SwingMotion Review – Plugged In Golf

50 Words or Less

SwingMotion is a motion-sensing training aid that can help with your wrist, arm, hip, and upper body movements.  App is easy to use but lacks gamification and fun.  Issues with the sensors makes the user experience frustrating.

Introduction

When I started teaching golf about fifteen years ago, the idea of capturing the body’s movements and turning them into numbers was fairly novel.  It certainly wasn’t something that regular golfers could do at home.  Now, thanks to the relentless march of technology, SwingMotion is bringing that technology to everyone and at a fairly affordable price.  I tested it to see if this could be the training aid that will unlock your golfing potential.

Set Up & Ease of Use

The entire SwingMotion kit comes in neat travel case, as shown above.  It includes two sensors, a charging cable, a harness, a waist strap, and two wrist straps.  To get started, charge the sensors and download the app.  The app is straightforward, and it pairs with the sensors easily.  I needed to update the firmware on my sensors before my first session, but that only took a couple minutes.  

Though SwingMotion seems like it could be a complex, intimidating product to use, it’s very approachable.  The app and quick start guide walk you through the steps of putting the sensors in the right positions and getting them calibrated.  

While the tech side of SwingMotion is easy to use, I found that the physical sensors are the pain point.  Getting them clipped onto my glove or any of the belts was fairly frustrating.  I could have dealt with this hassle if the sensors stayed in place, but they didn’t.  The waist band was particularly troublesome, requiring re-calibration after almost every swing.

Effectiveness

There are four modes in the SwingMotion app: Wrist Tracking, Torso Movement, Hip Movement, and Body Separation (X-Factor).  Each one requires that you wear the sensors in a different way.  One is worn on the wrist in every mode except Body Separation, but the other moves from glove to waist to torso.

In each mode, the app provides you with measurements at address, at the top of your backswing, and at impact.  Each of those is judged against a standard (which can’t be adjusted) and colored coded as either successful (green) or not (yellow).  You also received feedback on Sequence, Tempo timing, and Speed measurements.  All of the measurements are stored by session in the app so you can review them later.

For those that want the full data dive, the measurements by mode are as follows.  In Wrist Tracking, you get a measurement of wrist flexion and arm speed.  The Hip Movement mode measures hip rotation, side bend, hip speed, and arm speed.  Torso Movement provides torso rotation, forward bend, side bend, and speeds for the torso and arm.  Finally, Body Separation measures X-Factor (the difference between your hips and shoulders/torso) as well as hip and torso speeds.

Finally, in addition to measuring all of these things and telling you whether you’re in the appropriate range, there are drills.  Wrist Tracking, Torso Movement, and Hip Movement each have one drill.  The drills are essentially the same – taking your address position, moving to the top of the backswing, and holding the “right” position.  You get real-time feedback on your screen about your body position so that you can stay in the correct position and learn what it feels like.

Based on video and a fairly extensive knowledge of my swing from working with various measurement systems, I can report that SwingMotion seems accurate.  I can’t say that it’s accurate to a degree, but it gets the general picture correct.  For example, if your wrist is massively cupped at the top, it might say it’s 30 degrees when it’s actually 34, but it won’t say that your wrist is bowed.  The major issue comes when the sensors move.  The hip belt twisted after almost every swing, requiring such frequent re-calibration that no normal person would make more than a few swings.  

The ultimate question is, “Will this make you better?”  While knowing the flaws in your swing and being able to measure progress toward improvement is very helpful, this app is not gamified or fun to use, and the sensor movement issue is significant.  Additionally, the feedback is not immediate and may not be clear, depending on your level of swing knowledge and proprioception.  Ultimately, I do not think this is going to be an effective improvement tool for most golfers.

Longevity

Starting with the positive, SwingMotion is small and light, meaning it can live in your golf bag or travel anywhere you go.  It can also make indoor practice a lot more impactful, especially if you don’t have a launch monitor*.  SwingMotion will work without a ball (though it won’t catch every swing), so it can add value if you don’t have a place to hit balls indoors.

The downside is that SwingMotion can be aggravating to use because the sensors don’t stay put.  Additionally, this is for the grinders and the swing nerds.  The average golfer is not going to dive into their wrist flexion numbers.

Overall, I think this can have decent longevity for the right golfer, but, for most players the longevity is not very good.

*Pro tip: if you’re considering buying SwingMotion but don’t have a launch monitor, stop.  Get the Swing Caddie SC4 Pro instead.  You can buy the SwingMotion later, but the SC4 Pro will do much more to improve your game, and it’s way more fun.

Value

The SwingMotion system retails for $329.  This includes the two sensors, the accessories for wearing the sensors, and the app.  At the time of this writing, there is no fee for the app nor any kind of “premium mode” for unlocking additional features.

At $329, SwingMotion is well above the average price for a training aid, and I think it’s a very niche offering.  In my opinion, there are a lot of ways you can get more bang for your buck in terms of swing or game improvement.

Conclusion

The fact that movement tracking technology has trickled down from the most expensive golf lessons to recreational home users is a very cool thing.  Unfortunately, SwingMotion still has a ways to go in terms of dialing in both the app and the physical products to make it fun and usable for a wide range of golfers.  This tech has a ton of potential to help golfers improve, so I hope they – and others – keep at it.

Visit SwingMotion HERE

Editor In Chief at Plugged In Golf

Matt has worked in nearly every job in the golf industry from club fitting to instruction to writing and speaking.

He founded Plugged In Golf in 2013 with the goal of helping all golfers play better and enjoy the game more.

Matt lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two daughters.

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