Square golf review

[Bubba22]

I wanted to start a thread regarding the Square golf launch monitor. I will be doing a full review and comparing this new unit against launch monitors in its price including the Rapdoda MLM2 Pro and the Garmin R10.

https://squaregolf.co.uk/?srsltid=AfmBOopLuCHl-KQuwpKCnsB3KDCTwBprdD_BSa9nkpO-1qdLpfS22VBL

The unit is a dual camera with 8 infrared sensors. It is not a radar unit. It measures both ball and club data. The ball data includes speed, vertical/horizontal launch as well as backspin and side spin. Club data includes club path, face angle, attack angle and dynamic loft.

All balls will work but for more accurate ball data requires marked balls. Square golf have special patterned golf balls much like Rapsoda balls. They have 2 options of balls including a 2 piece ball from Square golf and a 3 piece ball from SaintNine golf from Korea.

The unit uses usb charging and has an 8hr battery life. Connectivity is via Bluetooth.
Software included is a proprietary driving range, closest to the pin and putting software. This is for iOS, android and PC. There are no subscriptions required to use the driving range or specialty software. They also have proprietary course software which allows you to play a full round of golf, including chipping and putting. As of now they only have 10 courses, but more courses will be coming soon. As of now, you can only play strokeplay with these courses, but more modes of play are in the works. Online course is pending. To play the courses requires credits. You are charged one credit per hole of golf played. You are given 1000 free credits upon purchase of the unit. You can purchase additional credits as needed. The credits are not required for using the driving range or specialty software.

The unit is for indoor use and not meant for outdoor usage.

Third-party software such as E6, GS pro and awesome golf are in the works. Credits are not required for the third-party software.

They are working on measured ball data with regular balls. Is

[HappyGilmore102]

HI

Looks good, especially the short game aspect like chipping and putting.

No subscription costs to use 3rd party software like GSpro and easy to connect with, never misses a shot from what i've seen.

Nice size hitting area, small and can be used outdoors like skytrak, plus battery pops out so can be replaced easily, not like skytrak which has to be cracked open.

I think mlm2pro is toast now, can't putt, subscription needed to use 3rd party software, took 2 years to fix chipping etc etc..

Mlm2pro blew it when they locked spin axis behind pay wall.

All good !

[Bubba22]

Good points HappyGilmore102. Remember they are the same company that developed the Exputt. https://exputt.com
I think the chipping and putting will be great. It is not an outdoor unit however.

[HappyGilmore102]

Yes, not an outdoor unit, but will work just as well as a skytrak outside provided direct sunlight is voided.

More vids on youtube, putting and chipping, even flop shots seem solid, fast and never misses a shot.

I have an mlm2pro which i bought 2 years ago and never used, still waiting for rapsodo to sort things.

Think i'll sell the mlm2pro with the free year and 2 dozen rpt balls and get a square golf monitor to replace skytrak no reads and delay.

[Bubba22]

Square golf certainly has the benefit of chipping/putting and no subscriptions vs MLM2Pro. Whether it's more accurate is a debate and left to be seen. That's why I want to do a complete review and test once I get a unit.

[HappyGilmore102]

Look forward to your review.

The Mlm2pro disconnections are as bad as the skytrak no reads.

So from now on home users will expect all new launch monitors released to included good quality chipping and putting.

Great!

[Bubba22]

Review of Square Golf


Initial Impressions: Fantastic device for the price!!

Unboxing - Excellent packaging. Included is the Square Golf monitor and alignment stick, remote control and batteries, usb charge cable, club stickers, battery, sleeve of square soft balls and the swing stick. It’s remarkable how small the Square unit is.

The unit requires specially marked balls for accurate ball data. A sleeve of balls comes free and other balls are available on their site. You have the option of 2 or 3 piece balls made by Saint Nine. https://squaregolf.co.uk/product/squ...balls-12-pack/ I am sure there will be stickers developed from 3rd party sources very soon so one can use their own favourite golf balls.

They are the same company who developed the Exputt so very similar packaging. https://exputt.com

Connectivity: The connectivity is via Bluetooth and works great!

Software: Included is an IOS and Android app or PC software. Included for free is the driving range, closest to the pin and putting practice software. There are no yearly fees. You need to open a Square golf account that is free. The driving range has a graphics or data mode. The game mode has 10 courses that you can play a round of golf. Up to 4 players at a time with only stroke play for now. More courses, game modes and online play is coming. To play these courses costs 1 credit per hole played. Included is 1000 credits so you get 55 rounds free. You can update the credits at $20 got 1000 credits https://squaregolf.co.uk/pricing/. I like this approach better than yearly subscriptions. Third party software like GSPro is available and will not require any credits 👍. I suspect TGC will follow.

Unit alignment: The unit sits square to you about 1.5 feet away. Target alignment is done in the software using the alignment stick. The unit sits about a foot and ½ across from you and 9 inches ahead. The hitting area is 6 inch by 6 inch.

