GEARS can snap 8,500-plus images of a single swing in three dimensions.
Information overload? Not when there’s truth in data.
BY DYLAN DETHIERAUDIENCE
LessonsOnce you’re on the receiving end of a GEARS diagnosis, it’s difficult
to overstate just how much information suddenly becomes available
about your movements. In Jacobs’s studio, my own avatar popped
up on the monitor, mimicking my motion in real time. As I took my
first swings, numbers appeared—the usual ones, like clubhead speed.
Then, others I’ve never heard of, like degrees of rib-cage rotation.
Grip speed. Shaft droop.
I felt suddenly overwhelmed by the lines of data before me, but
Jacobs reassured me: that’s why he was there, to turn an information
flood into a lethal weapon.
I took another swing, and immediately Jacobs, planted in the
corner, pointed something out: I was swaying unnecessarily on my
backswing, wasting motion in the process. This wasn’t his opinion,
up for debate. This was based on the scientific data of successful
pros’ swings, brought home by a 3-D overlay of my swing over that
of Jonas Blixt. “This isn’t something you have to trust me on,” Jacobs
pointed out. “It’s just here in front of you.”He toggled between different views, using visuals and data to
show details of my motion and club delivery, both the good and the
bad. Within minutes, he had me staying stiller, swinging at what
felt like 70 percent—and hitting the ball just as far as I had with my
initial full swing.
That’s why Jacobs likes to book clients for three hours to get started
on the system. Simplifying things can take time.
GEARS feels an awful lot like the future, except it isn’t—it’s the
present, in nearly 50 locations in the U.S. and Canada alone. Not
just for the golf swing, but for the baseball swing, and the optimal
basketball jumper, and the perfect football punt.
Jacobs is a true believer, so much so that he’s penned two books
on the subject. The first, Swing Tips You Should Forget, states his case.
“Traditional golf tips are often incomplete, outdated or just plain
wrong,” he says. He’s right, of course. The player’s swing should
dictate the tip, not the other way around.
The era of big golf data is here. Ignore it at your own risk.
A session strapped into a GEARS motion-analysis studio delivers data you never thought trackable in your motion, eliminating any guesswork on your improvement plan.