Launch Monitors

[BFL]

Went to American Golf today while the Mrs was shopping and tried out some drivers. Ive read a lot of great things about the Nike Covert so thought i would give it a bash and have a look.

My question is, how accurate are the launch monitors or can they fix them to sell the club they like? I started off with a regular flex shaft and 10.5 of loft and bumped it up to 11.5 as the loft was too low and was getting carries of 180 on average. Then he put on a stiff shaft and kept it at 11.5 loft and was getting 210 average carry with head speed of 102 average. They was all going slightly right to left which is quite normal for when i hit the ball anyway.

The reason i ask is because i tried some less expensive drivers (fazer) to compare and was only getting 175-180 carry but its only 30 quid compared to 150. He seemed adamant that the nike was the 1 for me and being in sales myself, could easily feel him pushing me to buy the most expensive club(not sure f they get commission or sales targets)

Sorry for the question which may be stupid but i have very little experience and this will be my 1st driver so dont want to get ripped off.

Cheers,

Leigh

 

[pbrown7582]

The settings will possible set to warm climate and favourable wind conditions to give better stats but I would think this would be the same for all clubs tested, and think they would struggle to adjust these between clubs to enhance a sale.

 

[Andy]

Wouldn't trust them with a barge pole.

Go to a real fitter or Pro.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Wouldn't trust them with a barge pole.

Go to a real fitter or Pro.

Real fitter and Pros also use launch monitors as well as playing pros using them for practise

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Wouldn't trust them with a barge pole.

Go to a real fitter or Pro.

Is the correct answer. Have had some horrid experiences in at least three separate AG stores locally giving me information I knew had to be wrong. Go to a club pro ideally or use a range and see the ball fly for yourself

 

[BFL]

Cheers, I would have liked to have used a range cos I found it hard to adjust to get better ball flight. The covert did feel better but ive not really tried that many so should keep trying. The stiff shaft definitely made a difference On distance and accuracy. Will try a few at the local clubs

 

[Andy]

Real fitter and Pros also use launch monitors as well as playing pros using them for practise

What American Golf?

 

[guest100718]

Ive used LMs at 2 AG stores and direct golf as well as urban golf and a GC2 at my onw course plus I own a swingbyte 2. All gave me readings that I would expect to see on the course. Lots on here like to say AG pimp their monitor to give inflated readings but I would disagree.

 

[Foxholer]

Ive used LMs at 2 AG stores and direct golf as well as urban golf and a GC2 at my onw course plus I own a swingbyte 2. All gave me readings that I would expect to see on the course. Lots on here like to say AG pimp their monitor to give inflated readings but I would disagree.

I've had experience of both good (all the recent times) and bad (quite a few of the old times) use of LMs in AG. DG and other places.

If you want to compare, take your own clubs along as a reference.

As a very rough/ready health, check the 'Smash Factor' stat. If that's over 1.50 (the max possible Ball-Speed/Swing Speed ratio for a centred-strike), they are frigging things!

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

I think LM's can be very useful for side by side comparisons between clubs but I always take the figures with a pinch of salt.

Handy to see if shaft 'A' has lower spin than shaft 'B' or whatever but really not interested when it tells me that driver 'A' goes 350 yards but driver 'B' only goes 348 yards.

 

[Region3]

It's possible for them to manipulate the machine to show better figures, but a) I don't see why they would do it for only one club, and b) if they were going to do it they would show more than 210 carry for your swing speed.

I usually don't like replies such as "don't spend your money on a club, spend it on lessons", but unless AG use plasticine golf balls with the monitor, 102mph club speed and 210yd carry means something is wrong with your swing.

Do you remember what the ball speed, launch angle and spin rates were?

Actually, I've just had a thought..... is it possible the 102mph was ball speed rather than club head speed?

 

[Alex1975]

It's possible for them to manipulate the machine to show better figures, but a) I don't see why they would do it for only one club, and b) if they were going to do it they would show more than 210 carry for your swing speed.

