How A Launch Monitor Could Improve Your Game

Golf Monthly

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.

Transcript

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.

01:20It's on the good line but it's come up short and that's the main reason number one why you need to

01:27use a launch monitor and it's to work out exactly how far you hit your clubs. The majority of golfers

01:34out there overestimate how far they hit clubs so if they think they hit a seven iron 150 yards more

01:39often 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

02:13yourself on a launch monitor hit a number of shots with each club in your bag make a note of the average

02:17distance and keep that with you for safekeeping you know on as a record if you don't remember it

02:22you can refer to it on the golf course so you know when you're over the ball you know how far you've

02:26got you know these reputable gps's and laser range finders give you the distance you need to

02:32hit the shot but if you haven't got the club to do it or you hit the wrong club you're going to get

02:36yourself into trouble so you know use the right club for the job in hand and you should see a more

02:40positive result more often than not.

02:42Now when working on our game or analysing our own swing we tend to have a pretty good idea about what the

02:57club is doing through the ball based on the ballpark that we see down the range but we're never 100% sure

03:04and that's why you really need to use a launch monitor to give you that immediate feedback and a camera

03:09based launch monitor like the Foresight Sports GC quad we've got here it's really clever because

03:14it uses four high speed high resolution cameras to measure and capture exactly what the ball is doing

03:21just after impact so it will tell us the ball's launch and spin and speed and then it will use

03:27accurate ball flight models to predict things like the curvature of the flight and the carry distance and

03:33the height of the flight as well so it's really important to give you a clear picture about what the

03:38club and ball are actually doing and the GC quad can actually also capture club data because it's

03:44positioned in front and on the target side of the golf ball it has a direct view of that collision

03:50between club and ball so it can tell us things like angle of attack the path of the club and also the

03:56loft and the line and that's also really important but it measures it independently from what the ball is

04:00doing so that's another key crucial difference between a camera based launch monitor like the GC quad.

04:06It's really easy to collect that data and interpret it because the GC quad for example has inbuilt

04:12Wi-Fi so the pairing process whether using a laptop or an iPad is really seamless it's really quick and

04:18easy to do but then once you've got all that data it can be quite confusing there's an awful lot of ball

04:23and club data to get your head around and that's why it's really important to get that data in front

04:28of a PJ pro who can really then use their knowledge to interpret the data and put you on the best course

04:34of action and if you do that I think you'll be presently surprised about how quick the improvement

04:40is and it basically takes the guesswork out of what you're doing and how you're trying to change

04:44your swing there's no point basing your changes on something that you see or that you think is

04:50happening that isn't actually accurate so the fact that it's based on facts should definitely speed up

04:55your 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

05:26out on the course thinking that for today you're going to be hitting a draw so maybe you aim slightly

05:29to the right to allow for that but then you hit on the course and actually your ball goes dead

05:34straight or even cuts off to the right and that's because you haven't taken into account what those

05:38conditions are doing downrange and that's where using a launch monitor can really help you out

05:43especially one like the Foresight Sports GC Quad because this uses closed data which isn't affected

05:48by downrange conditions so basically what you can do is use its alignment tool here which I've got

05:54here it's just a kind of little fold out stick and it will basically automatically calibrate to

05:59wherever you want it to be pointing to so you can basically support so I'll pick out that yellow flag

06:03down there and if I line the stick up to where I want it you can see it's already calibrating gives

06:09you a little beep so there it's targeted now right at that yellow flag there just a little beep there

06:14so then you can take the stick away you know it's pointing the launch monitor is set up at the target

06:20that you want to be hitting to so even if you do hit a shot and it is affected by the crosswind that

06:25won't come out on the data on the launch monitor so let's hit a shot here at that yellow flag

06:32just move it into the hitting zone the other good thing about the GC Quad is that it does have

06:40a really a large hitting zone so you can have a full session using it on grass you haven't got to

06:45keep moving it based on where your divots are you can basically hit a full range bucket

06:49on grass and off the mat of course so right let's hit this six iron towards that yellow flag

06:55pretty good shot did drift a little bit on the wind but that won't be reflected

07:05in the data so again gives you a clearer picture of how you're hitting the ball on the day which

07:10should help you then out on the golf course

07:12now there are certain types of shot around the green that we all want to pull off and it's only

07:25through experimentation during practice that we work out exactly the best way to master them but

07:31actually using a launch monitor can really speed up that process for example if you want to play that

07:36low flying high spinning that chip shot that really checks up quickly that Phil Mickelson plays so well

07:42you 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

07:51there's different things you could try but actually you might find that hitting shots on the launch

07:55monitor you know that immediate feedback's telling you that maybe the shot doesn't actually spin

08:00quite as much with that shaft leaning forward than if you had it in a more neutral position so

08:04that process of experimentation is just sped up significantly so it allows you to kind of master

08:10how you're going to play that shot a bit quicker and gives you that feedback as to how you're going to

