This semester, Hamilton’s men’s and women’s golf teams have been able to start preparing for their recently announced spring competition season even during the cold winter months. The program recently acquired a TrackMan indoor golf simulator, which is one of the highest-quality and most celebrated simulators on the market. It was installed in the Alumni Gym’s former squash courts in Feb. 2021. The TrackMan uses a radar system to gather precise, extensive data on any shot, including ball speed and spin rate, launch angle, attack angle and clubhead speed. The projector that goes along with the TrackMan allows Hamilton golfers to watch videos of their own swings, compare their swings to other players’ and experience world-famous courses virtually.
In a TrackMan promo video for the College, Head Coach Lauren Cupp ’07 explained the value of the new tool for students as they prepare for the spring season: “I’m able to send student-athletes practices virtually… They’re able to complete the session, and then with the click of only one button, send a report to me that has everything that they’ve completed in the session. Then, together, we can look at the swing and see if we can tweak it to make it more efficient. More efficient swings mean lower scores on the course.”
The detailed data that the TrackMan collects allows coaches and players to directly pinpoint what needs to be fixed in order to improve their skills. Emily Moy ’22, a member of the women’s team, similarly praised being able “to play like we are outside and keep up with our game…The TrackMan gives us a lot of statistics about our swing that we can analyze to help refine it.”
Coach Cupp also noted the possibility for a collaboration between the TrackMan and academic courses at Hamilton in the math, physics and computer science departments due to the wealth of data that the TrackMan collects.
On March 9, Hamilton College President David Wippman, along with the other NESCAC presidents, announced that an abbreviated conference competition season could be held for all spring sports that have enough participating schools, including men’s and women’s golf. Schools will put comprehensive health and safety protocols into place that go beyond their current protocols for the regional season, which should start in mid-April and end in mid-May.
The last time that the Hamilton men’s and women’s golf teams competed in a tournament was in October 2019. Since then, the women’s team has added two first-years to their roster and the men’s team has added five. All of these new team members will hopefully be able to participate in their first collegiate tournament later this semester. Although a schedule has not been released yet, Hamilton’s golf teams are expected to play in multiple tournaments, including a NESCAC Championship weekend. Both teams qualified for the 2020 NESCAC Championship that would have taken place last May.
With all of the time that has passed, Hamilton golfers may be even more prepared than usual for a spring season and conference championship with the help of the new, first-class simulator system available to them. Moy explained, “especially because we haven’t played in so long, I feel more ready than ever. After being able to practice on the simulator, I feel like my swing is much better than it would otherwise be coming off the winter. We are all super grateful on the team that we’ve been able to practice on it.”
