INSIDE TRACKMAN

THE TECH ISSUE How two men have revolutionised golf Meet the Danish amateurs and their little grey and orange boxes that have transformed the way the game is taught, clubs are made and pros improve

WORDS ROB Mc GARR PICTURES HOWARD BOYLAN

n 2002, three golf-mad Danes had Officer. “I had actually once hit a golf ball in I an idea. One of them was Klaus front of one of the military radars, just for fun, Eldrup-Jørgensen, a talented golfer so I could see that the technology had some who had represented the Danish national value. The problem was that those military team and competed in several European Tour radars cost £2,000,000 each. Our challenge events before taking his parents’ advice and was to produce something that could track focusing on the world of business. The other golf balls with the same accuracy, but with a two were Klaus’ brother Morten and his more affordable price tag.” business partner Carsten Hallas, who ran four “People say that TrackMan now is large driving ranges across Europe, spending expensive,” laughs Chief Executive Officer large chunks of their time watching keen Klaus, “but it is not two million pounds!” amateurs hit golf balls in the pursuit of With a small team of engineers on board, it improvement. Together, they realised that was two years before TrackMan had a device something was missing. Golfers would hit that could accurately measure ball flight. balls, watch the flight, and guess what caused “We weren’t willing to compromise,” recalls the ball to do what it did. The trio found this Fredrik. “We have always wanted to be the guesswork unacceptable. They felt that golfers most accurate. You should not be able to see should have something that told them exactly with your eye that the ball landed somewhere what the ball was doing – and why. other than what the device is telling you. Their research led them to one of the There had been so many devices that said, world’s leading military radar companies, ‘your distance is this and bla bla bla,’ but they based in their homeland of Denmark, using didn’t know a thing. They give you a number, Doppler technology to track missiles and but it is a guess.” projectiles. A pitch to use the technology in With their product ready, the next step was golf fell on deaf ears, apart from one man. to find some customers. Fredrik and Klaus Radar scientist Fredrik Tuxen, himself a keen journeyed to America on a coast-to-coast trip, golfer with a handicap of five, saw something stopping off at five States and five leading in the idea that his colleagues did not. A few manufacturers in five days. “We met Nike, weeks later, Fredrik had quit his job and joined Ping, TaylorMade, Callaway and Mizuno,” says Klaus in his garage, working on designs for a Klaus. “It was difficult to get the meetings, radar that could track golf balls in a way that because there had been so many people Box office had never been done before. TrackMan had throughout the years calling these companies These orange been born. and telling them what they could do in terms boxes are “There is no big difference between tracking of tracking the golf ball, but they couldn’t do it. changing the a military projectile and a golf ball,” says They had all oversold what they could do.” face of golf. Fredrik, now TrackMan’s Chief Technological Pitching a device that at the time came ➔

