- 14/06/2025
Golf Monthly technical editor Joel Tadman highlights eight compelling reasons why you need to use a launch monitor if you want to improve your game and lower your scores! He uses the Foresight Sports GCQuad to demonstrate how a launch monitor can improve your driving, chipping, putting and even strategy choices and range time.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hello everyone, Joel Tadman here from Golf Monthly and in this video we're going to highlight some
00:09of the reasons why you need to use a launch monitor. There's an awful lot of technology
00:14and innovation in golf recently and a launch monitor is one of those bits of kit you really
00:19shouldn't overlook. A lot of you are probably wondering what is a launch monitor? Well it's
00:24essentially a bit of kit that measures or tracks what the club is doing into impact and then what
00:30it's doing as it strikes the ball and what the ball is doing after impact and it kind of quantifies
00:35what it's doing into various forms of data that can be then used for club fittings, lessons and a
00:41variety of applications outside of that that we're going to cover in this video. Now at this point I
00:46need to remind you that if you're new to the Golf Month, the YouTube channel, make sure you click
00:50that subscribe button so you don't miss any of our other equipment review videos and do click the
00:55like button down below if you like what you're watching. So I think it's about time we get into
00:59the various different reasons why you need to use a launch monitor starting with knowing how far you
01:04hit your clubs It's on a good line but it's come up short and that's the main reason number one why you
01:27need to use a launch monitor and it's to work out exactly how far you hit your clubs. The majority of
01:33golfers out there overestimate how far they hit clubs so if they think they hit a 7-iron 150 yards
01:39more often than not they actually hit it about 130 or 140 yards and that's a really crucial mistake
01:44because the majority of hazards on a golf course are short of the green so that's going to get you
01:50into a lot of trouble and it's going to really affect your scoring. You really need to avoid these
01:54hazards by hitting the appropriate club for this shot that's in hand and that's where using a really
01:59good launch monitor like the Foresight Sports GC Quad can help you out because it will tell you
02:04exactly how far you hit your club how far they carry and also how far the total distance is which
02:09is really important with a driver on a hole if you're trying to avoid hazards so you know get yourself on
02:13a launch monitor hit a number of shots with each club in your bag make a note of the average distance
02:18and keep that with you for safekeeping you know on as a record if you don't remember it you can refer to
02:22it on the golf course so you know when you're over the ball you know how far you've got you know these
02:27reputable gps's and laser range finders give you the distance you need to hit the shot but if you
02:33haven't got the club to do it or you hit the wrong club you're going to get yourself into trouble so
02:37you know use the right club for the job in hand and you should see a more positive result more often than not
02:42when working on our game or analyzing our own swing we tend to have a pretty good idea about what the
02:57club is doing through the ball based on the ball part that we see down the range but we're never
03:02a hundred percent sure and that's why you really need to use a launch monitor to give you that
03:07immediate feedback and a camera based launch monitor like the foresight sports gc quad we've
03:12got here it's really clever because it uses four high speed high resolution cameras to measure and
03:19capture exactly what the ball is doing just after impact so it will tell us the balls launch and spin
03:25and speed and then it will use accurate ball flight models to predict things like the curvature of the
03:31flight and the carry distance and the height of the flight as well so it's really important to give you
03:36a clear picture about what the club and ball are actually doing and the gc quad can actually also
03:42capture club data because it's positioned in front and on the target side of the golf ball it has a
03:48direct view of that collision between club and ball so it can tell us things like angle of attack the
03:54path of the club and also the loft and the line and that's also really important but it measures it
03:59independently from what the ball is doing so that's another key crucial difference between
04:03camera based launch monitor like the gc quad it's really easy to collect that data and interpret it
04:10because the gc quad for example has inbuilt wi-fi so the pairing process whether using a laptop
04:15or an ipad is really seamless it's really quick and easy to do but then once you've got all that data it
04:21can be quite confusing there's an awful lot of ball and club data to get your head around and that's why
04:25it's really important to get that data in front of a pj pro who can really then use their knowledge to
04:31interpret the data and put you on the best course of action and if you do that i think you'll be
04:37pleasantly surprised about how quick the improvement is and it basically takes the guesswork out of
04:42what you're doing and how you're trying to change your swing there's no point basing your changes
04:46on something that you see or that you think is happening that isn't actually accurate so the fact
04:53that it's based on facts should definitely speed up your improvement
04:56now one of the common pitfalls golfers fall into is not taking into account the outdoor conditions
05:11when hitting balls on a driving range you can see today maybe from the clouds there is a bit of a
