Category: Golf

  • Mevo+ vs. Square Omni Head to Head Accuracy Comparison

    I was briefly in possession of both units and did a head to head comparison outdoors. I am also a lefty for those that think the Omni is unreliable for left-handed players.

    In summary:

    • Both units obtained shot shape and ball data that qualitatively agreed with the shot shapes I saw in real life
    • They share unanimous and close agreement on ball speed, ball direction, and most launch characteristics
    • For club data on irons, they shared excellent agreement on face and path data
    • For club data with driver, they disagreed significantly on face and path data, and I am inclined to think the Mevo+ was more accurate
    • Without a Trackman or GCQuad there is no gold standard for comparison, so “accuracy” in the title may be a misnomer and “agreement” more appropriate, but I found everything to be very close to expectations other than driver face/path data on the Omni

    I think there are two ways to look at these — the shot-to-shot differences, as well as the differences when averages are compared to smooth out the noise.

    Averaged club data:

    The most notable finding in all of this was that the Mevo+ and Square Omni share excellent agreement for irons, but disagreed significantly on woods. As a lefty, I play a cut with my driver and accordingly am used to 2-3 degrees RIGHT for club path, with a face angle somewhere between square to the path or slightly left to path (i.e., 0-2 degrees LEFT to target). The Mevo+ was within what I expected with club path 2.2R with a face to path slightly left of that. The Square Omni felt my path was relatively square with a slightly open face. Ultimately this would also make a fade, so it has not made up false physics for these shots, but it arrived at that conclusion in a different way.

    ClubMevo pathSquare pathMevo faceSquare faceNotes
    Mini driver2.2 R1.9 L2.6 R3.0 RPath disagreement!!!
    8 iron2.6 L4.1 L1.9 L1.5 LGood
    Driver2.2 R0.01.6 R0.7 LEverything disagreement!!!
    4 iron1.9 L1.8 L0.7 L0.9 LExcellent
    7 iron3.3 L3.1 L1.1 L1.1 LExcellent

    Averaged data (7 iron):

    MeasurementNMevo+ meanSquare mean
    Ball Speed11118.02 mph116.82 mph
    Club Speed987.89 mph84.68 mph
    Launch Direction111.32 L1.52 L
    Launch Angle1114.06°14.30°
    Carry11164.16 yd163.04 yd
    Spin116,221 rpm6,496 rpm
    Dynamic Loft1121.29°20.33°
    Club Path113.29 L3.13 L
    Face Angle111.10 L1.06 L
    Attack Angle11-7.31°-3.78°

    Averaged data (Driver):

    MeasurementNMevo+ meanSquare mean
    Ball Speed13152.90 mph151.64 mph
    Club Speed11102.04 mph103.41 mph
    Launch Direction130.35 L0.68 L
    Launch Angle139.62°9.68°
    Carry13245.55 yd240.07 yd
    Spin133,016 rpm3,362 rpm
    Dynamic Loft1311.02°11.37°
    Club Path132.22 R0.02 L
    Face Angle131.60 R0.73 L
    Attack Angle130.46°1.15°

    Shot to shot correlation with 7 iron:

    MeasurementNMevo+ vs Square r
    Ball Speed110.987
    Club Speed90.474
    Launch Direction110.810
    Launch Angle110.974
    Carry110.872
    Spin110.513
    Dynamic Loft110.930
    Club Path110.456
    Face Angle11−0.015
    Attack Angle110.214

    Shot to shot correlation with driver:

    MeasurementNMevo+ vs Square r
    Ball Speed130.968
    Club Speed110.785
    Launch Direction130.963
    Launch Angle130.992
    Carry130.862
    Spin130.478
    Dynamic Loft130.961
    Club Path130.048
    Face Angle130.729
    Attack Angle130.154

    Angle of attack had particularly poor correlation on these. The Mevo+ had me at 6-9 degrees down and the Square had me at 1 to 6 degrees down. Off to the right I have pictured the raw data, but with shots where one read -8 and the other read -1, this really killed the correlation.

    angle of attack data and its r of 0.214

    Methods:

    Range balls were used, which run a bit spinnier and launch a bit higher on all shots besides wedges. But my goal is comparison so I don’t think it matters much. All balls were in good shape and I excluded a ball if it was well-worn with smoothed dimples which would affect the real-life aerodynamics, which is something the Mevo+ would pick up on as it is watching the actual launch and trajectory of the ball, while the Square Omni’s physics simulator / calibrated data would not.