Initial shots: Setup is quick and easy with connectivity seamless. It’s easy to find the hitting zone with visual clues on the software and an auditory signal. Shot to show is immediate and similar to Protee VX which is really impressive. Of note this is an indoor unit that shouldn’t be exposed to sunlight. So far this unit is impressive for the price. It gives club and ball data with markings on the club and ball. It seems accurate but more testing to come comparing to other units looking at ball data and club data accuracy of full shots, chip shots and putting. In testing #1 I will compare it to my shot averages, do some shot shaping and go through the software from range to playing a round. Testing #2 will be against the other units I have like the Protee VX, GC3 and Mevo plus. Stay tuned!




.

[Bubba22]

Testing #1. Observation of ball and spin numbers as well as shot shaping..


Testing #1 includes general shots in the range, closest to the pin and putting software. This was more to observe my ball and club numbers on all clubs both marked and unmarked, using balls both marked and unmarked.

This includes all clubs with and without the marked balls and marked clubs. The unit requires marked balls for accurate ball spin. Marking the clubs will also give you club data including club speed, face angle, club path, face to path and angle of attack. I also discovered that marking the club will also allow for estimated spin axis if you are using non marked balls. More on this later.

Driving Range: The range is basic but nice. You have the option of following the ball or fixed view. You have the option of graphic mode (visual picture of a range) vs data mode. I was not able to put these modes on multiple monitors or pick and chose which would be nice. Shot to show was instant. In general with marked club and balls I was seeing very good draws and hooks with the occasional missed spin axis and launch direction. Overall still very good with marked club and ball.

Marked clubs and marked balls - This is the best case scenario and gave the best results. Ball data measured include speed, direction, launch angle, side spin/backspin or spin/spin axis. In general ball data was very good and what I expected. Spin was very good however spin axis and sides in were sometimes higher than expected or opposite in direction. This didn’t happen often but occasionally. The unit definitely directly measured spin and spin axis but when it misses spin axis it may use the club data (face to path) to calculate the spin axis. This seemed likely in my testing.

Club data measured includes path, face angle, angle of attack and dynamic loft. Face and dynamic loft are estimated based on ball direction and the angle of attack. Interesting enough, club speed and smash factor are not measured however they are working to add this in a future update. The club data required stickers on the club shaft and read 90% of the time with the occasional time it didn’t read.

Marked clubs and unmarked balls did give spin data however at times it didn’t measure the spin axis and gave it at 0.
Unmarked clubs and marked balls worked well but no club data in the data mode.
Unmarked clubs and unmarked ball gave the worst results and I would not recommend that approach.

In summary I would recommend marked clubs and Square marked balls. Perhaps third party stickers like Justapotomasdesign will soon be developed.

The algorithms of Square are good for carry distance.
Closest to the hole: Very nice and allows for chipping all the way to full shots. I love chipping on the unit. Very nice!!!

Putting Practice: My unit is hanging up with putter selected so will have to contact Square golf regarding a fix. Will keep you posted!

Edit: the putting is working great and it is a great part of this unit. Very accurate!!!

Game/Multi: Decent courses. 10 available but more to come. Only one tee box for now so hopefully they will add multiple tees for amateurs, juniors and women. From what I see you get 4 gimmes per round. It would be nice to have more. It’s 1 credit per hole. The mini map is nice but they need to add distances so you can point past a Hansard to know the distances. More to come as I play more rounds.

The other thing that is quite nice is using the remote control yo change clus and aiming your shot. Very nice addition by Square.
Overall it is an excellent unit that does measure both ball and club data. It is best when you use their marked balls and club marking. The spin axis and launch direction were sometimes off and I would say the weakest part of the measurements. I will do some testing against the Protee VX, GC3 and MLM2Pro in Testing 2.

[Wilson Campbell]

If anyone needs costings for the sim credits to see how much and if worth it etc. attached is spreadsheet. Change the "weeks in year played", "number of players" and "credit cost". I have given a range of rounds per week from 1 to 7, but these can be changed also Currently set to price in UK. Usual disclaimer : I take no responsibility for the accuracy or the use of this spreadsheet.

[Bubba22]

Great work Wilson. This is very helpful to estimate costs for using their software.

[Bubba22]

Testing#2

I was able to test the GC3 vs Square golf monitor. I know they are both optical and IR but I have been using the Squar3 with the GC3, Protee VX, MLM2Pro and Flightscope Mevo plus the past few weeks. Against the GC3 I have not noticed any any real interference on either unit. The GC3 performs as expected and so does the Square. In this comparison I aligned both units as square ( no pun intended) as possible. Bear in mind that will affect the horizontal launch somewhat so take those readings with a grain of salt. I used the Square 2 piece balls.

I did full swing testing, chipping and putting. Full swing and chipping was using the GC3 native data and Square driving range set at normal balls.

Putting was with GC3 native data and Square putting practice green set with normal balls.

For full swing I tested a wedge, 7 iron, hybrid and driver. With each club I hit 4 shots - push draw, push fade, pull draw and pull fade. I measured ball speed, total spin, sidespin, spin axis, horizontal launch angle, vertical launch angle and carry.

