You’ve probably have seen enough charts and graphs to understand the importance of golf club performance and its relationship to ball flight, but one area of the equation that we really haven’t covered yet relates to the benefits of using a launch monitor.
Launch monitors are electronic devices that measure many aspects of a golf swing, from the backstroke all the way through striking a ball. By analyzing and understanding these measurements, an instructor can get a better idea of a golfer’s potential when it comes to hitting the ball. This helps the instructor modify a golfer’s swing so that they can increase their club speed and ball speed to get more distance.
How Launch Monitors Work
In general, launch monitors have a few ways to track a ball. One system tracks the ball after impact using Doppler Radar technology. Another method uses camera technology to record the data at impact. Some even combine 3D Doppler tracking and image processing, which is a combination of the two. The systems then use the data they record and their own algorithms to provide a range of data measurements and projections about the golf shot that has just been hit.
Doppler Radar Launch Monitor Guide
Doppler radar has more uses than just tracking the weather. In fact, the FlightScope monitors carried by Mitchell Golf were originally designed to measure projectiles for the defense industry. Now the “missiles” that get tracked are quite smaller and don’t explode on impact, but they still benefit from the same technology that makes golf monitors the ideal tool to improve a golfer’s swing.
Radar-based launch monitors use the Doppler Effect to track the flight of the ball and project details of the clubhead’s movement through the software. The radar sends out a beam of waves tuned to a precise frequency at a moving object. When the wave hits the moving object, it bounces back to the source. As the wave gets bounced back, it is at a totally different frequency that when it was sent out. This effect can be observed for any type of wave, so when the signal interferes with the golf ball taking flight, it causes energy to be reflected back and a sensor in the unit will detect the reflected signal.
There are many benefits of using a launch monitor. By giving detailed access to parameters such as club speed, ball speed, and launch angle, fitters are now able to adjust a golfer’s clubs to match the characteristics of their swings, thanks to these accurate golf swing training aids.