Rapsodo's new device puts launch monitor, video with shot tracer right on your phone

The Rapsodo Mobile Launch Monitor takes a new direction in the pursuit of bringing launch data to a handheld form. This latest device goes beyond the numbers to provide not only the diagnostics behind your ball flight but a video of your swing with a “TopTracer”-like trajectory line to help you match the visual of your swing with its data.

And it does it all on your iPhone for a price that’s a fraction compared to traditional launch monitors.

The Rapsodo MLM is the latest analytical tool from a company that has in the past developed a swing tracking device, as well as a motion capture analysis tool used by nearly every team in major league baseball to help pitchers and hitters improve the consistency and efficiency of their skills.

The Rapsodo MLM is the company’s most sophisticated golf tool to date. It builds on both Rapsodo’s baseball devices and the golf data tracking technology seen in the SkyTrak launch monitor. Using radar, your phone’s camera and GPS tracking, the tiny portable unit records the data of your swing, plots where shots land and produces a video with tracer lines to show whether your shot went straight or curved left or right.

The Rapsodo MLM tracks ball velocity, smash factor, launch angle, trajectory height and distance. Data storage allows for not only individual club distance gapping throughout your bag, but video review, as well. Future plans would allow for the storage of representative swings to better monitor improvement and goal-setting.

According to Batuhan Okur, founder and CEO of Rapsodo, like the other tools, the Mobile Launch Monitor is all about “helping athletes achieve their full potential.”

“It’s not only going to tell you the distance, it’s going to show you the bands of consistency so you can see ‘Are you more consistent with your distances with the 8-iron than your 6-iron or your pitching wedge,’” said Okur, who developed the company’s approach along with long-time sports and golf innovator Art Chou, Rapsodo’s general manager for North America. “What we’re doing is turning your phone into a launch monitor.”

Okur sees the Rapsodo MLM as opening up a more specific dialog between golfers and their teachers. Golfers with the device can combine the ideas in a lesson with the motions they’re seeing on the device, while teachers can explain how the player should strive for certain optimal launch conditions with every club in the bag. For example, golfers can learn that a slicing shot produces lower launch and higher spin than a well struck shot.

“The video and tracer lines are really quite important because not even the teacher always sees ball flight as a 4,000, 5,000, 6,000, 7,000 kind of rpm number. But he does see what the spin axis is in terms of slice or a hook or small fade or draw. He basically is seeing how well a player does or doesn’t control the ball. As a teacher, I can pick out the top 10 percent of the shots and I can tell you and show you what worked vs. what you’re doing now and why it’s not working. If you learn to compare against your good shots, suddenly you’ll have an epiphany about what works. ”

The Rapsodo MLM uses high-level 24ghz radar, employs automatic club recognition, and the product comes with a carrying case, UBS charging cable and features a 10-hour rechargeable battery.

The Rapsodo MLM is now available for pre-order through the company’s website ($500).