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 Par2Pro™ featured in Edmonton Journal
EDMONTON, AB (April 22, 2008) - Par2Pro™, Canada's exclusive premier reseller of the P3ProSwing™ award-winning swing analyzer, simulator and instructional aid, was featured in the front page of the Edmonton Journal business section. Check out the article below:
Fore! This isn't your father's virtual-golf game
Bill Sass, Special to The Journal
Published: Monday, April 21
For a guy who is only 31 years old, Cory Gauvreau has a lot of irons in the fire.
But his favourite one is a five-iron sitting in a corner of his Riverbend garage, next to a selection of left- and right-handed drivers and putters.
Cory Gauvreau is the sole Canadian Seller for the P3ProSwing golf simulator and swing analyzer.
Gauvreau loves golf, although he played only six rounds last year -- the high point of which was shooting a personal-best 88, 12 strokes off what he usually shot.
"Breaking a hundred was thrilling," he says as he gets set to show off the bells and whistles of the virtual driving range displayed on his laptop and projected onto the giant screen hidden in a cupboard.
"This machine took 12 strokes off my game."
"This machine" is the P3 ProSwing golf simulator and swing analyzer for which he has been the sole Canadian Seller since December.
He puts a foam ball onto a tee stuck in a high-tech mat in front of the projector, sets up with a driver and takes a swing.
A white line simultaneously appears on the screen and laptop and shows the ball's trajectory fades slightly to the left (he's left-handed). Then the numbers are crunched.
His clubface was open about three degrees.
His swing was a bit outside to in. His club head speed at impact was 105 miles an hour and he hit the ball off the centre of the club's "sweet spot." His drive went 260 yards on the fly and rolled about 15 more.
The list of trials and triumphs of the single swing go on: Ball speed, swing tempo, toe/heel heights, angle of attack and launch angle are all faithfully recorded. There are two simulated golfer angles showing you your posture as you address the ball.
The putting feature offers the same sort of analysis.
It's pretty obvious this isn't your dad's virtual golf game -- it's a pretty powerful computerized teaching tool.
"The nice thing is you can use it any time," Gauvreau says as he puts the foam ball back on the tee and prepares to take another shot -- hopefully correcting that little outside-in glitch in his swing.
His enthusiasm for the latest in high-tech golf gadgetry is infectious.
He spotted the system online about two years ago and bought it from the now-retired distributor in Saskatchewan.
"I went to order some accessories and noticed they were looking for a Canadian distributor."
The systems are manufactured by Sports Visions Technologies, of Bethel, Maine. "It's really big in the States and Europe."
He had enough faith in his ability to create a market in Canada that he quit his job as a marketing manager with Windship International (that offers cutting-edge advertising) and dove into golf.
"I didn't lose sleep over leaving the job -- I still do some consulting for Windship." He also has a web and marketing company, acecom.ca. And he figures he's way more efficient working out of his house.
"And golfing makes people happy and golfers are friendly."
Since launching his marketing offensive in February, Gauvreau says he's sold 20 of the units -- the basic software for $895, and the projection screen, mats and nets set up in a garage can be disassembled in about 15 minutes.
It's the low end of an industry where other virtual-golf machines can run into the five figures.
"I've got a teacher who bought one and uses it at school during breaks," he says.
Some PGA competitors like John Daly, celebrities like Tony Danza and long-drive champ Mike Dobbyn (551 yards) have a machine, he says.
He says he hopes to get around to more courses in the future to test his newly learned skills in the wild -- and ProSwing may help him become a formidable presence on the tracks.
Since he's had his system, he's played 30 virtual rounds.
And he's never lost a ball..
© The Edmonton Journal 2008
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