    I did my best to get a setup where the ball was in the ideal reading zone for both launch monitors.

    Excel’s CORREL function was used to get within-club r values for each club and its ball data.

    This is r, as in Pearson’s r, which measures only how well two variables move together, not whether they have the exact same values. So if the Square consistently under-reads some Mevo+ metric by 5%, but does so consistently, it can still have a perfect 1.000 correlation. So as alluded to in the first paragraph, this was more about correlation than accuracy, and all I can conclude from this is how well the readings tend to ‘move together’.

    Below is an example of how this looked for ball speed for the 5 shots hit with an 8 iron. This was repeated for every metric and every set of paired shots within each club. I used assistance from AI to do this en masse once I confirmed it was doing so correctly for several data, because it was very tedious to do it all in Excel.

    generating correlation for the 8 iron ball speed values, as an example
    example of the r values being generated for face and path correlation for 7 iron shots. The L/R directions were all changed to +/- for easier analysis. Much like Trackman conventions for direction, POSITIVE is RIGHT and NEGATIVE is LEFT

    Raw data for nerds:

  • How to identify year of a Titleist ProV1 by markings

    Every graphic I saw online was either outdated or didn’t go back far enough, so this is my attempt to put a more comprehensive one out on the internet. They debuted in 2000 and here I have 2007 through 2025, I will update as I find old ones in the woods. The 2025 ball is now released to market but the image is from Titleist’s media release here. Titleist, if I need to take this down please email me.

    Titleist has ProV1s on a q2 year release cycle, so only odd years have releases. For a list of logos from year 2000 to 2019, see this blog post from Titleist themselves.

    The blurring off to the right was because I wanted to add the 2025 ball but was out of space (and didn’t want to retake the picture)

  • Can You Hit A Ball Out Of TopGolf? Simulations And Real Data

    Quick summary:

    • It is very difficult to hit a ball over the net at Top Golf
    • For you, me, and anyone you know who is a long hitter, absolutely not.
    • For anyone you know who plays professional golf, still probably not.
    • For a long-hitting pro golfer, from the top floor, using a ball superior to a TopGolf ball, it’s possible.
    • For a competition-level long drive competitor, it’s very possible with a TopGolf ball
    • Below is an example of the model – many more included under ‘Results’
    • This is all based on a linear model I have relating the speeds / spin of TopGolf balls to regular balls from data I took at my own swing speed – this is limited in nature and probably fails to describe extreme conditions well (e.g. swing speed of 150mph)


    Assumptions:

    • TopGolf dimensions are 250 yards to the back of the net, which is 150 feet tall
    • These are perfectly straight drives and all spin is backspin
    • We are hitting TopGolf balls, unless specified otherwise – TopGolf balls do NOT launch / fly like regular balls!
    • We are at sea level, unless specified otherwise
    • TopGolf balls have similar aerodynamics to regular balls

    Methods and reasoning:

    • I am using OptimalFlight, a model created by Todd M. Kos of Quality Golf Stats, to model flight based on input trajectory parameters
    • The ball’s flight function was solved for the output when x = 250, i.e., input x being distance, and output returning the ball’s altitude (in yards) at that distance. TopGolf nets measure 50 yards high at 250 yards, so if f(250) > 50, the ball will clear the net
    • I have no idea how to pull functions out of Excel so there was a messy step where everything was fit to a polynomial regression function, in the end the impact from this was negligible

    TopGolf balls do not behave the same as regular golf balls. Based on Trackman 4 data I reported here, off driver the ball speed is 4.6% lower, launch is 6.1% lower, and spin is 28.6% higher. These data match my anecdotal experience at TopGolf. Simulations will be ran using these modified numbers, as these changes in trajectory have a significant impact on distance and apex, and thus the potential to clear the TopGolf net.

