Grober developed a golf club that has motiondetecting sensors, similar to those used for safety airbag deployment in cars, embedded in the shaft. Sonic Golf's unique feature is the use of realtime audio feedback. "We were able to identify a signal from the sensors related to the speed of the club," Grober said. "We convert this signal into an audio soundscape that is universally intuitive to golfers and instantly interpretable, providing realtime audio feedback on the tempo, timing and rhythm of the golf swing."

A patent was filed through the Yale Office of Cooperative Research and the technology is licensed to his company, Sonic Golf, LLC. He has successfully tested his clubs with leading PGA teaching professionals in Pinehurst, Southern California, Maui, and Florida.

"From listening to Sonic Golf's audio feedback, all the students made improvements in their swings in just 20 to 30 minutes," said Bill Greenleaf, a PGA Master Professional and Director of Instruction at the Dunes at Maui Lunai. "Some fine tuned, and some made dramatic changes that I would not previously have thought possible. Eight weeks later, the effect is still contributing to their improved play."

The clubs have a wireless data link both to headphones and to a computer. As the golfer swings, an audio soundscape is generated for the golfer that represents the speed of the club--a soft, low pitch when the club is moving slowly, scaling to a loud, high pitch when the club is moving quickly. Data is also collected by a computer allowing further analysis of elements of the sw
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Contact: Janet Rettig Emanuel
janet.emanuel@yale.edu
203-432-2157
Yale University
23-Mar-2005