AccuDot Golf · Club Data Reference

The eight club-data points your markers unlock

Camera-based launch monitors read the club from what they can see — and AccuDot reflective markers are what they see. Better marker data means cleaner, more repeatable club readings, which is where real improvement starts. Below is what each metric means, how it’s measured, why it matters, how it ties into your ball data, and whether it needs a single marker or a full four-marker set.

How many markers each reading needs

1 dot — motion

A single marker tracks one point through the strike, so it captures how the head is moving: speed and direction.

4 dots — the face plane

Four markers define the plane of the face, so the monitor can read how the face is oriented and where the ball met it.

÷

Derived

Calculated from other readings rather than measured directly — it combines a club figure with a ball figure.

01

Club Head Speed

1 dot

How fast the club head is travelling through the hitting zone at the moment of impact. It’s the engine of the golf swing — the raw energy available to send the ball forward.

Measured in

mph (or km/h)

How critical

Fundamental. The single biggest lever for potential distance and the reference every other efficiency figure is judged against.

Links to ball data

Pairs with ball speed to give smash factor. More head speed raises the ceiling for ball speed, carry and total distance.

02

Smash Factor

÷ Derived

How efficiently energy transfers from club to ball — the amount of ball speed you get for every unit of club head speed. In plain terms, it’s a strike-quality score.

Measured in

ratio — ball speed ÷ head speed. ~1.50 is near the driver ceiling; irons and wedges read lower because loft costs efficiency.

How critical

Fundamental. A low number next to good head speed points straight to off-centre or glancing contact.

Links to ball data

It is the bridge between the two data sets — a club figure divided by a ball figure, so it needs marker-read head speed plus ball speed.

03

Club Path

1 dot

The horizontal direction the head is travelling at impact, relative to your target line — swinging in-to-out or out-to-in.

Measured in

degrees — positive is in-to-out, negative is out-to-in (right-handed).

How critical

High. Together with face angle it sets the shot shape, so it’s the first place to look when the ball curves the wrong way.

Links to ball data

The gap between path and face angle drives spin axis — the side spin that turns a shot into a draw, fade, hook or slice.

04

Angle of Attack

1 dot

The vertical direction the head is moving at impact — whether you’re striking up on the ball or down into it.

Measured in

degrees — positive is ascending (typical with a driver), negative is descending (typical with irons).

How critical

High. It’s a key input for launch optimisation — hitting up on the driver adds carry, hitting down on irons controls the strike.

Links to ball data

Feeds directly into launch angle and spin rate, which together decide trajectory and carry distance.

05

Loft & Lie

4 dots

The face’s presentation at impact: dynamic loft is the effective loft you actually deliver, and dynamic lie is how the head sits — toe up or toe down — through the strike.

Measured in

degrees for both — delivered loft and lie angle at the moment of impact.

How critical

High, and central to fitting. Delivered loft shapes launch; lie tilts the face left or right, nudging start direction.

Links to ball data

Dynamic loft is a main driver of launch angle and spin; lie feeds into effective face angle, so it shows up in start direction and curve.

06

Face Angle

4 dots

Where the face is actually pointing at impact, relative to the target line — open (right) or closed (left) for a right-handed player.

Measured in

degrees — positive is open, negative is closed.

How critical

Critical for direction. Face angle is the dominant influence on where the ball starts — the biggest single factor in accuracy.

Links to ball data

It largely sets the ball’s start direction; its gap from club path sets the spin axis, so face angle underpins both aim and shape.

07

Impact Location

4 dots

Exactly where on the face the ball is struck — heel to toe, high to low — relative to the centre, or sweet spot.

Measured in

mm from centre, usually shown as a point on a face map.

How critical

High. It’s the reason two similar-looking swings produce different results, and the key to building a repeatable strike.

Links to ball data

Off-centre hits sap ball speed (lowering smash) and add gear-effect spin — so it explains shot-to-shot swings in distance and curve.

08

Closure Rate

4 dots

How quickly the face is rotating — closing — through impact. It describes the timing and release of the club as the face squares up.

Measured in

deg/sec — the speed of face rotation across the strike.

How critical

Diagnostic. Less about a single shot and more about consistency — a fast or erratic closure makes face angle hard to repeat.

Links to ball data

Because it governs how repeatable face angle is, it shows up as tightness — or scatter — in start direction and curve across a session.

Marker guide, not a substitute for your monitor’s manual. The 1-dot / 4-dot split follows the standard camera-based convention: single-point motion reads from one marker, while face orientation and strike location need the full four-marker set. Always follow your launch monitor’s own placement instructions.

Verified against camera-based systems from:

Foresight GCQuad Foresight GC3 Bushnell Launch Pro
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AccuDot™ Golf is an independent brand. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Foresight Sports, Bushnell Golf or 3M. Foresight Sports®, GCQuad®, GC3®, QuadMAX®, GCHawk®, Falcon™, Bushnell®, Launch Pro® and LPi™ are trademarks of their respective owners and are used only to describe compatibility. 3M is a trademark of 3M Company.