It seemed only appropriate we should meet up with Gregory Lebrat on the Old Course at St. Andrews.
Lebrat is the Founder & CEO of Smart2Move, a Swiss company based in Basel (Switzerland) and Austin (Texas), that specialises in wearable sensors technology for sport motion analysis.
Headed by Lebrat, S2M has a dedicated engineering team with more than 15 years experience in foot, posture & walking rehabilitation and with this experience the company is at the forefront of developing solutions and devices for pros & consumers to analyse, improve, optimize human motion performance.
“I became a teaching golf professional in 1999 and took a job working in Portugal where I spent 18 months before working at other courses round the world for another 18 months,” he said.
Gregory Lebrat, Founder and CEO Smart2Move with S2M ‘Pressure Plates’ on the famed Swilcan Bridge at the Old Course, St. Andrews. (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)
“But after three years travelling, I began working for two-and-a-half years at the PGA School before taking up the position of Assistant Professional as the Basel Country Club, and I’ve been there since 2003.
“I also took the opportunity to travel extensively in the United States and Asia visiting and meeting with golf professionals before becoming involved in this new and exciting challenge in my career within the golf industry.
“I have always been passionate with regards to teaching and educating fellow golfers on the benefits of technology and innovation.”
It was four years ago, Lebrat attended the PGA of America Trade Show in Orlando where, and if can use the analogy, he took the first steps to setting up Smart2Move.
Smart2Move taking big strides in golf, including on the famed Old Course at St. Andrews. (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)
In fact, the Force Plates was officially launched in January at this year’s PGA Trade Show and in this short time Force Plates is making the golf industry stand up and take notice of the benefits of using Force Plates.
Lebrat was recently in Scotland just for a short time having met with the St. Andrews Links Trust, who were extremely interested in boosting their training equipment by introducing the cutting edge S2M ‘Force Plates’ and ‘Pressure Insoles’ into their coaching procedures. As well, Lebrat was meeting with the coaching team at the nearby Drumoig Golf Centre.
Force Plates are the first durable, wireless and portable force plates and measure vertical forces applied by the golfer to the ground along with the position of his/her centre of pressure of each foot during the golf swing.
SmartBalance Light is the first pressure insole made to improve your balance & power during effort.
“The insole is very easy to use in playing golf but used purely to collect data as there is a computer chip fitted into the insole that you can download using your smart phone,” he said.
“The great aspect about the Force plates and the insoles is that you can travel lightly with them as they fit easily into your computer carry bag.
“Also our products fit in perfectly with bio-swing dynamics and this is something that impressed those I spoke to at the Links Trust.
“Of course, every student you teach is different in terms of their measurements, and it leads to the question why are we teaching the same to everybody, as it’s not possible. So by measuring everybody by knowing their rotative axis we can adapt to the motion of the player to his or her natural body motion.
“So that’s exactly what we measure with our force plates and there is three types of force – vertical, linear and lateral weight shift. You need all those forces in playing a game of golf and depending on your own bio-mechanics one is going to be more important than the others, and that is what impressed those I spoke to at the Links Trust.”
While Trackman has long been a common sight on the practice ranges of the world so to is the combination of S2M Force Plates and SmartBalance pressure insoles beginning to take big steps forward impressively to stamp their presence.
“While Trackman is good for monitoring the body motion in launching a shot, Force Plates more importantly measure the causes and by knowing the causes affecting the kinematic sequence S2M can change all the processes, if it’s good or not,” he added.
“It’s a 3D system so that you can also measure the consequence of making any changes.
“Measurement is very important and herein lies the value of Force Plates and the SmartBalance pressure insoles.
“And what is very important to our company is that we know our products are durable and very accurate.”
For more information please go to: www.smart2move.com
FOOTNOTE:
Modern Golf Summit – Manila November 14th to 18th, 2016
S2M is a leading ‘Partner’ and www.golfbytourmiss.com a proud ‘Media Partner’ associated with this coming week’s Modern Golf Summit taking place in Manila from November 14th to 18th, 2016.
The summit will feature a world class collection of speakers that will encompass all aspects of golf coaching and performance.
Subjects to be covered include:
- Swing Mechanics
- Short game techniques and strategies
- The science of practice
- How to be a world class coach
- The statistics of a golf score
- Latest research in full swing, short game and putting
- Golf conditioning/Physical assessments
- Club fitting
Feature speakers include Chris Como (Coach to 14-time Major winning Tiger Woods), David Darbyshire (Physics Trainer who has worked with the Major winning pair of Adam Scott and Geoff Ogilvy), Dr. Scott Lynn, Dr. Will Wu, Mark Broadie (Famed for ‘Strokes Gained’ & the publication ‘Every Shot Counts’), Mike Adams (PGA of America ‘2016 Teacher of the Year’), Mark Timms, John Dunnigan and Dr. Terry Rowles (One of the most complete golf scientists in golf).
For more information on the up-coming summit go to: http://www.moderngolfsummit.com
