In the 20 years that I have been a professional there is no doubt in my mind that the arrival of the “launch monitor” is the most exciting and important tool for fitting the correct clubs to golfers. Data from Golf Digest in America has shown that the average golfer can gain 26 yards on their driver! Which is why we at the Suffolk golf and water park have not only invested in this new technology, but have also invested a lot of time training to interpret the information it provides.

There can’t be anyone who doesn’t want to hit the ball further providing it stays on line, and that is what can be achieved with the launch monitor. By using a camera and a nifty piece of software, in a matter of seconds it gives the ball and club speed, the launch angle, the carry and total distance, the back spin imparted and finally any directional spin. By altering aspects of the club i.e. the shaft, the head size, the loft etc the distance achieved can be improved on (unless of course you have the best club for you anyway which is possible, but unlikely if it wasn’t properly fitted to you).

Getting someone to change their grips, their shafts or the club head size are usually not difficult but try to get someone to use more loft and it’s often as if you are suggesting something terrible.

I don’t see the problem in using any club if it is proved to me that it is going to do the best job for me. So if you have any doubt let me see if I can convince you.

The best way to describe the sort of trajectory you need for optimum distance is to imagine holding a hosepipe. Held parallel to the ground the water travels little distance, In order to get the water to travel further you would naturally tilt the hose upwards thus creating an arc (in golf the launch angle). At what angle the water travels furthest would be your optimum distance, watch out there comes a point when you tilt it too much and get wet! Also if you change the pressure of the water coming out of the hose the distance will increase or decrease (in golf this would be the ball speed)

All this is true of a tee shot but there is one more bonus in golf to help us. Because the club head has loft on it it causes the ball to leave with a certain amount of backspin. This in turn creates aerodynamic lift (like an aeroplanes wing) which holds the ball in the air longer, allowing its speed to carry it farther.

So one can hopefully see how the launch angle, steepness of swing, speed and backspin combine to create the golf shot. To expect the human eye to be able to pick up on all these points would be unrealistic.

So if you would like to hit the ball as far and as straight as is possible book a fitting session on a launch monitor and take all the guesswork out.