Review Blast Motion Gen 3 Review

[DataDude]

Went out and used mine for some putting time today. Surprise! My putting stroke is close to Blast recommendation and is pretty consistent. I am a pretty good putter so this meets out.

 

[Raiderboost]

Went out and swung a bit today to get baselines. I was just trying to do my swing. My swing is whack

I like that I do have hand speed. I need to work on my tempo and my release. Digging through the drills to see what I can find...

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What club were you using here?

 

[DataDude]

What club were you using here?

6 iron

 

[Raiderboost]

6 iron

Here's a few shots from my 7i and then one random one that I clicked on. My hand speed was in the 16's and my swing speed around 80 which seemed low to me.

 

[JB]

As more people test this out on the putting green and short game, I am looking forward to seeing their data. I find it pretty fascinating for some reason.

 

[V14_Heels]

I don't get it. I can use this thing just fine for chipping and short game, but I must have a putting stroke or putter that I just can't get it to work with. I can't get it to read putts for anything. It'll pick up like 1 out of 20. It's super odd, but there's really not a whole lot of ways to mess this up so I'm not sure.

 

[DataDude]

Another note after 3 or 4 times out it says the battery still has 100% in the sensor so this little thing should last on a charge for quite a while. The app also changes clubs and strokes incredibly easy with just the push of a couple of buttons. I am kind of wondering if there is a way to view the historical data other than the charts at the home page.

 

[Pops]

What are you all seeing in loft change. Here are a few screen shots from yesterday. Of utmost importance to my game is the need to control and make a consistent back stroke.

 

[baylrballa]

jealous all yalls working.

 

[Cruskater]

I have used the blast sensor to work on my face angle as well as loft on my putter. I found the tempo part interesting but it threw me off briefly. If you are a "feel" golfer I would not pay too much attention to the tempo and timing of backswing because it could throw you off causing you to focus a bit too much on technical stuff.

Looking forward to trying this out with my wedges, especially since I often add loft on my pitch shots and want to maintain consistency (same thing with taking loft off on chips). On the full swing I'd be interested to see what it reads with me tempo, but I am mostly looking at other metrics.

 

[mtbloco]

What are you all seeing in loft change. Here are a few screen shots from yesterday. Of utmost importance to my game is the need to control and make a consistent back stroke.

my average loft change is 1.4. what length putt are you drilling?

I think I'm fairly consistent when 10 ft and under. For m, things break down with I start working on long lag putts. Also, when I have a breaking putt, I can see my body fighting my eyes in the data. As my face angle at impact starts to deviate more in the direction of the break from my normally consisting -0.4 deg closed on shorter and straight putts.

 

[JonD]

What are you all seeing in loft change. Here are a few screen shots from yesterday. Of utmost importance to my game is the need to control and make a consistent back stroke.

I've only been messing with mine a bit since getting it charged. Haven't looked at much of the training yet. In the basement rolling 6-10' putts, I'm seeing a loft increase at .3 or .4.

My tempo ratios are ok at 1.6 to 2 if I really focus on getting through the ball a little quicker. Face rotation is about equal back and through. Face at impact is less than half a degree open, which I'll work on for sure. Where I'm way off the chart though is the overall speed of my stroke. Apparently I swing the putter too slow? I don't know what the impacts of that would be... When I get some more time to look at the training videos I'm gonna take a look and see if I can't learn something!

 

[Pops]

my average loft change is 1.4. what length putt are you drilling?

I think I'm fairly consistent when 10 ft and under. For m, things break down with I start working on long lag putts. Also, when I have a breaking putt, I can see my body fighting my eyes in the data. As my face angle at impact starts to deviate more in the direction of the break from my normally consisting -0.4 deg closed on shorter and straight putts.

Putts in above posts were 10 footers on sim turf.

 

[ozzman]

What are you all seeing in loft change. Here are a few screen shots from yesterday. Of utmost importance to my game is the need to control and make a consistent back stroke.

The outliers are when I tried to manipulate lift to make sure the sensor was working

 

[Raiderboost]

I haven't had the chance to dig deep into the putting yet. Just a short session when I got it to try out. I'm a big feel putter and think I need to focus on the putt like I normally would and then just use the data to see if I'm doing poor in one area. The first few I hit were pretty good strokes that said I was little quick and kind of closed. After that I tried to slow down some and not close it. Then I felt like I was leaving to many open and also start questioning my alignment some. I think one thing that could help would be to take a little more time to line up the ball like I normally do using the line and then setting up like I would. Also, maybe not looking at each stroke and how they are but to hit a group and then go back and look at the data to see if there is an area to improve. I think it could be easy to go down the rabbit hole of achieving certain numbers but not really improving.

