The Golf Club: June 14, 2014
BOSTON (CBS) - On the latest edition of The Golf Club, Hardy was joined by Matt Prior of Atkinson CC, Sean Crosby, author Mark Broadie and Billy Andrade.
First up was Prior, an instructor and qualified PGA professional at Atkinson Country Club in New Hampshire.
But don't let the "New Hampshire" deter you from playing there. It's located just ten minutes off 495 right on the Massachusetts border and is about 45 minutes north of Boston.
Atkinson is a semi-private course open to the public seven days a week. It boasts an 18-hole par-72 course, as well as a 9-hole course and a state of the art practice facility called the Willowcreek Golf Academy.
"Willowcreek is one of the most state of the art facilities I have ever seen," Prior told Hardy.
"We have 12 bays open to the public seven days a week and three teaching studios with the V1 software. It's basically a teaching software with four cameras that film your swing from different angles. We put your swing on the 50-inch plasma TV and you can actually compare your swing to that of your favorite golfer. We then get to send you your swings, the before and after, with voiceovers of the drills, exercises and lessons straight to your smartphone, iPad, wherever."
The training facility is top notch, and so are the courses.
"The 18-hole course is just over 6,500 yards from the tips. It's a par-72 with really, really tough tree lines. The conditions are very good. The back nine is a little tougher, ball above your feet, ball below your feet. Very, very tough but it challenges your game," said Prior on Atkinson.
"You're gonna use every club in your bag," added Prior. "Load up on the golf balls before coming. It's just a great experience."
Listen below:
Matt Prior From Atkinson CC
Sean Crosby called in to let us know about a great event he's holding for a scholarship fund near and dear to his heart, plus he provides info on how you can help.
Listen below:
Joanne Wood Memorial Scholarship
Rhode Island native and PGA Tour professional Billy Andrade was next up. He came on to talk about the CVS Charity Classic, now in its 16th year, coming up June 22-24 in what he described as "the best field we've ever had."
Listen below:
Billy Andrade
Business professor Mark Broadie called in to talk about his new book Every Shot Counts (which…ahem…would make a great gift for dad on Father's Day…hint, hint).
With this book, Broadie is trying to do for golf what Bill James did for baseball, and that is finding a numeric way to evaluate the game. Broadie said his approach is very similar to James' sabermetrics, saying, "We're both trying to take the information and data that's out there to try and understand the sport a little better."
Hardy agreed that a statistical analysis makes even more sense in golf than it does in baseball, because there isn't a team factor involved in it.
Broadie said that he has two goals with his book:
1. For fans to be able to understand the game a little better
2. For readers to understand their own, or other players' strengths and weaknesses.
Broadie believes the current statistics golf has tell you what happened on the course, but not why it did. His book looks to explain the why.
Rather than just the traditional Strokes Gained Putting statistic, Broadie has established a way to calculate Strokes Gained Driving, Strokes Gained For Approach Shots, Strokes Gained For Short Game, as well as Strokes Gained Putting. This way, you can look and see how a golfer won by five strokes.
Pretty interesting stuff.
Listen below for the full interview:
Mark Broadie, Creator Of Golf Sabermetrics
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