08:15get the most spin and the best ball flying result for your game

08:18I'm pretty happy with that one so like I said using a launch monitor can speed up that process of

08:28experimentation and help you pull off those difficult shots around the grain

08:32now 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 wedges shots you know if you've hit a good drive on a

09:06short par four or maybe you're close to the green on a on a par five you really need to make the most of

09:11those opportunities you know maybe even make a par or even a birdie and by mastering those different

09:17distances it's really going to help you out and launch monitor is going to help you do that

09:20there are a number of methods out there to help you so there are some teachers and golfers out there

09:25that recommend say you have three different wedges you then have three different swings with each of

09:29those wedges so for example you could have all your hands go to waist height chest height and shoulder

09:35height and so therefore you've got nine different distances across all your different wedges covered

09:40off but it's only by using a launch monitor you would then know exactly how far each of those shots

09:46go so for example i've got my 54 degree wedge here and we're going to do a chest high swing with the wedge

09:51and the launch monitor is telling us that goes 62 yards so you get again immediate feedback from the

10:01launch monitor to tell you how far you're hitting those shots and that should certainly help your

10:05scoring 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 through

10:30putter 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

10:39most notably 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 can

11:10see on the screen here it's got a variety of numbers but like i mentioned the launch and the skid and

11:15distance to roll are the most important so if you're looking to change your putter or just want to kind of

11:19see if your putter is performing as well as it should do get on a launch monitor and hopefully those

11:24numbers will really help you out now just because it's raining freezing cold or pitch black outside

11:38doesn't mean you can't work on your game if you have a launch monitor that's right you can practice

11:43in total comfort when others can't giving you that competitive edge and you don't need a room like

11:49this to do it in really all you need is a mat a net and some sort of compatible device like a laptop

11:55or ipad to work with the launch monitor to give you all the relevant numbers and ball flights so

12:01whether you just want to hit various shots on a virtual range or maybe you want to compare two

12:06different demo clubs that you're thinking of buying to see which one works best you can do that with a

12:10setup like this and if you're lucky enough to have foresight's fsx software that kind of takes it

12:15one step further and provides a lot of different skills challenges for you to really hone in certain

12:20areas of your game there's a short game one where you can chip and pitch to under six feet challenge

12:26there's nearest to pin challenges there's online long drive championships where you can compete with

12:30other online users so that's a fantastic way to really keep playing when the weather's bad outside and

12:35you can't hit balls outside you can come inside work on your game and hopefully improve ready for the

12:41start of next season and that's the benefit of using a camera-based launch monitor like the foresight sports

12:47gc quad it captures shots within some relatively small space and basically all you need is a room

12:52that's big enough to swing a club in and you're good to go

12:55now using a launch monitor doesn't always have to be about the serious process of improving your game

13:09it can also be about having fun and there are various software packages out there if you have

13:14a setup similar to this with a screen you can undertake various different games for example foresight

13:20have a really good software package where you can go through various different fairground games they're

13:26really really fun to do we've done some bullseye challenges on dartboard we've done some putting

13:31challenges with 10 pin bowling and we've also done a shooting range as well where you're trying to kind of

13:36punch targets and knock them down it's a really really fun thing to do and it can also get different

13:41people into the game that maybe hadn't considered playing golf before because they thought it was

13:45too boring you get them along into a similar setup like this you know socialize together and get them

13:50playing these games and i'm pretty confident they'll really enjoy the experience and potentially get

13:55them hooked on golf and get them keen to play proper golf out on the golf course another thing you can do

14:01is 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 your

14:18friends get them all around play around together on a famous course have a few drinks it's a lot of fun

14:24and really put them under pressure like i feel like i'm i'm under pressure now so 225 yards into this par

14:30five let's see if we can hit the green

14:33oh it was a good strike it's gotta go oh it was wet unfortunately that's so annoying but as you can see

14:49it's a lot of fun to play courses like this and i think you'll agree it's really going to bring people

14:55together hopefully you'll agree we've highlighted some pretty compelling reasons as to why you need to

14:59get yourself on a launch monitor in this video and yes it's true that the best launch monitors on the

15:05market do come in at a very premium price there are some options out there that make them easily

15:10accessible to you for example on the foresight sports website you can click on their venue finder

15:15feature type in your postcode and it'll give you a rundown of all the pj pros in your area

15:20that own a launch monitor there are also a variety of finance options available so through foresight you

15:26can own a gc2 which is a slightly older version of their top quality launch monitor for just four

15:32pound a day so you can own launch monitor there are affordable ways you can do that guys i'd love

15:37to hear from you so make sure you comment on this video tell me have you used the launch monitor

15:41and what do you think of it and if you haven't used the launch monitor has this video convinced

15:45you to go and use one whether on the driving range or maybe even out on the golf course with

15:49your local professional i'd love to hear from you so whether it is club fittings

15:53lessons whatever it might be hopefully you'll agree that getting on a launch monitor

15:57is the perfect starting point for improving your game

Recommended

Category

Transcript

Recommended