 

[will]

What are you all seeing in loft change. Here are a few screen shots from yesterday. Of utmost importance to my game is the need to control and make a consistent back stroke. View attachment 9053209View attachment 9053210View attachment 9053211View attachment 9053212

I looked at my last practice session and I averaged 0.8 deg/increase with a high of 1.4 deg/increase and a low of 0.3 deg/increase.

 

[mtbloco]

I got out to the course instead of lunch to roll some putts. I worked my normal warm up 6 ft and 10ft. Straight putts. Then work will R to L breaks and L to R. To see what it would come up with. I have a tendency to use the putter face instead of line on those longer breaking putts. But that’s a topic fir later.

@JB asked about numbers. Here’s a set that might say something about my putting. But I’m not sure what that is. When practicing , I seem to have good tempo. And I’m consistent with distance control. Judged by good grouping of putts of various lengths at the hole.
However based on the Blast metrics, my putting swing time is fast. Back and forward fast. Yet near the “proper” tempo.

so my question, should I work to lengthen them and keep the tempo? What is to be gained by it? Could this be a pace of green issue? Or something I should just ignore because my distance control on 6-20 ft (in practice) is good?

 

[Pops]

85 putts today with blast. Broken down into 20 or 25 put groups from 5 foot and 10 foot distances. Tempo, back stroke and forward stroke are in a good spot as is putter face rotation average. Loft increase is not good by any means. Need to tighten up range on face angle at impact and solve the loft increase. Loft increase is definitely a mechanical issue in my swing.
Data provided by blast will help me for sure. Thought I was pretty much straight back straight thru blast is proving that not to be so true. I have at least a 5+ degree rotation back and forward.

 

[mtbloco]

85 putts today with blast. Broken down into 20 or 25 put groups from 5 foot and 10 foot distances. Tempo, back stroke and forward stroke are in a good spot as is putter face rotation average. Loft increase is not good by any means. Need to tighten up range on face angle at impact and solve the loft increase. Loft increase is definitely a mechanical issue in my swing.
Data provided by blast will help me for sure. Thought I was pretty much straight back straight thru blast is proving that not to be so true. I have at least a 5+ degree rotation back and forward.View attachment 9053467View attachment 9053468View attachment 9053469View attachment 9053470View attachment 9053471View attachment 9053472View attachment 9053467View attachment 9053468View attachment 9053469View attachment 9053470View attachment 9053471View attachment 9053472View attachment 9053467View attachment 9053468View attachment 9053469View attachment 9053470View attachment 9053471View attachment 9053472

So this brings up a question for me. Where does “straight back straight through “ break down? 3 degrees? 5 degrees? 20???


no one is truly SBST. So where is that line that some toe hang is beneficial?

 

[Pops]

So this brings up a question for me. Where does “straight back straight through “ break down? 3 degrees? 5 degrees? 20???


no one is truly SBST. So where is that line that some toe hang is beneficial?

Very good question. One that I don’t know the answer to. I’m sure someone here can shed some light on that. @Jman possibly

 

[mtbloco]

Very good question. One that I don’t know the answer to. I’m sure someone here can shed some light on that. @Jman possibly

Hopefully @GSAB can help with us as well.

 

[GSAB]

I tried it out for 6 months. Changing my full swing tempo wasn't working for me. Lead to more problems than improvement. I also question the data. Unfortunately, no trackman to do comparisons but i do have a sc300i. With an 11 degree driver, i intentionally hit up resulting in a 20 degree launch angle and this device says negstive AOA. Go figure. On putting, i have one of those gate putting trainers. I know when the ball path is left or right bc it hits a peg, 14 inches away. So i intentionally rotate close or open and just looking for some consistency but this device just disappoints.
I don't see how this feedback is use full to me. I will rate this 1star out of 5 crediting them for a clean and simple design that works well with apple only. Good luck.

