Temporary LM HELP - Carry/Total distance > Everything else

MrBreakfastBall · April 24

What's up guys!

I could use a little help here. I'm going to break down the situation below. I would love to hear any personal experience you may have, because as always your opinions are valued.

Overview:

Looking for a temporary LM to use in my garage during the summer as its hard for me to get to a range very often. With the kids in baseball season, my golf days are generally reserved for playing rounds. I'm looking for something I can set down in the garage or basement and get some carry numbers so I have a better idea when it come to club/shot selection.

Setup:

I live in a typical ranch style home so I have a very long basement, ceilings are matte black with dimmable lighting. I may also use this in the garage. Typical 2 car garage attached to a ranch home with a much higher ceiling.

The Plan:

Is to grab something as cheap as possible that accomplishes this and upgrade to a GC2 or EML when the season is over (ideally around BF) and retire whatever filled the void in the meantime or use it in tandem if I go EML.

Use Case:

Just want to get an idea of numbers on full, 1/2, and qtr swings. As well as pitch shots and punch outs with different clubs. Don't really see myself chipping with it too much.

The Options:

- Swing Caddie 200 --> Around $100 bucks

- MLM --> Probably not the pro just the original if it can be used sensibly in my space.

- Please recommend any other options for me to review! Please leave some information on why you think this would be a good fit if you could, not just "buy this!"

EDIT: I am no where near an elite player lol, just a hack who wants to know his numbers and attempt to improve my game.

As always, thank you guys for your time and thoughts on this!

TL/DR: Help me find the cheapest LM that will give decent carry distances. I don't care about much else as I'll be upgrading this fall. Will be used indoors. Thank you!

Edited April 24 by MrBreakfastBall
Added information.

mgoblue83 · April 24

3 options:

1.) < $1000

2.) $2000-5000 monitor

3.) No monitor and just hit balls to stay loose and work on solid contact

I would not even consider option 1. Cheap launch monitors are nowhere near accurate to give you useable data. They are essentially video game toys that can be fun to use but will not help you dial in distances or direction. In many cases it can make you worse at golf because you think you're hitting a straight shot 150yds but in reality it's a weak cut that misses right and only goes 130yds.

Pretty much anything in the $2000-5000 range is going to give you data that is accurate enough to make real improvements at home.

MrBreakfastBall · April 24

Ah, that stinks I was hoping something like the SC would be decent enough for carry numbers on centered strikes. I know not to trust any of the other data too much esp. indoors. Just would like to know how far a centered strike travels when my swing is on plane indoors. I can generally tell my ball flight by looking at my swing path in slow motion.

Essentially it sounds like your recommending I hold off until the Fall when I go to purchase a more robust unit to use for Sim, probs either the EML or GC2.

Thank you!

Edited April 24 by MrBreakfastBall

eddiebigeddie · April 24

1 hour ago, MrBreakfastBall said:

Ah, that stinks I was hoping something like the SC would be decent enough for carry numbers on centered strikes. I know not to trust any of the other data too much esp. indoors. Just would like to know how far a centered strike travels when my swing is on plane indoors. I can generally tell my ball flight by looking at my swing path in slow motion.

Essentially it sounds like your recommending I hold off until the Fall when I go to purchase a more robust unit to use for Sim, probs either the EML or GC2.

Thank you!

Not sure what your asking, as I didn’t recommend anything 🤷🏻‍♂️

MrBreakfastBall · April 24

@eddiebigeddie I'm not sure how it tagged you but I meant to reply to @mgoblue83. Sorry about that man!

WipeyFade · April 24

We have a Garmin R10 set up for our golf team at the high school where I teach. We also have about a dozen teachers that use it in their free time. For the money, I doubt there is a better launch monitor on the market. We find it to be pretty accurate with the right software. We are currently using GSPro, and so far it is the most accurate of all we have used. Other software programs we have used are E6 Connect, Awesome Golf, and the Garmin app. After GSPro, I would say E6 is the most accurate for shot curvature and distance. Awesome Golf tends to be a little long and the Garmin app seems to be shorter.

