Titleist ups the ante on its Performance Institute

June 5th, 2007 | Biomechanics Consultancy, Golf Biomechanics
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Biomechanist and MD of Quintic Consultancy, Paul Hurrion has been invited to join the Biomechanics Advisory Panel of the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI).

 
The TPI was born out of an ongoing search for knowledge about bodies in sports motion. Morphing out of a private facility that was created for the benefit of Titleist staff players worldwide, the public side of the TPI was first opened in 2004.The TPI was born out of an ongoing search for knowledge about bodies in sports motion. Morphing out of a private facility that was created for the benefit of Titleist staff players worldwide, the public side of the TPI was first opened in 2004.It is one of the most technologically advanced golf evaluation facilities in existence focusing on swing efficiency, physical conditioning, and custom equipment fitting. It combines industry leading experts, state of the art technology, and world class facilities to enhance the performance and physical well-being of golfers of all skill levels. You’d find that a good deal of what is discussed and debated by the members of the Institute is over the heads of most club golfers, but it’s meat & potatoes to professional athletes for whom the game is a livelihood.There are eight people in total currently consulting just on the TPI biomechanics panel – each with discrete disciplinary skill-sets and in different sports. The idea is that physiological & biomechanical aspects of all sports have information that can be applied to golf. Considering that this will involve processing vast amounts of data to extract valid components, an exhaustive degree of knowledge is needed.

“We met Paul through Padraig Harrington and knew that he was doing research on shoes and motion analysis of elite athletes,” explains Dr Greg Rose of TPI. “We look for advisors that can help direct us in each discipline and we try to get experts from different sports that may have great information that we could apply to golf. We definitely try to get advisors who don’t think the same so that we can get great discussions on each topic.

“We try to meet at least once a year, we pose monthly questions to discuss and debate through email, we all write articles to post on our website, and we will try to publish 6-10 research papers over 12 months from the group.”

2007 and 2008 are going to be very busy years for Paul Hurrion. As demand among PGA players and management grows for Hurrion’s one-to-one consulting time, Quintic itself is poised to launch a range of very special training aids under the Quintic brand.

Designed, packaged and priced to have appeal among the broadest range of golfers, these training aids are distinguished by their simplicity and instant feedback.

Paul Hurrion and the Quintic team have amassed a vast body of work on the complexities of the professional athletes’ sporting performance. An innate knowledge of this data firstly enables a biomechanist efficiently to target a problem or an opportunity for performance improvement. Secondly, it makes it possible to identify accurately the common problems of most golfers and crucially, the quickest and most effective cure.

“At its purest level, yes, biomechanics is probably deathly dull to men and women who simply love the game of golf and always want to play better,” says a sanguine Paul Hurrion. “The point is those people don’t have to bother with exhaustive analysis of their game because we’ve done that. For those that are interested the facts and figures, we can gladly discuss these, otherwise they can just benefit by our research… and play better golf.”

The TPI will be a Shangri-La for serious golfers, irrespective of the brand of club they swing. They’ll sell truckloads of very worthy Titleist gear off the back of it, but that’s a given and no secret. What is perhaps a more closely guarded secret is just how coveted a place is in this particular school.

Greg Rose : “We are a private facility – used mainly by our professional Titleist staff players worldwide (almost 8,000 players in total). We do offer 35 fantasy camps called ‘experiences’ each year – where 6 amateurs will come in for three days and we treat them like they are Adam Scott for the week. We charge $7,500 per person and it is usually sold out well in advance!”

Sayers’s new UK javelin record under the microscope

June 5th, 2007 | Athletics, Biomechanics Consultancy, Quintic Video Software
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Goldie Sayers has broken the British javelin record with a mark of 65.05m at the Loughborough International athletics match on May 20th.

The 24-year-old beat her own personal best by 3.60m and eclipsed Kelly Morgan’s previous national record of 64.87m, which was set in July 2002. And the effort also helped Sayers – a Loughborough graduate herself – claim top spot in the 2007 world rankings.

“It’s a shock but not that much of a shock. I knew I was going to throw a personal best because training has been going fantastically well,” said Sayers.

And that training is down to some highly sophisticated sports analysis software, designed and developed in Britain. For the last 6 years, Sayers has been working with Midlands-based biomechanist Dr Paul Hurrion, who in 1997 founded ‘Quintic Consultancy’.

Quintic continues to be responsible for the evolution of some of sport’s most highly regarded analysis and performance development software. Using a combination of high-speed video analysis and proprietary Quintic Biomechanics software, every single aspect of Goldie Sayers’s throwing technique – both in training and competition – was broken down and examined with her coach Mark Roberson to determine areas for improvement and for potential stress.