Hey Nilnats, sorry to hear your experience wasn't what you expected. I am very surprised to hear that you had issues with accuracy. A couple of questions:
- Did you ensure the "Blastman" logo was properly aligned? The "body | needs to be inline with the face of the club.
- With face angle at impact, we measure and report the difference between your backstroke rotation and forward stroke rotation. If it is saying closed but the putt didn't hit the peg, it may be because you started open.
Let me know your results. We are very confident in the accuracy of our technology, and test against Optical systems to ensure. Happy to help troubleshoot if you continue to have issues. Thanks, Greg

 

[GSAB]

Hmm...well I got some things to overcome with mine. I recently bought a new Evnroll putter that I was fit into by CC. I got it about 4 days ago, and the first time I tried the sensor with it, it had a standard size Winn grip, that didn't suit me at all. I've since had it regripped with a Super Stroke Pistol Grip 2.0, and there ain't no way I can get this Blast adapter to fit onto that grip, which is problem #1. But problem #2 is I use Arccos which makes this even more complicated, because even if it did fit I'd have to remove my Arccos everytime, this isn't as big of a deal on regular irons cause it just screws off and on quickly, but it's a different animal with a superstroke where I actually need an allen wrench and such.

I realize this is kind of a tough nut to crack for Blast, but it's also kind of large drawback for my setup, and even without the arccos I still need a bigger adapter. I'm going to see if I can't come up with something custom...

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Edit: Went to the small adapter and this is quite snug on the actual arccos but I have no idea how bad this throws off metrics?

V14_Heels,
Your grip set up is certainly one of the more challenging ones we see. As far as metric accuracy, you can change the length of your putter to +1" and you should be fine. As an FYI, we are working on some additional attachments to accommodate the various larger grips out there. Thanks, Greg

 

[GSAB]

I think this is a very fair review. It kind of sums up where I'm at with it right now as well. I think there is alot of REALLY good data with this thing, but I just don't know how to really use it yet.

I will say @Raiderboost i think the key is to adjust the goals within the Tempo setting. So if you can determine your best ball striking for example happens at a 2:5-1, and you can figure out how fast that backswing and downswing need to be, then you can update your goals accordingly and practice for the repetition. Because I think your right in...tempo is a purely subjective thing. Some pros have to have a 3:1 vs. others at a 2:1. Heck Colin Morikawa might be darn near 4:1.

Great commentary here. A few things to note on Tempo. Remember, it is a ratio between your backswing and your downswing. Everyone is going to have "their" ideal tempo, but most elite players fall into a range between 2.5:1 and 3.5:1 with full swings. To help determine your best tempo, we suggest recording data on your full swings and making note of your tempo when you're hitting your best shots. You can then set your goals around that ratio and work to build consistency with your swing. I think you'll find that once you get to the Driver, your tempo will be slightly slower due to the length of the club / arc of the swing. Taking the club back to slowly tends to cause too quick of a transition, and is hard to repeat. Think of riding a bike in a straight line as slow as possible...very hard to do consistently. Let me know if you have any questions. Greg

 

[GSAB]

Putter Session #2:

I was able to get in a little more time with the putter yesterday. I did several practice sessions of 8-10 putts each where I was set myself up at a specific spot and hit each shot from there. That way I was able to focus on repeating smooth, consistent putts. As mentioned by other reviewers, tempo isn't going to be identical for everyone, so finding the tempo that works best for you and updating your range would allow you to work on consistency in your stroke. For me, I noticed yesterday that 2.1:1-2.2:1 provided the best results. I was set up about 6 feet for one session and 8 feet for another and I made more putts when I was around 2.1:1 or 2.2:1. Everything was just smoother. I was also able to improve a bit with keeping the face square at impact this go round.

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Now, when I moved back to about 18 feet, I had the same problem as before. My backstroke takes a bit too much time and I have more trouble keeping the face square. I think this is where I need to focus on tempo and face angle. I already knew I struggled with longer putts, but now I have some data to analyze and see where I can improve. I think I'll start looking into the drills and see if they are able to help.

I do have one minor complaint and I think this also led to a minor issue yesterday. When I start a practice session, I set my phone down on the putting green at the distance that I want and putt from there. I can look down and see the result of the putt instantly. The only problem is, the sensor seems to have a very short range. Anything beyond about 6 feet and it disconnects. So when I walk over to pick up the balls, it disconnects and reconnects when I get back next to the phone. At one point yesterday it disconnected from my phone and did not reconnect when I walked back to it. I wasn't paying attention and hit several putts that felt really good, but it didn't log those. The sensor can also track putts offline and then you download those, but it looks like it just missed those putts completely. Not a huge issue, since I noticed pretty quickly, but at that point I had to completely close the app to get it to reconnect. Other than that, it's worked very well so far.

Hey WIll, rather than setting your phone directly on the ground, try using a tee to prop it up. While the range is dependent on the surrounding circumstances, this should help. Also, you are not alone with a slower stroke from longer distances. Tempo should remain the same from putts of all lengths. This is where elite putters shine...the stroke is longer and the club is moving faster, but the ratio between backstroke and downstroke should remain the same. Thanks, Greg