| General Fiction posted September 27, 2023 | Chapters: |
...39 40 -41- 42... 
|
  |
Formation of a team to build the suit
A chapter in the book Saving Mr. Calvin
Saving Mr. Calvin - Chapter 35
by Jim Wile
| Background A story about the origin and the future of the game of golf |
See Author Notes for the list of characters and unfamiliar terms.
Recap of the past few chapters: After passing beneath the trestle, Kevin and Ernie end up in the minds of Kenny Payne and E.J. Budrowski in Altoona, Pennsylvania in the summer of 2002. They come out the door to the kitchen of Kettle Creek Country Club where they had been complimenting the chef on a fine dinner following the member-guest tournament to which Kenny had invited E.J.
At home, we meet Kenny’s wife Abby, another beautiful and smart redhead who, after working as an actuary for a number of years, is longing to get back into engineering. She has dreamt up a golfing suit teaching aid, which can be worn by a golfer, and will guide him or her to a perfect golf swing. The idea was inspired by the difficulty their 10-year-old daughter, Claire, was having in learning the swing. Kenny and Abby invite E.J. and Kenny’s partner Eddie Phillips to join them for lunch on Saturday.
Chapter 35
E.J. and his wife Susan, as well as my business partner Eddie, accepted Abby’s invitation to lunch on Saturday. She told them she had an idea she wanted to discuss with them but didn’t reveal what it was, only that it had to do with golf.
We prepared a barbecue with hamburgers and hotdogs, potato chips, and a few salads. While I was grilling the meat, the rest were putting on the backyard putting green I had built a couple of years ago. It was a real bentgrass green too, just like on a golf course. Our kids, Claire and Greg, who were 10 and 8, were joining us, and they shared in the fun on the putting green.
When I had finished grilling the meat, we sat down on the porch at a large picnic table. Susan said, “Okay, Abby, what’s this all about? You were very mysterious on the phone the other day. Have you got some sort of golfing vacation to an exotic spot planned for all of us?”
“Not exactly. It’s an idea Kenny and I have been talking over, and we thought all of you might be interested in being a part of it.”
“Me and Greg too?” asked Claire.
“Actually, yes, but it will be a while before we bring you into it.”
“What is it, Mom?” said Claire excitedly.
I said, “Claire, take it easy and just listen. Let Mom explain it in her own way. It will be at least a couple of years before you’ll be involved in it anyway.” She clammed up then and stuck her lower lip out in an affected pout. It was very cute. Claire looks like a miniature version of Abby, with red hair and freckles.
“Okay, here it is,” said Abby. “We all know how difficult golf is to learn. Susan, I believe E.J. is teaching you to play right now. Would you agree with that?”
“I absolutely would. E.J. is very patient with me, but I’m not too athletically inclined, and it’s a struggle for sure.”
“I think Claire would probably agree with you on that. She’s been struggling to master the golf swing for some time now.”
“Gee, thanks, Mom. You don’t have to tell everyone about it.”
Abby smiled. “Well, it was the talk you and I had about it a few weeks ago that gave me the idea. The golf swing is a complicated motion that is not very intuitive. You give someone a club to swing who’s never seen the game played and tell them to try striking a ball, and 9 times out of 10, the motion they take to strike it will look nothing like a proper golf swing. Kenny, describe the swing for us, would you?”
“Alright. It takes a coordination of all your main body parts—the hands, arms, shoulders, as well as your feet, knees, and hips all turning around your head, which stays steady throughout. Once they all turn back together, then they have to start back down in the correct sequence in order to maximize your power as the clubhead comes into the ball and to assure that both the direction of the clubhead path and the angle of the clubface are virtually square to the line of flight at impact; otherwise, the ball may fly off in any direction. When you consider the amount of distance the clubhead travels away from and then back to the ball and the fact that you must hit it in a small area in the center of the clubface for a good shot, it’s amazing anyone can ever hit a good shot.”
“That’s for sure,” said Abby. “It’s a very complicated set of motions that are not easily mastered, and there is so little margin for error. As I said, it’s not very intuitive, yet there are some folks who, once they see a good swing, are able to imitate it fairly easily and accurately. It’s like those musical folks who can hear a song once and then play it perfectly by ear on the piano. But that doesn’t describe most folks.
“There’s an expression in golf: ‘feel vs. real.’ What that means is that what you feel you are doing in the swing may not at all be what you are really doing. Except for the real visual learners—the good imitators—I think that’s where most people are. What if we were to create a device that could make the feel real? What if you could wear this device, and it could guide the swing for you? You would just have to let it pull and push your various body parts into the correct positions at the proper times and in a consistent fashion. Then you could develop a true feel for the proper swing. Do it enough times, and it will get built into your so-called muscle memory.
“So many people try the game once or twice and give it up very quickly because they expect instant success at it. Well, this device could give them that instant success, and they’ll be hitting good shots right away. The learning curve will be cut way down.”
She stopped talking then and let the idea sit with them for a minute.
Claire was the first to speak. “So, what would it look like, Mom, a robot you fit yourself inside of? And where do I come into it?”
“No, it wouldn’t be a robot, but a suit you would wear under your clothes. It would contain thousands of miniature servo motors connected by tiny wires hooked to a microprocessor, with programming to make them push and pull on your body parts in the right sequence to help them make a perfect, repeatable golf swing. You would still use your own power to lift your arms and turn your body, but the suit would guide you in the correct way to do it. I was thinking that, following the members of the design team, you would be our first guinea pig, Claire.”
“How about me, Mom?” said Greg. “Why can’t I be first?”
“You’re one of those visual learners, Greg. You don’t really even need it.”
Clare stuck her tongue out at her brother, who had picked up the swing rather easily, and he punched her arm.
