaigns to encourage golfers to ‘move forward’ to more playable tees. So, why are Tour professionals getting so much more distance from improved clubs, and not amateurs? The difference is in the fitting.”
Today, launch monitors measure many aspects of a professional’s swing to include club head speed, ball speed, launch angle and spin rate to determine if the player is optimizing his distance and control. With this information, highly trained technicians from a club manufacturer work with the Tour professionals until they achieve perfect launch conditions to maximize distance, without changing the Pro’s swing. In contrast, most amateurs are not aware of just how much potential performance is being lost, because they have never had their swing and club performance measured on a launch monitor. Buying clubs, without important information about their launch angle or spin rate, is a golfer’s version of club roulette. As a result, many amateurs play with equipment that actually hurts their game rather than improving it. This has been substantiated by testing on more than 25 thousand golfers that reveals some startling facts about how the clubs they play actually performed against their potential. In fact, 9 out of 10 golfers are losing 10, 20 and even 30 yards with their current driver and 8-9 yards with their irons. That means only 10% of golfers are getting the benefit of significant gains in performance created by the club manufacturers.
“Most golfers that I have worked with believe they are not good enough to be fitted, which is untrue,” said Charles McLendon, Master Fitting Professional, Director, Business Development of SkyGolf’s Game Improvement Division. “Our data shows that 90% of golfers, regardless of skill level, age or sex, will benefit from clubs matched to their performance potential. In fact, some of the golfers with the higher handicaps benefit the most because they are even more likely to be using clubs not suited to their swing.”
The development of Swing Labs establishes a truly unbiased, performance-based fitting solution that can immediately make the business better for all industry participants by bringing greater awareness to the benefits of proper fitting. For today’s expert and novice club fitters in the golf industry, Swing Labs enhances the fitting process, making it more efficient and easier than ever. Essentially, because no two swings are alike and the potential configurations are almost endless, Swing Labs identifies a golfer’s swing signature and in-turn matches the proper fitting clubs to that swing with powerful tools heretofore unavailable to fitters on over 800 thousand combinations and configurations of stock or custom club and shafts that are available today.
At the forefront of the Swing Labs system is its comprehensive database of the clubs and shafts for all leading manufacturers that have been independently tested for actual performance. All testing was conducted by Golf Laboratories, the industry’s leading independent testing facility and included performance testing across a broad range of swing speeds with an added emphasis on multi-point face performance. In addition to independent and unbiased performance test data, the database also includes a cross reference of all major manufacturers’ length, lofts, lie standards, plus fitting carts of all major lines are cross-referenced to include the multitude of head and shaft combinations. The cross references also assist the fitter to normalize for the 6 iron and 7 iron variations in fitting carts, while identifying optimal settings for adjustable clubs. These easy-to-use, but powerful, tools expedite the fitting process by providing objective performance data to the fitter, saving time and research, and delivering optimal performance to the golfer.
“Golfers trying to find a club perfectly matched for their swing is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, as there are literally hundreds of thousands of configurations, from shaft flexes to loft and lie, head combinations and much more,” said Mark DiMare, Co-Founder Swing Labs Vice President, Product Development & Innovation of SkyGolf’s Game Improvement. “Close to 90% of amateur golfers are not taking advantage of the improvements made in golf technology by playing equipment that is not suited for their swing. As a result, they are not realizing their performance potential and playing the game at a disadvantage.”
DiMare adds, “With average golfers losing 10, 20 or even 30 yards with their current driver and over 8-9 yards with their current irons, improperly matched equipment simply makes a hard game harder and causes golfers to stop playing. This is the basis for Swing Labs; to grow demand for fitting and new equipment by helping golfers answer a simple question, ‘Are my clubs helping or hurting my game?”
To help answer this question, and build awareness of the need for fitting, Swing Lab’s developed MyClub IQ® (Improvement Quotient). With just a few swings on a launch monitor, MyClub IQ measures the performance of a golfer and a golfer’s current clubs (clubhead speed, ball speed, launch angle, back spin, distance and dispersion) and then provides a personalized report showing the potential gains in distance and accuracy from clubs configured to harmonize with his or her current swing. MyClub IQ opens the door into the entire Swing Labs fitting solution to help fitters, PGA Professionals, retailers and OEMs quickly and easily find the best clubs to optimize the performance of their golf customers, who can finally enjoy the same improvements Tour players receive from advanced golf club technology. Swing Labs and MyClub IQ establish a new standard in performance-based club fitting that offers a win-win for club fitters, PGA Professionals, retailers, OEMs and especially golfers. It is designed to advance the club fitting process, either at a golf course, or when used as a system-wide tool across multiple store locations or golf facilities.