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Power couple Humble base Klaus (left) and TrackMan’s Fredrik (right) TRACKMAN VERDICTS Danish HQ. have a wealth of info at their fingertips. What the pros say ● Ian Poulter I can take this on the road that where the club face is pointing is and hook it up to my iPhone or iPad. It pretty much where the ball is going to gives me instant feedback, and it makes start. I had to re-learn a lot of things, but it’s Cloud cover sure I’m efficient on the practice ground. given me confidence that if I do a certain Millions of shots I enjoy coming out on the range and move, a certain thing will result. are stored for analysis. spending time on that machine, because it’s almost a game, but it gives me ● Jason Dufner It has helped me exact numbers. I need to be precise, understand why the golf ball is doing and that’s what this machine is. what it’s doing. The times that I’ve with a six-figure price tag to companies who played best, I’ve used the TrackMan had heard it all before was never going to be ● Justin Rose I grew up thinking on the range before going out on easy, but Klaus and Fredrik had something on you drew the ball and faded the the course. I used it before the their side: an orange box that spoke for itself. ball in a certain way, with the club PGA Championship in 2013 and “We visited Nike in Texas and there were face where you wanted the ball it gave me the peace of mind that seven of their employees sat around a table, to finish and feet alignment I was doing what I needed to do expecting us to present to them,” says Fredrik. where you wanted the ball to with my golf swing to go out there “We told them that we have a presentation, start, but I now understand and execute. but we’d rather go to the range and show you the product. We went to the range at the back of their building, I set it up, hit one shot, they Get in line What the coaches say saw the live tracking and the numbers, and Everything is assembled by ● Gary Nicol, TrackMan Master ● Denis Pugh, European Tour coach without asking a single question, they all hand in Denmark. started clapping.” What I am trying to do with a pupil’s golf Until launch monitors arrived, we had “They said to us, ‘You are going to get rich, swing is solve a puzzle, figure out why no real way of knowing exactly what guys!’” laughs Klaus. “At Callaway, one guy two degrees in or two degrees out, you cannot the ball is doing what it is. If TrackMan was happening during the incredibly said he’d give us 15 minutes late in the ‘There is no big difference between help them. People thought that you could just can provide me with one or two clues, of short amount of time the golf club is afternoon. We took him out to show him the tracking a military projectile and a ball’ look at the flight of the golf ball and work out course that is going to help me. One of my impacting the ball. Now, we can see product, and after one shot he said, ‘Wait here what was wrong, but you can’t. best mates is a detective inspector and if exact numbers. They eliminate a lot a minute’. Within minutes we were still running around. When he got there, they that it is actually performing better than what “We now know that there are many you asked him how he would start solving of the guesswork that pervaded golf surrounded by about 20 people from lasered him, and we were spot-on. you have. You hit your existing driver five combinations of things that can give the same a murder case, he looks for clues to help swings for decades, allowing a coach Callaway, including some very important “One of the companies had installed times, hit the new one five times, and you can ball flight. If you decide on the wrong him find the culprit. Without clues, you to focus on the right thing. A launch people. Richard Helmstetter had come out; hundreds of microphones underneath their compare your distance and dispersion. The combination and start trying to fix it, you are guessing; you need evidence – and monitor allows the effectiveness of he’s the guy who made the first Big Bertha.” driving range, so the sound would tell them manufacturers realised that if they could not could be teaching the direct opposite of what the more compelling evidence you have, a lesson to be tangibly measured. In After five meetings, Klaus and Fredrik had where it bounced. It was incredibly expensive, offer something better than what was already you should be doing. You need to know what the better. The best time to get a lesson is the past, the best you can hope for their first five sales. Each manufacturer had but very inaccurate.” in use, they would not be able to sell it.” the club is doing, not just guess. A few years when you are playing well, not when you was a general feeling that you were previously had a team working on developing “I don’t know how many manufacturers TrackMan’s unrivalled accuracy quickly from now, students will not accept it if a coach are playing badly, so you can understand swinging it better and hitting better their own tracking technology to aid them in there were back then – maybe 40 or 50 – and caught the attention of the PGA Tour, who does not have the number. If you cannot prove why you are playing well, and TrackMan shots; now you can measure your the design of balls and clubs, but after Klaus every one of them bought TrackMan,” says have been using it to track statistics at events the effectiveness of what you are doing – if really helps with that. improvement. and Fredrik turned up on their doorstep, they Klaus. since 2006. you cannot improve the numbers, then you dropped these projects, knowing they couldn’t “Some of these companies said to me that The next breakthrough came in 2007, when are not doing a good job.” match what TrackMan offered. they were scared of what this technology Fredrik realised that the radar was able to The world’s best golfers were quick to What you say “Ping had a robot hitting balls all day,” says would do to their company, because now they track what the clubhead was doing, as well as realise just how useful this technology could Fredrik, “but then they had a spotter running can’t hide behind marketing and unproven the ball. “Today, that’s probably the most be. “Over 350 pros have a TrackMan, across ● Iain Douglas, 16 handicap ● Sean Rooke, 18 handicap around on the range, saying ‘This is where it claims,” adds Fredrik. “For the first time, there important part of what we do,” says Klaus. the ladies and men’s tours,” says Klaus. “I You cannot argue with the numbers, I used one during a custom-fitting for a landed,’ and then they would shoot him with a was proof of whether something works or “The club and the ball only impacts for cannot think of any top player who does not especially when coupled with the video new driver. It gave a fabulous breakdown laser to get the distance. doesn’t work. It forced them to raise their 1/2,000th of a second, but we can see exactly have one. We do not give them away. They of the swing. I first went on TrackMan for of stats comparing the old versus new “When we demonstrated to them, we said game. On a demo day, if you are thinking what the club is doing. Is the club coming have to buy them. Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, an iron fitting and ended up having a few driver, especially the spin rate. I bought ‘217 yards, five to the right,’ while the guy was about buying a new driver, you want to know from in-to-out or out-to-in? Are you hitting Justin Rose, Ian Poulter – they have all bought things in my swing picked up, and was the driver and it has helped my game a lot. down on the ball, or up on the ball? Is the them. Our philosophy was that if you give told I would be better having a few lessons clubface open, closed, or square? You cannot things away for free, people will just say, ‘Yes, instead of buying new clubs. I saw a big ● David Bell, 14 handicap see that on a video. I’ll have one,’ but you will never know if they progression after the lessons and my It’s almost pointless to try to fix your “We tried it countless times, showing pros really want it. If they pay £15,000 for it, it’s handicap has dropped eight shots. swing or buy new clubs without it. It is videos of someone swinging and asking them because they need it. That’s the best that invaluable. Launch monitors have to say what the club is doing at impact. I endorsement you can get.” ● Jonathon Evans, 5 handicap revolutionised golf more than any other promise you, you can’t see it. You need the data. One of TrackMan’s most far-reaching It showed me how in-to-out my path is, innovation since metal woods. We can see it to within a fraction of a degree.” impacts to date has been its ability to and that I close the face to hit a small This breakthrough took TrackMan from a measure and disprove false wisdom that had draw. When it all fell into place, I would hit ● Chris Coombes, 12 handicap club design and fitting tool to a must-have in been relied upon for decades. it great, but I have worked on making my I was torn between two drivers. TrackMan instruction. “We believe that you cannot teach “There were so many misconceptions in path a bit more neutral, which has helped showed that one yielded 7mph more ball without knowing this data,” says Klaus. “If you golf,” says Fredrik. “We have been myth- with consistency. speed. That made it an easy decision. do not know whether your student is swinging busting since day one. When I was taught to ➔

