Swing Tempo (in seconds)

Everyone has a natural rhythm when they swing. Swinging hard may not necessarily mean you are developing maximum club head speed. The amount of time it takes you to draw your club back to ball impact is measured every time you swing.

You can vary your back swing and find the optimum time it takes you to develop your highest and best controlled club head speed. You learn quickly that club head speed can be increased by adding power continuously as you swing, and how to accelerate the club as you swing. Golf is dramatically effected by swing tempo.

The P3ProSwing™ golf swing analysis software gives you the information you need to get the greatest distance and the most accurate shots with your swing.

Toe and Heel Height (in inches)

The P3ProSwing™ golf swing analysis software determines whether your stance is too close or too far away from the ball. It measures the toe height and the heel height of the club. For a perfect stance you want the club to be parallel to the ground at impact. If the toe height is too high you are too far away. If the toe height is too low you are too close.

Your teaching pro can also use this information to fit your clubs and help fine tune your stance when you address the ball.

Welcome to the first of multiple P3ProSwing feature walk-through’s that will be posted over the coming weeks. Today, we will cover how Clubface Angle, Swing Path, and Angle of attack work inside of the P3ProSwing Software. Not only will we be talking about what these features are, and what they measure, but we will tell you what combination of these items produce what ball-flight-path. This will be from a right-hander’s perspective.

First up, the Clubface Angle.

Clubface Angle is the angle of the club’s face relative to the target (in this case, the golf ball). An Open degree club face angle means the club is facing to the right of the target. A Closed degree club face angle means the club is facing to the left of the target. Square is, of course, the club’s face facing the target.

All else being square, an open club face angle will have some degree of “Fade” on the ball, while a closed face angle will have some degree of “Draw” on the ball.

Swing Path

Swing Path is the direction of the club-head in relation to the target line. In other words, if your swing path starts on the inside of the ball, and travels to the outside, you have an inside-out swing path. If your swing path starts on the outside of the ball and travels inside, you have an outside-in swing path. Swing path determines the initial flight path of the ball, before spin is taken into account.

All else being square, an inside-out swing path will give you a certain degree of Push, and an outside-in swing path will give you a certain degree of pull. These values are dependent on how many degrees in or out you are.

Combine Swing Path and Clubface Angle, and you get various degrees of Hooks and Slices.

Angle of Attack

Angle of Attack is the angle of the Club-head path as it travels to and makes contact with the ball. This measurement directly relates to ball launch angle, and the backspin of the ball. More backspin, the further the ball will go, less backspin (or negative backspin) the shorter the flight distance.

Want the ball to go further, have a higher Angle of attack with the ball in the “Sweet Spot” (We will cover “Sweet Spot” in a later article.) Need to drop the ball closer to you? “Top” the ball.

These three measurements form the basis of all of our flight calculations for the ball within our software.

Note: Some measurements for ball flight are inferred through physics calculations, due to the fact we only measure the club, and take no measurements on the ball except for launch angle when a camera is attached and being used for it.

Over the next 7 weeks, we will be demoing the various features of the P3ProSwing Swing Analyzer software, to bring everyone up to speed on the new features included in Version 4.2. Today we will go over which weeks will cover which features, and open up the comments to allow for you to make suggestions for features to walk-through in the future. Do let us know what you think, and if you have a tutorial that you have written, or have found online, please send us a link so we can check them out ourselves.

Alright, onto the fun.

Starting next week, we will be walking through various features of the P3ProSwing software. This will be a 7 week series that will hopefully familiarize all of our readers with the software in use by our P3ProSwing Analyzer, and help you use the software to its full abilities.

Week 1

Dynamic Swing Analysis Pt.1

• Club Face Angle
• Swing Path
• Angle Of Attack

Week 2

Dynamic Swing Analysis Pt. 2

• Swing Tempo
• Toe and Heel height

Week 3

Dynamic Swing Analysis Pt.3

• Sweet Spot Deviation
• Club Head Speed

Week 4

Simulator Software Pt.1

• Desert Dunes
• Highland National

Week 5

Simulator Software Pt.2

• Practice Green
• Driving Range

Week 6

Simulator Software Pt.3

• Video Capture
• Golf Skill Package

Week 7

Simulator Software Pt.4

• 36 NEW Courses
• Practice Golf Course Simulator Mode

This sums up the next few weeks, if any of you have any suggestions for after the next 7 weeks, please let us know!

