O’Connell, Wearner Join Swingbyte Advisory Board

Top instructors to guide enhancements to mobile swing analyzer

(CHICAGO, Ill.) – Chris O’Connell and Trent Wearner, who rank among Golf Digest’s Best Young Teachers in America, have joined the Swingbyte Professional Advisory Board to help guide development of the wireless 3D swing analyzer.

 Swingbyte, which was named one of the “12 Coolest Items” at the 2012 PGA Show by Golf Digest, uses a lightweight sensor to capture and transmit digital images and swing metrics to smartphones and tablets.

O’Connell, vice president of Plane Truth Golf and a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher, said Swingbyte makes valuable information available to golfers and instructors for the first time.

“There are a lot of things that Swingbyte measures that – to my knowledge – no one else measures,” said O’Connell, an instructor at DA’s Golf Learning Center in Plano, Texas, whose students include PGA Tour players Matt Kuchar and Scott Piercy. “For example, I’ve never seen (a teaching aid) that measures the club face relative to the plane throughout the backswing and the downswing.”

Wearner, who runs the Trent Wearner Golf Academy at the Meridian Golf Club in Englewood, Colo., said Swingbyte provides “perfect feedback.”

“It’s what every player needs to accelerate their understanding of the golf swing and to connect the dots between feel and real,” said Wearner, a former Teacher of the Year for the Colorado Section of the PGA.

“There aren’t too many things more important than where the club face is when it strikes the ball and knowing how it got there,” Wearner added. “That’s what the Swingbyte feedback gives you.”

In addition to O’Connell and Wearner, the Swingbyte advisory board includes Dr. Jim Suttie, who is ranked 15th among America's 50 Greatest Teachers by Golf Digest; Brad Redding, a PGA Master Professional and a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher; Brad Brewer, who is among Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers in America; and Kevin Weeks, one of Golf Digest’s Top 50 instructors.

Swingbyte weighs less than an ounce and attaches to any club just below the grip. As the club makes contact with the ball, the wireless sensor transmits a 3D digital version of the swing to the Swingbyte app, which is available on Apple and Android smartphones and tablets. The swing image – along with measurements of club head speed, swing plane, face angle, loft and lie angles and tempo – can be viewed during practice sessions and archived in the cloud for future reference.

Swingbyte can be ordered through the company’s website, Swingbyte.com, and purchased at more than 1,800 AT&T retail stores. Swingbyte’s introductory price of $149 includes the Swingbyte unit, the free Swingbyte app and an online account that includes additional analytics, community rankings and personal trends.

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