Swing Labs easily integrates with the industry’s leading launch monitor platforms and provides unbiased equipment testing and profiling, comprehensive data analysis, and database matching to a golfer’s swing characteristics. The fitting solution can easily be performed on a range, in a studio or in a retail shop hitting cage. It not only reduces the time required by a club fitter to complete a typical fitting, but provides a complete analysis of all equipment, optimal shot parameters and objectively interprets launch data while building a consumer database for future fittings as new equipment is introduced. The Swing Lab database is continuously updated and available online 24 hours per day, seven days per week so fitters always have the latest information. Swing Labs also allows fitters, OEMs and retailers to track the success and ROI of their fitting programs or demo days. With Swing Labs, the fitter, OEM or retailer receives a detailed report, providing key information such as the number of fittings by store or by staff, customer demographics, and what inventory is being most recommended and subsequently purchased. In essence, the system gives the fitter, OEM or retailer the ability to track and monitor all fittings performed as part of managing the business.
Adds Edmonson, “Today’s OEMs are making great clubs, but golfers are buying the wrong ones. In addition to losing distance, golfers are not getting the control benefits that many clubs offer which enable them to hit more playable drives. And, many golfers hit their irons so low, and with so little spin that they can’t hold a green even if they hit one. Swing Labs makes golfers aware of the benefits of having properly matched clubs which in turn will generate a huge business opportunity for the golf industry as golfers seek a better performing alternative and start benefiting from the improvements available.”
Edmonson concludes, “At SkyGolf, we believe that a golfer that is improving will play more and buy more. We can build great products, but if the industry doesn’t help golfers get into products that perform better for them, we will continue to run short of customers. Making golfers better will make our businesses better and at SkyGolf that is our first priority. It started with SkyCaddie by making a commitment to provide golfers with the most trusted, most reliable distance information in the game, because inaccurate and unreliable distances only make golfers worse. With Swing Labs and MyClub IQ, we can continue this commitment by improving golfers’ distance and accuracy, creating more demand for fitting and providing tools to help fitters get golfers into properly suited clubs. Helping golfers play better is how we get them to play more; it’s how we sell more products and services and it’s how we change the trajectory of this game.”
For more information on SkyGolf’s Swing Labs and MyClub IQ, visit www.swinglabs.com, or call 561-626-0771.
About SkyGolf
SkyGolf® is a private company specializing in the development of innovative positioning systems and technology products specifically designed for personal use helping golfers play better and have more fun. SkyGolf is leading a revolution that is improving the way golfers play the game by providing better information to the golfer, the PGA Professional and fitters. The mission of SkyGolf is to respect the long-standing traditions of the game, use technology responsibly and within the spirit and rules of golf, and to provide golfers of all skill levels with better and more rewarding golf experiences. SkyGolf, makers of SkyCaddie®, the #1 rangefinder in golf, is committed to providing the same reliable information a professional caddie provides to PGA TOUR professionals. This unmatched reliability is created by walking the course just like a TOUR Caddie does for a professional golfer, recording critical target information with sub-meter precision using the only method trusted in professional golf. To date, SkyGolf has traveled over a million miles to ground map golf courses, recording approximately 100 million high-precision data points on close to 30,000 golf courses worldwide using their TOUR Caddie ground-mapping methodology. Additionally, thousands of courses are updated annually. SkyGolf believes every amateur deserves the same complete information with the same reliability professional golfers receive and would never play without and believes its SkyCaddie is the closest thing to a Tour caddie’s actual yardage book. The SkyCaddie is the Official Rangefinder of The PGA of America, Canadian PGA, PGA of Great Britain and Ireland, the PGA of New Zealand, PGA of Germany, the PGA of Spain, the Swedish PGA and a Technology Partner of the PGA Learning Center. SkyGolf is also the developer of Swing Labs®, the industry’s first unbiased, performance-based fitting solution designed for fitters by fitters to provide more distance and control for golfers while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the fitting process. Swing Labs is the first fitting solution to include the actual performance data on all major club manufacturers based upon testing by Golf Laboratories, the industry’s leading independent testing facility.
Contact:
Julie Davis, SkyGolf, VP Marketing, 769-232-0114 or jdavis@skygolf.com/ Tara Pranio Olivo, 732-469-5700 or tara@mastrocomm.com
