The PGA Show is an annual event that showcases the latest and greatest products in the golf industry held in Orlando, Florida. The show brings in brands from all over the world to showcase their hot new products.
While there were tons of amazing products across the convention center, Averee Dovsek sat down with the brands to find out a little bit more on what makes their technology special.
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Watch and check out below for the coolest things we saw this year.
Portable launch monitors have changed how elite golfers train, how swing gurus teach and how club makers fit gear to meet the player needs.
In Part I of the Connected Golfer series, we introduced you to the driving ranges of the future, facilities that have installed systems like Toptracer Range and TrackMan Range. Now, learn how you can get pro-level data from your practice sessions at any facility in the world thanks to launch monitors designed specifically with club players in mind.
On February 9, there was snow on the ground in Connecticut while the fairways at the We-Ko-Pa Resort in Fort McDowell, Arizona, were emerald green. After a 30-minute frost delay that morning, the range opened under a cobalt-blue sky and the sun quickly warmed the air. The Saguaro Course, the top-ranked track on Golfweek’s “Best Courses You Can Play List: Arizona,” beckoned.
After not playing for four months, I was nervous and knew warming up could be an adventure. What was my swing going to look like? Where were these shots going?
I took a Rapsodo Mobile Launch Monitor out of a small pocket in my bag, turned it on and linked it to my iPhone using Bluetooth. Then, after setting the compact device about 8 feet behind me, I started hitting some balls.
A sand wedge went 71 yards. Another sand wedge, 94 yards. A few minutes later I switched to an 8-iron and it sailed 144 yards. Then 146, 157 and then another to 157 as I started to loosen up.
A few 6-irons, a couple of 4-hybrid shots (I always warm up with even-numbered clubs) and then the driver – 241 yards, then 250. Ok, so that’s what I’ve got today. Let’s have fun!
Launch monitors made for weekend golfers
Graphite shafts, titanium driver heads and multilayer, urethane-covered balls were all game-changing, but the development of portable launch monitors has changed how elite golfers train, how swing gurus teach and how club makers fit gear to meet the best players’ needs.
However, to get the most out of something like a TrackMan 4, a FlightScope X3 or a Foresight GC Quad, you need deep pockets and a Ph.D. in swing dynamics. Devices like those start at more than $10,000, with some devices topping $20,000.
Systems like that are not practical for weekend golfers, but several companies are now offering launch monitors designed for recreational players. Admittedly, systems like the Rapsodo Mobile Launch Monitor, FlightScope Mevo, Swing Caddie SC300 and SkyTrak Golf Simulator and Launch Monitor do not track as many things as those expensive units. For instance, they don’t provide information on the clubface at impact, the attack angle and typically can’t determine spin rates. They do, however, provide accurate, consistent information that will help any club player practice smarter, get more out of lessons and make smarter equipment decisions. In short, they can be a powerful tool for a Connected Golfer.
Rapsodo Launch Monitor
While there are subtle differences between the units, most work on the same principles. After linking with your smartphone or tablet, the launch monitors track your shots by emitting Doppler radar, which is transmitted in the direction you are hitting and reflects off the ball and back to the unit. Some models also use internal cameras, or the camera built into your smartphone or tablet, to track the ball.
Using the radar and camera information, the system’s software reveals things like ball speed, carry distance, launch angle and shot height. Some systems can also display things like angle of descent.
As technologies have advanced over the past few years, there are now several different models available that work both outside and indoors. Used indoors, launch monitors track the first few feet of your shot, then extrapolate where the ball would have flown based on its velocity, launch angle and spin rate. This allows golfers in cold-weather climates to use the systems year-round.
At this point, one question is obvious: Compared with a high-priced launch monitor system used by pros like Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy and Danielle Kang, how accurate can a unit that costs $500-$1,000 be?
Well, according to Rapsodo, its $499 unit measures ball speed within 0.8 percent of a TrackMan. The company also claims that launch angle measurements are within 1 degree and carry distance is within 1.87 percent. That’s less than 6 feet of difference for every 100 yards of carry distance.
So, for golfers who do not live near a facility with a system like Toptracer Range or TrackMan Range, these devices are revolutionary. They allow golfers to interconnect different aspects of their game easily, utilizing real data.
