To Help, or Not to Help the Deplorable Golf Club Fitting Trade: That is the Question

First note here that I fully anticipate resuming Waggle Weight Wisdom™, specifically referring here to its golf swing and equipment fitting instructional elements.  There are additional critical matters in these areas that need to be attended to yet that will consist of new subject material and material to supplement that which has already been published, as certain matters have only been party addressed to date.  Ultimately, an abundance of visual material will be also added to the current free text-only version of Waggle Weight Wisdom™ to form one or more incomparable manuals comprising the most accurate golf information available regarding the golf swing and clubfitting topics addressed and the authoritative manual(s) against which all other such materials will thereafter be compared and judged in golf’s future (if golf does not become extinct).

Under different circumstances, perhaps my unfinished instruction that is still desperately needed by the golf industry in general to sufficiently recover and grow into the future (an industry continuing to plunge backward in many respects and lose players and popularity) would have resumed by this time.  However, Waggle Weight Wisdom™ cannot continue in earnest until products and services created by the WaggleWeight® Company (upon which the company name is based and that help form the foundation of Waggle Weight Wisdom™ to begin with) are further developed.  Unfortunately, substantially due to an incapable contractor (whose name shall be withheld at least for now and who in hindsight was very poorly chosen by me), these foundational products and services are nowhere near the point of development yet that was expected by this time.  Other particulars, like a desired website update, are also dismally being delayed due to the current circumstances.

To briefly sum up these circumstances, a contract for developing a waggle weight system prototype (a technical advancement of already-solidly-proven golf club swingweight [or swing weight]) signed in June of 2011 had an anticipated two-phase completion date of early December of 2011, in time to potentially attend the Inventor’s Showcase of the PGA Merchandise Show in January of 2012.  The deadline was dejectedly missed with some poor performance and character attributes that surfaced along the way regarding the contractor.  An initial prototype was finally delivered about late January of 2012.  In a display of business incompetence even worse than the contractor, I granted trust and compassion to him partly due to a story of hardship he gave and I very foolishly finished paying for the project in full before actually receiving and testing the device.  Of no great surprise now, when received it did not even come remotely close to functioning properly.  If I had not been so utterly dumb then, maybe a working system would be available for use by now.  And in another inept move by me largely due to ignorance, I bypassed the freelancer website that I met this contractor through, at least partly to try to avoid paying a commission to the site.  But in so doing, I also bypassed certain protections offered by the service (including financial) that might have taken effect when the device failed to operate successfully, potentially holding this contractor more responsible for his actions.

But I did what I did, and now more than three years after that contract signing there is still not even a satisfactorily functioning prototype let alone a finished product for sale as there really should be by now.  Two more annual PGA Merchandise Shows have been missed to potentially showcase a product that is badly needed within the golf industry and that eventually will markedly alter this industry for the better.  This is particularly true for the clubfitting trade, with its long history of poor performance and poor reputation that still regularly results in golfers swinging and playing worse after they have been fit for a golf club(s), notably contributing to dragging down the entire golf industry as a whole.  Three years of valuable patent protection have been permanently lost due to this fiasco.  Certain delays have been understandable that I remain compassionate about, including an environmental medical issue experienced by this contractor that essentially forced him to move, plus the unfortunate death of his father during this period.  Then, just as a working product was supposedly literally days away from being completed, I was informed that this contractor sadly suffered a stroke in early October of 2013.  Yet intertwined with these truly unfortunate events were nevertheless many days of supposed decent health, availability, and countless promises by this contractor to work on and keep me updated regarding this project, with regular occurrences of extremely poor work performance and questionable behavior on his part.

