About Launch Monitor Data
Launch Monitor Data is an independent buyer-guide site for golfers building a home simulator or buying a portable launch monitor. The whole mission is in the name: getting you to data you can actually trust — measured, not guessed. Too many golfers buy a unit that calculates the numbers it should be measuring, build a swing change around figures that were never real, and lose a season to it. This site exists so that does not happen to you.
Know your numbers — what a unit measures, not what it estimates.
What we do, in plain English
We gather the specs of the launch monitors, enclosures, mats, nets, screens and projectors worth knowing about — tech type (Doppler radar or photometric camera), which data parameters are measured versus calculated, whether spin is genuinely measured, published accuracy bands, indoor-space needs and sim-software compatibility — and we organise them: by budget tier, by data depth, by sim compatibility, and by the build kit. Then we publish the spec-led comparisons that should already exist but somehow do not. We update our top picks regularly, and we do not accept payment to position a product.
When we have a strong, honest view — measured versus calculated spin, Doppler radar versus photometric camera, R10-budget-sim versus prosumer, ceiling height versus budget as the real build constraint — we say so and explain why. When the right answer depends on your budget, your room and what you want to measure, we walk through the decision instead of pretending there is one universal pick.
Our editorial method
- Source the specs. Tech type, measured-vs-calculated data parameters, accuracy bands, indoor-space requirements and sim compatibility — straight from manufacturer details and current retail listings.
- Run the comparison. We line products up on the specs that decide how they actually perform — and we label every parameter measured or calculated, using each manufacturer's published data method.
- Land the recommendation. Specific, situation-aware, and updated whenever the product line changes. We never claim hands-on accuracy testing of a named unit.
When a monitor or accessory gets discontinued, we mark the page as updated and swap in the closest currently-available replacement. We do not pretend a dead link still works.
Who writes here
Danny Hollis founded Launch Monitor Data and writes the blog himself. He is a mid-handicap golfer in his mid-40s — around a 12, and improving — living just outside Columbus, Ohio. It is a four-season, golf-mad market where a garage simulator genuinely earns its keep through a long winter, which is exactly how the whole thing started. He built a garage sim so he could keep practising November through March: a hitting mat, a net-then-enclosure build, an impact screen and projector, and a launch monitor feeding sim software. He knows the gear from years of real home-sim use, not a lab.
The honest origin story: Danny's first launch monitor was a cheap unit that measured ball speed but calculated spin from it instead of actually measuring it. He trusted the spin numbers, saw a "problem" that was not real, and rebuilt his swing around bad data over a whole winter — only to find out at a fitting that his actual spin was nothing like what the cheap monitor reported. The expensive lesson was the difference between a number that is measured and one that is calculated — and, just as costly, that ceiling height kills more garage builds than budget does. He nearly bought a unit and screen his garage could not physically swing under. Launch Monitor Data exists so nobody else builds a swing change — or a whole sim room — on numbers they cannot trust.
Danny is active in the home-sim and golf forums — the GolfWRX and r/golfsimulator world — and is the guy who answers the "will this fit my garage / does it really measure spin?" threads. He writes as an experienced amateur golfer, longtime home-sim builder and site founder — not a PGA pro, club-fitter or launch-monitor engineer, and that boundary is deliberate. Where a first-person note is genuine, from his own garage sim, he says so. Some articles also come from rotating contributors — longtime home-sim builders and club golfers. Each article shows its author at the top; when someone else writes, Danny's name appears at the bottom under "Edited by".
What we don't do
- We don't claim hands-on accuracy testing we didn't do. Product comparisons are pure spec aggregation from verifiable manufacturer details and listings — never personal bench-testing of a named unit's accuracy. Where a first-person note is genuine, from Danny's own garage sim, we say so explicitly.
- We don't blur experience and testing. The voice is real home-sim experience; the product comparisons are spec data. Measured-vs-calculated labels are manufacturer-published, not our own measurements.
- We don't chase hype. We will tell you when a unit calculates a number it implies it measures — because a calculated spin figure can feel precise and still be wrong.
How we make money
Launch Monitor Data is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, and works with a small number of direct golf-gear programs. If you buy something via a link on this site, we earn a small commission. It costs you nothing.
We don't tilt our recommendations to favour any single product, brand, or commission tier. You can read the full disclosure on our Amazon Disclosure page.
How to reach us
Tips, corrections, product launches we should know about, or just a hello — write to hello@launchmonitordata.com or use the contact form. We read everything. We can't respond to every message, but we read.
If you spot an outdated spec, a discontinued product, or a price that's drifted, those tip-offs are especially welcome. They keep the site honest.