John Feinstein called golf “a good walk spoiled.” Feinstein here alludes to the ease with which a beautiful round of golf can descend into an afternoon of frustration and irritation. Nothing will spoil a good walk more than a bad round of golf.

So, how can you ensure that your next round of golf won’t end up with you throwing your clubs into the river? Innumerable products are on the market all purporting to be the secret answer to one of sport’s greatest challenges: the golf swing. Most over-promise and make claims that no product alone could produce. But some are certainly helpful and useful for analyzing, learning, and practicing your swing to improve your techniques.

Buy the Zepp Golf Swing Analyzer on Amazon

In this article, we’ll examine one such product: the Zepp Golf 3D Swing Analyzer. The Zepp Golf 2 3D Swing Analyzer was the winner for the “Best Swing and Game Analyzers” at Golf Digest in 2016 (http://www.golfdigest.com/story/best-golf-swing-and-game-analyzers). With this Zepp review, we’ll take a look at what this analyzer can offer you and help you decide whether this golf swing analyzer is right for you.

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How Does the Zepp Golf Swing Analyzer Work?

Different models of golf swing analyzers work by attaching directly to your club. Zepp uses a slightly different approach. With the Zepp analyzer, you attach a cradle to your golf glove and then slide the Zepp motion sensor into the cradle.

By attaching to your glove instead of your club, the analyzer avoids the hazard of changing your golf swing. A heavy device mounted on your club can give you irregular results. This is critical because anything you measure won’t actually apply to your swing once you remove the device. 

Once the sensor is loaded on your glove, all you have to do is sync it to your mobile device. Once connected, you open the free app and select the club you will be using. That’s it; you’re ready to analyze your swing. The Zepp GSA is compatible with both Android and iOS devices, so you can use your smartphone or tablet. And if you are anything like me, you will be able to spend hours poring over your swing instead of working!

How Does the Zepp Golf 2 3D Swing Analyzer Help My Swing?

Once you’ve swung your club, the Zepp Analyzer will give you immediate feedback in a variety of ways. You can then use a combination of these elements to work on improving your swing.

3D Viewing

First, you can see your shot in complete 3D, 360° view. You can even rotate the view to look down on your swing to see if you are coming over the top of your swing. When you think of how many golfers do this (think of all those perennial slicers in your Sunday group), anything that can help solve this problem must be good news. This 3D view allows you to see your club path and hand path by tracing a line through these positions throughout your swing. It will also show you the plane view to see how level you are keeping your swing.

Analytics

But this is just the beginning. When you open up the dashboard view, the Zepp swing analyzer with display the most important information you need to improve your swing. The App will rate each and every swing with a weighted score based on club speed, club plane, hand plane, tempo, and backswing. Each of these figures is displayed within the app along with your score.

It is fascinating (and often a little surprising) to see how we actually deliver the clubhead to the ball. You might never have realized that you are scooping and adding loft to all your shorts or that you are actually coming far too far from the inside (which might explain why those dreaded shanks show up from time to time!)

Zepp uses an easy color-coded system so that you can see immediately which areas you need to work on. Green means you are in a good range for that score. Yellow means you need to work on improving that area. And Red means you have a serious issue with that particular metric.

By easily breaking down your swing into these essential components, you can quickly and effectively focus on those areas that are weakest in order to make the greatest improvements and fine-tune your swing. When you tap on one of these metrics, it opens up a “focus screen view” which allows you to see that metric alone and how close you are coming to your goal. With each swing, you can quickly and easily see how you are measure within that metric.

In addition to these 5 key metrics, the Zepp GSA will also give your hand speed (which measures the speed of your hands at the down swing). And, if you place your phone in your pocket, it will also measure your hip rotation using your phone’s sensors.

The swing analyzer will record and save all your swings within its calendar to allow you to return and analyze your swings over a long period of time. This will allow you to identify any trends and track your improvement. Knowing that you are getting closer and closer to your goals can be a real boost to your mental game.

Video

Not only does the Zepp 3D analyzer give you a modeled representation of your swing in 360 degrees, but you can also record yourself with your phone or tablet and the app will sync your video with your analytics. Once again, this can be a real eye-opener. That beautiful Freddie Couple move you thought you had? No, sorry. However, seeing yourself swing is worth all the explanations in the world. Suddenly you realize that you are over-swinging, leaning back  or have a terrible chicken wing. and once you see this and use the data, correcting it becomes so much more straightforward.

This is an amazing ability to actually watch yourself swing and analyze the swing at the same time. You will want to use this feature somewhat sparingly though as the videos will take up a bit of space on your phone. You can always upload them to the cloud for remote storage.

You can also share your swings with your friends via social media.

Coaching

What’s the use of having all this information if you don’t know what it means or what your metrics should be? That’s where the Zepp coaching feature really comes in handy.

Within each metric, the App will give you a full accounting of what that metric measures, why it is important, and what the standard is. It also comes with videos of various professional golfers explaining the metric and giving you tips for improvement.

The Zepp app also offers a training center with videos that will provide you with a number of drills to help improve your swing.

If you make at least 30 swings in one week, the app will also give you a “lab report” which will tell you what you need to work, and offer suggestions on how to improve. It’s like having your own coach with you all the time.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a swing analyzer that will not only tell you what your swing looks like, but will offer concrete ways to improve your swing, the Zepp Golf 2 3D Swing Analyzer is one of the best products on the market.

Buy the Zepp for a Great Price on Amazon

It’s one thing to have all the data of your swing, it’s another to know how to use that data. With the Zepp analyzer, you get both. If you really want to improve your swing, and not ruin a perfectly good walk, the Zepp golf swing analyzer may be your best ticket.