The WaggleWeight® Company is still a rather new business that has limited resources, and I have put myself into a position where my available prototype budget has basically already been spent, with essentially zero to show for it and with a real possibility that this investment will be a total loss.  This is not a loss that can be readily absorbed, so work is continuing to try to avoid this occurrence.  A recent response approximately a few weeks ago (from an unidentified representative of this contractor) indicated that the contractor is anxious and determined to finish the project successfully.  But consistent with the way I was treated prior to this contractor’s unfortunate stroke, and notwithstanding wanting to rightly respect the privacy of this contractor and his family, business updates regarding his recovery and anticipated return have provided no information that can be used toward moving any part of the project forward and are never provided at all without agonizingly always having to inquire first.  As of the date of this posting, I am very cynical about any able work coming from this contractor anytime soon, since he developed a reputation for slow, unsuccessful, and infrequent updating of work even before his unfortunate stroke, particularly after being paid in full for his services.

A considerable part of me would like to simply walk away from this poorly performing contractor of questionable character, try to absorb the financial loss, and attribute it to early inexperience in certain areas of business.  But the rather limited financial resources of the WaggleWeight® Company make this option quite impossible at the moment.  So for the foreseeable future, I will continue to relentlessly pursue every possible option to somehow get some business value out of this specific contractor.  (A return of any money seems unlikely despite virtually zero accomplishment based upon what I currently know about this contractor).  Thus, if I were to sign another contract with a different contractor for essentially the same work and then learn a short time later that this contractor is able to successfully complete the project he started such a long time ago already, that could potentially be more disastrous to the WaggleWeight® Company than if I were to try to be patient longer and “suspiciously” wait for a return of this specific contractor as requested.

So at this point I am searching for one or more very special relationships to help proceed with developing the waggle weight golf club specification, contingent upon the present circumstances.  This search has been ongoing for a while now, but no suitable relation(s) has been found yet.  In addition to being qualified at the skill(s) needed, acceptance of a reduced rate of payment or deferred payment (at least until the situation with the current contractor is cleared up with more finality), a different form of compensation than cash, or a contract structured uniquely based on the present circumstances as examples would appear necessary at this time.  While a reduced rate of payment by the WaggleWeight® Company for this particular project (at least at the outset) might seem disadvantageous, other possible benefits might be worthwhile to any given individual or company, such as a prominent inclusion in the aforementioned manual(s) that is already in production with the posting of every Waggle Weight Wisdom™ entry.  The positive and lasting publicity and promotion if associated with such an authoritative and unprecedented project could be invaluable.

Also, a quality and lasting relationship that is certainly expected to be more profitable in the future could potentially be established, as shrewd projects beyond the waggle weight golf club specification system (that overall might be even more important and impactful on the golf industry than waggle weight) are already in the early planning stages.  While truly hoping on a personal level for nothing less than a full and complete recovery for this contractor that is currently ill, even if he comes back strongly and from a strictly business standpoint, it does presently seem unlikely that a relationship continuing beyond what has already been paid for will be possible due to my cumulative experiences with him to date.

If no suitable relationship(s) can be forged at this time, the project will still ultimately be successful but just take longer.  And while I will have to wait longer, so too will the golf club fitting trade especially have to as a whole remain an inept and embarrassing joke (which continues to prominently contribute to a decline in the performance and reputation of the golf industry overall) until this particular project (along with other critical changes needed to massively overhaul the bungling clubfitting trade) becomes a reality.  Therefore, and while other outlets are also being pursued, the remainder of this particular entry will describe the help needed to continue development of the waggle weight project.  Some knowledge of and/or interest in golf and genuine concern for the game’s future might be a plus.  But it is not required, and in plain fact so much flawed information continues to be so deeply embedded within the general whole of golfers and the golf industry, that having a great expanse of golf knowledge as taught within the golf industry to this point might instead contribute to a project of lesser quality.  (I have been contacted by know-it-all types having some connection to golf [sometimes of recognizable names] alleging that they are experts regarding golf swing and/or clubfitting fundamentals and immediately comprehend this particular project.  Upon quickly learning that they are totally clueless regarding its elementary principles, I become quite thankful that these golfing “experts” are not involved in the development of this project).

