Launch monitors and range balls

[ademac]

I am thinking of taking my new clubs to the local club/range and having a session on the launch monitor to work out distances etc.
Previously I would have gone to a practice ground and done it the old fashioned way by measuring it out and walking etc etc.
I simply dont have that sort of spare time at the moment but I can afford a spare hour at the range.

My question is, is it worth doing with range balls?

I have never used a launch monitor so I wouldnt know how accurate they are but I know that range balls wont give a true reflection of distance and ball flight as my usual ball.
Any thoughts or opinions welcome, I dont really want to waste £40 if I dont have to.

Cheers

 

[Captainron]

I don't think the range balls will help you with an accurate assessment of distance. Another thread on here somewhere is on about 10+ yards difference in premium balls so using range balls which have been abused by folks like me won't help you at all. What you will get is an idea of spin, launch angle, club head at delivery, club head speed etc which will help identify how you strike it, what you need to change and what ball you should be using.

Old fashioned 10 hits with a 5,6 or 7 iron to start with, discard worst 2 and best 2, use the remaining 6 to get an idea is still the way I would trust the most. You could also number the balls 1-10 with a marker and remember which you struck well and use those to work out your distance (I say struck well - I don't mean your sunday best but rather your normal shot where you would be happy with it). Work through the bag and get a feel for what you do.

Wind, humidity, rain, temperature etc will affect how it all goes in real life but that guess work is what makes some people better than others.

 

[duncan mackie]

Doing that specific exercise now is probably close to useless.

Your iron carry distances will vary with air conditions, ball used and to a degree the clothes you wear (as well as altitude - but that's another aspect of air conditions).

Range work is to end up striking them as consistently as you can. Distances are established on the first couple of iron shots on any round every time you play.

 

[ademac]

Doing that specific exercise now is probably close to useless.

Your iron carry distances will vary with air conditions, ball used and to a degree the clothes you wear (as well as altitude - but that's another aspect of air conditions).

Range work is to end up striking them as consistently as you can. Distances are established on the first couple of iron shots on any round every time you play.

Good points to be fair. I will give it a miss and just get an idea of distances as I play.

 

[ademac]

I don't think the range balls will help you with an accurate assessment of distance. Another thread on here somewhere is on about 10+ yards difference in premium balls so using range balls which have been abused by folks like me won't help you at all. What you will get is an idea of spin, launch angle, club head at delivery, club head speed etc which will help identify how you strike it, what you need to change and what ball you should be using.

Old fashioned 10 hits with a 5,6 or 7 iron to start with, discard worst 2 and best 2, use the remaining 6 to get an idea is still the way I would trust the most. You could also number the balls 1-10 with a marker and remember which you struck well and use those to work out your distance (I say struck well - I don't mean your sunday best but rather your normal shot where you would be happy with it). Work through the bag and get a feel for what you do.

Wind, humidity, rain, temperature etc will affect how it all goes in real life but that guess work is what makes some people better than others.

More good points.👍

 

[duncan mackie]

Good points to be fair. I will give it a miss and just get an idea of distances as I play.

Launch monitors are great for relative issues ie if you are trying to gain some clubhead speed then an hour with a LM and your 6 iron is invaluable.

They are also great when looking behind the visible and providing insights into the why.

Obviously equipment comparisons.

Most people have an idea how far they carry their clubs; if more accepted the reality on a day to day basis rather than staying wedded through the round, or season, to one set of numbers they would probably score a lot better :thup:

 

[ademac]

Launch monitors are great for relative issues ie if you are trying to gain some clubhead speed then an hour with a LM and your 6 iron is invaluable.

They are also great when looking behind the visible and providing insights into the why.

Obviously equipment comparisons.

Most people have an idea how far they carry their clubs; if more accepted the reality on a day to day basis rather than staying wedded through the round, or season, to one set of numbers they would probably score a lot better :thup:

Pretty much goes along with my initial instinct. Sometimes good to hear it from like minded folk though.

 

[Orikoru]

My question is, is it worth doing with range balls?

I wouldn't have thought so. Range balls are generally cack, going nowhere near as far as a proper ball. Varying condition of the dimples will impact on left/right spin as well I would have thought.

 

[ronkerr]

At my range you can do this.
They have the Trackman system and it has an option for you to put in the premium ball that you use and it will adjust your distances to take account of the difference between their range balls and the ball that you use when playing.
It will also 'normalise' for a day with no wind so you then have your numbers to adjust depending on the conditions that day.
As temperature can also have an effect it is best to do your test when the temperature is reasonable eg above 10 degrees as if it is very cold as it is just now your distances will be artificially low for when you come to play your competitions in the summer (Trackman doesnt seem to have an option to adjust for temperature).
£40 sounds expensive.

 

[kerber0s1983]

I've got a skytrak unit, and took it to the range the other night - using range balls the distances are all over the place as well as the spin numbers - some shots with a LW coming out at crazy distances with less than 3k spin - but my normal ball down and hit that the spin is back up to the normal figure of carry and spin - like 9k spin.

The trackman does allow you to normalise or calculate based on a premium ball as others have said - but don't think any of the other LM's will do that.

