What makes Tiger Woods the greatest golfer of his generation, if not all time?
One answer: his incredible iron play. Even though he may not have performed his best in his near-miraculous return to golf at the 2022 Masters, anyone who watched him play was treated to flashes of the old Tiger, who dissected golf courses on the strength of pinpoint approach shots of all distances, from all sorts of lies and with all sorts of shot shapes.
Becoming such a great iron player requires great feel and awareness of how subtle swing changes can cause the ball to fly differently. And a launch monitor can be an invaluable asset in this pursuit. In his pre-Masters preparations and at Augusta National Golf Club, Woods relied all week on the KIT launch monitor made by Full Swing, a company that also makes world-class indoor golf simulators.
You may associate launch monitors with super-technical approaches to the golf swing, but that is not necessarily the case. A launch monitor is a way to determine that the changes you are trying to make in your own game are bearing out in real terms. In other words, if you are trying to feel some difference in your swing, a launch monitor will help you determine whether you're on the right track by showing you changes in the various metrics of a golf shot - not just distance but spin, launch angle and other factors.
Two recent GolfPass tips really underscore the potential for a launch monitor to help you play better. They both use the Full Swing KIT launch monitor to illustrate how you can use this type of technology to turn different feels on the range into real results on the course.
Dial in Your Carry Yardages
Devan Bonebrake, who hosts The Golf Fix on GolfPass, is a believer in using technology to help you play better golf. In this tip, he plays around with his shot shape and uses a Full Swing KIT launch monitor to observe the effects those changes have on his ballflight. That sort of information is valuable to every golfer - not just the best in the world. If you've ever hit a shot you thought was perfect, only to see it sail over the green or come up woefully short, using a launch monitor can help you dial in the true distances you hit each club.
Play Holes on the Range
One of the hardest things to do in golf is to take your driving range game to the course. Why is it so easy to hit great shots on the range but then so difficult to play a solid round? The answer is likely because golfers aren't taking the same approach to every driving range swing that they would on the actual course. In this tip, Swing Expedition host Chris Como speaks with acclaimed teacher Brian Mogg about simulating the on-course experience on the driving range. With the help of a Full Swing KIT launch monitor, they actually "play" a couple holes on the range to demonstrate why this could help you shoot lower scores.
(Note: The Full Swing KIT launch monitor is available to the public. GolfPass members can save $300 on their purchase. Click here to learn more.)