Briefly, the needed device(s) comprises 3-D wireless motion detection that likely attaches to a golf club and gathers accurate and stable 3-D golf club motion data during golfer pre-swing movement (before the backswing of any golf swing [regardless of whether a swing that counts toward one’s score or any practice swing] even begins).  (2-D analysis may suffice but I question this in light of today’s technology).  While video camera analysis has not been ruled out, individual golfers will be a target market for the device(s) (rightly so given the very poor performance and reputation history of the commercial clubfitting trade) in addition to commercial clubfitting entities, and individual golfers typically do not have cameras of the type needed to implement the application well enough (though maybe this has changed recently with evolving technology).  So the use of other sensor hardware technology is anticipated at this point.

Further required is an appropriate algorithm and additional application software to help decipher a critical golf club pre-swing rotation point location about the plane of weight sensing activity (which most golfers have but at varying locations) that is developed and only exists during the pre-swing period and that essentially divides the golf club’s length into two sections during the pre-swing.  Various types of golf club movements occurring during this period, comprising some that are extremely subtle and short and of different directions, may be far more challenging as to algorithm development and/or hardware technology as examples than just tracking and analyzing a relatively simple golf swing.  While a web application as part of this project would appear to be quite valuable, I have been told to this point that it is not really feasible given the demands of the application and/or the current state of technology.

The determined rotation point location is then applied (likely in the form of an adjustable fulcrum location) on a scale for balancing golf clubs (which also needs to be developed), cumulatively resulting in a new golf club specification that is named “waggle weight.”  For those appropriately familiar with golf, technically waggle weight is a badly needed advancement of the already-long-proven golf club specification named swing weight or swingweight.  But since swingweight is still so widely and so badly misunderstood to this day within the golf industry in general and the clubfitting trade more specifically, waggle weight can in principle be considered an entirely new golf club specification that will profoundly influence change and improvement in various segments of the golf industry.  The appropriate patent (US # 8,074,495) has been secured for the waggle weight project.

Golf club waggle weighting helps to carry out about the most foundational performance basic that exists in the performance of any activity.  To explain, first consider the more universal activity of picking up a ball and throwing it, an activity that in fact has several elements comparable to swinging a golf club.  Traditionally and rather instinctively, one’s hand holding the ball is first moved backward (not unlike swinging a golf club), and then forward, with the ball eventually released toward a desired target.  Multiple bodily “hinges” are utilized and require good coordination to throw the ball the greatest distance and/or with the best accuracy that one is capable of.  These hinges include one’s shoulder, elbow, wrist, and multiple hinges just within one’s fingers (limiting myself to just one’s upper body here).  To this extent, learning how to throw a ball effectively might actually be more complex and difficult than learning how to swing a golf club effectively.  Do not be so gullible as to believe some of the garbage regularly strewn about regarding a golf swing by so-called experts on the subject, such as it is very difficult to learn because it is a more complex motion where “dual hinges” are involved.  An actual golf swing and a golf swing alone (eliminating other elements that can make it seem to the insufficiently experienced like a golf swing is more complex and difficult than it really is) is rather easy athletically speaking and hopefully convinces one to pay close attention to the following example.

In returning to one’s throwing motion now, next consider being given two separate piles of fourteen balls each to throw (the figure fourteen used because that is the number of individual golf clubs currently allowed by the rules to be utilized during a round of golf).  With otherwise identical dimensions, one pile contains all identical weight balls, and the other contains varying weight balls, to be thrown one after another at a selected target.  It does not take a genius to understand how inconsistent and even downright uncoordinated one’s throwing motion would get, all the way backward and all the way forward through one’s entire motion (along with poorer results hitting the target) when throwing from the pile of inconsistent weight balls compared with the pile of consistent weight balls.

