Guides · Playing, practice and accuracy
Which Launch Monitor Numbers Matter for Home Practice, and Which Can You Ignore?
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For home practice, we would start with carry distance and club path, then add spin rate and angle of descent for wedge work. That selection combines MyGolfSpy's guidance on approach shots and practice priorities; it is not a test of any launch monitor's accuracy.
MyGolfSpy suggests choosing two or three numbers for the goal of the session and letting the rest wait. Its advice to ignore some metrics has conditions: for example, spin axis may add little when you can already see the curve and understand face and path.
Use the numbers to answer a practice question rather than trying to react to every figure after every shot. For wedge gapping, the sourced method below also tracks dispersion and explains how to average carry.
Four numbers to start with
Carry distance is the distance from the strike to the ball's first contact with the ground (Carl's Place). For approach shots, carry matters more than total distance (MyGolfSpy). Indoors you cannot pace out the full carry: the screen stops the flight before the ball would land downrange.
Club path is the direction the clubhead travels through impact relative to the target line. MyGolfSpy calls it the easier and more useful number to focus on in practice (MyGolfSpy).
Spin rate and angle of descent describe how the ball comes down: how fast it is spinning and how steeply it falls. MyGolfSpy lists both, with carry and dispersion, as the numbers to track for wedges (MyGolfSpy). They help you compare wedge shots intended to stop near where they land.
Carl's Place also defines ball speed, vertical launch angle, club speed, face angle, angle of attack and smash factor (Carl's Place). The practice priorities above follow MyGolfSpy's advice for a focused session, rather than ranking every available metric.
The carry definition is sourced; the other "What it means" entries are plain-language explanations rather than quoted definitions. A dash means a use or ignore condition has not been confirmed from the MyGolfSpy guidance consulted; it makes the number neither useless nor essential.
| Metric | What it means | Use it for | Can ignore if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carry distance | Distance from strike to first ground contact | Approach shots flown to a pin; wedge gapping | — |
| Total distance | Carry plus the roll after landing | — | — (carry matters more for approach shots) |
| Club path | Direction the clubhead moves through impact relative to the target line | The swing number to focus on in practice | — |
| Spin rate | How fast the ball spins after impact | Wedge gapping | — |
| Angle of descent | How steeply the ball comes down | Wedge gapping | — |
| Dispersion | How widely a set of shots spreads | Wedge gapping | — |
| Spin axis | Tilt of the ball's spin, seen as curve | — | You can see the curve and already know what face and path are doing |
| Spin loft | A club-delivery number; see your app's definition | — | You're in normal practice |
| Swing plane | Tilt of the club's swing arc | — | You're in normal practice |
| Swing direction | Where the swing arc points relative to the target line | — | You're in normal practice |
| Dynamic lie | The club's lie angle at impact | — | You're in normal practice |
Numbers to leave for later
MyGolfSpy names spin loft, swing plane, swing direction, dynamic lie and spin axis as numbers to ignore during normal practice (MyGolfSpy). That is advice to set them aside, not a claim that they mean nothing.
The condition for spin axis is specific. You can skip it if you can already see the curve and know what the face and path are doing (MyGolfSpy). In a simulator room, the real flight ends at the screen a short distance away and the software draws the rest. The drawn curve and the spin-axis number may come from the same underlying measurement, so they are not independent checks of each other.
Five swing-geometry figures on screen give you five things to react to after every shot. If your app lets you hide them in its display settings, that is a simple way to follow the two-or-three rule.
Using the numbers for wedge gapping
MyGolfSpy's method for gapping wedges in a simulator tracks four things: carry distance, spin rate, angle of descent and the dispersion pattern (MyGolfSpy). For carry, hit 10 full swings with each wedge, throw out the best and the worst, and average the rest. That leaves 8 shots per club in the average (10 − 2 = 8).
To turn those averages into gaps, our suggestion, rather than MyGolfSpy's, is to write down each wedge's averaged carry and subtract it from the next club's average up the bag. Look first at a gap much smaller or larger than its neighbors.
Spin rate and angle of descent add a second layer. Two wedges can have similar carry averages and still land very differently, which affects how far each one runs out on a real green. The dispersion pattern shows whether one club's average comes from a tight cluster or a wide spread, and a wide spread makes that average less reliable for picking a club.
If you're still choosing a monitor for this kind of practice, check that it reports all four numbers on wedge shots, and ask the maker which ones it measures and which it calculates. Omaha Sports & Games lists the Bushnell Golf LPi Launch Pro i Indoor Golf Simulator Launch Monitor at $1,999.99 and the Garmin Approach R50 Premium Golf Launch Monitor and Simulator at $5,099.99 (October 23, 2026).
When numbers disagree with the ball flight
As general guidance, rather than source-specific advice or an assessment of accuracy, note an isolated reading that doesn't match what you saw and keep hitting. If the number and the visible start of the flight disagree in the same direction shot after shot, record both and check the setup before changing your practice.
Remember how little of the flight a room shows. You see launch, the start direction and the first stretch toward the screen. Curve, peak height and landing are mostly outside what you can watch indoors. A disagreement over curve or landing is a comparison with a picture the software drew. The start direction is the part you can best check with your own eyes.