Launch monitor figures, how accurate are they really ?

[Hacker Khan]

Whats the HMT unit part ?

It's the dots on the club face you see when Crossfield and Shiels do their testing. I understand it is basically tracking the club head instead of making assumptions on what the club head did from the ball flight, like GC2 does on it's own without HMT.

 

[Alex1975]

It's the dots on the club face you see when Crossfield and Shiels do their testing. I understand it is basically tracking the club head instead of making assumptions on what the club head did from the ball flight, like GC2 does on it's own without HMT.

Yep

 

[pbrown7582]

good write up mag this month about GC2 and HMT.

 

[Hendo007]

All good feedback but begs the question now, whats the point in them if they don't really provide sufficient accurate worthwhile information ? You'd be better to just go down the range and work your distances out on the course.

What useful info can I take from the stats ? Or what should I look to achieve from the remaining 3 sessions that I have ?

I wouldn't have bought these for myself but as they were a gift I may aswell use them but I'd like to take something away from them at the end of the day.

 

[Hacker Khan]

All good feedback but begs the question now, whats the point in them if they don't really provide sufficient accurate worthwhile information ? You'd be better to just go down the range and work your distances out on the course.

What useful info can I take from the stats ? Or what should I look to achieve from the remaining 3 sessions that I have ?

I wouldn't have bought these for myself but as they were a gift I may aswell use them but I'd like to take something away from them at the end of the day.

I'd argue they do provide accurate information based on how you are hitting in on the launch monitor based on whatever environmental conditions they have set it to (kind of ignoring roll out which is very subjective). But it is questionable if you will be able to replicate the same results on the course a lot of the time when it comes to distances.

What about swing path, ball height and things like that? Do you get those readings? You'd really need a pro to interpret the readings to get the most out of it, but perhaps it can show you what your swing path is like, what the dispersion is like on your shots, peak height of your shots, what is the actual dynamic loft you are presenting to the ball with your irons, what about spin rates on the ball with your driver, is it too high, not high enough, will a lower spinning driver be of use to you?

 

[turkish]

Hi Hendo,

Is it affordable golf in EK or Glasgow? I go to Glasgow and also buy the block GC2 bookings and I find the readings fairly accurate but a lot can depend on the settings so before you go in you should discuss these with the pro in there and he can adjust them accordingly.

Also the carry distance is the most important figure you should be taking from it; If you have a hazard 10 yard in front of green you don't wanna roll up into it!

I think they take essentially take the settings to be on a perfect windless day- something we never get in Scotland!!!

The reality is you can only judge so much with a wind into your face or vice versa.

 

[Hendo007]

Hi Hendo,

Is it affordable golf in EK or Glasgow? I go to Glasgow and also buy the block GC2 bookings and I find the readings fairly accurate but a lot can depend on the settings so before you go in you should discuss these with the pro in there and he can adjust them accordingly.

Also the carry distance is the most important figure you should be taking from it; If you have a hazard 10 yard in front of green you don't wanna roll up into it!

I think they take essentially take the settings to be on a perfect windless day- something we never get in Scotland!!!

The reality is you can only judge so much with a wind into your face or vice versa.

Its the EK one I'm going to. I'll check what settings they have it set to next time I'm up.

 

[Hendo007]

What about swing path, ball height and things like that? Do you get those readings? You'd really need a pro to interpret the readings to get the most out of it, but perhaps it can show you what your swing path is like, what the dispersion is like on your shots, peak height of your shots, what is the actual dynamic loft you are presenting to the ball with your irons, what about spin rates on the ball with your driver, is it too high, not high enough, will a lower spinning driver be of use to you?

Hi Nick,

There are other readings, launch angle, spin rate etc etc but there was too many for me to right down and I had to leave to pick the wean up. I will get them all next time, even take a picture on my phone might be easier.

I guess it would be if possible to use them to make sure my clubs are a decent fit for me, shafts in particular. I've never had them fitted so maybe all the info will point me in the right direction ?

 

[duncan mackie]

Hi Nick,

There are other readings, launch angle, spin rate etc etc but there was too many for me to right down and I had to leave to pick the wean up. I will get them all next time, even take a picture on my phone might be easier.

