CHICAGO, Ill. (Dec. 3, 2012) – It takes a lot to impress golf’s most respected instructors, but it took only a 40-minute demonstration for Swingbyte to convince 80 of the game’s top teachers at the prestigious Plane Truth Certified Instructor Summit that the new digital swing analyzer is a tool that will help them and their students.
“They immediately grasped how valuable a learning tool it is,” said Jim Hardy, the 2007 PGA National Teacher of the Year who began the Summit four years ago. “Golfers gain immediate feedback and can see exactly what they are doing.”
“I really like it for the short game,” added Hardy, who is No. 7 among Golf Digest’s 50 Greatest Teachers. “We don’t like to see a lot of forward shaft lean in the short clubs because that takes away bounce and causes the club to dig too much. A lot of times you’re better off showing someone a picture than telling them they’re 3.6 degrees off. When you show them the face-on view (on Swingbyte), they can understand that the shaft is leaning forward too much and that’s why they’re digging and why the ball won’t get in the air.”
Following the Swingbyte presentation, company co-founder Brian Payne said he had to request an additional shipment of Swingbyte devices to fill the orders he received at the Summit.
Chris O’Connell, vice president of Plane Truth Golf and a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher, said Swingbyte fills a void in the equipment previously available to teachers.
“There are a lot of things that Swingbyte measures that – to my knowledge – no one else measures,” said O’Connell, whose students include PGA Tour players Matt Kuchar and Scott Piercy. “For example, I’ve never seen (a teaching aid) that measures the club face relative to the plane throughout the backswing and the downswing. For our teaching philosophy, that’s huge.”
O’Connell said Swingbyte removes the “prejudice” that some instructors bring to their analysis. “There’s too much prejudice about the way a swing should look. You’ll hear guys say, ‘I like this guy’s swing, or I don’t like that guy’s swing.’ But Swingbyte focuses not on what we need to do to make a swing look pretty, but what we need to do to make a swing effective.”
Swingbyte, which was named one of the “12 Coolest Items” at the 2012 PGA Show, will be especially helpful to instructors who work with highly skilled players, O’Connell said.
“When you get to that level, there’s less room for improvement and swing faults aren’t as easily recognized, even on video,” he said. “But Swingbyte quantifies what’s off in your swing and gives better players information to refer to when their swing needs work. That can help them make their peaks of good play longer and their valleys shorter.”
Swingbyte weighs less than an ounce and attaches to any club just below the grip. As the club makes contact with the ball, the wireless sensor transmits a 3D digital version of the swing to the Swingbyte app, available on Apple and Android smartphones and tablets. The swing image – along with measurements of club head speed, swing plane, face angle, loft and lie angles and tempo – can be viewed during practice sessions and archived in the cloud for future reference.
Swingbyte can be ordered through the company’s website, Swingbyte.com, and purchased at more than 1,800 AT&T retail stores. Swingbyte’s introductory price of $149 includes the Swingbyte unit, the free Swingbyte app and an online account that includes additional analytics, community rankings and personal trends.
About Swingbyte
Swingbyte is a patent-pending 3D golf swing analyzer that helps golfers improve their golf swings, whether they are working by themselves or with an instructor. Swingbyte captures key metrics from a golf swing and wirelessly transmits the information and an interactive visual representation of the swing to a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth technology. For more information, including a video that shows how Swingbyte works, please visit swingbyte.com, email founders@swingbyte.com or call 877-293-2549.
Contact:
Bill Bryant, Bryant Marketing Communications
bbryant@bryantmarcomm.com, 678-366-3232
Brian Payne, Swingbyte
founders@swingbyte.com, 877-293-2549 (x702)
