Golf Town launch monitors-accurate?

[rhh7]

Just wonder how accurate the launch monitor at Golf Town is? Recently I had my club builder assemble a 12 degree driver for me. It has a small steel head, exact replica of TaylorMade "Pittsburgh Persimmon". The shaft is Dynamic Gold R400, untipped, just butt trimmed to length of 43 inches.

Hitting off a tee, my 10 shot average was 223 yards, carry 195 yards, 139 mph, launch angle of 11 degrees.

Then I got exasperated, and hit 5 off the deck. What a change! All over 240 yards. My best was 249 yards, 210 yards carry, 145mph ball speed, at a launch angle of 18 degrees. Does this bear any resemblance to reality?

[jvincent]

Are you talking about the simulators where they do the demos or the Vector?

Properly set up the Vector will give very accurate launch readings (speed, spin, angle). The S/W will then calculate the distance. I've found it to be pretty accurate.

If you are talking about the simulator, it's not at all accurate.

[rhh7]

Simulator, I think...ah, well...

[MusicMan]

when you hit into the simulator its only acurate if your ball hits somwhere in the middle of the screen, if your higher than the herizion on the screen you will loose distance, and if you hit lower than the herizion then you will gain distance (hence why you were hitting it futhur off the deck) its the one flaw in those machines that is really hard for software to fix, i know for a fact that GT updates their software very often to help fix these problems, but once again i say, and ive said it a dozen times before if your looking to get specificly fitted for a driver spend the few extra dollars and get a vector done, your already going to spend $400+ on a new driver might as well get fitted to exactly what you need, not what you think you need

[Weirfan]

simulators are useless for providing any meaningful data.

A launch monitor session certainly better but: is only good if the individual using it is highly knowledgeable with using it as well as interpreting the results .....ie: there are many people and place with monitors but poor knowledge.

Many variables come into play . room temperature tee, height, type of ball used etc.....these all need to be accounted for.......and typically are

Finally, monitor sessions are typically indoors and under artificial conditions.....often the results are not replicated in the real outdoors. I for example cannot seem to swing off a mat in an indoor setting....

If possible get your session done at a facility that has a moitor out on the range...I did this last year with Jody Baucoum of Accuflex in NC and it is far better.....as ball flight and distance etc can be viewed, plus it feels more natural

[MusicMan]

everyperson at GT that operates the Lauch Monitor need to be certified to do so, hence why ive never given a vector to anyone but myself... i agree about the conditions and myself i find it werid to swing indoors, buts its not horrible i dont mind it that much... i dont know too many places in and around ottawa that have vectors outside... kevin haime would be the most likley place, but i dont think they have one... if you want to do it outdoors i believe the only place you can go is southern ontario where the callaway facility is, unless there is a place in TO... im just guessing here... you should look into it... though if your serious in looking into it go to one of these indoor place and just take a few swings to see how it feels, i know some of the place in ottawa that have these machines dont have a large hitting area and its feels somewhat cramped, so if u wanna check it out go to GT only beccuase they have an academy in the back where the vector is, its a large area so you dont feel like your hitting in a cage... like their simulators

[3Jack]

Haime's has a vector... I did a launch monitor session there last summer... (2005). I wonder if he's doing launch monitor sessions at the Sensplex this winter?

[Smoothie]

Haime's has a vector... I did a launch monitor session there last summer... (2005). I wonder if he's doing launch monitor sessions at the Sensplex this winter?

How was your experience at Haime's? I'm thinking of doing the same thing come spring. Did you do irons, or just driver? Does the cost allow you to do both, or do you have to do two seperate sessions.
Thanks!

[3Jack]

It was very good. I did just a driver session, and it added 10-12 yards of carry and about 16-18 yards total distance.

I'd imagine you'd have to do two separate sessions for driver versus irons because of the variety of shafts, heads, and balls that you go through during the session to optimize your launch angle / ball speed etc.

I'd not buy a new driver without doing and LM session now, because you're only guessing at what your optimal launch conditions are without it. Besides, it's really cool.

[Smoothie]

So you still bring your current driver, and he's got a bunch to test out? From there, you'll know what type of shaft characteristics are best for you? Same thing with the head? He enters in the make/model of ball you use and look at the results?

[3Jack]

Essentially yes. You start by hitting your driver with the LM looking at your impact conditions. Launch angle, head speed at impact, ball speed post impact are measured, among other variables. After a baseline is reached with your current driver, the tester gets a feel for what you're doing based on your numbers (and your swing / ball flight), and new drivers with various shaft combinations are put in your hands. Once you max out with a certain driver shaft combo, the ball variable is changed, to find out what maximizes your impact conditions with the new driver / shaft combination.

[BC MIST]

every person at GT that operates the Launch Monitor need to be certified to do so,

Would love to know just what education and experience they need to be certified to do this. Would it be similar to how they became certified club fitters?

[3Jack]

Not sure, but at Haime's Gord Percy is the LM man. He's a teaching pro too so they certainly have to achieve a certain level club fitting just to become a teaching pro, so I'd imagine they'd have to have some additional training on top of that for LMs...

[Weirfan]

Would love to know just what education and experience they need to be certified to do this. Would it be similar to how they became certified club fitters?

