Michigan Golf Journal January 2018

within one-yard accuracy. TrackMan Range technology made its public TV debut in April at the first PGA Tour major of 2017, allowing viewers to watch distance and ball flight of individual pros on the practice range. Matt Frelich, Michigan resident and VP of Sales for TrackMan, said PGA Tour pro Dustin Johnson originally resisted using TrackMan a few years ago, when he was outside the top 150 players in proximity to the pin. Once Johnson was convinced to try using TrackMan he became No. 1 in the world in proximity to the pin. Frelich added that Johnson wasn’t as interested in all the advanced technology readings, he simply wanted to track the distances of his various wedges. “His purpose for TrackMan was not to spin rate down a little bit, or spin rate up a little bit,” Frelich said. “It was all about hitting his wedges closer.” Now the average golfer can do the same at Carl’s without their own huge financial investment. Chad Gorski, age 40, is a 6-handicap player who drove from Canton to Bloomfield Hills to be one of the first to try the TrackMan Range. “I love it,” he said. “I came here to demo a couple different clubs and to see the numbers and compare them against each other and I was really impressed. I got the information I wanted. “I think it’s really revolutionary. Whether you want to play games, or hit targets or just get your gaps in between your irons more consistent, I think it’s been incredible. And it’s a really cool way to make the range more fun than just banging balls.” Five strategically-placed radars identify your ball individually when the bay number you are hitting from is typed into the phone app. Another user said after testing the technology, he knew his 5-hybrid would carry over the 150-yard marker he was aiming at – but due to the limited human eye ability to see precise landing points from that distance, TrackMan was outstanding at giving information the naked eye could not discern with very much accuracy from almost two football fields away. The owners of TrackMan, b ased in Denmark, said they picked Carl’s Golfland to debut the new range technology because of its proven track record of serving the avid golfer. A second TrackMan Range was later added at the exclusive, private Dallas National Golf Club. www.carlsgolfland.com/trackmanrange Golf Technology