Woodberry’s golf team can now take advantage of state-of-the-art practice facilities, including a portable system that enables swings to be videotaped for analysis by golf instructors anywhere in the world, and a twelve-by-forty-foot putting green that players can erect for use regardless of the weather.

 “I can think of no other high school in America that has these facilities,” said Tim Cutshall of Integration Associates, the world’s leader in building indoor golf practice rooms. Cutshall has built or installed these areas in more than seventy-five colleges and universities, in country clubs and golf teaching facilities like the Titleist Performance Institute in Oceanside, CA, and for the world’s leading putter maker, Scotty Cameron.

The system includes two cameras, which capture the golfer’s swing and upload it to teaching software. The golfer can watch his swing from two angles (caddy view and down the line), at full speed or in slow motion. The swing can be stopped at any time for analysis and instruction, or it can be compared with swings pulled from a library of performances by PGA and LPGA professionals. Watch video

Students can don the K-Vest, whose sensors, which are attached to their torso, waist, and lead hand, generate a 3-D animation of their swing for use in real time to correct their movements, or later, for analysis and instruction.

Another feature of the system is the FlightScope launch monitor, which uses the Doppler radar system to record club-head speed, ball speed, ball spin, and launch angle. The monitor can show how close shots are to an intended target and how far golfers hit with each club. 

Finally, the installation includes a Casio EXILIM Pro Ex-F1 high-speed digital camera, which can capture photos and video of golfers, indoors or outside, and upload them for analysis. “It’s like watching slow-motion shots from a golf tournament on TV,” said Marc Hogan, Woodberry golf coach. “You capture impact every time.”

“This is a new day in golf instruction at Woodberry,” said Athletic Director John Thiel of the equipment, a gift from Mitch Hull ’77. “These facilities will not only enhance our golf program, but will boost our instructional capabilities in other sports as well.”