How the Full Swing KIT Launch Monitor could change your game

SAN JOSE - All it took was one range session make me a believer.

For all my years in golf, my practice sessions have been misguided adventures lost somewhere between warming up for a round and last-minute attempts at fixing swing flaws. Rarely does any sort of 'aha' moment come from banging balls on my own.

That all changed the day I set the Full Swing KIT Launch Monitor 10 feet behind me at the Coyote Creek Golf Club's range, one of the few all-grass ranges near my home. I was about to dive deep into the world of high-tech launch monitors.

I've enjoyed the traditional golf-writer perks of club fittings and lessons at some of the game's best instruction venues - the Kingdom at Reynolds Lake Oconee, the Sea Island Golf Performance Center, ClubChampion, GolfTEC, Hot Stix, - but this was the first time using golf's latest, greatest tech toy on my own without the guidance of a professional. My experience might help you better understand why it's so important to own a personal launch monitor.

Best known for its indoor simulators, Full Swing spent nearly 5 years researching and developing a launch monitor new to the market at the request of Tiger Woods. Full Swing is the largest U.S.-based producer of golf and sport simulators, chosen as the Official Licensee of PGA TOUR and the Official Simulator of GOLF Channel. Plus, it is used in all Topgolf Swing Suites. This new launch monitor could be a game changer ... for the company, for Woods' attempted comeback and potentially for you and me.

By definition, launch monitors can be overwhelming to the average golfer. The Full Swing KIT can spit out 16 different data points after one swing. The fact that it was so simple to set up and use is a big selling point. Just charge it up, download the free app and you're ready.

The Full Swing KIT has a 4k camera with 1080p output, five hours of battery life and can directly connect to all iOS devices for instant feedback via the user-friendly app. It's a sleek-looking device. For a more premium experience, there is a $99 yearly membership.

I tested the device at two different ranges - Coyote Creek and the mats-only Santa Teresa Golf Club - with multiple friends to gauge different conditions and their reactions. We all agreed it's an incredible tool to dial in your game. Every swing looks at carry and total distance, spin rate and axis, ball and club speed, smash factor, club path, face and attack angle, face to path, apex, launch and horizontal angle, side carry and side total. You can view the numbers by looking at the launch monitor's screen, which will show any four you choose, or on the phone app, where the screen scrolls to include the entire 16 data points. A sentence defining what each statistical category means is available with a simple click.

The Full Swing KIT is very intuitive when it comes to changing clubs during a practice session. You can easily add clubs and delete really bad shots that tend to skew data.

Once you're finished, the collection of shots in a practice session is neatly organized on the app, allowing the golfer to analyze everything. A dispersion chart shows where every shot went. Separating the woods, hybrids and irons into three different graphs proves the accuracy of each style of club. Perhaps the most useful tool is it creates an average of the data collected on every shot hit with each particular club, both during that session and after every session ever recorded (with the premium membership). Whatever averages you're most interested in - total or carry distance, swing speed, etc. - it's all right there to see.

Trends can emerge after numerous sessions. Is the new driver you just bought going longer or straighter than the club it replaced? You can cross-reference the numbers.

For example, the Full Swing KIT told us that my friend John hits his driver with a slight draw and all other clubs without a tee to the right with a different spin. That revelation has already given him something to work on to improve. My biggest eye-opener was that my carry distance with most of my clubs is dramatically shorter than I thought. I'd better start pulling longer clubs or I'll continue to find those bunkers and other hazards.

What's really cool is every swing is captured on videos that are stored in the cloud-based app and can easily be shared with friends or on social media. Seeing your swing on the best shots compared to your worst can identify differences between the two, a path that can lead to a correction and actual improvement.

Woods, already a spokesman for Full Swing simulators, is using the data from the Full Swing KIT to guide his comeback from the car accident in February 2021 that almost took his life. His social media post last November announcing he was swinging the club again just about blew the golf world's collective mind. The Full Swing KIT was very noticeable in the photo.

"I asked Full Swing to develop a launch monitor that I knew I could trust every shot with. They delivered and it's better than I expected," Woods said in a statement. "Knowledge is so valuable in the game of golf, and this provides me with all the data I need to keep progressing."

During the research phase, Full Swing's team of engineers tried to maximize the best of all worlds - the size and weight of the unit, the radar-based technology needed to collect accurate data and most importantly, cost. The $3,999 cost isn't cheap, but Full Swing believes its technology is worth it. By comparison, the new Trackman 4 retails for $19,000 and the Foresight Sports GC3 for roughly $7,500. To learn more, visit fullswinggolf.com.

"We are doing for launch monitors what smartphones did to put a supercomputer affordably in the palm of your hand, (and) made it significantly easier to use and understand," Full Swing CEO Ryan Dotters said in a statement.

Golf fans hope the Full Swing KIT helps to lead Woods back to the PGA Tour. If Woods can trust it, you certainly can, too.

"I know that Full Swing is measuring my golf ball, not guessing at it," Woods said.