MrBreakfastBall · April 24

@WipeyFade Appreciate the response! I feel like the footprint needed is a tad bigger with the R10. I'm going to have to double check the spacing in garage to see if it would be feasible.

aramirez24 · April 24

Best case would be a use BLP for maybe $2k if someone was trying to sell it quick. That would honestly suffice when you decided to upgrade your space. The best rule of thumb is to spend on the LM first and build your space around it. The radar ones if you have the space actually do a decent job, I have a mevo+ in my garage I've had since they came out and it works just as well as some of the other ones I've tested.

MrBreakfastBall · April 24

@aramirez24

Appreciate it boss!

I'm not sure how much the space will change in the near future. Buying a house next year but even then I would want to keep it camera based and small as possible.

I was honestly just wanting something cheap to toy around with during season until I really spent time indoors working on my game.

When the fall comes I would definitely be looking at a camera based unit to minimize footprint and increase capabilities as well as play some sim golf. The BLP is in the mix but I've messed around with a GC2 and really enjoy it, I'm tech savvy so can deal with getting it connected. The BLP caught my eye until...subscription madness made my brain hurt.

From what you guys are saying, I may take @mgoblue83's advice and just beat balls into the net until fall comes and I'm ready to buy the GC2/BLP/EML/whatever i actually end up buying lol

Jayjay_theweim_guy · April 24

"Just want to get an idea of numbers on full, 1/2, and qtr swings. As well as pitch shots and punch outs with different clubs. Don't really see myself chipping with it too much."

Going to go against the grain, and say that if all you're trying to do is grab ball speed and club speed, something like an SC200 isn't bad. Yes, it doesn't account for spin, and yes it'll overstate club speed and ball speed (IME, hooks look artificially faster, fades can be slower. Or my smother hooks are taking off that much spin. Shrug.)

That said, for ball speed, it's not bad at all. I think the last time I've compared it to TM or GC2 or 3, it was off by ~1% if that. Club speed it's consistent, but inaccurate. Overstates speed by about 4-5% across the board, but it consistently overstates it. Since you don't have spin, and launch is inferred by club loft you manually enter, distance is a bit of a swag. Still valuable though.

IME, it's not good at all on very highly arced shots. Either the radar can't see the ball, the big launch angle differences play hell with its distance inferences, but it's bad with very lofted wedges in my case. For someone like Jon Sherman, who plays it lower, he's stated in the past it worked fine for wedge partial shots.

Just another data point.

Roejye · April 24

I'll start this off by saying I'm cheap, so IMO the most cost effective thing would be to bang balls into the net. However, I have a sc200+ that I use in the winter at an indoor range. I find does very well on full swings. It doesn't seem to do that great on partials for me, but that was with a wedge, so maybe I launch it too high like @Jayjay_theweim_guy said.

MrBreakfastBall · April 25

@Jayjay_theweim_guy, @Roejye

Thank you guys for the insight! Essentially it sounds like this thing could be good for the irons and not much wedge fun.

I'm not going to hold you guys though. I ended up grabbing a super cheap SC200 that I can return for ~75 bucks. With that said I have 30 days to see if its worth the 75 bucks, no harm no foul in my opinion. Something to toy around with for a week or two at the very least.

Appreciate everyone that gave some input!

Jayjay_theweim_guy · April 25

1 hour ago, MrBreakfastBall said:

@Jayjay_theweim_guy, @Roejye

Thank you guys for the insight! Essentially it sounds like this thing could be good for the irons and not much wedge fun.

I'm not going to hold you guys though. I ended up grabbing a super cheap SC200 that I can return for ~75 bucks. With that said I have 30 days to see if its worth the 75 bucks, no harm no foul in my opinion. Something to toy around with for a week or two at the very least.

Appreciate everyone that gave some input!

It's not bad for woods at all. Elevating the unit for Driver---the box it comes in is great for this---helps with accuracy. Which makes me think it's a high-angle issue for the wedges.

The SC200+ model has a swing speed only mode, for speed training. Again, consistent, not accurate. For 75 bucks, I would find value in it. Of course, a Skytrak/GC2 is going to be better.

Haven't tried the Garmin or Rapsodo units to compare.

MrBreakfastBall · April 25

@Jayjay_theweim_guy The SC200+ would've sealed the deal as staying just for SS curiosity from time to time. I came across the base 200 model without that goodie. But like you said I'm sure it can find some value for ~75 between myself and my two little boys who have a sets and love going to the indoor ranges.

I'll give it a shot with the hybrids. It'll be here tomorrow so I'll report back and confirm what y'all said more than likely lol.