Instruction
Launch Monitor Data for Dummies
How numbers can improve accuracy and distance
by JOSH APPLE, Director of Player Development, The Piedmont Club
APPLYING SCIENCE TO golf has become common for players of all skill levels and ages, yet many players still struggle with the numbers. The average launch monitor has more than 20 data points on both ball and club information, which can be overwhelming. The numbers can be separated into two main categories: the data parameters for direction control and the data parameters for distance and trajectory control.
DATA PARAMETERS FOR DIRECTION CONTROL CLUB DATA Club Path: Path is the direction the club is traveling as it strikes the golf ball, left or right. An in-to-out path, or a path traveling to the right of the target for a right-handed player, is better for creating draw spin, whereas a club traveling out-to-in is better for fade spin. Players who struggle with a slice typically swing with a leftward path, which produces rightward side spin.
Club Face: Face is the angle of the club, left or right, as it strikes the golf ball. An open face is pointing right of the target and a closed face is pointing left of the target, for right-handed players. The perfect face angle is one that is half of the path. The face should only be zero if the path is zero.
Face-to-Path: The face and path relationship dictates curve. The further apart the face and path are, the more the ball curves; if the face and path are the same, then the
34 V IRGINIA G OLFER | M ARCH / A PRIL 2026 vsga. org