Swing Science

By Alice Park / Oceanside

Correction appended Mar. 2, 2007

Thwack. Almost every time he hit a long iron, Charlie McPhee would hear the dread sound of a golf ball headed for trouble. Thwack. Instead of hitting the ball solidly in the blade's sweet spot, he would catch it slightly forward, on his club's toe. "I was sick of hearing that sound," he says. "I would hear it in my sleep."

It was enough to drive McPhee, a Los Angeles--based real estate developer, to take drastic action. On Valentine's Day he plunked down $7,500 for a three-day intensive golf fantasy camp at the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) in Oceanside, Calif. "They are the top of the chain when it comes to breaking down your swing," he says. And break it down they did. McPhee was filmed, hooked up to electromagnetic sensors, put through a fitness and flexibility challenge and even asked about his eating habits. And, oh yes, he hit bucketloads of balls too.

Back in 2004, TPI was one of the first centers to give mere mortals the same in-depth analysis and custom fitting that are available to tour pros. But increasingly, golf manufacturers are realizing that opening their knowledge vault to a wider audience not only makes good marketing sense (can any avid golfer visit a clubmaker and not walk away with at least one new toy?) but also allows hackers to improve their game quickly. In January, Callaway, based in Carlsbad, Calif., introduced its VIP Experience, a two-day golf immersion and pampering program featuring the experts who work with Phil Mickelson and the LPGA's Annika Sorenstam. For now, it is open only to corporate clients, who pay $10,000 a head, but the company is considering including individuals and groups soon.

With the number of players taking up the game remaining flat, at 2 million to 3 million annually over the past 15 years, and with newcomer Nike Golf whacking away at their market share, established companies like Callaway, Titleist (owned by Fortune Brands) and Taylor Made (Adidas Group) are eager to find new ways to broaden their base and grab a larger portion of the nearly $5 billion that golfers spend each year on equipment. That's where in-depth analysis and customized fitting can help. Not only can participants try the latest products--like Titleist's triangular D1 driver or Callaway's square-headed FTi-- they can also see their swing in a three-dimensional digital rendering.

These 3-D renderings can find faults that even the most experienced instructor can miss--or take years of lessons to correct. "The information that's available now has completely changed the way I think about golf," says Claude Harmon, a teacher on the tour for more than 15 years. Digital analysis has made it clear to him and other teaching pros that not everyone can--or should--swing like Tiger. Instead, instructors should design a swing tailored to each golfer's body mechanics. "All of this information is like an MRI for your swing," says Harmon. "Wherever the tumor is, it will find it."

In McPhee's case, the problem was in his torso. After studying the results of his physical evaluation and a computer-generated chart showing how he transferred energy from his hips to his torso and then to his arms and eventually the clubhead, TPI found that because of his tight upper back, all the power he was generating in his lower body was being frittered away when it reached his torso. The solution? A shorter backswing that would allow him to compensate for his torso stiffness and maintain the power generated by his hips. "It was like a lightbulb turned on," McPhee says. "All of a sudden I was more solid on the ball, got a lot more compression and speed--and it happened immediately within the first couple of shots I tried."

Down the coast, Callaway offers a similar "nothing but golf" experience for corporate groups, catering to everyone from the beginner to the low handicapper. Program director Randy Peterson has fitted Charles Howell III as well as Mickelson and Sorenstam. On Day One, golfers walk through four stations: simulated-swing analysis in a testing bay, putting evaluation, live-swing analysis with Peterson on the range, and wedge work with clubmaking legend Roger Cleveland. Proprietary software even adjusts for hometown conditions. "We can look at your drive here and tell you that you'll get 14 yards more carry on that same drive in Denver," says Jeff Colton, senior vice president of research and design. Over dinner, participants pepper the staffers with questions about their favorite pros. Most frequent query: Does Sorenstam play with men's clubs? (She hits with a customized set that's more forgiving than men's.)

That night the Callaway craftsmen get busy. Based on the data generated during the day's testing, they create an entire set of clubs tailored to each player's specifications. The following morning the golfers are met at the nearby Aviara golf course with a monogrammed bag and their new set of custom-fit clubs, all ready for 18 holes of green-grass testing under the watchful eye of Peterson. After lunch, the club technicians get back to work, tackling any lie, loft or shaft adjustments that the round reveals.

Perhaps the only downside is that once you get treated like a tour pro, you might start acting like one. "I don't want to go back to getting instruction the same way I have, now that I have this information," McPhee says. "If my instructor had had this technology, we could have eliminated 30 lessons." And bought a couple more clubs with the savings.

In the original version of this article, Jeff Colton and Randy Peterson's names were misspelled. TIME regrets the errors.