Hitting Balls

“Hitting Balls” is an important part of the game not discussed as often as rounds and scores. It is something that anyone who considers themselves a golfer finds time for, in some cases regularly, but at the least occasionally. Deliberate practice is key to improving your game; warming up before a round is for most imperative and many balls are hit by golfers just looking to relax. Whether this activity is to practice for an upcoming round or to attempt to groove your swing you probably have a local course where you play in addition to a local range where you practice and they are not necessarily the same facility. They are by choice however where you feel most comfortable with these activities. The point of this entry is that anything that makes “hitting balls” more satisfying and enjoyable is good for and important to the growth of the game.

Power Tee provides an automated, calibrated, practical mode of accessibility to the ball and a markedly favorable surface to hit it from in a system that makes practice more relaxing. There are many other features and benefits important enough to be presented in subsequent and separate entries, but the one making a big first impression on me was -  it is more fun than “hitting balls” without it. Everyone in the industry spends a lot of time and money studying, talking and writing about bringing new people to the game. My granddaughter is an incredibly smart, slim, athletic nine year old whose only exposure to golf was a few trips to TopGolf. She is interested in creating a good swing as long as it’s fun and she loves Power Tee.

I met Martin Wyeth, the CEO and Chief Engineer of Power Tee through a mutual friend, Greg Lecker and was assured by Greg this was the practice system of the future. I am excited to share some of my conversation with Martin about the origins and business plan for Power Tee.

Martin, tell us what Power Tee means to you and how you came to develop it.

Power Tee is a never-ending pursuit of engineering excellence. It was developed as a training aid that would allow the golfer to get to grips with their swing and to learn the game faster.  My favorite analogy is to think of yourself as a race car team manager on practice day; you send the car out and time 10 laps.  When you bring the car into the pit lane you would never change the driver, tires, engine settings, airfoils and suspension before your next run. If you did you would have no idea on why the car was faster or slower, leaving you in the dark as to what is working for or against you.  Golfers teeing up a new ball change stance, grip posture and alignment between shots, both inadvertently and through lack of ability/knowledge/discipline/distraction or routine.

One of the most rewarding side effects of Power Tee is the way it facilitates golf practice for disabled and elderly golfers, we have helped a number of golfers in their 90's to keep hitting balls, a host of veterans use our equipment as Power Tee is being taken up at more and more military golf facilities. Nothing is better than seeing how children react to the ball popping up and having a whack at it, often you have to pry them away from what now has become fun.

As you progress in the game of golf, and particularly when you start, you lose the feeling and setup between swings due to teeing the ball up, Power Tee is there remove the need for this distraction.  It is a remarkably powerful tool for helping golfers get into position.  As golfers improve, Power Tee allows them to focus on one part of their swing or setup and experiment with it.  It’s a lot of fun to stay in position and experiment with your right hand for example, open it and the ball goes left, close it and the ball goes right.  As you experiment you can feel how each change effects your swing and the ball flight.  For warming up you can start with a quarter swing until you find the perfect contact and then lengthen your swing steadily while focusing on plane and contact.  The drills and feedback available are only limited by your imagination.  Once you are focused and hitting the ball well, you can repeat perfectly and be 100% sure that the ball flight is a function of your swing, not a poor lie, dirty ball or a compensation for an uneven stance.

Power Tee offers a repeatable environment for practice (REP), this means that you learn with every swing, whatever the the ball does is a function of how you swung the club, not an environmental change that snuck into your practice session. We've all been hitting the ball well in practice on a poor grass tee line, gaining confidence swinging out and then from nowhere a weak fade comes out of what felt like a great swing, confidence drops a notch and you wonder what you did wrong. This never happens on Power Tee, good swing gets good result, poor ball flight means you need to fix something. Jim Furyk and Ben Hogan are/were famous for never practicing from a poor lie. Jack Nicklaus himself teed up every ball on the practice range when preparing for competition.

My first experience “hitting balls” on Power Tee was that it was much more than a good mat that fed the next ball and I want to explore all the features and benefits in future entries but what are the key plusses in your mind?