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play golf, I was told that the direction of your Pro endorsement of whom are based in the Copenhagen head swing is what dictates the initial direction of Players like Poults office, where every unit is still built by hand. the ball. That’s almost the exact opposite of depend on the box. But Klaus and Fredrik are not finished yet. the truth! The face is much more what “We have a new TrackMan coming out this dictates where the ball starts. If you think the October,” says Klaus. “For the first time, it will ball is going right because that is the direction have two radars. This enables us to increase you are swinging, your instinct will be to swing the accuracy and the pick-up rate even further. more to the left. You won’t have fixed the face When you only have one radar, it has to focus angle, which was the actual reason you were on the club two metres in front, and a golf ball hitting it to the right, so now you are hitting a that is 300 yards away. With two radars in push-slice, which will go even further right! All TrackMan 4, one can focus on the club, while because you didn’t know what was causing ’We created the ball the other focuses on the ball. The quality of your shot.” the data will be second to none.” “We educated the market,” adds Klaus. “We flight laws, because “Throughout the 12 years that we have created the ball flight laws, because they were been in business, if we are not 100 per cent wrong. What had been taught for 30 to 40 they were wrong. sure that a number is an exact number, we years was wrong. The information we created don’t show you a number. We’d rather show is now being used in the education materials What had been you an empty box than guess at a number. by the PGA in every country. They use our Some launch monitors will give you a number material to educate new pros, because they taught for 30 to 40 on every shot, because they would rather know it is correct.” years was wrong’ guess than admit to not being able to give a “Golf is a difficult enough game as it is, number. If you give a bad number, someone without relying on false knowledge,” says or ball that has been developed without it. You may teach the wrong thing. We don’t want Fredrik. “We can help with that.” will not find a Tour pro who does not use it. that. The frequency of no number will go TrackMan’s impact has been huge. Over As time goes by, you will find fewer and fewer down dramatically with the new TrackMan.” half a million shots a day are hit in front of a coaches who will attempt to improve your “Ultimately,” reflects Klaus, “our goal is to TrackMan unit, every single one of them swing without it. TrackMan has grown into a help golfers understand what is happening so stored on a data cloud. You will not find a club global company with 130 employees, over half they can play better golf.” WHAT TRACKMAN CAN TELL YOU Attack Club path Face angle Club speed Ball speed Spin rate Smash Launch Carry 1angle 2The 3Whether 4The speed 5A result of 6How much 7factor 8angle 9distance How much you direction your the face is open, your club is clubhead speed backspin How clubhead Finding the Knowing hit up or down club is travelling closed or square traveling has and quality of and sidespin speed transfers ideal launch how far your on the ball. directly at when it makes a large bearing strike. An extra you produce into ball speed, angle is key to ball travels Irons require impact. This can contact with on distance. mile per hour of will have a indicating maximising through the a downward be directly at the ball. The ball The average ball speed can significant the quality of your distance air with each angle of attack the target, in-to- will launch very amateur add a couple of impact on what strike. A well- and ensuring club is key to to create a ‘ball out or out-to-in, closely to the swings their yards to your your ball does in struck shot will your clubs have selecting your first’ contact, and will help direction the driver around drive., but it’s the air, and how provide ball the optimal landing spot whereas a determine the face is pointing, 93 mph, while not all about it behaves on speed 1.5 times setup for you and choosing driver can be hit shape of your so this is an pros are closer swinging as fast the green when the clubhead and your swing the right club for on the up. shot . important one! to 120 mph. as you can. it lands. speed. characteristics. each shot.

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