Simple task – complex movement
The task of hitting a golf ball seems simple, but anyone who has tried the sport knows that it requires skill and the right equipment to achieve this goal. The same is true when it comes to capturing the movement of the golfer and the golf club.
Why motion capture?
While video analysis can give some indication of how a golfer moves, it has been recognised for some time that the golf swing is a three-dimensional movement, and not even the club itself remains in a single plane throughout the swing. Motion capture combines the views of multiple cameras to track the three-dimensional movement of markers that are placed on the golfer’s body or on the golf club.
Consider clubhead speeds well beyond 100 mph and contact times between golf club and ball of less than 0.5 ms for a drive, and you realise that motion capture systems for golf needs to be fast, too. With frame rates of up to 1100 Hz at full field of view with the Oqus 7+ camera, Qualisys offers just that.
Outdoor tracking
Traditionally, golf motion capture has been restricted to indoor labs with artificial turf and no natural light. Use the Active Filtering feature of our Oqus cameras, and escape the lab to move the analysis outdoors.
All our cameras provide minimal interference as they emit non-visible, infrared light only. Add a sound trigger or light gate to your Oqus system, and the golfer will be able to hit shots at their own pace, while you sit back and observe the results.
Streamlined analysis or a flexible system for research – the choice is yours
We will help you to find the solutions for your specific application, for example to track the club only at the highest speed, or opt for one of our Analysis Modules, a proven and streamlined solution for biomechanical golf analysis.
Are you interested?
Get in touch with us and learn more.
Analysis modules
If you choose one of our Analysis modules, they include everything that you need to perform biomechanical golf analysis, whether it is for research, education or as a business for paying clients.
The golf Analysis modules come with a pre-defined marker set and comprehensive documentation so that you can get started quickly. When you add the module to our Qualisys Track Manager software it will guide you through the data collection and analysis process from calibration to finished web report.
We chose Visual3D to perform all calculations for its proven track record in biomechanics research. We teamed up with research partners such as Penn State’s Professional Golf Management program to generate the output variables that golfers and coaches are looking for while maintaining scientific rigour in all calculations.
A flexible system for your research project
If you require a flexible solution to solve unique questions in your research or product development, choose our system to get accuracy and reliability while maintaining the flexibility you need. Daisy-chained cameras and Active Filtering, our solution for outdoor motion capture, make it easy to set up the system anywhere, both indoors and outdoors.
The Oqus camera system integrates seamlessly with many other systems, including force plates, EMG and eye-trackers, offering endless possibilities for your projects. Use our unique automatic labelling solution, AIM, to process the data that you need quickly and efficiently. Then export it via c3d, text or Matlab files for further analysis, tailor-made for your needs.
Web report
The results of the analysis can be published on the web, for increased accessibility and easy sharing. The web report follows HTML5 standards and works on most standards-compliant browsers and devices.
The report contains basic parameters as well as more in-depth results in form of plotted time series and tabular data. In addition, the report can contain observations, recommendations and training advice from a golf expert.
A demo report can be seen here.