Rapsodo feedback
Make practice more meaningful. Launch monitors designed for club players show things like carry distance and ball speed, but several also display visual representations of your shots. Sure, the arcs and tracer patterns created on your smartphone or tablet are cool to see, but after you hit a series of shots with the same club, observing a scatter pattern of your shots can reveal a clear picture of how far you hit that club and where you tend to miss. You can see the typical severity of a slice or a hook, learn how high you are hitting different shots and with some models, discover how much roll occurs after your shots land.
Share swings and data with coaches. For years, it has been common to see pros on the PGA Tour get their caddie to capture video clips of swings with a smartphone, then email those videos to their instructor back home. Launch monitors made for recreational golfers typically have a “share” feature that makes sending shot information easy. Some models take things to another level. For example, Rapsodo allows golfers to send video clips with distance, ball speed and launch angle data, along with a tracer pattern of the shot, automatically overlaid on the video. It is a powerful way for students and instructors to reinforce what was taught in lessons and for instructors to give follow-up tips to players.
Data to share with club fitters. One of the first things a good club fitter does is examine a player’s gear and have him or her hit balls using a launch monitor to create a baseline of performance. Armed with data collected from your own launch monitor, a player can bring more information to the fitting, then use it to tell whether new clubs perform better than the gear he or she already owns. They can also tell whether dispersion patterns are tighter, shots are flying higher and compare other aspects of performance.
Having your own launch monitor is not going to transform your game overnight. It can, however, help you practice smarter, communicate with your instructor more effectively between lessons and understand your game on a deeper level. Those things, in turn, should help you improve as a player and shoot lower scores.
In the next installment of The Connected Golfer, we cover shot-tracking systems that allow you to replay every shot in your round, gather performance data about your game and discover the strengths (and weaknesses) of your game.
In our new equipment series, the Connected Golfer, we help you make the most of available data about your game to become a better player.
The Connected Golfer is a new, multi-part series that examines how advancements in technology and new products are allowing golfers to connect and share information gathered on the range, on the course, during lessons and in equipment-fitting sessions like never before. By applying real, personalized data to lessons, rounds and club fittings (no more guessing and buying off the rack!), golfers can make better decisions and more easily monitor their progress. Learn how to gather information and how to use it in conversations with coaches and club fitters, and you’ll get better, quicker, and have more fun doing it.
In the first installment, we introduce you to the practice area of the future – one that’s here today.
The views at Spanish Hills Club in Camarillo, California, are stunning. The tricky course is perched on a hill above lemon orchards, strawberry fields and farmland. However, the best thing I can say about the Spanish Hills driving range is it’s ego-boosting. As you hit down a steep slope, your shots seem to hang in the air forever.
Across the country, the opposite is true at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey. A bastion of blue-blooded tradition, the club has hosted seven U.S. Opens, two U.S. Women’s Opens and two PGA Championships, but the members’ range slopes uphill, making shots fly shorter.
Golfers who want to improve their game spend a lot of time on driving ranges, but most facilities, whether they slope downhill, uphill or are flat, are not designed to provide a lot of feedback. Most just have flags fluttering at distances like 100, 150 and 200 yards. They are, essentially, empty fields where golfers typically hit a shot off a matt (or turf, if you’re lucky), roll another ball into place and then hit the same shot again, hoping to see a straighter flight and more distance.
But thankfully, with advancements in technology and a growing demand among golfers for more information about the shots they hit, systems like Toptracer Range and TrackMan Range can transform tired, little-used practice spaces into areas where you can learn almost as much about your shots as pros on the PGA Tour who regularly use launch monitors that cost as much as a car.
A new era of information
Chris Cote operated the pro shop at GolfQuest, a double-decker practice facility in Southington, Connecticut, for years before he bought the entire facility in 2019. GolfQuest benefits from a good location, directly off Interstate 84, and initially opened in 1997. There was nothing special about it until Cote installed Toptracer Range.
By utilizing a pair of high-definition cameras that were first developed to create shot-tracer patterns on golf broadcasts, the system can track shots hit from 66 different hitting bays.
Cameras on the practice range help collect data for players as they practice.
“Think about the technology that you get watching a football game on TV with the first down line and the technology that you get that makes the line calls in tennis,” said Ben Sharpe, Toptracer’s CEO. “That’s the technology that we’re using for Toptracer, which is our secret sauce.”