I guess it would be if possible to use them to make sure my clubs are a decent fit for me, shafts in particular. I've never had them fitted so maybe all the info will point me in the right direction ?

As Nick points out it all about the relative performance of various clubs in your hands, and the absolute data from your swing.

The latter can be matched to the particular performance of a head, or shaft, or it can be used to suggest changes to your swing...

 

[Kellfire]

See here for the figures I got with a seven iron on GC2 with HMT...

Those spin rates are just nonsense.

http://forums.golf-monthly.co.uk/sh...ent-to-on-course-flight&p=1236557#post1236557

 

[Foxholer]

a launch monitor such as this is

1. incredibly accurate at measuring the data it's set to measure
2. never makes mistakes in it's arithmetic
3. er - that's it.

in terms of the computed results, their relevance to the real world is dependent on
1. the relationship between the programming and the real world conditions
2. the relationship between what the player does on the monitor and on the course (many people have fantastic ball striking capabilities on the range (and good practice swings!) but frequently timing suffers when a ball has to be struck.

So, they are great when dealing with issues such as relative performance of shafts and heads for a particular golfer; highlighting weaknesses within in a range of clubs being hit (eg failure to be able to deliver centered hits with a driver but fine with a 5 wood and nearly the same swing speed)

Completely pointless with regard to actual individual club carry distances on course - you get these from your individual club carry distances on the course!!!

btw getting 240 from 97 suggests that not only are the roll out factors programmed a little on the hot side but that the temperature is up and/or the air density isn't at sea level. 240 @ 100 is a reasonably common output. Whilst it's only a few percent it's indicative.

Totally agree with this!

This LM takes ultra high speed pictures of the ball (and club) over a short space, then calculates what will happen for the rest of the flight, given conditions that have been entered by the operator. I strongly suspect those conditions (like temperature, altitude and ground conditions for roll) have been 'beefed up' - to help sales!

That's the main reason why it's important to take your existing club(s) to 'calibrate' the numbers when using one in a store like AG for a potential purchase!

 

[Ethan]

So for my birthday back in October the missus got be a groupon block of 5 sessions on the launch monitor at a nearly local Affordable golf outlet. Having hardly picked up a golf club all winter I thought it about time I used them up before I lost them. I went over there a couple of weeks ago and rattled balls for an hour but at the end they were unable to print out my stats.

I went back on Tuesday and rattled me second hours worth of balls however this time at the end I wrote down the important figures.

Heres the outcomes for the clubs that I hit,


Swing Speed Carry Total distance
Sand wedge - 53 92 101
52* AW - 58 111 125
9 iron - 68 133 148
7 iron - 78 167 185
5 iron - 72 170 197
3 Hyb - 88 195 225
Driver - 97 240 280


With the exception of the 5 iron above as I didn't hit many and the ones I did hit weren't all brilliant there is a deff trend with regards the swing speed, It seems to go up about 10mph every other club.

The distances also seem to be in proportion roughly as well.

However it never really feels like I hit those kinda numbers on the golf course. I mean if I'm looking at a shot of about 170 yards on the course I will reach for the 6 iron first. If i'm faced with a shot of about 140 I'd take an 8 iron and not a 9. For me on the course my 150 shot is my 7 iron.

I guess it could be down to the ball as on the course I use a ProV1x instead of the random balls at the AG place.

I will go back again next week and do the clubs I never done this week just to complete the picture and so I have a better average for each club. But just how accurate are these figures and what factors need to be taken into account when translating this onto the actual golf course ?

Anyone else use launch monitors to gauge their distances and what did you find when out on the course ?

How accurate are LM figures? As accurate as the machine's tolerances allow, assuming it is set up correctly, so they can be pretty accurate. However, it is well known (and has been admitted to me by an AG manager) that LM machines can be turned up to 11 up to flatter the punter. 97mph driver speed is decent, and 240 carry is just about plausible. 167 carry off a 7 iron with 78 mph speed seems rather unlikely, though.

 

[Bobirdie]

I was fitted on a cg2 last year and it was pretty much spot on to my yardages