”C’mon kids. Knock it off,” I told them.
“But I think it may be too big for you anyway,” continued Abby. “I think Claire will be big enough in a couple of years to try it, but I’m not sure you would be, Greg.”
“Abby,” said E.J. “Will this suit force you to swing the way it’s programmed? Will you have any say-so in the swing, like how far back to take the club?”
“I’d say it’s more a matter of urging you to swing a certain way than forcing you. You can override it, but that will introduce inconsistency into your swing, which will likely lead to a bad shot. Eddie, you’ve been quiet so far. What are you thinking? Possible?”
“This is a remarkable idea, Abby. I think it’s certainly worth pursuing. It would likely revolutionize the golf teaching industry. All those crusty teaching pros would be out of a job if the public could buy a device like this. They won’t like it very much and might even go the way of the buggy whip.”
“What the heck is a buggy whip, Uncle Eddie?” asked Claire.
“They used to use ‘em to whip horses with to get ‘em going when people rode in horse-drawn buggies. But when cars replaced buggies, they were no longer needed. Get the idea?”
“Yes. No more cruelty to horses!”
“Not quite what I meant.”
“I know what you meant. I was just kidding around.”
“Wisenheimer.”
“I’ve got a dumb question,” said Susan. “Who’s going to want to spend what this is likely to cost, use it only a few times, master the swing, and then not need it anymore?”
“That’s actually a very good question, Susan,” I said. “Here’s my thinking about that. While it’s true that someone who buys one of these may master the swing very quickly and not need it anymore, I would qualify that by saying ‘not need it anymore right away.’ After a while, though, bad habits begin to creep into your swing. Over time, your body also changes subtly, which can affect your swing. The suit can be put on periodically to reinforce the correct swing and help you get rid of any bad habits you may have developed. It will get you back on track, so to speak. Also, as we age, we are no longer as flexible and strong as we once were when we were younger. The suit will be programmable and calibratable for all sorts of body conditions and will allow you to adjust it as your body changes. You may even want to warm up with it and swing in it a few times before playing a round of golf. And finally, I’m sure there would be a good resale market for a used suit if you decide you didn’t need or want it anymore.”
“That was a great answer, Kenny,” said Susan.
“Okay, then,” said Abby. “Who might be interested in participating in such a venture? We would need to do a lot of brainstorming about the design and the programming and the materials before we got started building a prototype. If you all were to agree, I was thinking that E.J. and I could work out the mathematics and the algorithms together, and he would do the programming. Kenny, you and Eddie would figure out how to construct it and then manufacture it. Susan, if you would also like to help, I’m sure we could find a hundred ways to use your talents. As a paralegal, there will certainly be some copyright and legal issues down the road as we get into the manufacturing phase. So, with a show of hands, who’s in?”
Seven hands then shot into the air, including Claire’s and Greg’s.
“That’s terrific,” said Abby. “I’ve got some project management software on my computer here at home, and I will put together a tentative project plan. I’m really happy that you’re all willing to help with this.”
“I think this is going to be a lot of fun, Abby,” said E.J. “I, for one, can’t wait to get started on it.”
“I’ll tell you what,” she said, “let me spend a couple weeks of research time and think about the mathematics, and then we can get together and discuss some of the potential algorithms we must develop. How does that sound?”
“That sounds fine. Just let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll come down.”
“Eddie, you and I should start brainstorming too,” I said.
“Gladly. The nice thing is, that’s our job. We can do it at work.”
By this time, we had finished the meal, and I went inside to fetch a peach cobbler I had made earlier this morning and some ice cream, which we had for dessert. We then spent more time playing putting games on my green. It was a wonderful afternoon, and the whole group was very excited about this new venture.
The story is 70% complete.
CHARACTERS - 2032 California
Kevin Parsons: The narrator of the story. He is a 28-year-old mechanical engineer living in Santa Barbara, CA.
Paul Putnam: A good friend of Kevin who is an electrical engineer.
Ernie Dombrowski: Another good friend of Kevin who is a computer genius.
Art Calvin: An old, retired golf course architect whom the boys meet one day while golfing.
CHARACTERS - 2002 USA
Kenny Payne: A 37-year-old co-owner of a golf equipment company and former mechanical engineer. He is the narrator of this part of the story.
E.J. Budrowski: Abby and Kenny's 54-year-old friend who is a computer science professor and former golf caddie.
Abby Payne: A 36-year-old insurance company actuarial department manager. She is an expert mathematician and engineer.
Claire Payne: Kenny and Abby's 10-year-old daughter.
Greg Payne: Kenny and Abby's 8-year-old son.
Eddie Phillips: Kenny's partner who originally founded the golf equipment company.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. Kevin Parsons: The narrator of the story. He is a 28-year-old mechanical engineer living in Santa Barbara, CA.
Paul Putnam: A good friend of Kevin who is an electrical engineer.
Ernie Dombrowski: Another good friend of Kevin who is a computer genius.
Art Calvin: An old, retired golf course architect whom the boys meet one day while golfing.
CHARACTERS - 2002 USA
Kenny Payne: A 37-year-old co-owner of a golf equipment company and former mechanical engineer. He is the narrator of this part of the story.
E.J. Budrowski: Abby and Kenny's 54-year-old friend who is a computer science professor and former golf caddie.
Abby Payne: A 36-year-old insurance company actuarial department manager. She is an expert mathematician and engineer.
Claire Payne: Kenny and Abby's 10-year-old daughter.
Greg Payne: Kenny and Abby's 8-year-old son.
Eddie Phillips: Kenny's partner who originally founded the golf equipment company.
You need to login or register to write reviews. It's quick! We only ask four questions to new members.
© Copyright 2024. Jim Wile All rights reserved.
Jim Wile has granted FanStory.com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.