Swing Genius

Background: The Rough Patch in Golf Learning

Golf. A game of inches, patience, and relentless self-improvement. For many, including my good friend and co-founder Thomas, that improvement journey felt more like hacking through dense rough than strolling down a fairway. Despite countless lessons, videos, and gadgets, tangible progress remained stubbornly out of reach, a frustration familiar to millions of golfers worldwide.

Simultaneously, my own path had been deeply intertwined with VR and spatial computing since backing the original Oculus Rift Kickstarter as in 2012. From building motion simulators to architecting cutting-edge XR & Virtual Production solutions at Magnopus, I'd spent over a decade exploring how this technology could reshape our interaction with the virtual and physical worlds.

In January 2023, these paths converged. Thomas pitched an idea: could we leverage VR to finally crack the code of golf swing visualization and practice? The concept immediately clicked. It was a perfect storm – a real, tangible problem begging for a spatial solution, and an opportunity to apply years of XR development experience to something genuinely transformative. Thus, Swing Genius was born.

The Mission: Democratizing the Perfect Swing

Our goals for Swing Genius were ambitious, aiming to fundamentally shift how golf is learned:

• Demystify the Swing: Transform abstract golf concepts into tangible, interactive 3D experiences using Mixed Reality.

• Empower the User: Put powerful creation and analysis tools directly into the hands of golfers.

• Foster Community Innovation: Build a platform where users could share, learn, and collectively push the boundaries of golf instruction.

• Break Down Barriers: Offer a high-tech solution completely free, making advanced instruction accessible to everyone.

• Leverage Cutting-Edge Tech: Utilize the power of Meta Quest 3/Pro, inside-out tracking, and real-time databases to create a seamless experience.

My Role: Architecting the Experience from Tee to Green

Swing Genius wasn't just a project; it was an all-encompassing endeavor where I wore nearly every hat imaginable. From the initial napkin sketches to the consumer launch on the Meta Quest Store, I served as the:

• Software Engineer: Architecting and implementing the entire application logic in Unreal Engine, from core systems to intricate interactions.

• UI/UX & Interaction Designer: Crafting the intuitive Tablet interface, defining the interaction paradigms for MR, and ensuring a seamless user flow.

• Systems Architect: Designing the underlying framework, including the Spatial Blueprint system, object management, motion capture pipeline, and Firebase backend integration (Authentication & Firestore).

• Branding Designer: Creating the Swing Genius logo, visual identity, and overall aesthetic.

• Videographer & Editor: Producing both the viral alpha proof of concept video and the polished consumer launch trailer, handling all filming, editing, and motion graphics.

• 3D Modeler & Texture Artist: Creating key 3D assets, including the interactive objects and interface elements.

• Rendering Artist: Generating promotional stills and ensuring high-quality visuals for branding, marketing, and the Meta Quest store.

Essentially, I was responsible for translating the vision into a fully functional, polished, and engaging mixed reality application – a testament to the power of rapid prototyping and multifaceted development within the Unreal Engine ecosystem.

The Technology: Inside the Swing Genius Toolkit

At its heart, Swing Genius leverages the passthrough capabilities of the Meta Quest platform to blend virtual instruction elements with the user's real-world space.

The Swing Genius Tablet: Your Command Center

Familiar yet futuristic, the Tablet anchors the user experience. Designed to feel intuitive like a mobile device but defy physics by floating wherever needed, it serves as the central hub for the entire UI. Interaction is streamlined:

• Movement: A simple grab-and-place mechanic using the controller trigger allows users to position the tablet optimally in their space.

• UI Interaction: A laser pointer emanates from the controller when near the tablet, enabling precise cursor control for clicking UI elements (buttons, toggles) and scrolling through lists (Projects, Blueprints, Objects) with the trigger. Hover states reveal contextual actions.

• Structure: The Home Screen provides access to tutorials ("Learn the Basics"), community links, settings, and the main "Apps": Project Manager, Build, and Club Select.

