Lets talk launch monitors. This will be a two part “corner”. This week we can look at the value of owning one. Next week, we can talk about the differences between them.

When I started fitting clubs 30+ years ago technology (of really any kind) didn’t exist. We fit by feel and we looked at the ball flight. I’d listen to contact. I’d look at divots to figure out lie. Sometimes we used a lie board. There weren’t as many shaft options – not having as many options made it easier. Then one day, I got a gadget that could read club head speed (BELtronics Swing mate). Haha. Let’s put this next to an Apple IIe and reminisce about the good old days gone by. I used this for about 15 years. Mizuno came out with the shaft optimizer in 2007. This was a game changer and it’s still good technology today. This measures how (and when) a player loads the shaft. It can recommend a shaft based on that data. I remember getting a Foresight GC2 in about 2011 or 12. I hated it. It had so much data and I didn’t know what any of it meant. Worse yet, there was little training or documentation on it. GC 2 was revolutionary and might still be the best selling launch monitor of all time, despite how incomplete it is by todays standards. 

Truth be told, I never really embraced the launch monitor technology until I starting using Trackman in 2015. At that point, I made it a point to study the data, understand what was good and bad, a figure out how to make an informed decision on a recommendation for a player based on what I was seeing. Understanding HOW the data is read, and WHAT data to use, and HOW to interpret what you’re seeing is the most important thing. Once you know that, you can determine what is good for the player you are working with. Unfortunately, though experience counts in this case – the more exposure you have to it, the better you become at deciphering the data, and the better fitter you will be. There are no shortcuts here. Just having the machine will not make you a good fitter. You have to invest time along with the machine.

The question for you is, is it worth it? Can you teach with it? Of Course!! Can you fit with it? Sure. Does the investment in technology make sense for you and your facility? Ask yourself these questions:

• Are you willing to embrace the technology? This means taking the time to learn the technology. Understand the difference between a good number and a bad one. If you teach with it, does the data support what your eyes and mind are telling you? Just buying the machine will not make you a better teacher or fitter.
• Can you afford it? If you give 4 or 5 lessons per week and you fit 10 players per year and this isn’t going to change, the answer is probably no. If this is you and you think you can actively grow your teaching and fitting business, it might be yes – but how much you spend on the tool might be a consideration. If you’re a teaching and/or fitting machine, the answer is probably yes. Start exploring!!
• Can it make money for you? Can you charge more for a lesson? Will it add more value to your teaching? Can you charge for a fitting if you want to? Can you rent it to a student to practice? Can you rent it to another teaching pro or a fitter? Step one is paying for it. Step two is making profit dollars from it. Perhaps some hypothetical numbers can dumb it down. Consider this:
• You’re a teaching machine. You teach 25 one hour lessons per week. You charge $75 per hour. With the technology, you bump your fee to $100 (since you’re more efficient and more advanced, but still in the realm of what the better local teachers charge). $25 times 25 lessons equals $625 per week times 24 weeks (6 months of lessons) is $15,000in additional revenue. You just bought yourself a Foresight GC Quad (almost) in one year with no change in your lesson income in your pocket (You still pocket the first $75 of the lesson). If this is you, can you afford NOT to do it? 
• Say you teach 5 lessons per week under the same scenario. $you’d gain an extra $125 per week or $3,000 for the season. A machine that sit’s idle doesn’t generate $$$ for it’s owner. Perhaps a lower level launch monitor makes more sense in this scenario. In either case, a business plan would be in order to justify the investment. 
• Will your customers appreciate it/ All in, is it a worthwhile investment?? Know your audience. If you don’t charge extra for it, will you get more lesson business? If you don’t have one, will your students flee for another instructor who does? Will they pay an extra $25 per hour (or more) to see that data? Are they beginners and it doesn’t really matter all that much at this point in the students playing career? Will they fail to embrace the technology and data even if you do? What would you think if I showed up to fit you without a Trackman vs. with one? Would you be as comfortable with the fit if I didn’t have one? What if you buy the machine and if your students don’t appreciate it, or won’t pay the extra fee? These questions can answer if you can afford to invest or not. If you can sell your customer base on the merits and values of the technology, AND you have the customers who do embrace it, it would be difficult to not take the plunge.

Lastly, talk to your peers. If they use one, would they go back to teaching or fitting without one? How much extra do they charge since getting the technology? Did their lesson/ fitting business increase since getting the technology (by how much)? If they don’t have one, do they wish they did? Most professionals that I talk to wish they had one if they don’t, and would never go back to teaching/ fitting without one if they do have one. 

Consider me your first ask… 7+ years of religiously using a Trackman, and I would never show up to a fitting without one. We have 2 machines and we often have 4 fitters at an event, so we have to share a unit. We can start without the unit, but we always validate what we see with the Trackman. It makes us more accurate, significantly more efficient, and it provides a really cool experience for the player we are working with. I get anxious just thinking about not having it. Haha. 

Hope this helps. Until next time – happy fitting and Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!