! Saving Strokes with SpaceTe chnolog y Among spinoffs for home Golfers, attention. shows you why you missed, enabling correction. With time and practice, and recreational use are Are you one of the many devotees of the game who feel that putting, which you develop a consistently smooth a pair of instructional seems to the uninitiated the simplest putting stroke, impacting at the sweet aids for golfers part of golf, is actually the most spot regularly. To use the club in difficult? Have you ever thought, "If normal play, you remove the prongs they can send men to the moon, why and snap them into grooves on the back can't they invent something that would side of the putter, thus your game club make me a better putter?" has the same weight and same sweet Someone has--and space technology spot as the practice tool. Pelz has a fat is involved. The someone is David T. file of testimonials, including many Pelz, president of Sunmark Division, from touring pros, to the effect that Preceptor Golf Limited, Laurel, Mary- The Teacher really works. land, a former physicist with Goddard The other Sunmark putting aid-- Space Flight Center who worked on a called the Teacher Alignment Com- number of NASA satellite programs. A puter (TAC)--is somewhat more com- top amateur golfer, Pelz put his NASA- plex, involving several aerospace acquired expertise to work in develop- technologies--electronics, optics, ment of two putting aids now marketed data acquisition and data processing by his company. He is thus an example techniques. The device is a computer- of a personnel-type spinoff, wherein a ized system which tells a golfer whether scientist or engineer moves to a new his putter's face is properly aligned field of endeavor and applies his with the hole--and if not, whether he aerospace know-how to invention of is aiming left or right and how much. non-aerospace products. Many otherwise good golfers, including In the first of his developments_ a tour pros, have aiming difficulties; special putter called The Teacher-- regular practice with the teaching Pelz drew upon his knowledge of computer, Pelz maintains, will cure the energy transfer for a method of problem and dramatically improve teaching golfers how to stroke the ball putting technique. consistently in the putter's "sweet The TAC, which sells for $1,000 and spot." The sweet spot is the point on upward depending on the model, can the club's face where club and ball be plugged into a socket or used out- must meet if the putt is to attain proper doors in a battery-powered version, It speed, distance and direction. works this way: a sighting mechanism The Teacher is a simple device. It is employed to align the computer has a pair of prongs on the putter face exactly perpendicular to the target--a bracketing the sweet spot. The idea is golf hole or a spot on the home carpet. to stroke the ball within the prongs, A small mirror is affixed to the outer which are only slightly farther apart edge of the putter blade. When the than a ball's width. The novice will golfer addresses the ball, the TAC Pro circuit gallery favorite Lee find it almost impossible to do so; the emits a beam of light which is reflected Trevino tests the Teacher Alignment ball will hit a prong and skitter away. by the mirror back into the computer's 120 Computer, which he uses regularly. But, says Dave Pelz, The Teacher optical system. Computer measure- A relatedputting aid is The Teacher shown here. The idea is to stroke the ball at the putter's "sweet spot, "which is bracketed by metal prongs. Regular practice develops solid impacts for better putting. Inventor Dave Pelz demonstrates his space-spinoff Teacher Alignment Computer, which helps golfers learn properputting aim. The close-up at right illustrates how it works. The light beam, reflected into the computer, measures putter alignment and the lights atop the box tell the golfer he is on target (the three green lights) or off to either side and how much. ment of the beam determines whether golfers, by teaching professionals, by teaching putting that I have ever seen." the putter is faced on target, or to left 30 members of the male pro circuit A particular enthusiast is Lee or right, at both address and impact. and eight women pros. Here again Trevino, who says: The information is displayed by a row Pelz has a wallful of testimonials, "Before I used the TAC, I never of lights atop the device; a green light including many from people whose knew why I missed a putt. This machine indicates perfect alignment, yellow names are familiar to golfers--Andy tells you why you hit the ball where it means slightly off and red means North, Jim Simons, Tom Kite, Jerry finished. It builds good muscle memory far off. Within each color grouping, a Pate, Joe Inman, Tom Purtzer, Jan and helps improve your eye-hole specific light points out the degree and Stephenson, Carol Mann, Hollis Stacey coordination, insuring that the blade direction of misalignment. and others. Famed teacher Bob Toski is square at all times. I feel that my The TAC is used by individual calls the TAC "the best device for putting has improved dramatically." 121.