I usually don't like replies such as "don't spend your money on a club, spend it on lessons", but unless AG use plasticine golf balls with the monitor, 102mph club speed and 210yd carry means something is wrong with your swing.

Do you remember what the ball speed, launch angle and spin rates were?

Actually, I've just had a thought..... is it possible the 102mph was ball speed rather than club head speed?

Dont think 102mph ball speed would make it 210yd would it?

 

[BFL]

It's possible for them to manipulate the machine to show better figures, but a) I don't see why they would do it for only one club, and b) if they were going to do it they would show more than 210 carry for your swing speed.

I usually don't like replies such as "don't spend your money on a club, spend it on lessons", but unless AG use plasticine golf balls with the monitor, 102mph club speed and 210yd carry means something is wrong with your swing.

Do you remember what the ball speed, launch angle and spin rates were?

Actually, I've just had a thought..... is it possible the 102mph was ball speed rather than club head speed?

I didnt look at all figures tbh. Im currently having lessons and this was the 1st time id ever hit a driver so I definitely wasnt hitting it right. To start with it was only carrying 45 yards so I adjusted it to get further. It will take alot of practice but I wanted to just try some out really and I had a spare half hour while my mrs was shopping. Ill have a word with my pro and see where im going wrong. Thanks

 

[Region3]

Dont think 102mph ball speed would make it 210yd would it?

To my mind it's about as likely as a 102mph club speed yielding a 210yd carry. Maybe with weather conditions max'd out on the monitor? Would make the club speed around 68mph though so probably not very likely. It was just a thought.

 

[Region3]

I didnt look at all figures tbh. Im currently having lessons and this was the 1st time id ever hit a driver so I definitely wasnt hitting it right. To start with it was only carrying 45 yards so I adjusted it to get further. It will take alot of practice but I wanted to just try some out really and I had a spare half hour while my mrs was shopping. Ill have a word with my pro and see where im going wrong. Thanks

No problem. I wasn't suggesting that you shouldn't buy a driver, just that if you're hoping that your swing will change for the better in the near future then getting the driver best suited to your current swing might mean spending more money in 6 months time.

There isn't one best set of numbers to look for because they all depend on each other to a degree (and how you swing), but just to give you an idea if you get a hit on a launch monitor again; with a 100mph club speed, somewhere around 12°-14° launch angle and 2,500-3,000rpm of backspin should give you a carry distance in the region of 240yds with a decent strike.

If you want a driver now I'd go for a cheapish one in case it doesn't suit when you improve, and if 102 is definitely the club speed then a stiff shaft would be my starting point.

 

[BFL]

No problem. I wasn't suggesting that you shouldn't buy a driver, just that if you're hoping that your swing will change for the better in the near future then getting the driver best suited to your current swing might mean spending more money in 6 months time.

There isn't one best set of numbers to look for because they all depend on each other to a degree (and how you swing), but just to give you an idea if you get a hit on a launch monitor again; with a 100mph club speed, somewhere around 12°-14° launch angle and 2,500-3,000rpm of backspin should give you a carry distance in the region of 240yds with a decent strike.

If you want a driver now I'd go for a cheapish one in case it doesn't suit when you improve, and if 102 is definitely the club speed then a stiff shaft would be my starting point.

Thanks for the advice. The swing speed was definitely 102 average. It was higher at the start but I slowed it down to hit it more pure. The reason I looked at the covert was because of the ease of changing loft and lie as my swing changes.

Any suggestions on a cheap driver with a stiff shaft?

 

[guest100718]

Thanks for the advice. The swing speed was definitely 102 average. It was higher at the start but I slowed it down to hit it more pure. The reason I looked at the covert was because of the ease of changing loft and lie as my swing changes.

Any suggestions on a cheap driver with a stiff shaft?

how cheap? You can pick up teh RBZ stage 2 tour in stiff for 99 for the r1 for 149. Quite a few other end of line offers out ther from all the big names.

 

[BFL]

Thanks ill have a look at them all and see what feels best.