    I used the data above to make a simple, linear model relating regular balls to TopGolf balls. This linear model assumes a constant, proportional relationship between the performance of the two classes of golf balls. In reality, I think at extreme swing speeds / launch conditions, factors like material deformation and aerodynamic drag will not be captured by what I do here. Does a TopGolf ball’s dimple pattern lead to more drag and shorter flight than, say, a ProV1? I suspect so but don’t have any data to back that up.

    Long drivers routinely get ball speeds >220mph, so it may be a bold assumption that my data at ~150mph describe the relationship well. Some more complex model underlies the relationship of these balls that I don’t have the ability to describe.

    It’s unclear what the dimensions of an average TopGolf are. Some sources describe length as 215 yards, some say 240, some say 250, and some imply 267. With the lack of clarity I’ll assume 250, which is one of the more commonly reported figures online. Most sources agree on a 150 foot fence height. One source quoted a TopGolf spokeswoman at a 170 fence height.

    An example of the average PGA Tour driver’s parameters being modeled into a trajectory using OptimalFlight.

    Solving the polynomial fit to our model’s ball flight, where f(250) returns the ball’s altitude in yards at 250 yards distance. For this shot, it was approx 19.1 yards, which does not clear the 50 yard net.

    Results:

    Average male golfer (14.5 handicap):

    • Average male data from Trackman.
    • Ball speed: 132.6 mph →126.5 mph with TopGolf ball
    • Spin: 3275 rpm → 4212 rpm
    • Launch: 12.6° → 11.8°
    • Doesn’t even make it to the net so I didn’t waste my time with a polynomial regression or drawing a net on this graph.

    His ball never even makes it to the net. Good effort though!!

    Average female LPGA Tour driver:

    Average male PGA Tour driver:

    His ball intercepts the net at 10.0 yards. It would have carried 263.2 had its flight not been obstructed (remember – this model uses a TopGolf ball)

    Typical / good drive from Rory McIlroy:

    • As of March 12th, 2023, Rory’s average driver ball speed in competition is 184.6 mph. In 2017 Rory tweeted his launch monitor numbers, including a ball speed of 184.1 mph, so I think this is a good enough approximation of his current average. This likely represents a better than average strike given the carry and total.
    • Ball speed: 184.1 mph → 175.6 mph with TopGolf ball
    • Spin: 2523 rpm → 3245 rpm
    • Launch: 12.5° → 11.7°
    • His ball intercepts the net at 34.1 yards of height. The first to threaten it!
    • This shot would have carried 297.9 had its flight been unobstructed. Had it been a normal ball rather than a TopGolf ball, this carry would have been 320-330 at sea level.

    OK, What if Rory brought a TP5x or ProV1 to TopGolf and hit that, and he’s also on the 3rd floor??

    • Same input parameters as above, I just did not apply the speed / spin / launch penalties of a TopGolf ball
    • 184.1 mph, 2523 rpm, 12.5° launch
    • I made the assumption that the hitting surface of the top deck is 30 feet from the ground level. It may be higher but I do not have any numbers on this.
    • Just mere inches short!

    Just a hair short of the 50 yd / 150 foot net! As a reminder, the graphic of the net is just a quick addition in Photoshop – the true answer comes from solving our polynomial regression for f(250), which in this case was 49.9 yards.

    Great strike from 2022 World Long Drive Champion, Martin Borgmeier:

    So can you hit a ball out of TopGolf? The answer is yes, if you are a world champion-level long driver of the ball–  OR an extremely long hitter who:

    • A) brings their own balls to TopGolf (this is probably banned, if not criminal)
    • B) hits from the top floor
    • C) plays at high altitude,
    • or likely a combination of at least 2 of these