Launch Monitor Distance vs. Real Distance?

Interested to know what experience people have when they demo clubs in the store using a launch monitor vs. the real thing.  Do the distances match up?  What about slice, draw etc?

Seems like a lot of people are putting faith in Launch Monitor etc. when they get fitted etc. and while clearly a great piece of technology just interested to know whether distance etc. is replicated in the real world...

Easiest way to tell is to take your current clubs and see if the distances matches up. I don't put a lot of faith in the distance numbers on a launch monitor but they are a good tool to use.

I dont trust the indoor launch monitors for anything other than swing speed and sometimes i question that. I was fitted on a Flightscope outdoors with Nike and it was very accurate. Trackman and Flightscope are the only ones that i would trust because they have the doppler ball tracking. As a side note it is really fun to see how far you dont hit the ball with a ball tracking launch monitor.

This is the starting point.

Launch monitors need to be properly calibrated and not "juiced up" to give the best info (distance is only one data point). Also, the monitor tech needs to know how to translate data points into possible head/shaft combinations (tech needs training, and enough customer sessions a week to build up skills).

Strangely, the monitor at our local Golf Galaxy is a bit conservative. I average about about 6 yards longer with irons and up to 15 longer with woods in the wild than I get on the launch monitor. The GG guys say distance is only one of the factors which the launch monitor measures.

No, I don't trust the figures, it can be completly sideways sometimes !

I hit up Dicks every couple weeks to swing at some balls. The staff where complete jerks at first but quickly came around. I wanted to hit around ten threw twenty balls so I could get a good estimate on my swing speed. So I bring my driver to the store and hit 20 balls every so often. I try not to even look at the distance but cant help but peak at times . I'm just hoping the SS is at least somewhat accurate.

The only thing i trust is ball speed, the calculation for distance can be way off..

A golf galaxy in Canton, Ohio had me hitting the ball 330-350 yards with the driver

A golf galaxy in Dayton, Ohio had me hitting the ball 280-300 yards with the driver

But the ball speed will read the same..

I've seen this in the same store - I was hitting an Adams 17 SH farther than I hit my driver, so the guy suggested using the other bay. It was 20 yards shorter with what felt like as good or better contact.

I would have the same opinion - useful information and well worth doing but only in conjunction with some "live" testing on the course... I have always found that the computers never accurately reflect how I hit on the course but to be honest I do not know if this is as a result of the algorithms or whether it is the fact that you are indoors away from the elements or whether my own "psychology" is the issue...interested to know others thoughts on this.

I put zero confidence in the "simulators" you see in Golf Galaxy, Dick's, etc.

I've hit balls on a Flightscope/Trackman three times now, outside and in, and they were spot on  for carry and total with what I see on the course (under neutral conditions of course).

This.

I love the monitor that checks my 6 iron at 205 and my driver at 235! It's wrong on both ends.

I was hitting a Ping G15 3 wood at my local golf shop (which I ended up buying) and the launch monitor was saying that I was hitting about 165 yards with it. However after buying it, I tested it out during my next round and one of my first shots with it was a dead straight 220 yard shot from the fairway.

It's distance may be off, but I must say that the ball flight on the launch monitor was pretty accurate.

This is a slightly interesting subject to me and in general imo. I recently was involved in a thread you may or may not be familiar with about hitting a long ball, and have been challenged to prove it on a track man in my city, very childish lol. I'm very in tune with my swing speeds and distances now on my home course, and am very eager to see what numbers this machine will produce and the differences if any. Ill post my results and any thoughts I have about them.

I have had accurate results at golfsmith, and not so accurate results at TGW... maybe because it was a simulator at TGW... but it was telling me I was hitting it 360... I don't think so...

The monitor at Golfsmith was telling me I had a club head speed right around 110 and was averaging 265/270 carry and the shot shape was spot on, I know this because I was hitting an unusual fade at the time that was exactly the same on the range.

I also have had better help at golfsmith, but that could easily vary from store to store.

If you have to use an indoor launch monitor the only real way to ensure accuracy is to bring in your current club and compare it to the new club you want to get. I wouldn't want to drop a bunch of money on new equipment if it doesn't perform better then my current gear.