Searching for Spin (etc.) is the third documentary-style film from Titleist in as many years. You may recall Titleist’s first docuseries, “We Go Farther,” told the story of the Titleist Speed Project and the revitalization of the company’s metalwoods.
Last year, the company released “The Perfect Iron Shot | Finding Feel” to coincide with the launch of T-Series irons. As the title suggests, that one focused on Titleist’s quest to engineer a better-feeling golf club.
Searching for Spin tells the story behind the development of RCT (radar capture technology ) golf balls. Hidden under the cover, RCT is the bit of magic that allows radar-based launch monitors like Trackman, Flightscope and others to accurately capture spin rates in limited flight environments.
It should go without saying that accurate spin capture is important.
“If you can’t measure the spin, all you have is ball speed and launch angle, and you can provide a predictive model, but it’s not accurate enough to hold a tournament on, it’s not accurate enough to do ball fitting, it’s not accurate enough to do club fitting,” said Matt Hogge, Titleist, Senior Director, Golf Ball Engineering & Technology. “You need the spin value.”
Easily overlooked, RCT should be considered mission-critical technology for indoor installations of radar-based launch monitor technology. Not only do RCT golf balls dramatically improve the accuracy of spin capture when used in fittings, practices, and simulation play, it’s likely that Trackman’s NEXT Tour wouldn’t be possible without it.
I’ll stop just short of calling the short film fascinating, but it does shine light on the complexities of developing a new technology that, on its face, may seem relatively simple.
It’s lines on the mantle of a golf ball. Cool. As it turns out, there is a bit more to it than that.
The story is worth the 11 minutes it takes Titleist to tell it.
Are you using a radar-based launch monitor in a limited flight environment? Get your RCT balls now.
Fred Guerrero
2 years ago
Great video by Titleist and thanks for putting us on to this. I didn’t realize there were 4 different types of RCT balls. I need to start using the one with the least spin rate.