Jobs the Movie (No, it's not about US unemployment)

The video above is the trailer for the upcoming movie about Steve Jobs starring Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Crew with a large cast (here and here) out of Apple history (Jack Dudman, Mike Markkula, Steve Wozniak, John Sculley, Andy Hertzfeld, Gil Amelio, Bill Atkinson, Chris Espinosa, Jeff Raskin, etc.). If you've read Steve Jobs (the book), I think you'll find the movie very interesting, especially after seeing the trailer.

I have written posts about Steve Jobs (here) and hope to do more in the future. And, I can't wait to see the movie.

What is Trackman and how is it changing golf?

Trackman is a phased-array dopler radar (the small, upright device behind the golfer in the video above, costs about $20K right now and is connected to a PC on the right) that provides detailed feedback on ball flight and club face measurement during a golf swing. Trackman is used for club fitting, golf training and analysis. The video above gives an excellent introduction to the device.

The first step in using Trackman is to pick a target line. Then, when you hit the ball, Trackman provides real-time flight tracking: ball speed, vertical launch, launch spin, carry distance, club speed, and hang time. Trackman also provides club measurement data: club path, club face angle, ball dispersion, attack angle (vertical movement), vertical swing plane, horizontal swing plane, and dynamic loft.

It's important to point out that Trackman does not make a movie of the player's golf swing. Slow motion analysis of golf video was the dominant technology for studying the golf swing. It led to proscriptions about how the golf swing should look and positions the arms, hands and body should be in at different points in the golf swing (see for example Tiger Woods My Swing app pictured above or the approach used by GolfTec and the analysis of my Stack and Tilt swing here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here). Trackman data has demonstrated that the two most important pieces of information are swing speed, face angle (closed, open, square), angle of attack (downward, level, upward)  and swing path (in-out, out-in or square) at impact. Since different styles of golf swing can produce the same swing speed, face angle and swing path at impact, stylistic proscriptions are less important and potentially irrelevant. Another way to say this is that the ball knows nothing about your golf swing, either before or after it was hit.

Trackman is currently being used by golf professionals, club makers, club fitters and golf instructors. The data generated from trackman has changed golf training, golf instruction, club design and how those who use it think about the golf swing. I'll talk about all this in future posts.

DISCLAIMER: Trackman is not the only phased-array dopler radar launch monitor. There is also one made by FlightScope. Since I have not used either of these launch monitors, nothing I have said above or in other posts is meant as a product endorsement. Because Trackman seems to be the most popular, I will continue using "Trackman" as a generic name for "phased-array dopler radar launch monitors". There are also many launch monitors that are not radar based or use radar but not phased-array dopler radar (here). These launch monitors produce less information, have some reliability and accuracy problems but are more affordable.

TECHNICAL NOTE: FlightScope provides a nice technical description of how the phased-array dopler radar launch monitor works (here with a graphic below, click to enlarge). FlightScope has been successfully sued by TrackMan for patent infringement (here), so we'll have to see what the future availability of the product will be.