In my line of work, I spend a lot of time working with tour players in an effort to maximize the performance of their golf clubs. But as I’ve seen, even the best golfers in the world are sometimes confused about the launch conditions they need to hit their best drives. And if they don’t know, what chance does the average golfer have to understand their ideal launch conditions?

Enter Launch Doctor, a tool I created to help all golfers understand how to create their desired launch angle, spin rate, angle of attack and dynamic loft for the type of driver trajectory that best suits their game. Not everyone always wants maximum distance off the tee, so I wanted a tool that showed golfers how to achieve a variety of launch conditions.

Launch Doctor works by having golfers to enter their basic information: club head speed, the driver they’re using and the launch monitor they’re using. It then calculates and delivers the angle of attack and dynamic loft needed to create three different types of launch conditions with a golfer’s driver: max distance, control and distance, and max control.

What to do with the numbers

Of course, the numbers provided by the Launch Doctor have one major assumption: that golfers hit the ball in line with the center of gravity (CG), or what most golfers refer to as the sweet spot. There are also other variables at play, like the slight difference in CG position between drivers. Remember, it’s not always in the dead center of the face. And there are also slightly different coefficients of friction from different club faces and golf ball types. But all in all, this handy little tool will provide you with the exact driver launch conditions you need to hit the drives you’ve always wanted to hit within +/- 1 degree.

Below is a sample from the Launch Doctor for a swing of 100 mph on a radar launch monitor. 

Quantifying and measuring all of the variables at play during the collision is incredibly complex. There is so much going on that I can’t even pretend to understand the intricacies. Even today’s leading launch monitors only present a fraction of all the possible measurable. In my opinion, the biggest variable affecting ball flight is gear effect, which is the term used to describe the resultant change in spin rate and axis tilt when the ball in not struck in line with the CG of the club head. It has such a massive effect on controlling the tee ball that it should never be overlooked by the average golfer looking to improve.

I have had the opportunity to test all levels of golfers, including major champions using the GC2 with HMT, and the biggest difference I see in golfers of different ability levels is the centeredness and consistency of strike. I also believe striking the ball in the center of the club face plays a major role in helping golfers develop the consistent face control they possess.

Just because you get your optimized delivery numbers from the Launch Doctor doesn’t mean they will magically appear in your golf game. Typically, if you are looking to make a shift in angle of attack, you’ll want to work on that with your golf coach. If you don’t have one and want to improve you ability to create more ideal launch conditions off the tee, I recommend you find a highly qualified instructor in your area. As I’ve seen many times, a major shift in angle of attack that’s not executed properly can be disastrous to control. If your challenge is creating the correct dynamic loft, then you should go see your local club fitter and set the benchmark you need using the Launch Doctor, and then let them go to work.

I hope GolfWRXers enjoy playing around with this little tool. And if you like Launch Doctor, you are sure to love some of the cool things I have coming down the pipe. Also, if you’re a real golf geek or launch monitor owner, then you will probably find this research paper published and presented at the 2014 World Scientific Congress of Golf interesting: IMPCaTT Research Study.