 

[Sweep]

It depends on the type of launch monitor you are using and probably the conditions. A radar based system will tell you all you need to know about what happened to the range ball but that’s not really of much use when you want to know how a real ball will react.
Other systems like Skytrak measure club head speed and ball spin to calculate distance. These may well work with a range ball for distance because it’s only calculating this measurement (which they do very accurately). I have used my Skytrak at the range and it has worked on some occasions and not on others. When it didn’t work I noticed it was a bright day and I thought maybe it “diluted” the laser dot it projects on the mat to hit the ball off thereby skewing the calculation.
you would be much better though using an indoor LM with real balls or a range where you can use an LM with real balls outside.

 

[Foxholer]

...
My question is, is it worth doing with range balls?
...

No!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

My range has a golf simulator in the shop you can hire out and use your own balls. If I was the OP I'd be looking locally for a set up similar to work out the yardages

 

[Dasit]

My range has a golf simulator in the shop you can hire out and use your own balls. If I was the OP I'd be looking locally for a set up similar to work out the yardages

What are people's thoughts on using these numbers and comparing to the course

I carry my 7 iron on the GC2 indoors about 165 and total might be 175.

On the course, especially in winter, I would never hit my 7 iron that far. If I had 165 to a pin I would be hitting a really hard 6 iron or an easy 5.


I just think GC2 is calibrated to be a nice warm day in USA, maybe it has little bit of elevation...numbers always seem too high.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

What are people's thoughts on using these numbers and comparing to the course

I carry my 7 iron on the GC2 indoors about 165 and total might be 175.

On the course, especially in winter, I would never hit my 7 iron that far. If I had 165 to a pin I would be hitting a really hard 6 iron or an easy 5.


I just think GC2 is calibrated to be a nice warm day in USA, maybe it has little bit of elevation...numbers always seem too high.

I see where you're coming from but I'm pretty sure (although haven't tried it) you can adjust the settings on the monitor in the shop. It has courses and a range function and I think at the start menu you can default the conditions. Of course in a warm dry environment compared to the cold damp air of a course, not even allowing for any wind influence, distances will vary. That's part of the skill of winter golf, being able to adjust your club selection

 

[SteveJay]

Because of all that faffing with measuring actual shots in a practice field, if that is even possible at your course, and all the variables described, plus the challenges of using launch monitors and range balls, I invested in a Game Golf device. using that, or an Arcoss, you get an average club distance on the course.

Guess you could even do it manually & write it down if your GPS watch measures shot distance, like my Tom Tom Golfer 2 does.

Still need to factor in slope, wind etc, but at lest it collects data over a prolonged period that you can interpret more realistically.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Because of all that faffing with measuring actual shots in a practice field, if that is even possible at your course, and all the variables described, plus the challenges of using launch monitors and range balls, I invested in a Game Golf device. using that, or an Arcoss, you get an average club distance on the course.

Guess you could even do it manually & write it down if your GPS watch measures shot distance, like my Tom Tom Golfer 2 does.

Still need to factor in slope, wind etc, but at lest it collects data over a prolonged period that you can interpret more realistically.

We have a practice field where the prevailing wind is into and from the left and when I got my I25's a few years back. Did it the old fashioned way and paced it out hitting into and then down wind to get two averages. When I eventually got to measure properly on a monitor I was probably no more than 5-10 yards out at most. Given my ability that probably wasn't going to make a huge difference. Nowadays, I check distances regularly on a monitor, usually at the start of the season after whatever swing changes I've worked on in the winter

 

[hovis]

completely depends on the range balls. some are full distance balls some are 50% balls. then you have to factor in the condition of the balls too.

trial and error on course is the only good way imo

 

[duncan mackie]

Because of all that faffing with measuring actual shots in a practice field, if that is even possible at your course, and all the variables described, plus the challenges of using launch monitors and range balls, I invested in a Game Golf device. using that, or an Arcoss, you get an average club distance on the course.

Guess you could even do it manually & write it down if your GPS watch measures shot distance, like my Tom Tom Golfer 2 does.

Still need to factor in slope, wind etc, but at lest it collects data over a prolonged period that you can interpret more realistically.

Yes and no. Even game golf over complicates, and over simplifies, the basic reality. Unless you retain slope and condition data against every electronic record even the use of 'prolonged data' doesn't deliver useful statistical information - even less if it's based on a significant majority of home course data.

There really isn't a need to go writing down a whole lot either. Establishing a baseline PW 7i distance is the work of a few swings in neutral conditions one evening on the course, or anywhere else for that matter.

After that comes the easy task of interpolation for the 9 and 8 and accepting the reality of the impact of conditions (where it goes wrong for most handicap golfers - I have a constant battle with 4BBB partners over clubbing up in any wind; they always underestimate into it and overestimate with it).

Reality is the critical element!

 

[Dasit]

Game golf is pretty useless I found for club data


Distance data was was carry and roll

Distance never took wind, slope, rough into account

Someone times my 7 irons goes 110 sometimes it goes 200, tell me I average it 155 is useless.


I hit my iron 3 quarter swing or half swing on the course sometimes too, gamegolf doesnt know this.

It tries to give median, mean, range statistics but I always found them to be of no use, if somebody carried for me using just these numbers I wouldn't trust them to club me better than me using my distances in my head