IS YOUR golf game lacking a finishing touch? Driving your balls straight down the fairway but struggling when it comes to the finer art of putting? Never fear: a robotic aid made from wires could pull your game into shape.
The novel training machine has been created by at the in Philadelphia and colleagues, who specialise in haptics 鈥� the technology of tactile feedback.
The final stage of a hole of golf occurs on the green, when a player attempts to tap the ball into a 10-centimetre-wide hole using a flat-faced club called a putter. To do this consistently well, players must adopt a steady stance while ensuring the putter鈥檚 flat face is directed at the hole during their swing鈥檚 follow-through. There is little room for error, as small changes in the putter鈥檚 angle send the ball鈥檚 trajectory askew. What鈥檚 needed, says team member Jacquelyn Kunkel, is a way of teaching a player how to putt that instils the correct muscle memory of the action.
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To do this, the team created a 1.5-metre-long by 70-centimetre wide-metal training frame with a green baize base and a practice hole. The player stands at the centre, using a practice putter with four steel wires attached, two to the front and two to the back. These wires go to the four corners of the frame, where they are each attached to an electric motor, which can alter the wires鈥� tension.
As the player swings the putter, fast-acting software controlling the tension of the wires corrects any deviation to the swing, keeping it straight. 鈥淭he golfer feels forces pulling them back to the correct position when they go wrong, making it feel natural to swing correctly,鈥� says Kunkel.
Early tests show promise, with some volunteers having less variation in shot accuracy, the team told the Conference 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey, in June. 鈥淭he cues it delivers are subtle, not even noticeable if you鈥檙e trying to putt straight,鈥� says Kuchenbecker. 鈥淭he system helps you feel what it is like to putt correctly, and the ball tends to end up closer to the target.鈥� They plan to improve the system by reducing the friction in the wires so the altered swing feels more natural.
Many golf training devices , says , director of research and testing at the R&A in St Andrews, UK, the governing body of golf outside the US. 鈥淏ut I haven鈥檛 seen a training device that lets you deviate and which then brings you back on line. That sounds an interesting new approach.鈥�
