50 Words or Less
The Full Swing KIT delivers Tour-caliber accuracy and is very easy to use. Unbelievable value compared to its peers. New Shot Quality scores help to simplify and focus your practice.
Introduction
Three years ago, the Full Swing KIT announced its presence behind none other than Tiger Woods. It sent a major shockwave through the golf industry, shredding the five-figure price tags of other Tour-caliber launch monitors.
The KIT’s progress hasn’t slowed since then, adding Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson to its list of spokesmen and being the official launch monitor of TGL. They’ve also added to the tech, recently launching a new AI-powered shot score. I was eager to put the Full Swing KIT through its paces again to see how it’s developed.
Set Up & Ease of Use
When you unbox the Full Swing KIT launch monitor, you’ll find everything packed into the outstanding carrying case. There’s the launch monitor itself, and the charger is tucked into a compartment underneath it. Plug it in to charge and then download the Full Swing app.
Once it’s charged, drop the Full Swing KIT ten feet behind your hitting location. The KIT works indoors and outdoors, but Full Swing recommends at least eight feel of ball flight for best results. Aligning the KIT with your target (with or without the app) is a good idea, but it’s not necessary if you don’t care about the directional numbers.
One of my favorite things about the Full Swing KIT launch monitor is that it works with or without a phone or tablet. With the four buttons on the side of the unit (above), you can change clubs, target alignment, the display, and almost anything else. The onboard display is super crisp and can show either one or four data points. I love this because it helps to focus your practice rather than chasing a different number on each shot.
If you want to use your app, pair it with your launch monitor and choose your practice mode. The app is streamlined and easy to use. As with any app, you can spend a ton of time playing with settings, but if you want to get right to work, it won’t take more than a minute. I’ll discuss the app in greater depth later in this review.
Accuracy
Whether you’re using the Full Swing KIT for teaching, club fitting, or personal improvement, you’ll have access to all the data you could want. The KIT measures sixteen data points: carry distance, total distance, spin rate, spin axis, face angle, face to path, angle of attack, launch angle, ball speed, club speed, smash factor, club path, apex height, horizontal launch angle, offline carry distance, and offline total distance.
I ran the KIT head to head with my Foresight GCQuad [review HERE] indoors and outdoors. In both setting, the Full Swing KIT was very impressive. Distances, launch angles, and dispersion were virtually identical on both monitors, and Full Swing has solved the spin issues I noted in my original review [read it HERE].
As I’ve discussed before, radar and camera-based systems often produce different club delivery numbers. The KIT and GCQuad were not in perfect lockstep, but both monitors provided logical, consistent readings. I would have no hesitation about using either monitor to measure my swing.
One tangentially related point I want to add: the best feature about the Full Swing KIT might be it’s ability to display just one number on the screen. When practicing with a launch monitor, it is unbelievably tempting to dive deep into the numbers on every shot. Practicing with only the carry distance on the screen allows me to focus on what really matters: what the ball is doing. I think there’s a ton of value in practicing with a launch monitor, but it’s also very easy to go overboard with the data.
Full Swing App
The Full Swing App is one of the best. It connects to the KIT easily, and it provides golfers with an array of options that’s comprehensive but not overwhelming. Through the app you can align the KIT, change clubs, modify the onboard data display, and view your numbers. It’s also the best place to review your history and analyze your performance.
The best new feature in the Full Swing App is the Combine with Shot Quality scores powered by Clippd. You can set the combine to include up to ten target distances, and you can choose how many shots you want to hit at each distance, from 1-99. After each shot, the app produces a Shot Quality score from 0 to 200 with the male Tour average being 100.
Shot Quality is so valuable because it distills all the data into an easily understood score. After the combine, you get a Target Quality score which tells you how you performed at that distance. This can go a long way toward helping you focus your practice on your weaknesses and see real improvement in your scores.
In addition to the data, the Full Swing App also allows you to capture swing video. For those that like to analyze the look of their swing, pairing video with the numbers is a powerful tool. At the time of this writing, the Full Swing App is available only on iOS (Apple) devices.
The Full Swing KIT app is free, but for $100/year you can unlock the Premium version. This includes unlimited video storage, historical session archives and visualization, historical club averages, and historical session analysis.
Golf Simulation
The Full Swing KIT launch monitor also supports golf simulation. This is done through the e6 software platform. For this, you need the KIT, an Apple device (iPhone or iPad), and an e6 subscription. There are several pricing plans for e6 starting at $299/year for access to over two dozen courses. I did not test golf simulation with the KIT, but I have used e6 in the past and found the graphics impressive.
Value
The Full Swing KIT launch monitor retails for $5,000. Please consider supporting Plugged In Golf sponsor PlayBetter.com by buying it HERE.
With Trackman 4 currently selling for over five times as much – plus an annual fee of over $1,000 – the value of the Full Swing KIT is immense. There is simply nothing else on the market delivering this level of accuracy and this many data points anywhere close to this price.
Conclusion
Since I first tested it three years ago, I’ve told anyone who has asked that the Full Swing KIT is easily the best value in Tour-caliber launch monitors and the one I would spend my own money on. Since then, it’s only gotten better with improved accuracy and an upgraded app. If you want to get the data to improve your swing and your game, the KIT is what I would recommend.