Chipping was with a 56 degree wedge hitting 2 to the right (long and short) and 2 to the left ( long and short).

Putting was focusing on speed and horizontal launch with 2 right and 2 left (short and long).

Results:

From my testing the Square is extremely accurate with ball speed, launch angle and is decent with horizontal launch and total spin. It does well with sdespin/spin axis but will occasionally miss the spin axis or be opposite from the GC3. This seemed more common with the driver probably due to the ball speeds with driver.It is very good overall. The chipping and putting is great with the Square. Ball speeds were very close to the GC3. Very impressive. The Squares lowest putting ball speed was 1.6 mph while the GC3 lowest measured ball speed was 2.0 mph. Again, very impressive! Attached is a spreadsheets of the testing. I think they are coming out with an update to address the spin and spin axis so hopefully it will improve. Carry distance was lower on the Square by about 5-10 yards but this may be due to ball selection in the Square software. I selected normal but can test again with distance ball that adds 10%.

Stay tuned for more testing.

[Bubba22]

It works well against the GC3 in this position. I hope the new update comes out soon. I want to test it using regular balls but will wait for the update.

Let me know if there is anything specifically you want tested.

[wbond]

I only see a pic comparing the unit, do you have the spreadsheets of the data attached?

[Bubba22]

Sorry wbond. Data is there now!

[Stonebattle]

Nicely done! Nice to have someone with a review we can count on.

[Bubba22]

Nicely done! Nice to have someone with a review we can count on.

Thanks Stone. It's hard to test it due to the need for their marked balls. Makes it tough testing against the MLM2pro. I will test against the Mevo plus once I get the stickers from Justapotomasdesign, to put on the RCT balls.

https://justapotamusdesigns.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoo4xdR6Hqa1nk9GN1yaanJ15lTNhQbQbTfre1HbsjuJXVqpf_De

It works well against the Protee VX but definitely the putting is affected. I'm focusing on the ball data for now but will get some club data testing as well.

[Wilson Campbell]

Great Club data would be good

[Bubba22]

GC2 vs Square Golf Driver.pdf
GC2 vs Square Golf Wedge.pdf
GC2 vs Square Golf Hybrid.pdf
GC2 vs Square Golf 7 iron.pdf
GC2 vs Square Putting.pdf
GC2 vs Square chipping.pdf

Numbers GC2 vs Square

[Stonebattle]

Great data, very much appreciate your time doing this. It seems for a sub $1K unit and a first iteration algorithms/software, this thing works quite well. It seems likely this will get better over time given other lower cost launch montor history.

Hybrid distance and driver distance seems a bit low and I see there was a zero side spin measurement on one of the wedge shots, but still not bad at all.
When using a GC2, it seems for me to show more draw side spin and shot shape than I might have anticipated. Could this have impacted some of the opposite spin results?

[Wilson Campbell]

HLA seems to be out a lot sometime. Hard to know what range difference is acceptable.

[Bubba22]

HLA is definitely off. In fairness part of that could be poor alignment on my part though.

[Bubba22]

I think it's a good unit. I will retest when the new update comes. I will retest with the distance ball setting that has more distance.

I will also do a test with PIX balls vs GC3.

[Whiskeyjack]

With those results and the price point, It's pretty amazing. I would definitely look at that if my skytrak went and I was looking for a replacement. My goal is to go overhead eventually. Need the price to come down a bit first on the over head units.

[Bubba22]

With those results and the price point, It's pretty amazing. I would definitely look at that if my skytrak went and I was looking for a replacement. My goal is to go overhead eventually. Need the price to come down a bit first on the over head units.

Go overhead for sure. I love the Protee VX way more than the GC3. You can't beat an overhead vs ground based unit.

[Whiskeyjack]

That's my goal a protee VX

[Bubba22]

Test #3 GC3 vs Square using unmarked Taylormade PIX balls and marked club. The Square does try to measure spin with these unmarked balls. Spin and spin axis was worse than with the marked balls. I did the testing the same way as test #1.

GC3 vs Square chipping.pdf
GC3 vs Square 7iron PIX.pdf
GC3 vs Square Hybrid PIX.pdf
GC3 vs Square Putting.pdf
GC3 vs Square DriverPIX.pdf
GC3 vs Square Wedge PIX.pdf

Chipping and putting is very good with regular balls. In general ball speed, HLA and VLA are very good with PIX balls. Spin, sidespin and spin axis are off somewhat . Hopefully the new update will address this as well as marked ball measurement. Carry is a bit low but is adjustable in the software selecting normal (0%), premium (+5%) or distance (10%) ball setting.
more to come.

[Bubba22]

New firmware to address the spin and spin axis released today. It certainly is better with this new update. Will do some more testing this week.

[Wilson Campbell]

Good to hear

One video on youtube yesterday had some problems where spin axis very low after the update, see link below. Again not compared directly compared to another unit so hard to know.

Will you get a chance to test the club data also?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aw72z-t2ZU&lc=UgwSRLzD6UF9TJh2Uqx4AaABAg.ABHCIoyoGH_ABHQA7ppymL