The balls are either kept consistent or made inconsistent in weight and provided before the throwing motion even begins, yet the entire throwing motion is accordingly affected.  While certain procedural elements need to be altered because golf clubs are elongated in nature for example compared to round balls, this most foundational of principles in the performance of any activity is what the waggle weight project addresses for golfers.  But as a patented method/product, the bungling golf club fitting trade can continue to wallow in the mess it has created for itself throughout the years and help stink up the entire golf industry for at least another decade more, with its MOI (Moment of Insanity) golf club matching concept and other tragically flawed (to the point of being outright laughable) clubfitting theories and practices.  This calamity will continue unless and until the waggle weight golf club specification and other badly needed reforms in clubfitting (and golf swing) theories and practices become available.  In point of fact, many such reforms are of an extremely basal nature that the golf industry overall appears to remain blind about.  (Erroneously believing that a golf swing is more complicated and difficult than it actually is can lead one down a path of believing [and even developing] an erroneous golf swing and/or clubfitting theory and/or practice).

Additional information is certainly available to any parties potentially interested in being involved in the further development of the waggle weight golf club specification.  Due to the circumstances noted above, time is becoming more critical for the WaggleWeight® Company to get this project developed and available for use, and admittedly I have been to blame for some poor business decisions that have contributed to delays in the project.  Yet due to the same circumstances, I must proceed cautiously (I am not all that far away from supposed retirement age and not even close to being financially secure) under the right conditions with the right party or parties or I may make things even worse than they currently are for the company.  This caution is despite a considerable lack of confidence and trust in the contractor I am presently waiting on while he recovers from his stroke.

To supplement what was stated earlier, I have essentially zero documentation from this contractor that is still out for anyone else to work from, and I was never really provided any for either the hardware or software elements of the project that have been worked on to date, even before this contractor suffered his stroke.  While I have been told that I can now obtain at least some of this information now that he is recovering at home (with the help of another), I see little point in doing so.  His developed hardware is likely outdated already, and there are probably off-the-shelf sensor units that perform better and are less expensive for faster and more efficient developing of at least an initial prototype or early model.  And while I have been offered the software source code he developed, here too I see little benefit in obtaining it because I have seen evidence that this contractor flubbed the mathematical algorithm for the application anyhow (he has previously denied this), which is in essence the heart of the system.  If not for this, implementation of the waggle weight golf club specification might well be available for use by now.

So to sum up, due to the present circumstances I am seeking any and all possibilities for help in bringing the waggle weight golf club specification system to fruition as soon as possible and with potential payment options as discussed earlier (at least until it can be proven that the system works appropriately and some initial test data can be gathered and analyzed to see if continuing is warranted).  Both hardware and software elements still need developing.  Qualified involvement means contributing to essentially tearing town and rebuilding the golf club fitting trade from the ground up, a so-called skilled trade that in general is rather unskilled right now from top to bottom, including but not limited to what is taught, how it is taught, how the trade is organized (or rather disorganized), and the people responsible for creating this debacle known as today’s golf club fitting trade.

The longstanding poor performance record and reputation of the clubfitting trade are actually very easy to comprehend once certain facts are uncovered and understood.  The implementation of the waggle weight golf club specification will help uncover some of these facts (apparently previously unknown by the clubfitting trade as a whole).  And a badly needed overhauling of the clubfitting trade will also ultimately help the entire golf industry.  If you (or anyone else you know that you might consider forwarding this to) might want to become involved in the further development of any part(s) of the waggle weight golf club specification project, please consider contacting the WaggleWeight® Company to explore any possibilities.

In the end, some previously undisclosed matter pertaining to golf swing and/or clubfitting instruction that one might gain some benefit from may have actually been integrated into this specific entry.  However, that is merely incidental to comprehensively supporting the primary subject and does not constitute a return to writing Waggle Weight Wisdom™ at this time.  This posting (and any others that might follow in the near future pertaining to the same subject) can be considered isolated in nature.  But since I have kind of thought that I would be back to writing by this time, this entry also doubles nicely as a suitable update of WaggleWeight® Company business at this time and explains why instructional writing has not yet resumed.  As indicated, I currently anticipate continuing with Waggle Weight Wisdom™ and its critically needed information after additional progress is made regarding the issue(s) noted herein, although that posture could presumably change due to any number of experiences including those related to the progress of this specific project.