05:17crosswind from right to left but if you don't take that into account when you're hitting balls obviously
05:21you're going to be hitting shots on the range and the balls are going to be drawing so maybe you go out
05:26on the course thinking that for today you're going to be hitting a draw so maybe you aim slightly to
05:30the right to allow for that but then you hit on the course and actually your ball goes dead straight
05:34or even cuts off to the right and that's because you haven't taken into account what those conditions
05:39are doing downrange and that's where using a launch monitor can really help you out especially one like
05:44the foresight sports gc quad because this uses closed data which isn't affected by downrange conditions so
05:51basically what you can do is use its alignment tool here which i've got here it's just a kind of little
05:55fold out stick and it will basically automatically calibrate to wherever you want it to be pointing
06:00to so you can basically support so i'll pick out that yellow flag down there and if i line the stick
06:05up uh to where i want it you can see it's already calibrating gives you a little beep so there it's
06:11targeted now right at that yellow flag just a little beep there so then you can take the stick away you
06:16know it's pointing the launch monitor is set up at the target that you want to be hitting to so even if you
06:22do hit a shot and it is affected by the crosswind that won't come out on the data on the launch
06:27monitor so let's hit a shot here at that yellow flag
06:34oops move it into the hitting zone the other good thing about the gc quad is that it does have a
06:40really a large hitting zone so you can have a full session using it on grass you haven't got to keep
06:45moving it based on where your divots are you can basically hit a full range bucket
06:50on grass and off the mat of course so right let's hit this six iron towards that yellow flag
07:00pretty good shot did drift a little bit on the wind but that won't be reflected in the data so again
07:06gives you a clearer picture of how you're hitting the ball on the day which should help you then out on
07:11the golf course now there are certain types of shot around the green that we all want to pull off and
07:24it's only through experimentation during practice that we work out exactly the best way to master
07:30them but actually using a launch monitor can really speed up that process for example if you want to play
07:36that low flying high spinning that chip shot that really checks up quickly that phil mickelson plays
07:41so well you might adjust your technique in a certain way for example you might decide to lean the handle
07:47forwards as well to get the ball launching really low or you might move the ball position back there's
07:51different things you could try but actually you might find that hitting shots on the launch puniser
07:56you know that immediate feedback's telling you that maybe the shot doesn't actually spin quite as much
08:01with that shaft leaning forward than if you had it in a more neutral position so that process of
08:05experimentation is just sped up significantly so it allows you to kind of master how you're going to
08:11play that shot a bit quicker and gives you that feedback as to how you're going to get the most
08:15spin and the best ball flight and result for your game i'm pretty happy with that one so like i said
08:26using a launch monitor can speed up that process of experimentation and help you pull off
08:30those difficult shots around the grain
08:41now wedges are your scoring clubs and a decent launch monitor can really help you make sure you have
08:47even distance gaps between the wedges in your bag whether you carry two three or four it's really
08:52important to have even distance gaps between those wedges to make sure you're covering up as many
08:57distances as you can but where a launch monitor can also help you out is on those really awkward
09:02kind of half swing or three-quarter swing wedge shots you know if you've hit a good drive on a short
09:06par four or maybe you're close to the green on a on a par five you really need to make the most of those
09:12opportunities you know maybe even make a par or even a birdie and by mastering those different
09:16distances it's really going to help you out and launch one is going to help you do that there are a number of methods out there to help you
09:22so there are some teachers and golfers out there that recommend say you have three different wedges
09:27you then have three different swings with each of those wedges so for example you could have where
09:31your hands go to waist height chest height and shoulder height and so therefore you've got nine different
09:38distances across all your different wedges covered off but it's only by using a launch monitor you would
09:43then know exactly how far each of those shots go so for example i've got my 54 degree wedge here and we're
09:49going to do a chest high swing with the wedge and the launch monitor is telling us that that goes 62 yards
09:58so you get again immediate feedback from the launch monitor to tell you how far you're hitting those
10:03shots and that should certainly help your scoring around the greens
10:07you might be surprised to hear that it's not just your long game where a decent launch monitor
10:20can help you out no there are some out there that can provide an analysis of your putting
10:25one of those is the foresight sports gc quad and that's really important if you're maybe going
10:29through a putter fitting or simply want to know that the putter you're currently using is giving you the best
10:34performance um there are a couple of key areas of performance you're looking at with putter most
