Reflective jump suits, magnetic sensors and specialised video cameras are out the window in a new coaching package to perfect golf swings.
The new coach is advanced computer software that ‘sees’ the golfer and can automatically tell when your posture is wrong or when you’ve sliced the ball.
The system works with two standard webcams which measure your posture and motion in three-dimensions (3D) and compares these measurements to technically correct swings.
Its creator, University of Queensland Master of Philosophy student, Andrew Smith, said the system was still being developed but he hoped to pitch it to driving ranges to help coach amateur golfers.
Eventually, Mr Smith wants the package to be available from department stores as a software and camera bundle which could coach an amateur golfer in the comfort of their own home.
“It’s still in development, but we’ve tracked a golfer through his swing quite accurately without placing markers on a golfer, which is a bit of a first,” Mr Smith said.
“Automated feedback can be given based on differences between the athlete’s motions and the technically correct motion.
“This allows a large number of golf swings to be analysed very cheaply.”
He said his system, based on the original concept patented by partner Gold Coast-based Hi-Tech Video in 1991, was one of many new applications for computer vision technology in areas such as health rehabilitation, sports training and security.
While conventional sensor and retro-reflective based measurement systems might be more accurate, he said his system would be cheaper and easier to use.
His supervisor Associate Professor Brian Lovell from the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, said the biggest market for the golf system was likely to be Japan, where the sport was a national obsession.
Media: contact Mr Smith on (phone: 0400 264 446, 07 3365 1157, email: awbsmith@itee.uq.edu.au) or Miguel Holland at UQ Communications (phone: 3365 2619, email: m.holland@uq.edu.au)
Photos available from Diana Lilley at UQ Images on (phone: 3365 2753, email: d.lilley@uq.edu.au)