Justin R. Donnaruma

P3ProSwing Web Guru

This story doesn’t end with Pistillo tapping in for a careerbest 78. It ends the day after his TaylorMade fitting, his card bearing more triples than pars. Pistillo’s best swing is his last. From 225 yards away in the 18th fairway, he pulls 5-wood, whispers “knock down the flag,” and hits a towering comet to 12 feet. In one swing, the two schools converged. Both philosophies have virtues, Pistillo says over post-round beers. “Liam’s right — you can’t think your way through a swing. But Tom’s right, too — I’ll never be singledigit unless I fix the fundamentals. So I’m blending Old School and New School. First, practice technique; then forget it [on the course] and knock down the flag. It might be a long road.” He takes a slug of beer. “But golf’s a game for life, right?”

We at SportsVision agree that technology and the “Old School” Instruction methodologies should combine into a new, more complete methodology of teaching. This is why we came up with the P3ProSwing and the PuttingShark, to allow average people to have their own accurate, and technologically advanced training system, right in their own home.

The technology talked about in the article is great. The ability to virtually re-create your swing using 3D Modelling tools is an awesome tool to have. Its precise, and gives you great insight into your swing, your stance, and your grip. But that type of technology is extraordinarily expensive, and only available to high level schools, and the super-rich.

At SportsVision, we have currently available products that anyone can purchase and use, from just the sensors and software to use on your own computer*, to complete golf studio setups in our Ace package. We wanted to be able to give everyone the chance to work on their golf swing in the off-season, right from the comfort of their own home. And that is just what we did.

Whether you want to work on your Pendulum swing, your One-Plane swing, or your Two-Plane swing, Sports Vision has an option for you, capable of being used right in your own home.

Give us a call at 1.877.P3PRO.GO for more information, or visit us on the web at P3ProSwing.com

Check out our website for more info, and give us a call to order!

The Benefits:

• Better Graphics
• Same Accuracy
• Better Courses
• Video Capture Included ($129.00 Value)

We did make some changes to our statistics window, to allow you to more fully enjoy the updated graphics. We now only show the ‘Big Four’: Face Angle, In/Out Swing Path, Angle of Attack, Club Speed and Ball Speed.

Call to order Today! 1-877-P3PRO-Go (1-877-737-7646)

For more information about our products, including the 36 new courses, Visit our website: P3PRoSwing

Ball hit with a driver .6 inches from the Sweet Spot

To get serious yardage without swinging out of your shoes, swing hard, but make sure you hit the ball on your driver’s sweet spot. Solid contact directly on the sweet spot is extremely important for a huge drive.

Where IS the sweet spot, anyway?
In most modern drivers, the sweet spot is close to the center from heel to toe, but vertically, it has moved to a position just slightly above the center of the face. This has happened as club designers have been able to move the center of gravity lower and further back, which moves the sweet spot higher on the face.

The Trampoline Effect
The closer to the edge of the club face you hit the ball, the less the club face will flex.  It’s the same as bouncing on a trampoline in the center vs. near the outer edge. You need the face to flex as much as possible at impact to absorb some of the ball compression to achieve maximum ball speed. If you don’t take advantage of your club face’s flex, you can actually “over compress” the ball and lose energy transfer, sacrificing ball speed and distance.  When the face absorbs some of the energy, more ball speed is a result as there is more efficient energy transfer.

Is the sweet spot a big area?
The true sweet spot on a driver, giving you maximum ball speed, is the size of a pin point.  Missing this spot by the tiniest amount costs you ball speed and distance. Testing shows that you lose about six yards for every two-tenths of an inch you stray off the sweet spot in any direction.  So… if you’re interested in increasing your driving distance, focus on hitting the sweet spot every time.

Stay sweet.
-Monique

Maximum hit distance depends mostly on two things: club head speed and the angle of attack.

What is the best Angle of Attack?
The Angle of Attack defines whether the club head is traveling toward the ball with an upward angle, a downward angle, or level to the ground when it moves through the impact zone.

Essentially, some golfers hit up on the ball, some hit down on the ball, and a few golfers swing so that the club head is traveling level with the ground when it hits the ball. 