Spatial Blueprints: Visualizing the Invisible

This is the core concept. Spatial Blueprints are user-created 3D containers for swing concepts. Instead of just telling a golfer about the elusive swing plane, they can see and interact with it in their room.

• Creation & Management: Users organize Blueprints within Projects. They can create, open, copy, share (via a unique 6-digit code), and manage associated Motion Replays directly from the Build app UI.

• Sharing: A cornerstone of the community focus. Enabling sharing generates a code, allowing anyone to download a copy of that Blueprint (including starred Motion Replays) into their own account. This fosters rapid knowledge transfer and collaborative refinement.

Smart & Expert Objects: The Building Blocks of Instruction

Spatial Blueprints are populated using Smart and Expert Objects pulled from the Object Library into a 4-slot Object Palette residing physically below the Tablet.

• Smart Objects: Basic geometric shapes (cubes, spheres, planes, gates, etc.) with customizable properties (color, translucency, reaction behavior - color change/sound on impact). These provide immediate, tangible feedback when the virtual club interacts with them. Their collision is precise, allowing for creative uses like swinging through the hole of a torus.

  • Interaction: Objects are grabbed from the Palette, placed in the world, and can be intuitively rotated, scaled (per-axis or uniformly using the thumbstick), duplicated (with a button press while grabbed), or deleted (holding the thumbstick).

• Expert Objects: More complex objects offering advanced functionality, like:

  • Motion Capture: Spawns Start/Stop gates. Passing the club through the green 'Start' gate begins high-fidelity (120Hz) recording of the clubhead, grip, and user's head transforms. Passing through the red 'Stop' gate (or using the UI button) ends recording and uploads the Motion Replay.

  • Reset: An object that, when hit, resets all Smart Objects in the Blueprint to their initial state.

  • (Other planned objects like Redirector/Layer would allow dynamic linking/compositing of Blueprints).

Motion Capture & Replay: Deconstructing the Swing in 3D

Leveraging the Quest's tracking (significantly better with Pro controllers due to their independent SLAM tracking vs. the Quest 3's reliance on headset view), we capture detailed swing data.

• High-Fidelity Recording: Captures clubhead, grip center, and head position/rotation at 120Hz.

• Rich Playback: Replays appear within the Spatial Blueprint, showing the virtual club, a colored swing path ribbon, and head movement. Users can play, pause, loop, boomerang, slow down (50%/10%), and toggle visibility of path/head.

• Analysis & Sharing: Replays can be "starred" for easy access or inclusion when sharing the parent Blueprint, allowing users to learn from their own swings or share illustrative examples.

Essential Features & Polish

• Quick Actions Panel: Easy toggles for object visibility, club visibility, resetting objects, activating the adjustable Swing Plane visualizer, toggling the Infini-Grip (an infinite line extending from the club butt for alignment checks), and golf ball visibility.

• Club Calibration: An intuitive in-app process allows users to calibrate the virtual club offset to precisely match their physical third-party golf grip attachment.

• Backend: Firebase Authentication (supporting anonymous and email/password accounts), Analytics, and Firestore (real-time database) securely store user data (Projects, Blueprints, Motion Replays, settings, offsets) in the cloud.

Launch & Impact: Driving Conversation

The initial alpha launch video that I produced unexpectedly garnered over 100,000 views on LinkedIn within its first week, signaling a strong resonance with the problem that Thomas and I aimed to solve. Launching as a free app on the Meta Quest Store over a year later further solidified our commitment to accessibility.

Wrapping Up: A New Course for Golf Learning

Swing Genius was an incredibly rewarding challenge, demanding expertise across the entire development spectrum. It pushed my skills in Unreal Engine, spatial interaction design, UI/UX, backend architecture, market research, user-testing, content creation, and much more. More importantly, it represents a tangible step towards leveraging XR not just for entertainment, but for solving real-world problems and democratizing access to specialized knowledge.

It embodies the idea of using technology to empower users, fostering a community where innovation isn't just top-down, but bubbles up from passionate individuals actively engaged in their own improvement. Swing Genius isn't just an app; it's a platform and a community poised to reshape how golfers learn and perfect their craft.

Alpha Concept Video