It’s vitally important, says Hurrion for several reasons.

“Goldie is representative of a type of sportswoman whose best achievements are yet to come,” he explains. “Underlying all our work is the given that at her level of biomechanical ability and preparedness it is possible to make a marked improvement in most components of her performance, but only after the most penetrative understanding of the body’s kinematics.

“Secondly… and thirdly, I suppose,” says Hurrion with enthusiasm. “Goldie is young and there’s no reason she shouldn’t win Olympic medals in 2008 and 2012 – provided she is spared injury.

“And that’s an important preventative benefit of potent biomechanical analysis – it’s no use being the best if you’re always injured.”

In a red-hot field, GB & NI’s Goldie Sayers proved her early season form is no flash in the pan as she won the Norwich Union Glasgow Grand Prix (Sunday 3rd June) competition with a fine second round effort of 63.59m, just less than one-and-a-half metres down on the British record she set at the Loughborough International a fortnight earlier. Last year’s European Champion and current Olympic silver medallist Steffi Nerius (Germany) was 2nd with a best of 62.57m and European silver medallist Barbara Spotakova (Czech Republic) was 3rd with 62.26m. “It wasn’t a bad day as we’ve trained in far worse weather than this! My aim was to throw long and I’d expected to throw that far on a good day so I’m pretty pleased about it. I haven’s backed off training for Osaka (World Championships) so in theory I should have some more big throws.”

A bob’s worth of technology

February 14th, 2007 | Biomechanics Consultancy, Quintic Video Software

What do bobsleigh teams, motor racing manufacturers and the city of Bath have in common? British athletes competing in the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City have been given a helping hand in the hunt for medals by the latest aerodynamics technologies developed for racing cars and a practice track at Bath University.

Racing car manufacturer Lola Cars and the British Bobsleigh Association (BBA) have joined forces. To help Britain defend its bronze medal in the four-man bob and to plan for future competitions, the pair have signed a five-year deal to develop bobsleigh designs incorporating the latest in motorsport technologies.

Lola has rebuilt the British sleds using carbon fibres to achieve weight savings. Like most bobsleigh teams, Britain’s uses a standard, off-the-shelf sled, and Lola has not had time to design a new model. Nevertheless, the weight saving is still crucial. When the athletes push off at the beginning of the race, any weight saving will allow them to get away quicker.

More importantly, Lola and the BBA are looking to the future. Only elite teams such as the US and Switzerland have specially designed, unique vehicles, and this is what Lola hopes to achieve for Britain. Christopher Tate, marketing director of Lola, says: “These bobsleighs will be manufactured to racing car standards.”

The partners are aiming to have designs ready for the 2006 Olympics and competitions in the meantime. As well as the manufacturing changes, Lola offers trackside management. When practising, managers can review performances using the latest technologies and make changes, rather than constantly dragging the sled to the top of the slope and trying again.

Bruce Ropner, chairman of the BBA, welcomes the new technical agreement: “Our bob drivers and athletes are already world class in terms of physical, competitive and mental approach. This agreement with Lola should give us, over the years to come, the extra speed we need to compete with the world’s best.

“In Salt Lake City, we will be watched by top engineers from Lola, studying the effects of what they have done in modifications – and working with us to plan the technological future of British bobsleigh.”

While the design of the sled is all important, crewmen have to be highly trained to take into account the split-second nature of the competition. In an effort to help the teams, a unique £300,000 practice track has been designed by Bath University to replicate the opening moments of their runs.

BBA performance director Tony Wallington enthuses about the new facility: “The start is crucial in bobsleigh, and this track mirrors the real thing. Our athletes will be able to practise their starts time and time again, watched by coaches and analysed by biomechanical technology.”

Technology, named Quintic, is a software program that video tapes the actions of each runner and then overlays them upon each other. The best running line and style of each of the crewmen can be worked out and changed to bring the optimum style. The software enables split screen images of performances to be compared and analysed in detail. The distance, velocity and acceleration of the sled can also be calculated and compared with the video and technique of the crewmen of each start.

Additionally, a timing device, designed by German firm Tistronic, provides timing to an accuracy of three decimal places. Lasers embedded in the track walls can measure the speed of the passing sled. Such accurate measurements are vital in a sport where medal positions are determined in hundredths of a second. The athletes travel down the track at speeds of up to 50mph. Athletes who will be taking part in the sports of bobsleigh, bob-skeleton and luge will all benefit from the 125m track which replicates the start of the tracks in Salt Lake City and Turin, Italy, where the 2006 games will be held.

Wallington says: “If a team loses hundredths of a second at the start it is very difficult to make up the deficit on the track. Equally, a good start can make a huge difference to the finish time.