LMAO......willing to bet it is......I have 2 GT's about 20 minutes away, Markham and Woodbridge.......I used to go to the Woodbridge one a couple times a week, when my son was attending a program near there.......would just walk around, putt a few...whenever someone would ask me if I needed help would ask them a technical question, mostly simple stuff that most should be able to answer......say loft progressions on heads.....send them away to find out, often they would come back ...often not .....got to be that only staff that would ask me a Q were ones that did not know me

Trust me I could teach my 7 year old daughter more about clubs in 10 minutes than these guys know.......they are there to sell clubs. period......I have watched and listened in as they set people up on the simulator....very scary ......they have very limited knowledge about anything technical. Have no clue about optimal launch angle and spin for a given ss......

the only one who did was the kid in the repair section........yet he just does the work behind the bench

[MusicMan]

dudes... not everyone is perfect... ive gone to car dealerships where ive known more than the salesman, when i bought my mazda the guy argued with me that it was a 2.1L until i got on the net to prove to him that it was a 2.3L needless to say i bought the car off a differnet sales guy, one of those car shopping experiences.

you cant hold a general perspective on a store becuase one or two guys knew nothing about what they you were talking about or asking of them, they might have been newbies, given em a break that probably why they went looking for the right answer becuase thats what we were trained to do, when you dont know the answer never say you dont know, go find it out... anyways thats my 2 cents, i dont work there anymore and have no offiliation with the place anymore i have relinquished my discount in a matter of saying , i get all my stuff from this board now haha.

all i can tell you is that i have never met one person on this board or anywhere that was not impressed with the level of service that i gave to them at the time, i have had only good things said about me not only by people on this forum, but people that took the time to email the store or call to tell my bosses about the service they recived as a whole... thats all i got. thats the most ive typed all day... if u wanna keep going on about this then go ahead, but there are enough "i hate golftown" theads around here somewhere

[Weirfan]

Please do not take what I said personally...I am sure that you know your stuff, but likely cuz you dun learned yourself......

in general, to say that the service reps at GT or any Golf store for that matter are knowledgeable fitters is a a huge stretch.

car salesmen are not mechanics

waiters are not chefs

my only problem is that the Organisation = GT misleads the public about the skilss these guys have.......like the commercial cert cpga pro on staff.....who gives a flying F.......i build and repair clubs for a few cpga pros.....they know very little about fitting

[MusicMan]

i dont take anything said over the internet personally saying it to my face is a differnet story. yeah car salesman are not mechanics but i mean man their selling a car... know the features of the car, or dont argue with the customer

and duuuuuuuude i worked with 3 CPGA pros 2 of which were teaching pros and i gotta tell you everything i know about golf swings, equipment, and fitting came from those guys, they are the most knowledgeable golf guys i know...
you wanna know anything about a club or a golf swing, these guys are the ones to talk to... they are the reason i droped my handicap 10 stroked in little over one season, by teaching me proper fundamentals and how to properly fit people including myself... they are also the reason why i make myself 35$/hr teaching

as for picking on GT i think thats a little unfair to be honest bro. ive gone into ChuckyBs a few times where the guy that i spoke to had noooo idea what i was talking about, "launch characteristics of what?" lol it was kinda funny only cuz i knew the answer and to see his face was priceless. and same goes for nevadabobs, there are some guys no matter what store you go to that are just plain usless... so pick on all stores not just the biggest name... u know what im sayin brother?

[Chieflongtee]

I once asked a very well known local pro with a big ego what his take was on Spine. His reply was: What is a spine?

[jvincent]

You mean Kevin doesn't have an opinion on everything?

[Chieflongtee]

Jarred. He is not picking on the big store. It's everywhere. Go to a Canadian Tire store and ask a few questions. Most of the ass ociates do not know too much unless they've worked there for a while. Same with Sears et al.

[Chieflongtee]

That was about 6 years ago. I assume that he should know by now.

[MusicMan]

oh its all good man...... i can see where everyone is coming from, just being the former employee i thought i should say something for the hell of it

[Chieflongtee]

From your experience do launch monitors and stimulators yield the same swing speed?

[MusicMan]

not even close...

[Chieflongtee]

not even close...

So which one is more accurate? You can turn up the distance on a launch monitor but no matter the distance you're getting my guess is the swing speed remains the same. Correct?

[MusicMan]

ive spent ALOT of time using both, and the vector launch monitor is by far more acurate! sometimes there is a substantial difference between the two and the vector always comes up on top as the best one. thats why whenever someone PMs me about advice for buying a driver i allllllways tell them to go get a vector done (if they are consistant enough to benifit from one) the simulators are just that, a computer program it isnt possible to guage 100% or even 60% the speed of a club head or the spin that a ball would have... you need the vector to tell you that kind of stuff.

[Chieflongtee]

So if I were to compare the Achiever,the Zelocity and the Vector. Would I get similar results? Or would have these machines have to be calibrated to one another?

[dbleber]

Rob Lindsay at the Hylands has an out door launch monitor for fitting and you don't have to be a memeber to get fitted or buy from him. He also matches GT's prices and you can't beat the service, very friendly guy!

[MusicMan]

sorry brother but i've never heard of Achiever, or the Zelocity... i've only worked with vector machines

[sensfan63]

The Vector is a LAUNCH MONITOR, the simulator (like at GT) is a COMPUTER GAME. Like Golf-o-Max. Anyone who goes to GT looking to get a fitting experience from the simulator is looking for the wrong thing...in the simulator all you can possibly do is figure out how the club feels (and that's not a good indicator at all).

Please lay off starvingstudent...all he did was say that he wasn't certified to use the Vector. Pretty sure the CPGA guys at GT are the ones to do that. And who cares if they don't know off the top of their head what the optimal launch conditions are for a 97.5 mph swing speed? Aren't there charts for that? I can imagine some people (and not to implicate anyone who has posted here so far) just strut in there with numbers memorized and try to quiz salesmen just for the fun of embarassing them. What is the point?

Bottom line...if you go to GT to buy clubs, and EXPECT to get completely and properly fitted top-to-bottom, either you are not fully educated about what you need, or you don't care. These guys are not club-fitters, they are guys who love golf and want to help you pick what you think you'll like. And there's nothing wrong with that.