The Swingsmart swing analyser is a new piece of golf tech with the aim, of offering ‘the ultimate in affordable golf swing analysis’ via ‘a new innovative game-improvement system that provides instant and accurate feedback on critical elements of a player’s game.’

Swingsmart is backed by CBS golf analyst Peter Kostis, and has been on sale in the U.S. since last autumn.

The device weighs in at just 19 grammes. The motion sensor clips to the shaft of the club with which you want to practise, and you’re almost ready to go.

Just before you swinging, you need to connect the motion sensor to your iPad, Android tablet or smartphone, via a Bluetooth connection. You also need to download the Swingsmart app.

Once connected, the idea is to swing, then turn and instantly look at the display on your tablet or phone. Graphical and numerical results should immediately be there for swing tempo, swing speed, club face angle, and angle of attack.

The Swingsmart display is very user-friendly. Anything but boring or tough-to-decifer numbers, but instead colourful 3D graphics which make it an enjoyable, and easy-to-follow, experience.

Some 60 balls were hit in the test, with (deliberate, for once) variations of swing speed, draw, fade and distance. The motion sensor was snapped on and off clubs ranging all the way from 5I to driver, to see if it’s data capture was stable for all lengths of shaft.

The manufacturers say you can easily take this out on the course itself, and test it in playing conditions, rather than at the range.

Overall, Swingsmart seems to have all parts of the game covered in an impressive, and user-friendly, manner.

Whether in itself it can provide you with enough information to fix the flaws of your game is open to debate, but it certainly offers accurate information of a type that can at the very least be used as a discussion point with your local teaching pro.