Samsung backs smart shoes to improve your golf game

Uncover any problem and it’s only a matter of time before people start thinking about how to solve it. Technology is a monument to humankind’s laziness. We’ll go to great lengths just to create something that saves a bit of time or effort.

Last month we saw the arrival of drone technology to tennis training. And now it’s the turn of golf to get the technology treatment.

The tennis drone – ‘drone-ovic‘ – was designed to allow tennis players to practise hitting every different type of shot – and a drone can get into positions a traditional ball machine can’t to send a ball onto the court at different heights, angles and speeds. It is also packs a 4k camera to record the player’s technique, excellent for coaching.

Golf is getting a similar kind of makeover, it seems.

Samsung Electronics has launched its first spin-off start-up: a pair of golf shoes that connect to your iOS or Android phone through an app and allow players to analyse their swing. The shoes measure pressure and movement before giving feedback on whether the user is leaning back or forward too much or whether there is any unnecessary transition in weight between the feet.

Part of golf coaching usually involved recording a video of the golfer’s swing and analysing the different stages. To do it properly involves expensive equipment, not just to record the swing, but to analyse it. It’s an expense that professional golfers can justify, but for amateurs just trying to get better, this is quite revolutionary. It’s a more cost effective way to improve your game, but it’s also useful to coaches, too, who can use it as a training aid.

The project has already amassed over $50,000 on kickstarter spread over almost 300 backers at the time of writing.

It’s a project that looks like it could take off, and plenty of backers are agreeing. We could be seeing a new generation of amateur golfers improving their swing using the IOFIT app!

About author

Chris McMullan
Chris McMullan 831 posts

Chris is a sports journalist and editor of Digital Sport - follow him on Twitter @CJMcMullan_

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