A launch monitor throws twenty numbers at you. Six of them decide the fitting. Here is what each one means and what we do about it.
Golfers arrive at the bay with wildly different levels of comfort around this data. Some have their own monitor at home and speak in spin loft; others have never seen the numbers and would rather not start now. Neither position is a problem — but a fitting goes better when you understand why a recommendation was made, so this page covers the vocabulary in the order we usually use it.
How fast the ball leaves the face, in miles per hour. It is the single strongest predictor of distance, and unlike clubhead speed it accounts for how well you struck the shot. In a fitting we watch its consistency more than its peak — a golfer whose ball speed swings fifteen miles per hour across ten shots has a strike problem no shaft will solve.
Ball speed divided by clubhead speed. A driver struck out of the middle sits near 1.50; irons run lower because loft costs you some of that transfer. It is a strike-quality gauge, nothing more. If yours is low we look at length, lie and head shape before we look at anything expensive.
Where the ball first lands, ignoring roll. This is the number that builds your yardage map, because roll depends entirely on the fairway you happen to be standing on that day. Every gapping decision in the studio is made on carry.
How steeply the ball is falling when it lands. Shallow descent means the ball releases forward on landing and will not hold a firm green; steep descent stops it quickly. When somebody says their long irons "just run through the back", descent angle is almost always what they are describing.
Backspin in revolutions per minute. Too little and the ball falls out of the air early; too much and it balloons and loses distance into wind. There is no universally correct figure — the right spin depends on your launch angle and ball speed, which is why we never quote a target in isolation.
How wide the pattern is left to right. The least glamorous number on the screen and usually the most valuable. A driver that carries four yards shorter but halves your dispersion width is an obvious win, and it is the trade we recommend more often than any other.
Useful as a sanity check, not a target. Loft alone accounts for most of the variation down the set.
| Club | Typical Range | What Low Suggests |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | 1.44 – 1.50 | Off-centre strike or wrong length |
| 3 Wood | 1.42 – 1.48 | Steep angle of attack off turf |
| Hybrid | 1.38 – 1.45 | Head too small for the strike pattern |
| 6 Iron | 1.33 – 1.40 | Lie angle or shaft length mismatch |
| 9 Iron | 1.24 – 1.31 | Usually normal — loft explains it |
| Pitching Wedge | 1.19 – 1.26 | Usually normal — loft explains it |
You can catch a driver flush and still hit it forty yards offline. Strike quality and direction are separate problems.
Rollout on a monitor is modelled, not measured. Two courses give you two different totals from the same strike.
Carry improving while dispersion doubles is a worse club. We read the numbers as a set or not at all.
Reading about descent angle is one thing. Watching yours change when the loft moves is another.