Low cost launch monitor

[frankqt]

Hi Fellow golfers,

I have recently seen a demo of a device through an investment opportunity. The device can measure speed, launch angle, horizontal angle, spin and spin axis. I hit balls myself and I observed the results are close to Trackman. I promised to keep the info confidential but the demo was impressive.

The founder of the company thinks, they can market this for 399$. I like to ask to the guys on board:

- Low cost device such as that, who will buy such a device? How big is the market? What would you do with such data? (Distance, launch angle etc). Would the average golfer buy it? If so why?

I get why the teaching pros would buy it but that is a very small market. Would you guys buy it? If so why?

[robrey85]

If it is portable enough to be taken to the driving range, I would buy one. Especially considering Trackman devices range from 17-24 grand, haha.

[x129]

If it could be hooked up to a simulator, it would be a nice addition to the garage hitting net. I am assuming that this is camera based not radar (those tend to need a lot of space) Ideally you would want some software that runs on an iPad (i.e. most of us don't have room for a projector and full laptop system).

Will the average golfer buy it? Nope. But I think between teachers, schools, and dedicated golfers you could sell a couple thousand a year. Who knows if that would be enough to sustain a business or not.

Originally Posted by frankqt

Hi Fellow golfers,

I have recently seen a demo of a device through an investment opportunity. The device can measure speed, launch angle, horizontal angle, spin and spin axis. I hit balls myself and I observed the results are close to Trackman. I promised to keep the info confidential but the demo was impressive.

The founder of the company thinks, they can market this for 399$. I like to ask to the guys on board:

- Low cost device such as that, who will buy such a device? How big is the market? What would you do with such data? (Distance, launch angle etc). Would the average golfer buy it? If so why?

I get why the teaching pros would buy it but that is a very small market. Would you guys buy it? If so why?

[hanalei]

If its anything like the optishot, which it sounds like it does, it only measures from the ground up....not to mention the huge gap (bank of infrared sensors and recievers) it has before the tee, so if u hit a fat shot u could destroy the whole unit...beware...I returned mine.

[RayG]

You can MAKE a launch angle device with a piece of newspaper, 2 sticks and a protractor. And if you looked around, you could probably find a used simulator system for around that price. Would I buy one? No... but Barnum had the right idea and SOMEONE would buy it because it's available.

[x129]

I would assume it is more like the foresight or any of the other launch monitors that use cameras to measure ball speed. Optishot does not measure the ball at all. It measures the clubhead. I am unaware of any ball measuring monitors  less than about 700 bucks.

And yeah I am sure you could make some contrataception to measure launch angle. Let us know if it is accurate to with in .5 degrees and can do the measurement in less than 10s. 400 bucks is a bunch of money but it isn't out of the realm for any hard core golfer (i.e. the ones buying 400 dollar clubs).

Originally Posted by hanalei

If its anything like the optishot, which it sounds like it does, it only measures from the ground up....not to mention the huge gap (bank of infrared sensors and recievers) it has before the tee, so if u hit a fat shot u could destroy the whole unit...beware...I returned mine.

Sent from my Holographic Touch Android.

[Large chris]

I'd say definitely there is a market for such a device, me for a start. The obvious points would be verification of the accuracy, does the golf ball need to be marked, does it work off grass, how can you use the data (iPad, pc etc.) If there are good answers to these questions then it would be way cheaper than something like the GC2 (probably cheaper than it needs to be in fact) and yes two thousand units is achievable BUT like most moderate or high volume products, a good investment in marketing is required to get the message out.