ET Golf: LeTourneau golf taps into technology | ETVarsity


ET Golf: LeTourneau golf taps into technology | ETVarsity

Blayde Weekley squares up, and blasts a shot into the target tarp. Bryson Thurston rips an iron, sending off a smack. Both of them are captured on film.

Baylee Van Houten leans over and lines up a putt, using laser technology to sync up the shots she routinely intends to sink.

Welcome to LeTourneau University’s indoor golf practice facility – a place where the YellowJackets tee it up, gauge their line, stance and symmetry, grip it and rip it, and roll putts down a guided path, all the while being able to diagnose their swing, and, in many cases, see it for themselves on screen.

“One of the main things is to have the ability for our student-athletes to be able to improve their game,” LeTourneau head golf coach J. Paul Leslie III said. “By having the indoor hitting facility, we’re able to use the latest technology to video tape our players.”

With this technology, the Jackets can compare their swing to the top players in professional golf. Take a shot, pick a pro, and then watch side-by-side comparisons. That’s the computer and video science LETU golf has the capability of utilizing on a day-to-day basis, right from the comfort of home.

Complete with putting greens, where distances are measured off, and golf gadgets galore, LeTourneau’s hitting and putting room in the Solheim Recreation and Activity Center offers the Jackets scientific alternatives to enhance their game. What they glean from the greens, what they take from the tarp, what they see on screen, are assets they can translate to the terrain. Yes, the whole idea is to transfer the technology to the course.

“I really like coming in here because it gives me a place to come work on my swing, even when the weather’s bad,” Van Houten said. “It’s really nice to be able to stay on campus to be able to see the numbers, using the technology that we have here, instead of going home and having to have our private swing coaches help us out.”

In the YellowJackets’ inner circle, Leslie is the swing coach. A seasoned professional, his vision for the indoor practice facility is not limited to the technology of the tape, if you will. His program utilizes the hitting room as a place to convene to talk golf, study their swings, and work to perfect their putting. The Jackets come in between classes, after class and on days they aren’t striking balls on the course.

“It’s really made a big impact,” Leslie said.

With 20 players in the program, there’s plenty of golf balls to go around and ample opportunities to utilize the practice room. From there, it’s about tucking the science of their swings into their bags, and toting it onto the fairways and greens.

“When they’re out on the golf course, they have to know their golf swing,” Leslie said. “They have to be able to correct a flaw and understand what’s going on with their swing. By getting in the room, seeing their swing, understanding it, then taking it out to the golf course and applying it in the outdoor environment, now they can get very comfortable if they get into a situation where their swing has kind of, maybe left them. They can get it back, and pretty much stop the bleeding.”

The YellowJackets bleed blue and gold. Having this indoor practice facility within walking distance of their studies at a technological institution makes it easy to see why the added amenity gives the golf group more reason to don their school colors.

“It’s been really nice to have our hitting room in here,” Weekley said. “We have a lot of things that can line us up, check our putting stroke, we can check our descent angle. There’s a lot of things you wouldn’t be able to see if you were just beating balls on a range.

“It’s also good for us to have a place to come in between classes if we want to hang out. If we’re hanging out and improving our games, then we’ll spend a lot more time practicing than I think a lot of other schools would. So it’s been really beneficial for all of us here at LeTourneau to have it.”

Now that they have it, they believe they have something even more special. And as advancements are brought to the forefront, LETU is keeping pace.

“We’re staying on top of the latest trends in the industry,” Leslie said. “Not only from fitness, but also from the technology with the putting, with the sand putting lab, also with the simulators that we’re looking to get very soon in the hitting room. That allows us to compete (like) a DI school. Even though LeTourneau’s a DIII school, we feel we can stack up with some of the best DI schools.”


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