Welcome everyone back to Golf Weekly where each week we dive into the latest golf gear, technology, apparel, and experiences. Today we are diving into a new app that I got beta access to that will help you learn more about your golf swing using artificial intelligence.
Everyone golfer I know who takes the game seriously would like to understand their golf swing on a deeper level. Most of the time we hire a golf instructor or coach to help us realize our problem areas and make a plan to improve. As technology & Artificial intelligence is more and more incorporated into golf, you will be able to detect your faults more quickly and precisely. We were given access to a new app called BirdieBud.
BirdieBud is an app that can help you analyze and improve your swing using AI. The app captures your swing and automatically extracts the movement of joints in your body through AI. You can watch and review a video sequence of your swing motion. Overlay images clearly display the movement of your joints during your golf swing. Let’s dive into how it works.
When you first open the app, there will be a very helpful tutorial video on how to use BirdieBud. I found the
When recording, it’s best to use something stable such as a tripod. If you don’t have one, then bring a buddy and they can record your swing. To do so, you simply press the record button, choose your club, camera angle, and address angle. They recommend standing 7-10 feet away from the camera and in a position that your whole body is inside the view of the screen. A silhouette of a golfer will appear on the screen to make this really easy. Then simply press the record button and the app will provide a countdown and then tell you to “Swing Now”, from there is where the app takes over with the analysis of your swing. Once the app is done analyzing, you are able to review the results and suggested improvements. As you can guess, you can export all the videos, photos, and swing tips and send them to friends, your golf instructor, or coach for additional analysis.
I took 3 swings and actually received the same feedback for all 3 which is that my hips slide forward when I am in my downswing. This leads to pushing the ball to the right (I am right handed) and a slice. I also received feedback that my hips sway during my backswing which was helpful to know.
In the app you can view all of your swings in the “Swing Log” section which keeps all your swings in one place and the tips associated with them.
Pricing:
You may capture 5 free golf swings. After that, subscription to a premium subscription is required. Subscriptions to BirdieBud Premium are $4.99 (USD) per month or $29.99 (USD) annually. (12 months at $2.49/mo. Save 50%)
A Premium subscription purchased through the app will be charged to your iTunes account. Your subscription can be canceled or managed under your iTunes account settings. Your payment will automatically continue to renew unless you cancel your subscription at least 24 hours prior to your next renewal date.
In summary, I thought the app was really easy to use first and foremost which is very important. I like that BirdieBud captures your swing in sequences of 8 different positions, as well as the full video of your swing. The tips were also helpful on what I need to work on. I also liked that the Analysis captures data points like swing tempo, Backswing duration, and Downswing duration. I think this app has a ton of opportunities for future enhancements such as overlay swings of tour professionals and their swing on top of yours to show their swing positions vs yours. I think this would be huge to see where you need to be vs where you are. I am excited to keep using BirdieBud, and give it a try! We think you will be happy you did!
The app is available for iOS only at this time. Give it a try and let us know in the comments what you think.