[Yoda]

TrackMan is wonderful and anyone wanting to learn more should read all of their newsletters on their website. It truly does "locate" the inclined plane. The Plane Line is termed Horizontal Swing Plane and is measured in degrees to the Target Line, which is user-specified. But TrackMan is not the first or only machine to measure Path and Clubface angle. In fact, TM doesn't actually "measure" Clubface, but rather, deduces it from other measured conditions. P3PRO can actually measure Clubface, with Path and Angle of Attack as well, for under a grand. I can tell you what the swing plane is with my V1 video analysis software. But I do want a TrackMan.

[Font enhancements by Yoda.]

In 1969, when conventional wisdom screamed that "Clubhead Path" determines the initial direction of the Ball, Homer Kelley published The Golfing Machine and said "No. It is the Clubface."

Today, Mr. Kelley is lauded as being both correct and well ahead of his time. His work done, those of us seeking Golfing Perfection now need only a 'nod' to Path -- downward and outward -- but then look to the Clubface alignment at Impact. In recent weeks, I have been to the top of the TrackMan 'food chain', and they accede that Max Impact's statement is true: Namely, that the Clubface 'at Impact' is not a measured alignment. Instead, it is a derived alignment.

So, please . . .

No more of this nonsense of the Clubface alignment being measured at Impact; or, at Max Compression; or, at Separation.

At least not where TrackMan is concerned.

Why?

Because those measurements do not exist.

I do know that, years ago, the U.S. Bureau of Standards changed their definition -- and physical measurement -- of the Impact Interval from 'point of impact' to 'point of maximum compression'. Why? Because Homer Kelley challenged their published measurements. And they changed.

Today, I know that TM is 'on call' on the practice tee at every PGA TOUR event. If you've been out there a while -- -- you've been there a bunch, and you've seen a bunch. Most important . . .

Know that the guys in the TOUR equipment vans are in the trenches every day. They are on the tee in 'real time', watching their players launch it and making recommendations. It is not unusual for a player to do so perfectly while generating some TM numbers that collectively make no sense. Their players know this, too.

TrackMan is an important input, but in the end, getting the right club into the hands of the player -- pro and amateur alike -- is, indeed, as much art as science. As is delivering competent golf instruction.

Point is . . . in all this stuff . . .

The jury is still out.

Let's find out exactly what is being measured and how.

Then, and only then, will we be able to compare "apples with apples".