Does the Data Help Your Game? We get plenty of questions about whether or not this technology is going to help your game improve faster than a typical outdoor range. It’s an astounding yes if you know how leverage the data to your advantage. Even if you’re not analyzing the data, the convenience of our facility is going to help your game if the alternative is not practicing so either way it’s going to help improve your game. What Does Each Column Tell You? Club Head Speed: This stat is actually calculated from ball speed, not measured on its own. The calculation is ball speed divided by efficiency. You’ll notice a drastic change in club head speed if you’re not connecting with the ball very well. Ball Speed: is measured by the GC2 launch monitor within 0.5 mph and is the rate at which the ball launches off your club face. Because this factor is measured, you’d like to see consistency in this stat, which will also cause consistency in your club head speed. This stat is also affected by the ball you use. Efficiency: This is the ratio at which your club head speed is calculated from ball speed. Simply put, it’s the dividing number. If you read golf magazines, it’s also called “Smash Factor” Launch Angle: The angle from horizontal at which your ball launches. Drivers are going to be lower, sand wedge is going to be higher. Measured to within 0.2 degrees

Azimuth: An important number for analyzing your shots. It’s a fancy term for which direction your ball launches. A negative number is to the left, positive is to the right. Azimuth is a most affected by your club face at impact. Attack angle, which is not measured by our launch monitors is an important factor also. Measured to within 1 degree. Side Spin: Direction of spin, also an extremely important factor for your shots. “L” is to the left, “R” is to the right. Side spin is most affected by your swing path. Measured to within 50 RPM. Back Spin: How much backspin your shot has. Backspin acts as the brakes for your shot, both in the air and on the green. The higher your backspin, the shorter your carry distance, and the shorter your total roll. This will give you control around the greens. See our blog post about using the right ball for your game. Total Spin: is a calculation of combined side spin and back spin. We typically don’t use this number in analyzing our shots. Peak Height: is the height at which your shot peaks before coming down. This is important if you’re testing different shots for your approach. Typically, the higher it goes, the larger the descent angle. Descent Angle: is the angle at which your shot comes down after it peaks. A higher descent angle means the ball is coming in steeper causing more downward momentum instead of forward momentum = more stopping power. The lower the descent angel means more forward momentum so the ball will roll further. Backspin is a bigger factor, however. Carry Distance: The distance your shot flies in the air from club impact to ground impact. We typically look at this number instead of total distance. Consistency here is very important for your irons. Total Distance: The distance of your shot from start to finish. This stat includes carry, bounce, and roll. Offline: The distance from the white line that runs within the driving range mode. Depending on how you use the white line, this stat’s analysis will be different. If you use the white line as your starting point, meaning where you start the ball on the screen, then your target should be to the left of the white line for a draw and to the right for a fade. If you use the white line as your ending point, then you want this stat to be as close to zero as possible, which means your horizontal aim is on target. How Do These Stats Help My Game? It’s all in how you use the data. Getting to know your carry distance will help when you need to carry a hazard to hit the green. Using backspin can help you test out different balls or optimize your driver. Offline can be used if you use the white line as your starting point, then you know how far to aim to the right or left when you’re on a course. Some stats are more important than others, but overall, seeing consistency in the data is the most important way you can use the data. Interpreting the Data

In this section, we’ll try to give you some ways to interpret the data to figure out what’s going on with your swing or how to improve your shots with it. Keep in mind, our machines do not measure your attack angle, which also affects the launch direction. Draw: A draw will have a positive azimuth and left side spin. The positive azimuth is caused by an open club face relative to straight and the left side spin is caused by an inside-out swing path.

Fade: A fade will show a negative azimuth and right side spin. Negative azimuth is caused by a close club face relative to straight and an outside-in swing path.

Push Fade: is caused by an open club face relative to straight and can be caused by both inside-out and outside-in swing paths. The club face open relative to an inside-out swing path can cause a push fade (picture on the left), and a closed club face relative to straight with an outside-in swing path can cause a push fade (picture on the right).

Pull Draw: similar to the push fade, it can be caused two ways. A closed club face relative to straight with an inside-out swing path will cause a negative azimuth with left side spin (picture on the left). A closed club face relative to an outside-in swing path will also cause a pull draw (picture on the right).

What To Do After Interpretation Now that we have an idea on how to interpret the data, the next step is to correct the factors that are causing unwanted numbers. For example, if you’re getting a large positive azimuth, your club face is too open so you want to correct your club face at impact. However, because there are far too many factors that can cause unwanted numbers, we cannot get into details in this guide. We strongly suggest consulting with your golf pro to help you understand the numbers you want, how to achieve them, and how to correct mistakes. Our suggested golf pro is Rob Boldt, who works almost exclusively with the GC2 launch monitor that we use, however, any golf pro should be able to explain your ball flight using the data provided by our launch monitors, but the terms may be different. If needed, Rob can provide a free 20 minute consultation by appointment. Call Eagle Club Indoor Golf at 415-795-4145 or Rob directly at 925-808-1079 to schedule.