TWO YEARS AGO, Somersworth golfer Michael Mahan attended a seminar introducing K-Vest, a computerized motion-analysis system that measures players' swing movements. With wireless sensors strapped onto a golfer's lower back, upper back and leading wrist during the swing, the system captures and displays a player's rotational motions in real-time via a computer-screen avatar, allowing teaching professionals to measure swing efficiency and compare students' motions with those of leading tour pros.

Although typically skeptical of new things, Mahan emerged from the seminar impressed. Over the winter of 2010-11, he drove an hour from his home to a new indoor golf performance studio at Manchester's Executive Health & Sports Center two to three times a month to train with PGA professional Tony Morgan using K-Vest.

Mahan began seeing positive results during the 2011 golf season and last September finished second in the New Hampshire Golf Association Mid-Amateur Championship. And after another winter of K-Vest work with Morgan, Mahan won the 2012 Seacoast Amateur, a tournament in which he had been a perennial contender but had never captured.

“I hit the ball so much straighter now, and with more power,” said Mahan, a 31-year-old southpaw who plays out of The Oaks Golf Links. “Like anything, it doesn't come overnight. You have to put the work in. But the guidance definitely helped out.”

A Manchester company, K-Motion Interactive, developed K-Vest and introduced it in 2005. Over the last few years, Mahan and other New Hampshire golfers have discovered the merits of K-Vest training, which emphasizes the relationship between a golfer's physical capabilities and swing, thanks to K-Motion Interactive's partnership with the Titleist Performance Institute, a California facility specializing in elite player development and golf fitness.

While K-Vest's motion measurements help instructors pinpoint a student's swing inefficiencies, TPI software helps them identify physical limitations that could be causing those inefficiencies, said Morgan, a 37-year-old Oregon native who's a K-Motion Interactive partner. In turn, instructors can offer students a personalized TPI workout program to address specific physical weaknesses.

To underscore the importance of strong anatomy to the golf swing, Morgan likens a golfer's body to an automobile.

“You can have the best driver in the world, but bring a Yugo to the track and he's not going to win the race,” he said. “Take a Ferrari to the track ... and it's very easy to teach somebody how to drive that car.”

While offering golfers a targeted physical tune-up through TPI, the K-Vest method seeks to ingrain proper swing positions and movements with instant biofeedback. Using K-Vest's related K-Trainer application, instructors can program proper positions and movements for each student. When the student reaches a position or executes a movement correctly, K-Vest's on-screen avatar changes color and an auditory tone sounds.

The method's ultimate goal, Morgan said, is to train golfers to improve their swing's efficiency. “My definition of swing efficiency is getting the most out of your golf swing with the least amount of effort,” he said.

The efficiency movement has caught on at competitive golf's highest levels, with several tour pros — including Yani Tseng, the world's top-ranked female player, and Jason Dufner, a two-time PGA Tour winner this year — using K-Vest technology. At the Executive Golf Performance Center, Morgan and golf performance specialist Patrick Gocklin offer everyday golfers the chance to train like the pros do.

A 22-year-old from Manchester, Gocklin was an NHIAA state golf champion at Memorial High School and played three years as a walk-on at Florida Southern College, where he was part of an NCAA Division II national championship team in 2009-10. Gocklin is one of 10 K-Vest certified instructors in New Hampshire and plans to pursue a career as a PGA professional. (For a list of instructors, visit k-vest.com.)

The Executive Golf Performance Center offers improvement programs that include K-Vest performance assessments, Titleist Performance Institute golf-specific fitness evaluations and biofeedback training sessions. A program with one K-Vest assessment, one fitness evaluation and four training sessions costs $660 (or $570 for members of the Executive Health & Sports Center).

Although Mahan's K-Vest training has entailed a hefty commute, he considers it worth his investment of time and money.

“K-Vest was an opportunity for me to actually experience what people on the tour are working on,” he said. “As soon as you make a motion, you know right off the bat if it's correct or not. There's no guesswork. ... It helps the learning curve dramatically.”

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Through the green: Despite withdrawing from last week's New England Senior Amateur because of injury, Nashua's Phil Pleat plans to defend his title at this week's NHGA Mid-Amateur. The 54-hole tournament is scheduled for tomorrow through Wednesday at Lake Winnipesaukee Golf Club. ... Abenaqui's Dana Harrity (87-79) failed to qualify for match play at the USGA Senior Women's Amateur in Hershey, Pa., last Sunday, missing a playoff for the final berths by one stroke. ... Hoodkroft pro Rich Berberian Jr. (68-71) was the low New Hampshire finisher at the New England Open in Boylston, Mass., last Wednesday, tying for third. ... Derryfield's Louise Billy (76) won low gross at the New Hampshire Women's Golf Association Division A tournament at Farmington last Tuesday. Rochester's Joan Cyr, Farmington's C.J. Gauthier Prenaveau, Granite Fields' Mary Kaltenbach and Cochecho's Judy Rubin shared low net (69). In a Division B tournament at Souhegan Woods, Windham's Carol Rivard (87) won low gross and Rochester's Jeannie Mackay won low net (65).

Mike Cullity's column on New Hampshire golf appears weekly during the golf season in the New Hampshire Sunday News. E-mail him at mcullity@unionleader.com.