From Bogeys to Birdies
After undergoing a summer upgrade, the Club’s 19th Hole simulator is already helping Club golfers to post personal bests and perfect wayward swings.
After his tee shot on the 14th hole, Jiro Kashiwagi’s ball sat about 100 yards from the pin. His lie was good, but he knew anything less than a perfect approach would leave him buried in one of the six bunkers surrounding the green.
The Member pulled out his seven iron, took a practice swing and lined up to the ball.
“My second shot was perfect,” says Kashiwagi, 58, of two-putting for par for a chance to win his division at a Saitama golf club competition last September.
Kashiwagi would not only finish atop the leaderboard, but he would do so with a score of 84, a personal best on his home course. As inscrutable as the game of golf can be, Kashiwagi’s performance wasn’t by chance. Since July, he had been practicing every weekday morning at the Club’s revamped 19th Hole simulator, with its Trackman shot and swing analysis tech.
“Trackman gives me incredibly precise feedback on my swing,” explains Kashiwagi, who also shaved four strokes off his handicap of 20. “Attack angle, club speed and direction, everything. And it sends a report to my phone after I finish. There’s even an AI ‘coach’ that gives you tips based on your swing.”
While the 19th Hole’s upgraded solo sessions might appeal to golfers with enough experience to adjust their swings on their own, the Club’s three instructors are also having an impact on Members looking for human insight into their game.
“The first thing we did was work on her hips,” Club instructor Keiko Inoue, 41, explains of her first lessons with Member Wakako Miyamura. “She was closing her hips a little too much, so once that opened up, we could start to stabilize how her club head was coming through the ball. I think she could tell right away that something in her swing had changed.”
“Muscle strength is different between men and women, so I think that advice from a woman on training is effective for me,” says Miyamura of her weekly lessons at the Club. “I can consult with her about body movements that I have been struggling with so far, and I’m beginning to solve my swing problems.”
Covid-19 restrictions have kept Miyamura from trying out her upgraded swing on Kanto fairways, but the Trackman system allows her to play digital recreations of dozens of world-famous courses, including her favorite: the Old Course at St Andrews.
“In April 2019, I went to the United Kingdom and played at eight courses, including the Old Course, but it was very difficult for me,” Miyamura says. “I’d like to try again.”
Who knows? After a few more lessons with Inoue and the Trackman system, Miyamura might once again cross the Old Course’s iconic Swilcan Bridge—this time with a scorecard as improved as her swing.
Golf at the Club
For more information on the Club’s state-of-the-art simulator and regular outings to courses in Japan and beyond, visit the Club's golf webpage.
Words: Owen Ziegler
Top image of Wakako Miyamura and Keiko Inoue: Kayo Yamawaki
