Do I buy a launch monitor to teach

So I run a PGM program in a small town of about 20k people. We focus more on hospitality than teaching, but my passion has always been for teaching. A golf course in the area that has been struggling and the city just gifted it to the program to run. I am teaching with video only currently and this is only a part time gig for in the summer as my main responsibilities are to running the PGM program.

My question is do you think I should invest in a launch monitor. Most of the serious golfers in the area have to travel about 45 min if they want to take a lesson from anyone with a launch monitor. My guesstimate is that the payoff period would be about 2 years due to my limited teaching time.

It's a selling point for sure. Also a great tool to help break people of the feel isn't real when you can show the real improvements from doing their old swing vs what your fix does.

Get with a good CPA on how the reduce the real cost of the machine.

Appreciate the input.

If club fitting is a possibility then launch monitor is a must. If just teaching I think you’ll get more bang for your bucks with a pressure mat. The boditrak is fairly affordable (vs a flightscope or track man) and is tremendously helpful with the vast majority of students.

Did boditrak ever figure out there syncing issue? I know in the past it was a problem.

Syncing with a launch monitor? No

On one hand golf was taught before launch monitors existed and clubs were fit. Some fitters and teachers did an excellent job without launch monitors. On the other hand there are a lot of potential customers that wouldn't consider someone without a monitor. If you want to reach them better get a monitor.

Steve

Given the current economic environment, it might be possible to pick up a used LM at a good price, which would shorten your payback period. If your PGM company is a for-profit entity, you could write off the entire purchase in one year, which also helps reduce the after-tax cost. I think the others above cover the non-financial issues pretty well.

A good launch monitor can only help. It will show you exactly what's happening and let you diagnose problems and fixes faster and more efficiently. It will also provide immediate positive feedback (in addition to improved ball flight) from your students. Seeing their ball speed or carry distance jump can be just the reinforcement they need to continue taking lessons with you.

That said it's not a requirement and if the finances aren't there and you are only teaching part time I wouldn't purchase yet.

I appreciate all the feedback. It seems like the consensus is if you can afford it a two year payback is reasonable even though I am only doing this part time. I could probably justify a cheaper LM option like a flightscope xi tour if I wanted to lower the payback period to a year.

Mevo + is 2k, and you can build from there as your client base increases.

I asked your question to all 8 members of our 2 groups today. 7 of the 8 said they would not take a lesson from anyone who didn't have or use a Trackman or similar as part of the lesson. It should be noted, however, all 8 are avid golfers who play 100+ rounds a year and that may not necessarily represent the segment you speak of in your particular market. In addition, I believe your biggest challenge would be pricing your lessons in such a way that allowed you to get sufficient return on your investment vs. offering a price that would be attractive enough to the demographics of that small town to keep your lesson book filled.

If you're serious about teaching, why aren't you getting the best technology available. "I'm only doing this part time" appears to reflect a half-ass approach as well as the equipment you would provide.

Whatever you decide, give your clients the most effective experience for them as you can.

I appreciate your comment and the reason I do it part time is due to trying to run a pgm program.

my question was more about weather doing it part time justifies the cost and the break even ratio.

i am sure you have an awesome studio with all the technology however with the small population and median income under 40k I can’t just spend blindly and charge 250 an hour and be booked up for 2 weeks in advance.

Get people better at golf. If you’re hitting on a range I don’t see it as necessary. You’ll likely need to get good bang for your buck. A $25k trackman in a small town where you need an ROI doesn’t make sense unless you’ve got $$$ to blow and don’t care.

I’ve taught on my own at a cheap local driving range. I got a $350 launch monitor because I thought I should have something. Meh. Knowing HOW to teach is far more important. I’ve been at it full time now for several years. Give me a couple noodles, an iPad, and some basic stuff out of my golf bag and I have all I need.

Now, if your university wants to purchase a Trackman or whatever for the program and you can use it when you teach that would be okay. Give the PGM students a ton more info.

ETA: You know what actually has a good ROI? Freaking marketing. Get good at cost effective marketing and you definitely don’t need an expensive launch monitor. I really think looking at this as having to get one is the wrong approach.

I don't think you have the market to justify it. A Mevo is a step up from what you have now. There's a old joke in the industry about pros with launch monitors worth more than their cars.

Buy something in the range of $2k for yourself since you're a 5 cap..... and see the lessons as a cool way to pay it off and get it for free! Plus it's a write off...

Perspective rocks!

I think my best options would be like an x2 which your going to pay around 4k for or a xi tour which you are going to pay around 6k for. Since I am teaching outside I don't think a 500 monitor or 2k monitor will add much value. We are hitting range balls so it's not like we can map out a bag and I won't have club data to really prove what they feel is wrong.

With an xi tour my break even would be less than a year, where I was originally looking at a trackman 3 which would have had a longer break even point. I think as unfortunate as it is many people would not even consider lessons from someone without a LM. I even sent out a mass email to our PGM students and almost 83% said they would not take a lesson without a LM that had club data. So at this point it seems like it's almost a must expense for any aspiring teachers weather it be me or future golf instructors.

I ended up trying an X2 and Xi Tour and Trackman 3. I went with the Xi Tour for a couple of reasons. I found when on the range the X2 would sometimes pickup other peoples balls. If you are ever on a busy range for whatever reason the Xi Tour seems to pick up your ball a little better. Also the size of the units is very different the Xi tour is much smaller and the battery life was much better. If you have the additional money from a user perspective I find setting up a trackman is much easier and the software I liked better. However once I got the Xi tour and Trackman the numbers were essentially the same. Some of the differences were AOA, which is documented Flightscope measures at first impact trackman measures at compression. This leads to differences in swing path, face angle etc, but if you are on the same one each day and not switching back and forth it really doesn't make a difference. As reference foresight also measures at impact similar to flightscope. One of the other differences is that when Trackman doesn't get the data it will show nothing. Basically it says it missed the ball or club. Flightscope didn't miss as many shot's but it seemed to try and calculate all the data parameters which led to goofy numbers. I guess I liked it when trackman didn't show anything but at end of the day they both didn't capture it you just need to be able to notice it.

Since they both gave me the same number I went with XI tour due to upfront cost and yearly costs.