“We are quietly confident of getting good results. Ice-track sports are coming back into their own in this country. We lost the expertise for a while but this track can help us back to the top level.”

The university’s property services department designed the track with input from the engineering and sports department, and its dimensions closely model those on which the athletes will compete. Local firm M J Church built the track. The project was aided by funding from the BBA, Sport England’s lottery fund and sponsor VT Aerospace.

Dr Paul Hurrion invitated to join the Editorial Board of the Annual Review of Coaching.

February 1st, 2007 | Biomechanics Consultancy, Golf Biomechanics

The Annual Review of Golf Coaching will provide authoritative, state-of-the-art reviews on all matters related to golf coaching. In addition, original research studies will be considered for publication. As a technical, scholarly, peer-reviewed journal, the Annual Review of Golf Coaching will strive to bridge the gap between scientific and practical knowledge in golf. Collaboration between golf coaches and experts in sports science will be instrumental in this regard. The Annual Review of Golf Coaching will promote reflective practice in the golf coaching community and become a key source of knowledge for continuing professional development. It will also provide global, economic and political overviews of the golf coaching business.

The review process of the Annual Review of Golf Coaching is ‘open,’ which means that both authors and reviewers know each other’s identity; and acknowledgment of the reviewers’ work is footnoted on the first page of each article. This process has proved to be successful for the International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching.

For further information please visit: www.multi-science.co.uk/golf-coaching.htm

Annual Review of Golf Coaching
Editor: Simon Jenkins
Published Annually • 2007 issue ISBN: 0906522 544 • £25/$45

Technology now plays a vital part in every top athlete’s bid for victory…

February 1st, 2007 | Athletics, Biomechanics Consultancy, Quintic Video Software

To make things that work as efficiently as possible is one of engineering’s goals. But javelins are designed to under perform for one very good reason – safety. By the 1980’s competition standards had risen to such a degree that athletes routinely recorded throws of more than 90m, culminating in a 104.8m throw by Uwe Hohn of the former East Germany at a meet in Berlin in 1984.

International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) officials recognised that one day a javelin would be thrown the length of the field and land among spectators, with potentially lethal result. The solution, introduced in 1986, was elegant in its simplicity: the centre of balance of all javelins was moved forward 4cm.

As a result they now fly in a more pronounced arc, travel 20m or so less and land point first more often. Top athletes use javelins with a narrower point for headwinds and a wider one for tailwinds, yet the range of their throws is more consistent. Competitors, however, can only use IAAF-approved javelins: smooth-surfaced, hollow, made of either aluminium or carbon-fibre and weighing no more than 800g.

Vibration is the big enemy of the javelineer. “When a javelin is thrown you can see how it vibrates in the air” says Claire Davis, senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham’s school of metallurgy and material science, “so the question is how to damp them”.

“New materials are coming in that would change characteristics in flight,” explains Davies. “These smart materials, called piezo-electric ceramics, have active dampening. They can respond to external stimuli, so applying a stress such as vibration will generate an electric impulse within their structure that stiffens the material, causing it to vibrate less.” Andre Aggasi already has tennis racquets made of this material, and it is also used in competition skis.

However, even if technology isn’t allowed to improve the javelin, it can improve technique. Steve Backley, javelin silver medallist at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, and who is aiming for Games gold this year, uses biomechanical analysis software developed by Quintic Consultancy Ltd, a Coventry-based company set up by sports scientist Dr Paul Hurrion. The software compares high speed digital video images of athletes in action.

“By synchronising current and best throws at the moment of release, we can analyse the difference,” says Backley. For him, the software tool proved invaluable in his preparation for the Athens Games…

“Being able to synchronise different throws, current and best, proved invaluable in preparation for the games in Sydney 2000 & Athens 2004. I can compare the timing of current training throws with my best 90m efforts from previous years. By synchronising current and best throws at release we could rewind in slow motion and analyse the differences.”

Steve Backley OBE

4 time European Gold
3 time Commonwealth Gold
2 time World Silver
2 time Olympic Silver

Hi-Tec CDT Super Power Tour – It’s finally arrived!

December 13th, 2006 | Biomechanics Consultancy, Golf Biomechanics

Hi-Tec Golf Manager, Fredrik Sundstrom, has been working closely with Quintic Consultancy Ltd & Padraig Harrington to develop the CDT Super Power Tour shoes – this has taken about 18 months of product development and Hi-Tec are proud to launch a shoes that takes performance to a new level.

Today, the shoes have arrived and will be sent out to Padraig Harrington for the first round of competitive play. The CDT Super Power Collection is the new products, one level up from the CDT Power. You can find out more about them by clicking on the following link: www.CDTPower.com

THE POWER COMES FROM YOUR FEET

The CDT Super Power will launch in Spring/ Summer 2007 in the UK; so keep an eye out for them! The CDT Super Power Tour is the “World’s most technologically advanced and performance enhancing golf shoe.”