10:39notably the launch angle but also how well it's rolling so we're looking at things like skid and
10:45the distance from when you strike it to when the ball is achieving true roll so when it's rolling
10:51end over end and obviously the shorter the better the more likely it is to stay online if it's got a
10:56shorter skid distance and the gc quad will give you that skid distance with its putting analysis so
11:02you know for example if i just hit a putt here hopefully hole it for you there we go and we
11:09can see on the screen here it's got a variety of numbers but like i mentioned the launch and the skid
11:14and distance to roll are the most important so if you're looking to change your putter or just want
11:19to kind of see if your putter is performing as well as it should do get on a launch monitor
11:23and hopefully those numbers will really help you out now just because it's raining freezing cold or
11:37pitch black outside doesn't mean you can't work on your game if you have a launch monitor that's right
11:42you can practice in total comfort when others can't giving you that competitive edge and you don't need
11:48a room like this to do it in really all you need is a mat a net and some sort of compatible device
11:55like a laptop or ipad to work with the launch monitor to give you all the relevant numbers
11:59and ball flights so whether you just want to hit various shots on a virtual range or maybe you want
12:04to compare two different demo clubs that you're thinking of buying to see which one works best you
12:09can do that with a setup like this and if you're lucky enough to have foresight's fsx software that kind
12:14of takes it one step further and provides a lot of different skills challenges for you to really
12:19hone in certain areas of your game there's a short game one where you can chip and pitch to
12:24under six feet challenge there's nearest the pin challenges there's online long drive championships
12:29where you can compete with other online users so that's a fantastic way to really keep playing when
12:34the weather's bad outside and you can't hit balls outside you can come inside work on your game
12:39and hopefully improve ready for the start of next season and that's the benefit of using a
12:44camera-based launch monitor like the foresight sports gc quad it captures shots within a relatively
12:49small space and basically all you need is a room that's big enough to swing a club in and you're good
12:54to go now using a launch monitor doesn't always have to be about the serious process of improving your
13:09game it can also be about having fun and there are various software packages out there if you
13:14have a setup similar to this with a screen you can undertake various different games for example
13:20foresight have a really good software package where you can go through various different fairground
13:25games they're really really fun to do we've done some bullseye challenges on dartboard we've done some
13:30putting challenges with 10 pin bowling and we've also done a shooting range as well where you're trying
13:36to kind of punch targets and knock them down it's a really really fun thing to do and it can also get
13:41different people into the game that maybe hadn't considered playing golf before because they thought
13:45it was too boring you get them along into a similar setup like this you know socialize together and
13:50get them playing these games and i'm pretty confident they'll really enjoy the experience and potentially
13:55get them hooked on golf and get them keen to play proper golf out on the golf course another thing you
14:01can do is also play some of the world's best courses from the comfort of your own home and you can see here
14:06we've got the 18th hole at the famous Wentworth West course second shot into this par five i'm 225 yards
14:13away and i'm going to have a go at trying to hit the green and it's a great thing you can do with
14:18your friends get them all around play around together on a famous course have a few drinks it's a lot of
14:23fun and really put them under pressure like i feel like i'm under pressure now so 225 yards into this
14:30par five let's see if we can hit the green oh it was a good strike it's gonna go oh it was wet
14:46unfortunately that's so annoying but as you can see it's a lot of fun to play courses like this
14:52and i think you'll agree it's really going to bring people together hopefully you'll agree we've
14:56highlighted some pretty compelling reasons as to why you need to get yourself on a launch monitor
15:01in this video and yes it's true that the best launch monitors on the market do come in at a
15:06very premium price there are some options out there that make them easily accessible to you
15:11for example on the foresight sports website you can click on their venue finder feature type in your
15:16postcode and it'll give you a rundown of all the pj pros in your area that own a launch monitor there are
15:22also a variety of finance options available so through foresight you can own a gc2 which is a
15:27slightly uh older version of their top quality launch monitor for just four pound a day so you can
15:34own launch for the two there are affordable ways you can do that guys i'd love to hear from you so
15:38make sure you comment on this video tell me have you used the launch monitor and what do you think of
15:42it and if you haven't used the launch monitor has this video convinced you to go and use one whether
15:47on the driving range or maybe even out on the golf course with your local professional i'd love to hear
15:51from you so whether it is club fittings lessons whatever it might be hopefully you'll agree
15:56that getting on a launch monitor is the perfect starting point for improving your game
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