 | Professor Robert Grober practices his swing using his new invention, a golf club that uses audio feedback to help golfers improve their swing. |
Yale scientist Robert D. Grober has combined his passion for golf and his professional expertise to produce a unique and effective real-time audio biofeedback device for teaching and training golf.
Grober, who is the Phineas Rose Professor of Applied Physics and professor of physics, developed a golf club that has motion-detecting sensors, similar to those used for safety air-bag deployment in cars, embedded in the shaft.
Sonic Golf's unique feature is the use of real-time audio feedback. "We were able to identify a signal from the sensors related to the speed of the club," Grober says. "We convert this signal into an audio soundscape that is universally intuitive to golfers and instantly interpretable, providing real-time audio feedback on the tempo, timing and rhythm of the golf swing."
A patent was filed through the Yale Office of Cooperative Research and the technology is licensed to Grober's company, Sonic Golf, LLC. He has successfully tested his clubs with leading PGA teaching professionals in Pinehurst, Southern California, Maui and Florida.
"From listening to Sonic Golf's audio feedback, all the students made improvements in their swings in just 20 to 30 minutes," says Bill Greenleaf, a PGA master professional and director of instruction at the Dunes at Maui Lunai. "Some fine tuned, and some made dramatic changes that I would not previously have thought possible. Eight weeks later, the effect is still contributing to their improved play."
The clubs have a wireless data link both to headphones and to a computer. As the golfer swings, an audio soundscape is generated for the golfer that represents the speed of the club -- a soft, low pitch when the club is moving slowly, scaling to a loud, high pitch when the club is moving quickly. Data is also collected by a computer and allows further analysis of elements of the swing, including the duration of the backswing and downswing, the force of the release, and the swing-to-swing reproducibility.
This is a completely new way to develop tempo, rhythm, and "feel" and to train muscle memory in the golf swing, explains Grober. Additionally, it provides a mechanism to connect the golfer and instructor, allowing them to explore the sound and data together and to make swing changes by altering the soundscape.
"This is a great example of the joy in practical application of basic science and engineering." says Paul Fleury, dean of Yale Engineering and the Frederick W. Beinecke Professor of Engineering.
-- By Janet Emanuel
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