CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – When you think of radar, what do you think of?

“Most people know radar from the weather, or if you got caught speeding over the Ravenel,” jokes Brandon Ray, Lowcountry Lessons Director. “But what this does is it actually tracks the golf balls.”

This type of radar locks onto the golf ball and tracks the speed, distance, rotation and more.

“You’ll see at the PGA Championship players are using that to get feedback on the distance, how fast they’re swinging, how much the golf ball is spinning. That’s how they determine that week what they need to do,” Ray said.

So on a day like today, when we are right around 60 degrees, what would your plan of attack be?

“We would definitely get the radar out on the range and start hitting shots to get some feedback on what the ball is doing,” Ray said. “The guess would be starting out, the air is a little heavier today, a little bit of wind. Not as much as yesterday, but we are definitely going to see a loss of distance between the temperature and how heavy the air is right now.”

Wind, of course, is a factor, but a temperature drop from 70 to 50 degrees could make a noticeable difference on the distance.

“We are looking at almost a yard loss per degree off of a driver,” Ray said. “You could lose as much as 20 yards. So the given conditions that week are going to effect what clubs the players are hitting into greens and how they play certain shots and the strategy of the whole thing.”

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