As the cameras follow the ball, Toptracer Range collects information like carry distance, total distance, shot height, launch angle, curvature and landing angle. But instead of creating a graphic for Golf Channel, CBS or NBC, Toptracer Range displays it on television screens positioned in every hitting bay. Downloading a free app on a smartphone or tablet allows a golfer to access that information directly from his or her device.
Toptracer has become a key element of golf broadcasts.
TrackMan Range, developed by the same Danish company that makes the popular TrackMan launch monitors used by pros, works in much the same way. A radar-emitting transmitter positioned at the back of the range follows a shot’s path, then sends information to an app on your smartphone or tablet where you can see all kinds of information.
Systems like Toptracer Range and TrackMan Range encourage effective and efficient practice. In a single session, you can easily discover the average carry distance with every club in your bag. These systems can also help you work on things like accuracy, consistency and feel.
For example, if you want to work on approach shots, instead of hitting at a flag that happens to be 125 yards away, you can pre-select any yardage you like and Toptracer Range or TrackMan Range will reveal how close you come to that distance. The systems will not only show you your shot patterns, they will reveal your most-common misses and tendencies, too.
If you are learning to shape shots, your eyes can tell you that a ball is moving from right to left, but Toptracer Range and TrackMan Range can reveal exactly how much your shots curved, and how much they rolled out after landing.
There’s no guesswork here, just hard numbers.
An extra benefit is that Toptracer Range and TrackMan Range save all the data collected during your sessions in the system, so you can review your shots on your smartphone, tablet or desktop computer later. You can also share the information and findings, and that’s when things can get really interesting.
Knowledge is power
Golfers can take the information they learn on shot-tracking-enabled ranges and put it directly to use on the golf course. For example, if you know that your 6-iron has flown an average of 150 yards over the course of five practice sessions, when you’re faced with a par 3 that requires a 155-yard carry, picking a 5-iron will be an easier decision to make. Similarly, if you know from shot-tracking range sessions that hitting a half-swing sand wedge sends the ball 45 yards and makes it stop quickly, you can reach for that club more confidently the next time you are forced to play from that awkward distance.
If you are taking lessons, it is one thing to tell your PGA of America instructor or pro that you practiced three times since your last meeting, but it is another to show him or her data from each of those sessions. When an instructor can see tracer patterns of your shots and view your dispersion patterns with each club, he or she can get a better feel for how you are progressing.
A player browses shot data at Chris Cote’s range in Southington, Connecticut.
Likewise, sharing information you gather on shot-tracking-enabled ranges can help club fitters get a better understanding of your tendencies and the distance gaps between your clubs the next time you need new gear. Instead of relying solely on the shots you hit that day during your fitting, the fitter can consider a much larger number of shots and make better recommendations for you.
For the facility, shot-tracking systems offer benefits too. According to Toptracer, 90 percent of the facilities that add Toptracer Range see an increase in new golfer visits, with 74 percent of golfers going to those facilities specifically because they have Toptracer Range. To help facilities afford the equipment and costs associated with installing Toptracer Range, the company offers a five-year leasing program, but according to Sharpe, many ranges become cash-positive within the first month of operation because of the increased traffic.
“The Southington location has been absolutely insane,” Cote said. Even in the midst of a cold New England winter, with the range itself covered with snow, heaters and covers above the hitting bays have kept things, in Cote’s words, overwhelming.
After Toptracer was installed, Cote utilized Facebook and Instagram to get the word out about the upgrades to his facility, but after six months he stopped. The word was out and his business was thriving.
Cote opened a second Toptracer location in Portland, Connecticut, in June 2020 and said that with no advertising, within a month the range was packed.
Hitting bays at Chris Cote’s range in Southington, Connecticut.
“The younger kids absolutely love it,” he said. “I think they almost prefer it over playing golf. I really do. They hang out with their buddies, have a couple of drinks and don’t have to worry about the group behind them. They can play music. It’s fun!”
The bottom line is this: Empty-field, traditional driving ranges are still the norm, but as you can see by clicking on these maps, (here and here), there are lots of facilities where you can track your shots and gather data easily. More are coming soon, and in time, golfers at every level are going to practice more effectively and use what they learn in those practice sessions to become better golfers.
