Are you looking for the best tools to help you get better at golf? If so, you might have heard of personal launch monitor.
These devices record data based on every swing you take, allowing you to see what you’re doing right and areas of your game that need improvement. From understanding the right club head to use, to the ideal swing path for your play style; there’s so much that you could learn from a launch monitor. But will a launch monitor improve your game?
So, whether you consider yourself to be quite good at the game or you’re just starting out, there are several ways that one of these machines could help you.
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6 ways a launch monitor can improve your game
1. See how hard you swing on average
Whether you have to reach a specific target or simply want to know your total distances, it can be quite beneficial to have an understanding of how far your hitting shots tend to go.
2. Improve your swing
From swing speed to the angle of attack, there are simply so many different factors in a game that rely solely on how you take your hit. Having a better idea of your own unique swing path and how to improve it could be essential if you want to increase your carry distances and driving range.
3. How you’re hitting it on the day
As well as knowing your general performance on range, you could also find out how to enhance your distance while practicing and gain more control over how far you hit it, too.
4. Hit bombs with the driver
There’s no doubt that your driver is one of your most important clubs – and it can be quite a pleasure to hit a bomb with one. By learning more about what the professionals do and analyzing your own game, you could find it much easier to hit a bomb without a problem.
5. Distance gapping with your wedges
Another aspect of your game that you could enhance upon with the help of a launch monitor is distance gapping and choosing the best wedge set make-up. With a greater understanding of how wedge gapping is calculated, it will often be much easier to figure out your pitching wedge loft and make the right call.
6. Putting analysis
Finally, having access to all the putting data available will help you in a wide variety of ways. From controlling your strike, to knowing which club heads to use in any given situation; putting analysis can be essential.
As you an see, a launch monitor helps in a variety of ways. With immediate feedback, you’ll often get a clearer picture of where you’re going wrong and improve on your overall skills at the foresight sports.
How to read a golf launch monitor?
- Ball speed: The speed of the ball after impact
- Club speed: The speed of the club before impact
- Smash factor: The transfer of energy between the club and ball on impact
- Spin rate: The amount of spin on the ball
In most cases, there are several other statistics that you can read, including launch angle and carry distance.
The Foresight Sports launch monitor’s use ultra-high-speed cameras to measure the golf ball and so provide closed data, which is not affected by downrange conditions.
Again, these can be essential to your understanding of the game and your play style. Plus, the benefit of having immediate data can be perfect for practice sessions where trial and error won’t be an issue.
Despite the high-speeds at play when a golfer strikes the ball, launch monitors are effectively able to slow down reality and measure what is taking place.
From tee height, to equipment changes; a test session with a good golf launch monitor could be essential, especially if you have an instructor to assist you.
Are they easy to use?
Typically speaking, you shouldn’t have any issues with getting your launch monitor ready. Just set it up, start hitting balls and see what you can learn from a practice session or two. What better way to practice than by playing a course and trying to put a score together? Who knows, you could even avoid making a crucial mistake and gain a competitive edge when playing for real with a friend.
If you don’t know how far your ball is going to go with each club, it’s pretty tough to hit your targets accurately. Unfortunately, hitting balls on the range won’t tell you too much about your distances since range balls don’t perform like regular golf balls (and it’s hard to see where they land on some practice ranges).
If you have some baseline numbers with a control ball, you can easily compare performance with other models.
How you can benefit from using a launch monitor
Having access to pretty much all the information you could ask for on any particular swing is certainly something that you can’t overlook. From the data these machines produce you can analyse and break down your swing to create actionalble improvment points.
Expert and novice players alike use launch monitors to assist them with their games, and even manufacturers of club heads will often use them to ensure that all their products are up to scratch.
Too common trap golfers fall try to rely on their own skill or feel that using a machine to gather data isn’t necessary. However, even with a trial and error mindset and dedication, this thought process won’t help you to get any further. When you consider that professionals in the PGA Tour, Winter competitions and more use them, it’s well worth remembering that they can indeed assist you.
The benefits of a high-quality launch monitor
With precise software, you can utilize every moment of your training sessions and save hours of time that would potentially be spent shooting and missing without gaining any real understanding of why you struggle on your rounds. When you’re able to rely on the accuracy, a launch monitor can help you to hit balls without the struggle of constantly checking and doubting the readings.
Additionally, it could also help you to get a better understanding of some of the different aspects of the game too. From being able to more accurately guess measurements to a general understanding of how and where to strike; the saying “knowledge is power” really is true with golf simulators.
What better way to practice than by playing a course and trying to put a score together?
Even if you can’t personally get to Pebble Beach, St. Andrews, or some of the world’s other top courses, you can play them digitally with the help of a quality golf simulator.
FAQ section
Conclusion |A Launch Monitor Improve Your Game
Golf might be a difficult game to become truly skilled at, but a decent launch monitor can help you to get better at a faster rate. From hitting short game shots, to simply improving your swing speed; there are simply so many ways that you could use the information that these devices offer.
Why do I need a launch monitor?
Showing launch angle and ball flight, as well as much more, this device simply provide players with all the information they need to step up their game.
Even club head manufacturers use these gadgets for performance analysis, so they really are quite effective.
You could use them for a variety of different uses, such as working on your full swing, distance gaps or clubhead speed. Whether you just want short game experimentation or to work your way up to getting better scores than the average golfer, they can be a great addition to your arsenal
Do launch monitors show slice?
With all the information that a launch monitor will provide, you’re likely to find that they will indeed show slice. This could be an excellent opportunity for you to see where you’re going wrong in your practice sessions and make the most when you hit balls in for real a golf game.
It could be that you’re not using the correct club – even if your favorite is a fairway woods, the club face might not be ideal for all situations. There are other factors too, so rather than constantly hitting balls and hoping for the best, it’s always a wise idea to approach shots with a little more consideration.
How does a launch monitor work?
Using either radar technology or high definition cameras, most launch monitors capture data on your golf swing, the impact of the strike and the distance of the golf balls (as well as much more).
Doppler launch monitors emit microwaves and detects how the ball interferes with them using its sensors to determine exactly what happened and provide information from there. The other type, photometric launch monitors, instead use cameras to analyze the situation and provide data based on what it sees.
Both of these can offer excellent results and similar statistics, such as swing speed and ball flight. For the most part, you’ll find all the data you get to be useful.
Are golf ball launch monitors accurate?
While the precision of certain models may not always be consistent, modern golf simulators are made to be accurate and tend to do an excellent job of it.
Of course, cheaper models may not be quite as accurate, and limitations (such as lighting for photometric ones, or hitting into a net with Doppler machines) can play a role in the accuracy. Overall though, you can rely on a good quality device to give you the correct information.
What does a launch monitor tell you?
As we mentioned earlier, there are simply so many different pieces of data that you can get from a launch monitor. Smash factor and ball speed and ball position may only be a few examples, but they could give you a huge insight on how to start scoring better, sooner and more efficiently.
Can they help to improve your launch angle?
This is just one of the many statistics that a monitor can provide, so in most cases, a launch monitor can help. Whether you want to work on your distance control or shoot lower scores in general, your attack angle can be essential on the golf course.
With all this in mind, you might be keen to try a launch monitor for yourself. Luckily, there are quite a few great choices on the market, with a model like FlightScope Mevo being an excellent model for those who want a more affordable price.