My new years resolution – improve my swing!

by tony on January 1, 2012 in Golf swing analysis with No comments

I’ve just made my new years resolution – to improve my golf swing in the fastest time possible…

My master plan is to find a tour pro that matches my statistics, then get some golf swing analysis software and copy their swing.

I’m 6 feet tall and weigh around 80kg which means my ideal tour pro match is Matteo Manassero so I’ve already found some good quality 300fps videos of his swing..

I’m struggling to find analysis software that fits the bill though – I know GASP make a high speed version of their software but the price goes up from £39 to £999?

Don’t really get that so I’ll email them and find out what the crack is.

Happy new year!

Golf swing analysis camera

by tony on December 10, 2011 in Golf swing analysis with No comments

Ok, I’ve just bought my first camera…

My parameters were the following;

  • Cost effectiveness
  • High FPS (at least 200fps at a reasonable resolution)
  • The ability to run the camera from the mains

I’ve chosen a second hand Casio Exilim EX-FH20 camera – for the very reasonable second hand price of £140.

As always I’ve done a monsterous amount of research and this seems to have most of the features I’d use of the premium £1000 EX-F1 camera at a fraction of the cost.

The biggest thing I’m worried about is the level of light required to get a good image – projectors love dark places so fingers crossed it’ll be ok.

I’ll post some sample videos of my pre-analysis swing when it arrives.

Good times!

Golf swing analysis camera

by tony on December 1, 2011 in Golf swing analysis with No comments

I’d just about settled on which camera i was going to use for golf swing analysis but a tip from my pro (thanks Mike) has put me off my chosen camera.

I wanted a high speed camera as when you see a golf swing slowed down to 240fps – it looks awesome, you can really see what’s going on.

I had chosen the Casio EX-ZR100 which is a relativly low cost option and yet can record at up to 1000fps albeit at a low resolution.

Checking the specs, i discovered that you can’t plug it into the mains – it’s battery only. I didn’t really fancy a battery only camera as with my existing cameras, whenever i really need them, they’ve only got around 10% battery charge.

The search goes on….

I’ve started to research the simulators

by tony on November 21, 2011 in Golf Simulator with No comments

I’ve started to research the different simulators that are available, the cheapest and most popular appears to be the dancin’ dogg product.

There are mixed reviews of this product, some poeple saying it’s great while others say it sucks and isn’t accurate enough.

I can’t see the point in getting a product that I may be disappointed with as it’s quite a long term project and I’m spending a lot of time on making it exactly what I need.

The product that appears to be a step up from the dancin’ dogg simulator is the P3 Proswing, and the product that’s the top realistically priced simulator is the ProTee version.

i’ll be posting the main differences here in a couple of days in a table form so you guys can see how I make my choice.

I played the Forest or Arden golf course today – very impressed with the course, great layout and in good nick for the time of year.

The food was expensive though – 4 sandwiches, 4 drinks and 3 portions of chips came to £46!!

I’ve chosen my projector

by tony on November 20, 2011 in Golf Simulator with No comments

I’ve picked my projector now… I’ve gone for the Epson EB-93e – it’s supposed to be for education, but i bought it for a very good price (from a reputable distributor of course).

I was thinking of maybe going for a short throw projector and mounting it really close to the screen but the thought of a smashed projector falling to the floor because i’ve clipped it with my driver put me off the idea.

I plan to mount it on a flat section of a roof truss – i need it to be high enough not to be affected by my golf swing, but this does cause a problem with one of the beams getting in the way.

I have a friend that’s an expert with this so i’ll ask him what the possibilites are and hopefully i’ll be able to chop a section out somehow.

Pictures to follow in the next couple of days…

I’m going to build a golf simulator

by tony on November 19, 2011 in Golf Simulator with No comments

OK – I’ve made the decision… I’m no longer going to trek out to the range twice a week this winter (if I can build it fast enough anyway) – I’m going to build my own golf simulator….

I really want it to be like the commercial golf setups you can go to so this is what I think I want.

  • A good mat based simulator
  • A projector with an impact screen.
  • At least 2 cameras (one behind and one to the side) for swing analysis
  • 1 computer with 2 good graphics cards and 2 firewire cards
  • Some black curtains

I’m going to be building this in my garage – so I’ll be posting pictures and documenting my choices along the way… I think it’ll take around 3 months and cost around the £3,000 mark.

More to follow shortly. :)

Go Tom Lewis…

by tony on October 17, 2011 in Uncategorized with No comments

Congratulations to Tom Lewis…

The 20 year old has won his first title – a huge acheivement as it’s only his 3rd professional start and of the last seven holes – he birdied five which is astounding.