PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (WMBB) – Watersound Golf Club has some new state-of-the-art technology that will help local golfers improve their game out on the greens.
In addition to opening their new performance center, they also hired Titleist Instructor Ben Blalock to help out their members and visitors with their game.
Blalock said they use three “TrackMan” golf simulators at the performance center, which all use motion sensors to improve a golfer’s game.
He said the technology is the first of it’s kind in the Panhandle and it’s something that’s even used in other professional sports.
“They’re actually in professional baseball now as well. So when you watch a baseball game and you see the launch angle for somebody’s homerun and how many feet it went and how fast it traveled, that’s Trackman that’s actually giving you that information,” Blalock said.
The information that the TrackMan technology gives you is crucial in adjusting your play.
“So in golf, we have all the same things, we have club speed and ball speed and height of the shot, and angle that the shot left the ground and angle that the shot landed on the ground, so it’s expansive information, we’ve got 32 data points per shot hit,” Blalock said.
The technology also allows Blalock to accurately suggest the most appropriate club for a specific golfer, using the expansive amount information it gives him.
In addition to the new performance center, Watersound will be bringing in a nationally recognized youth training program called “Operation 36” for the first time this fall.
“It’s eight weeks long, we’ll run the program here in September and October, after school hours, four o’clock five o’clock over here at Camp Creek. Juniors that are involved, work through a different topic each week, they learn about grip and stance and posture and swing, and learn about rules and etiquette, all the different aspects of what it takes to play golf,” Blalock said.
Watersound is also building a hotel and fitness center on their property and hope to turn that into a full on golf school one day.