Power Tee does so much good, it is hard to list everything, probably the best attribute is its ability to engage children.  It’s the iPad generation, like it or not.  Putting kids on a chewed-up grass tee line is ridiculous.  They are not interested and are unlikely to hit any/many good shots, this gives rise to no fun and a real challenge to have the child bond with the game. With Power Tee, the ball is there at the right height.  If the club head goes over the top the kid leans forward, out of the toe the kid steps in and before you know it “whack” a fun and rewarding result, then guess what, the child can repeat the shot because they don’t have to fiddle around teeing up a new ball.  Now that is fun and as a result, kids actually want to hit balls on Power Tee.  Not rocket science just common sense.

The website makes the point the product is well placed and assimilated in the United Kingdom and you received an innovation award from the Queen - that had to be pretty special.

I cannot believe we did it, one of the Queens first jobs on coronation was to allow Winston Churchill permission to form a government of the UK, she has had an unrivaled view of the last 50 plus years and is a great person.  My wife and I were invited to Buckingham Palace and introduced personally to the Queen.  She was a gracious host and we met a good number of her extended family also.  It is a lifetime memory and I owe my invention Power Tee for it.

The system obviously improves the efficiency and appearance of any driving range but what are the other markets for Power Tee?

Power Tee is great wherever balls get hit, in most country clubs for example the turf gets so heavily used that it is rarely in good condition and in the afternoons members are hitting out of sandy dirt.  This is really bad for the golfer who tends to shift their weight left and pick the club up too steeply to try and trap the ball to get good contact, consequently the ranges tend to be chronically under utilized in the afternoons and early evenings when members would most like to come and hit some balls.  I don’t bother taking my children to the range in the afternoon as they are not interested.

The club that has an in-door training facility and prides itself on having the best teaching staff and the latest technology to enhance the teaching experience should have Power Tee.

Driving ranges typically see a 25-50% increase in ball revenue as well as an increase in patrons and more frequent visits from regulars. There is typically growth also in the interest of ladies, juniors, seniors and beginners to practice more often.

Jim Furyk, Jason Duffner, Mitchel Spearman and a host of other keen golfers have Power Tee units at home so they can set up and hit a few dozen balls efficiently every day to stay connected with their swing.  Having one at home improves front 9 scores for weekend players as they don’t lose the feel during the week and it only takes 10 minutes to hit 50 balls.

What are the selling points you would make to inspire interest and/or offset the expense of installing Power Tee to a club looking to provide the optimum teaching, practice and warm-up experience to its members and guests, but does not realize a direct revenue from its practice area?

A few decades ago clubs used to charge for balls. This revenue stream has become a service to members that enhances the experience of play and the image of the club. Power Tee is the next logical addition to that service, particularly for the key groups of ladies, seniors, juniors and disabled that most clubs have identified as important to their growth. It is somewhat ironic that pay and play golfers are getting Power Tee when high paying members of private clubs are not especially since everything about the ambience of the range experience is enhanced. The lesson is so much more about grooving the swing and less about the lie or bending over to tee up the ball. The efficiency of the 20 minute warm-up is incredibly increased and of course practice becomes more enjoyable.

Without detailing a proposal, which would vary as to facility, how would one contact you for presentation, negotiation, installation and maintenance information?

Call us at 877-769-3781 or email me: martin@powertee.com. We will detail the ins and outs of vending Power Tee and send you a proposal.

Power Tee is the best “hitting balls” experience I’ve ever had. This is particularly true when I contrast it to concrete veneered mats and divot chopped turf where you feel as though you are practicing hitting bad lies and will be fortunate to not ruin your clubs or sprain a wrist. As I referenced in the intro, the game, especially for anyone just beginning to get involved, needs to be fun if the interest is to be sustained. Power Tee is fun. To the avid golfer, who sees not practicing as sacrilegious and only an effectively grooved swing as acceptable, Power Tee provides the best environment to develop to that level.  Driving ranges should sell more balls and more often to a wider range of customers with Power Tee as their hitting system. Clubs that spend tens of thousands of dollars providing practice facilities with indoor bays and world class instructors should add a few more dollars to the budget and have this system as part of those amenities to provide an optimum experience.