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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 the good line but it's come up short and that's the main reason number one
01:26why you need to use a launch monitor and it's to work out exactly how far you hit your clubs. The
01:32majority of golfers out there overestimate how far they hit clubs so if they think they hit a seven
01:38on 150 yards more often than not they actually hit it about 130 or 140 yards and that's a really
01:43crucial mistake because the majority of hazards on a golf course are short of the green so that's
01:49going to get you into a lot of trouble and it's going to really affect your scoring you really need
01:53to avoid these hazards by hitting the appropriate club for this shot that's in hand and that's where
01:58using a really good launch monitor like the Foresight Sports GC Quad can help you out because
02:03it'll tell you exactly how far you hit your club how far they carry and also how far the total
02:08distances which is really important with a driver on a hole if you're trying to avoid hazards so
02:12you know get yourself on a launch monitor hit a number of shots with each club in your bag
02:16make a note of the average distance and keep that with you for safekeeping you know on as a record if
02:21you don't remember it you can refer to it on the golf course so you know when you're over the ball
02:25you know how far you've got you know these reputable gps's and laser rangefinders give you
02:30the distance you need to hit the shot but if you haven't got the club to do it or you hit the wrong
02:35club you're going to get yourself into trouble so you know use the right club for the job in hand
02:39and 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
02:57what the club is doing through the ball based on the ballpark that we see down the range but we're
03:02never a 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 got here
03:13it's really clever because it uses four high speed high resolution cameras to measure and capture
03:19exactly what the ball is doing just after impact so it will tell us the ball's launch and spin and speed
03:26and then it will use accurate ball flight models to predict things like the curvature of the flight and
03:32the carry distance and the height of the flight as well so it's really important to give you a clear
03:37picture about what the club and ball are actually doing and the gc quad can actually also capture
03:43club data because it's positioned in front and on the target side of the golf ball it has a direct
03:48view of that collision between club and ball so it can tell us things like angle of attack the path
03:54of 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
04:04camera based launch monitor like the gc quad it's really easy to collect that data and interpret it
04:09because 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
04:20it can 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
04:47on something that you see or that is you think is happening that isn't actually accurate so the
04:52fact that it's based on facts should definitely speed up your improvement now one of the common
05:06pitfalls golfers fall into is not taking into account the outdoor conditions when hitting balls
05:13on a driving range you can see today maybe from the clouds there is a bit of a crosswind
05:18from 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
05:25go out on the course thinking that for today you're going to be hitting a draw so maybe you
05:29aim slightly to the right to allow for that but then you hit on the course and actually your ball
05:33goes dead straight or even cuts off to the right and that's because you haven't taken into account
05:38what those conditions are doing downrange and that's where using a launch monitor can really
05:42help you out especially one like the foresight sports gc quad because this uses closed data which
05:48isn't affected by downrange conditions so basically what you can do is use its alignment tool here
05:53which i've got here it's just a kind of little fold out stick and it will basically automatically
05:58calibrate to wherever you want it to be pointing to so you can basically support so i'll pick out that
06:02yellow flag down there and if i line the stick up uh to where i want it you can see it's already
06:07calibrating gives you a little beep so there it's targeted now right at that yellow flag just a little
06:14beep there so then you can take the stick away you know it's pointing the launch monitor is set
06:19up at the target that you want to be hitting to so even if you do hit a shot and it is affected by
06:24the crosswind that won't come out on the data on the launch monitor so let's hit a shot here
06:30at that yellow flag
06:34oops move it into the hitting zone the other good thing about the uh 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 um on grass and
06:51off 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
07:11on the golf course
07:21now 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
07:41well 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 punter
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
08:04that process of experimentation is just sped up significantly um so it allows you to kind of
08:10master how are you going to play that shot a bit quicker and gives you that feedback as to
08:14how you're going to get the most spin and the best ball flying result for your game
08:23i'm pretty pretty happy with that one so like i said using a launch monitor can speed up that process
08:28of experimentation and help you pull off those difficult shots around the ground
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
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 one is going to help you do that there are a
09:20number of methods out there to help you so there are some teachers and golfers out there that recommend
09:26so you have three different wedges you then have three different swings with each of those wedges
09:30so for example you could have all your hands go to waist height chest height and shoulder height
09:36and so therefore you've got nine different distances across all your different wedges
09:40covered off but it's only by using a launch monitor you would then know exactly how far
09:45each of those shots go so for example i've got my 54 degree wedge here and we're going to do a chest high
09:50swing with the wedge and the launch monitor is telling us that goes 62 yards so you get again
09:59immediate feedback from the launch monitor to tell you how far you're hitting those shots
10:04and 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 through
10:30a 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
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
11:03you 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 and
11:23hopefully those numbers will really help you out now just because it's raining freezing cold or pitch
11:37black outside doesn't mean you can't work on your game if you have a launch monitor that's right you
11:43can 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 games
13:25they'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 i'm under pressure now so 225 yards into
14:30this par five let's see if we can hit the green oh it was a good strike it's gotta 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 and
14:52i 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
15:22there are also a variety of finance options available so through foresight you can own a gc2
15:27which is a slightly uh older version of their top quality launch monitor for just four pound a day so
15:33you can own launch for that there are affordable ways you can do that guys i'd love to hear from
15:38you so make sure you comment on this video tell me have you used the launch monitor and what do you
15:42think of it and if you haven't used the launch monitor has this video convinced you to go and use
15:46one whether on the driving range or maybe even out on the golf course with your local professional
15:50i'd love to hear from you so whether it is club fittings lessons whatever it might be hopefully
15:55you'll agree that getting on a launch monitor is the perfect starting point for improving your game
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