The 80th edition of the Masters Tournament teed up this week at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, and so far, American Jordan Spieth has been number one on the leaderboard. PGA professionals can tell you, technology plays an important role in perfecting a golf swing, and over the past year, some of the guests on theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, have explained how it is done.

How will Calloway use sensors and IoT?

In an interview at EMC World 2015 with John Furrier and Dave Vellante, cohosts of theCUBE, Chinh Van, director of global systems and infrastructure at Callaway Golf Co., spoke about how the company was leveraging EMC’s XtremIO, which offers incredible speed to help customers and users make real-time decisions.

“As soon as we find ways to collect consumer information for those who play golf — where they go to the golf pros and the golf pro does an analysis — that information would come back to us. And we are thinking about leveraging that type of information (so we can) say, ‘Hey, you know you’re slicing here, so maybe this type of driver with this type of adjustability would help you fix that.’”

“We are now actively developing a product that you fit at the end of your club, and then you track your swing, track your speed and track your green in regulation. And then when we have that information available to our players, they know how they are doing, how they can improve on it and how we can help them during their game.”

Getting what the pros use

Randy Bergstedt, group product manager of smart wearables at Epson America, Inc., explained to Furrier and Vellante during the IBM InterConnect 2016 conference how to improve their own golf swing.

“We have a division (at Epson) that makes sensors, and those are motion sensors, GPS sensors and then also heart rate monitors from the wrist. So high-end sensors and the growth in smart phones and tablets allows us to take those sensors and then transmit that data over Bluetooth so the devices that measure can be really small. And we can get all kinds of great insight for the amateur athlete.”

“The elite guys have had access to the stuff for a really long time, but this gives us the opportunity to bring this high-tech, detailed, accurate sensing technology to the masses. Golf is a reall hard game and one of the things about golf that’s most frustrating is we all have three golf swings; we have the golf swing we actually have, we have the golf swing that we think we have, and then we have the golf swing that we want. If you can’t get those first two in alignment, there’s no way you’re going to get to the golf swing that you want.”

M-Tracer Golf Swing Analyzer

“The device is small, lightweight and goes on the bottom of the grip … measures the swing, transmits to your iPad or iPhone or Android device. And then we have our app, and all of the data is transmitted in the app; and you get an incredible amount of data. We’ve got your entire swing path … we see the full path of the club to see if they’re on plane. We also get all of the things that are happening through the impact zone; so face angle, club path, attack angle … tempo, how the golfer is generating speed.

“So for guys who are into improving their golf swing, we’ve got the full picture of what’s happening. Typically, people are working on one or two things, and so those would be revealed in the app and show you how you are doing and how you are progressing.”

The product is currently available for about $250 at several online retailers.

2016 Masters and technology

On the course and in the air, technology is front and center at this year’s event. As a 20-year-long sponsor, IBM is behind the Masters App that will provide users with some great features, such as real-time tracking of shots by every player from their exact location on the course. Additionally, if you want an aerial view to track player progress, the company has placed small laser tracking devices on every fairway and green at the venue.

IBM will also be highlighting its cognitive technology, Watson, to follow golf pro Tom Watson as he competes in his final tournament.

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