Playing golf in France at a wonderful golf course Frank Drollinger suffered of pain on his ankle, knee and lower back. His mother-in-law, Heidi, a former shoe factory owner, said after seeing Frank suffering of pain, “If I look at the swing, I can recognize that the natural rotation is interrupted
by the fixed left shoe”.
“We started brainstorming and, had the idea to put a coil spring between the shoe sole and the shoe to allow the shoe the natural rotation. We produced a prototype and it worked,” says the inventor Frank.
The Biomechanic Lab by the University of Tübingen, Germany, measured the peak stress to the
knee with spike, or spikeless, nub shoes up to 750 lbs-ft after every swing. With the “Heidi” shoe
they measured 10 lbs-ft. Up to 99% less.
“Because of this results, we started a developing process and a long term product testing because
the shoes have to work and the buyers have to be satisfied. After testing with 6,000 golfers we are
satisfied of the shoe quality.”
At once, Frank’s wife and project partner Heidi gave the order to him, adding that he should do some research about the swing method. Thinking, perhaps there were also health and additionally performance deficits for which they could find solutions.
Frank studied about 250 golf books and figured out that they all have:
• lateral hip moves and
• imbalance and no
• clear described coordinates
during the cinematic chain. Also Frank determined that the golf swing is a:
• complex motion with a lot of degrees of freedom like gymnastic
• target sport, you play the ball from A to B
• a sport of precision, there are only two degrees club face tolerance to place the ball on the fairway and green
• all instructors teach philosophies and do not describe what they are teaching with a written guide book in a 3-D quality.
Therefore, Frank groups the swing in two key parts: Up to the ball impact and after the ball impact.
“A golfer does not have any influence on the ball flight after the ball is hit, says Frank. “This is the reason why the Turning Shoe solely has health and life-style advantages.
“The golf swing method has only three important parts: Set Up, Back Swing, Down Swing. And only two parts with motion. The set up is a static part – however very important.”
Frank asked the question to every part of the swing “Is this good or are we able to improve it and what is the sense for the performance and health effect?”
At the end of development Frank wrote a guide book for the swing and published it. Step by Step. All positions have a 3-D coordinate. Every part of the swing matches to the next.
Repeatability needs a clear swing code. The key points of the new method are:
– real balance, during set up and back swing
– Direct rotation around the “lot”-axis
– precise 3-D coordinates, angles, axis
– clear order for the timing of the kinematic chain
– active leg work
– simpler
– healthier (no more sick swing biomechanics)
– biomechanically optimal
– more power
– a continuous improvement process
and the most important part is the
improved number of repeatable ball impacts.
Because of the 3-D swing coordinates Step by Step a golfer is able to train this method inside the
brain. A visualization is possible.
After the FREE-RELEASE-MENTAL Training a Golfer has to remember only 3 key parts. And a Golfer has confidence in what he has to do. He also gets a
written swing guide book for his pocket. “If you forget one order of the swing you can read up on it during your golf play,” he says. This prevents mental stress.
The repeatability of good ball impacts rises up to 35%, in relation to the “old” method . The FREERELEASE-Club Fitting also has the new attitude to create a relation between the coordinates of the swing biomechanics to the Lie-Angle. This kind of Club Fitting has competition advantages as
well.
Frank also developed the FREE-RELEASE-Athletic training – he calls it a benchmark athletic training. Precise training on FREE-RELEASE-Benchmarks enables a greater performance with less effort of time. “For example, the spine angle and head position have a medical and performance importance. The
most difficult part of the ‘old’ swing system, the rotation of the left forearm during the back swing and down swing, could be eliminated because Frank improved the timing of the backswing. This part in addition with all the other improvements makes the swing simpler and improves the
repeatability in an unbelievable percentage.”
Frank is able to say that there is a health management up to and after the ball impact. After the ball impact the “Heidi” Shoe or today called “Turning Shoe eDrive Plus” gets an electronical sensor. This sensor sends information to your smart phone about hip speed or how many Lbs-ft you are
saving during playing Golf. At the 19th hole you can show your golf mate the results on your smart phone.
At United Golfers, after Heidi died, her daughter Andrea continues the work of her mother. She launched a Kickstarter Project, which is a Crowdfunding- and Marketing System for financing the production and inform consumers. Frank is responsible for the new swing method and the advanced education programs for Golf Instructors, Medical Doctors, Chiropractic Experts, Golf Personal Trainers, Club-Fitters, Mental Coaches and, trains Tour Players and amateur golfers of all levels as well. He also supports his wife Andrea with the Kickstarter Project.
“The FREE-RELEASE-METHOD can help every golfer and enables competition advantages for Tour Players. With the FREE-RELEASE-Method most of Tigers injuries–and the injuries of millions of other golfers–could be avoided with an additional improved performance.”
More information about the Kickstarter Project visit turningshoe.com or send and email
