Indoor Golf: First Look: Foresight Essential Putting Analysis for GCQuad Launch Monitors

Tomorrow Foresight Sports will officially announce a compelling add-on for its GCQuad Launch Monitor Platform. The new release is the first of what will likely prove to be several technology enhancements that Foresight will roll out in 2018.

Those who attended the PGA Show got an early look at what Foresight is calling Essential Putting Analysis. The new software is designed to offer Unprecedented Insight Into Your Putting Performance. That last bit is Foresight’s language, but it’s absolutely true that users of what I suppose we should describe as conventional launch monitors have never had this level of detailed insight into putter performance before.

In simple terms, Essential Putting transforms the GCQuad from a launch monitor into a putting launch monitor. That may not sound like much, but it's a really cool little detail that has significant implications for anyone looking to better understand and improve putter performance.

With just a couple of clicks in the Quad’s interface, putter specific data is displayed on the LCD screen as well as any connected PC (FSX Software) or mobile device (Performance Fitting App), allowing the functionality to be used both indoors and out. As you’d expect, the putter data has a small bit of overlap with the data you get from a driver or an iron, but the majority of measurements are specific to putting.

Ball Data

On the ball side of the equation, Essential Putting gives you:

Ball Speed
Launch Angle
Launch Spin
Carry (inches)
Skid
Time to Roll (seconds)
Distance to Roll (feet)
Roll Spin
Total Distance
Push/Pull (similar to horizontal launch angle)

Head Data

Where head data is concerned, the available information varies based on the number of fiducials used. In the event I lost you at fiducials, I’m talking about the face stickers. It’s about time we all (myself included) got onboard with the correct lingo.

Here’s the breakdown of what you get with the different fiducial counts:

1 Marker (placed center top): Club Speed, Smash Factor, Club Path, and Angle of Attack

2 Markers (one heel, one toe, placed along horizontal center): All of the above, plus Face Angle (relative to target path), and Lie Angle (at impact)

3 Markers (heel at horizontal center + one each high and low toe, equidistant from horizontal center): All of the above plus Impact Loft.

Pricing

Foresight’s Essential Putting Analysis has a price tag of $2500 above and beyond whatever other options you’ve paid for. That may sound expensive, so it's important to put the cost in perspective. Essential Putting Analysis is intended to give CGQuad owners an option to leverage the equipment they already own rather than purchase a standalone specialty putting product like SAM or Quintic, which cost 2-3 times as much as the Foresight feature.

Essential Putting Analysis brings Foresight's industry-leading accuracy to the flat stick and that has practical applications for instructors (and their students), fitters, R&D departments, and for us here at MyGolfSpy as we continue to look for ways to present more robust putting data and expand our understanding of why the top putters in our test perform better.