A little while back, Titleist launched the new RCT ball that is built for better radar-based tracking. We decided to give these balls a shot with the Garmin Approach R10, since Garmin has added support for the radar-specific golf balls. The question many of you are likely wondering, however, is pretty clear: do these rather-expensive balls actually help the R10 be more accurate? And after some testing, the answer is a definite yes!
Defining the accuracy increase
First up, let me define what I mean by “more accurate” with the R10. While no radar-based launch monitor (not even the vaunted Trackman) can actually measure spin axis, they can most definitely measure overall spin. Then, based on club tracking and some clever calculations, these types of launch monitors assume what you’ve actually done with the ball when hit indoors into a net or a screen.
So, what I’m pointing out here is the fact that no golf ball will solve the spin axis problem found in radar-based launch monitors. It’s simply a limitation of the tech at this point. While radar-based launch monitors are fantastic for outdoor use – tracking your actual ball all the way down the range – and for club data, they lag far behind optical launch monitors when it comes to indoor accuracy. There’s just no way around it.
The improvements are quite real
That being said, the improvements I saw in the Garmin R10 with the Titleist RCT balls are absolutely worth the investment. Where I was seeing 200-1200 RPM variations between the R10 and Bushnell Launch Pro with standard balls, things were generally within 100 RPM once I made the switch. That’s a very, very big difference!
And this has a big affect on many ball flight characteristics. Even if spin axis is still a calculation, getting the amount of spin correct will greatly assist in any radar-based launch monitor’s ability to properly predict the outcome of each swing. And when it comes to ball flight in a more-vertical context, spin rate has a lot to do with the overall rise and fall of a ball, so getting this right more often than not greatly helps the R10 predict basically the same carry distances as my trusty Bushnell Launch Pro.
So are these $70 balls worth the investment? I’d say 100% if you are looking to do some game improvement with your Garmin Approach R10 indoors. With a much more precise spin rate, you are going to be getting a far truer representation of your actual golf shots, and that’s a huge win for a $599 launch monitor. And since you saved so much when buying it, paying a bit extra for radar-friendly balls hurts a bit less, right?