The Spring/ Summer 2007 holds a fantastic range of shoes which includes the CDT Super Power Tour mentioned above, the CDT Super Power Classic, CDT Super Power Pro in two vibrant colours (white/ black/ blue and white/ black/ lime), the C2 Comfort and many more.

Supermodel Jodie Kidd recently became the latest Hi-Tec Ambassador and her role as design consultant is sure to make a huge impact in the World of Women’s Golf. This exciting new collection, JK, will soon be in the shops!

Hi-Tec Golf, Quintic & REMAX World Long Drive Championship

October 30th, 2006 | Biomechanics Consultancy, Golf Biomechanics, Quintic Video Software

Hi-Tec Golf had over 20 participants in the REMAX World Long Drive Championship wearing the CDT® Power Technology. The WLDC was being held at The Palms GC in Mesquite, Nevada from October 24-29 and is the premier event in Professional Long Drive.

When the CDT Technology launched in 2004 at the Orlando PGA Show, Hi-Tec immediately had long drive competitors stopping by the booth to see this performance driven outsole. Since the launch there are over 20 contestants hitting in them each week at the long drive events globally.

“The long drive events are the perfect forum for us to prove that this outsole is purely developed around performance,”

“This type of competition brings an exciting dimension to golf involving power, accuracy and distance. The same can be said about the CDT® Power Technology used in the Hi-Tec Golf Collection.”

Brian Bednarek, Director of Golf USA.

Launched over two years ago, Hi-Tec developed a technologically advanced outsole using biomechanics from Quintic Laboratories and the expertise of European golfer, Padraig Harrington. Most golfers understand that an increase in balance and stability can allow more distance and power. Hi-Tec created the CDT® Power to support this equation The components of the CDT® Power give the needed stability to, in turn, give a golfer the ability to swing harder and therefore hit longer.

This week Hi-Tec has put over 20 competitors in the CDT Power knowing there is no better place than these competitions to test this type of technology.

“The CDT has had a domino effect. We went into this week with ten players and word of mouth has doubled our exposure”, quotes Brian Bednarek, Director of Golf. “We wish all our athletes good luck and hope to see our technology at the top of the leaderboard on Sunday.”

ICC confirms slow bowler research for ICC Champions Trophy 2004

July 29th, 2004 | Biomechanics Consultancy, Cricket, Quintic Video Software

The International Cricket Council has confirmed details of the slow bowler research programme that will take place during the ICC Champions Trophy in September.

The second npower Test at Edgbaston marks the start of the detailed programme of slow bowler filming, which will continue throughout the ICC Champions Trophy, covering the slow bowlers of all participating teams.

The project is being undertaken by the ICC to gather detailed scientific data to help address the issue of suspect bowling actions among slow bowlers.

ICC General Manager – Cricket David Richardson, explained how the filming programme will be carried out: “Starting with Edgbaston, we are using high-speed cameras positioned behind the bowler’s arm and square of the wicket to film slow bowlers actions’ at 250 frames a second, which is five times faster than standard TV cameras.

“The footage from both cameras is then combined and converted by a software programme to create a three-dimensional image of the action, together with the ability to analyse it in every detail. This will provide us with a new generation of information that can be used in considering levels of tolerance for the accepted amount of extension at the elbow, either in terms of straightening or hyper-extension of the arm,” said Mr Richardson.

The ICC has commissioned Dr Paul Hurrion, a leading human movement specialist, to carry out the filming programme and provide interpretation of the data.

There has been less research carried out into slow bowling than faster bowlers, so this project will provide a clear scientific explanation of what actually happens during the delivery action of the world’s leading slow bowlers. Although a laboratory is likely to produce slightly more accurate data because of the controlled conditions, a competitive match situation guarantees the correct levels of player effort and technical application in the most realistic conditions.”   Paul Hurrion

“Once Dr Hurrion’s data has been processed and analysed following the completion of the ICC Champions Trophy, it will be used by the ICC and its specialist advisors to consider if the current levels of tolerance for slow bowlers need to be reviewed based on this new information,” confirmed David Richardson.

The 15 matches of the ICC Champions Trophy in September provide a rare opportunity to film the actions of all slow bowlers in competing teams at the same time under similar match conditions. The project will be the most extensive ever carried out into the actions of international slow bowlers.

None of the data collected by Dr Hurrion will be used to assess the actions of any slow bowler that might be reported for a suspect action during the tournament. Any such reports will be dealt with under the standard ICC process, based on match footage supplied by the host TV broadcaster.



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