What should you strive toward in your swing?

Negative (Downward) Angle of Attack: Perfect for Irons

What an iron with a downward Angle of Attack looks like using P3ProSwing Software

A downward angle of attack (represented by a negative number within the P3ProSwing software) is when your club head is coming down at the golf ball just before impact, and moving below the ball after impact.

This is your most common situation – since most shots on the course are not teed up.  For irons, you want a down angle of attack. A steeper angle of attack with irons adds backspin and helps the ball elevate.

You might be tempted, when the ball is positioned on the ground, to hit with an upward angle of attack. Avoid at all costs! You’re thinking that trying to “lift” the ball off of the ground will help. Just DON’T do it.  This causes weak shots that do not travel as far, because back spin is reduced and does not create enough lift to carry as far.

Positive (Upward) Angle of Attack: Perfect for Drivers

How an upward angle of attack is represented with P3ProSwing software

An upward angle of attack (represented by a positive number within the P3ProSwing software) is when your club head is traveling below the ball and moving upward through impact.

With woods, you want a slightly upward angle of attack.  The only time an upward angle of attack should occur is if the ball is elevated off of the ground, such as on a tee or the ball sitting high up in fluffy grass.

Zero (Level) Angle of Attack:
Your golf swing could produce a zero angle of attack, meaning that the club head is traveling level with the ground at impact. A level swing isn’t all that common, or really all that desirable really.

If you’re interested in the Clubfitting aspect:
The angle of attack in your natural swing plays a large role in clubfitting and club selection.  Each golfer’s angle of attack is a product of their swing characteristics. Some golfers develop different angles of attack into the ball as a result of various individual swing habits and characteristics.
Your angle of attack is important in figuring out the best driver loft for you, because your personal angle of attack metric has a big influence on the dynamic loft of the club head at impact.

• An upward angle of attack increases the dynamic loft and increases the launch angle of the shot for any given static driver loft.
• A downward angle of attack decreases the dynamic loft and lowers the launch angle of the shot for any given static driver loft.

The more positive (or upward) your angle of attack the more you may want to stay near the lower end of the loft range. The more negative (downward) your angle of attack, the more you may want to stay near the higher end of the loft range for your swing speed.

So that’s that!  I included a section on clubfitting because we get a great deal of clubfitters buying the P3ProSwing because of the accuracy in angle of attack and toe/heel height among other things.  But that’s another post for another day.  What do you think? 
-Monique

One of the most common questions I answer is “What exactly does the P3ProSwing do?”

P3ProSwing is a golf swing analyzer and a golf simulator… but what do all of those numbers down the side of the screen tell you?

This is a series of posts where I’ll be detailing each aspect of the P3ProSwing software, and explaining what the numbers tell you about your golf swing – essentially, you’ll be learning how to read your swing statistics.

How do you use P3ProSwing software data to work toward toward your perfect swing?  Here’s how:

What’s Swing Path Got To Do With It?

Swing path refers to the direction your club is going while traveling through the impact zone.  On the P3ProSwing, the impact zone is the 5 inches before the ball, all the way through ball impact and on to 6 inches after the ball.

P3ProSwing has 65 optical elements, and the purpose of the optics is to measure the exact position of your club head as is it moves through the impact zone.

If your swing path is not in a

Inside Out Swing Path

straight line to the intended direction of flight at impact your swing path is either:
• Inside/Out – the path is from the inside and moves to the outside
• Outside/In – the path is from the outside and moves to the inside

Outside In Swing Path

The graphic above shows an outside/in swing path of 3 degrees.  This means that the club entered the impact zone three degrees above Square (starting further away from the golfer), and came through the impact zone three degrees below Square (toward the golfer).  Since you’re cutting across the ball, an outside/in swing path will cause the ball to veer left.

To get a good, consistent golf swing you need to be hitting the ball with a Square in/out swing path every time.

Swing it Square!

-Monique Gaudet
Why is In/Out Swing Path given in degrees? So you know how HOT your swing is.  ;)

Check out the interview of Jay Russo, Partner and Managing Director of P3ProSwing, on golfconversations.com – good stuff!  www.GolfConversations.com — Click the image or the link to read the full interview.

Great questions, fun and informative answers.  Nice job!
-Monique