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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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00:04Hello 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
01:26you need to use a launch monitor and it's to work out exactly how far you hit your clubs. The
01:32majority
01:33of golfers out there overestimate how far they hit clubs so if they think they hit a seven on 150
01:39yards
01:39more often 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 distances which
02:09is really important with a driver on a hole if you're trying to avoid hazards so you know get yourself
02:13on
02:13a launch monitor hit a number of shots with each club in your bag make a note of the average
02:17distance
02:18and keep that with you for safekeeping you know on as a record if you don't remember it you can
02:22refer to
02:22it on the golf course so you know when you're over the ball you know how far you've got you
02:27know
02:27these reputable gps's and laser range finders give you the distance you need to hit the shot but if
02:32you haven't got the club to do it or you hit the wrong club you're going to get yourself into
02:36trouble
02:36so you know use the right club for the job in hand and you should see a more positive result
02:41more often
02:42than not.
02:52When working on our game or analysing our own swing we tend to have a pretty good idea about what
02:57the
02:57club is doing through the ball based on the ballpark that we see down the range but we're never
03:02a 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
03:13is 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
03:25speed
03:26and then it will use accurate ball flight models to predict things like the curvature of the flight
03:32and the carry distance and the height of the flight as well so it's really important to give you
03:36a clear picture about what the club and ball are actually doing and the GC quad can actually also
03:42capture club data because it's positioned in front and on the target side of the golf ball it has a
03:48direct view of that collision between club and ball so it can tell us things like angle of attack the
03:54path of 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
04:10because 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
04:20data
04:20it can be quite confusing there's an awful lot of ball and club data to get your head around and
04:25that's
04:25why it's really important to get that data in front of a PJ pro who can really then use their
04:31knowledge
04:31to interpret the data and put you on the best course of action and if you do that I think
04:36you'll be
04:37pleasantly surprised about how quick the improvement is and it basically takes the guesswork out of what
04:43you're doing and how you're trying to change your swing there's no point basing your changes on
04:47something that you see or that is you think is happening that isn't actually accurate so the fact that it's
04:53based
04:53on facts should definitely speed up your improvement
05:04now 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
05:17a
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
05:25go
05:25out 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
05:58to wherever you want it to be pointing to so you can basically support so i'll pick out that yellow
06:03flag down there and if i line the stick up to where i want it you can see it's already
06:07calibrating
06:08gives you a little beep so there it's targeted now right at that yellow flag 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
06:20target
06:20that you want to be hitting to so even if you do hit a shot and it is affected by
06:24the crosswind
06:25that won't come out on the data on the launch monitor so let's hit a shot here at that yellow
06:31flag
06:34just 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
06:45to keep 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
07:00pretty 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
07:21now 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 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
07:59quite 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 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 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
08:41now 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
09:11make the most
09:11of those 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 so you have three different wedges you then have three different swings with each
09:29of those wedges so for example you could have where your hands go to waist height chest height
09:34and shoulder height and so therefore you've got nine different distances across all your different
09:39wedges covered off but it's only by using a launch monitor you would then know exactly how far
09:44each of those shots go so for example i've got my 54 degree wedge here and we're going to do
09:49a chest high swing with the wedge and the launch monitor is telling us that goes 62 yards so you
09:58get again immediate feedback from the launch monitor to tell you how far you're hitting those shots
10:03and that should certainly help your scoring around the greens
10:16you might be surprised to hear that it's not just your long game where a decent launch monitor
10:20can help you out nope there are some out there that can provide an analysis of your putting one of
10:25those is the foresight sports gc quad and that's really important if you're maybe going through a
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
10:56a
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
11:09we can
11:10see on the screen here it's got a variety of numbers but like i mentioned the launch and the skid
11:14and
11:15distance to roll are the most important so if you're looking to change your putter or just want to kind
11:19of
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 this
11:49to do it in really all you need is a mat a net and some sort of compatible device like
11:55a laptop or
11:56ipad to work with the launch monitor to give you all the relevant numbers and ball flights so whether
12:01you just want to hit various shots on a virtual range or maybe you want to compare two different
12:06demo clubs that you're thinking of buying to see which one works best you can do that with a setup
12:10like this and if you're lucky enough to have foresight's fsx software that kind of takes it one step
12:16further 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
12:25there's nearest the 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
12:46gc 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
13:04now 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 a
13:14setup similar to this with a screen you can undertake various different games for example foresight have
13:20a 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
14:01can do
14:01is also play some of the world's best courses from the comfort of your own home and you can see
14:06here
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
14:17can 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
14:23fun
14:24and really put them under pressure like i feel like i'm under pressure now so 225 yards into this par
14:30five let's see if we can hit the green
14:39oh it was a good strike it's gotta go
14:45oh it was wet unfortunately that's so annoying but as you can see it's a lot of fun to play
14:51courses
14:51like this and i think you'll agree it's really going to bring people together so hopefully you'll
14:56agree we've highlighted some pretty compelling reasons as to why you need to get yourself
15:00on a launch monitor in this video and yes it's true that the best launch monitors on the market
15:05do 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
15:25through foresight you can own a gc2 which is a slightly uh older version of their top quality
15:31launch monitor for just four pound a day so you can own launch for the two there are affordable
15:35ways you can do that guys i'd love to hear from you so make sure you comment on this video
15:39tell me
15:40have you used the launch monitor and what do you think of it and if you haven't used the launch
15:44monitor has this video convinced you to go and use one whether on the driving range or maybe even out
15:49the golf course with your 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
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