Review Blast Motion Gen 3 Review

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Looking forward to more from our testers as they spend more time with it.

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Have spent my couple hours the last 2 days playing. I will practice a bit tomorrow before a round Wednesday. I can say that the last couple of times out my chipping is really good. I feel like the easy takeaway and slower transition has really helped hit the center of the face more often on chips. On putts I am seeing good distance control. Need to work on my lineup a bit as the focus on tempo has introduced a bit of a waiver to my line. I need to check full swing again. Not sure where I am at all compared to practice time with the Blast last week.
 
I'm hoping to get some more time to work with the Blast Motion sensor this week. My wife agreed to play a round of golf with me today, so I left the sensor at home. Just focused on enjoying the round and some nice weather with my better half. I did see some signs of improvement in distance control with putts today. I've been practicing a bit with shortening my back stroke on longer putts, trying to get closer to that 2:1 ratio, and really just smoothing out my putting stroke. I didn't always leave myself gimmes today, but I wasn't blowing them 10 feet by the hole either. My problem today was definitely squaring the face at impact. That resulted in a lot of putts lipping out and burning the edge of the cup. I really need to work on that, but I want to spend some more time with the full swing and also try out the short game and bunker analysis.
 
Adding to my initial review, I still think the setup, software and data captured is good for the value of this thing. It runs on special for $125 which makes it a relatively cheap investment. It really isn't that expensive and is subscription free for everything I’ve come across so far.

I’m roughly 400-500 shots in now on short game chipping and full swing, and overall, as much as I want to pretend like I’m using the data, I’m just not. I’m using the data that comes off my little mini flight monitor way more still, but that’s not to say the data this provides wouldn’t have value for people looking to improve the things it aims to improve and/or don’t have the money to buy a cheap flight monitor.

It aims to improve, Tempo, Attack Angle, and Speed (Peak Hand Speed & Club Head Speed.) The accuracy of the speed is something I would love for someone to check. I’m not sure how accurate it is. Someone with an actual GC Quad or Trackman should probably be the one that tests the accuracy on the speed component. I don’t have that type of quality in my flight monitor.

Short Game – I’ve chipped a decent amount in my little attic setup with this and the key metrics it gives you are based around tempo, swing speed and attack angle. In my last session where I chipped 86 balls, I think almost all but 2-3 got a green “ding” for tempo which I suppose confirms I have good chipping tempo, but all in all with that much success I wasn’t having to adjust that much and overall ended up ignoring it after about 15 chips.

If I look at swing speed it’s very similar, all my chips were within roughly 8-12 mph range. It was nice to see when I got a little more jump vs. non but again, I’m just not sure I’m at the level of play where I need to know whether I chipped at 10 mph vs. 11 mph? So, I got a few dings and kind of moved on just focusing on the rest of my practice.

If I look at attack angle, it’s all over the place. So, this might be an area that I need to work, but again I’m nervous about the accuracy here? Most of my attack angles are between 1-4 degrees in my 86-shot set, but then I have 1 every 20 balls that will be like 15-25 degrees? Maybe that’s true I don’t know, but it seems darn aggressive? But let’s say it’s deadly precise, what do I do with that data? It’s 1 out of 20 shots…and I already know I’m going to hit a bad chip 1 out 20. I’m an 18 handicap so again I see the data and kind of shrug and try again.

Full Shots – There’s not a ton to say here that’s all that different from how I just described my thought process with short game. It gives me tempo, but for the most part I’ve found my tempo to be relatively good. I will say this thing lead me to a place where I was too fast with my tempo, so it has slowed me down a bit, but once I kind that feedback, I was basically good to go, and although I could see myself pulling it out every now and then just to make sure I’m still in tempo, I don’t think it’s something I’ll be taking to every range session. I’ll use it on full shots maybe once a season at this point if I feel like my tempo is getting way out of sync.

The metric I fail to meet the expectations of the device on the most is Peak Hand Speed. I’m consistently “Slightly Late” and although it’s good to know that I have a little distance in me if I get that just a bit earlier, all in all I have no idea what to do with that feedback. Every now and then I’ll get a “Good”, but I have no idea what I did different between that shot vs. the “Slightly Late” one, so although I sound like a broken record, I’m just not sure how helpful that metric is for me.

Device Use – The software and sync process are intuitive and easy to use.

I would not say the device itself is super easy to use though, and it is ultimately what keeps me from using it consistently. You get one sensor.

If you want to go out to the range and really work across your bag on various things, you’re going to be pulling the rubber sensor off every time you’re done with a club and putting it on another. If you have Arccos it just magnifies, you’ll be unscrewing your Arccos sensor from said club, to put this on, to pull this off, to put Arccos back on times how many ever clubs you want to use it on. I’ve taken it to the range a couple times now, and by the 2nd club of doing this I end up saying forget it and end up using it about ¼ of the time I intended to use it.

Is it totally outrageous, no…all in all it probably takes me 2 minutes if that to switch it over from club to club, but it is something I think is worth mentioning. It’s not like Arccos where you basically fire up the app, set it up and forget it, and so I think it’s important that people understand that piece of the setup.

Furthermore, when you get home you’re taking the little white sensor out of the rubber grip to charge it, and then putting it back in anytime you want to use it. It’s a minor quibble, but I wish there was a way to just charge it in the rubber grip. When I’m scrambling to get out the door for golf, I’ve thought about grabbing it and said to myself, bleh I don’t want to deal with it, which isn’t great.
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Finally, this straight up doesn’t even work with my putter at all. I don’t feel like I have any outrageously uncommon putter grip either, I mean it's one that Dick's carries. I have a Superstroke Pistol GT 2.0 (Pictured below), but neither of the rubber adapters fit, and even if they did I have an Arccos sensor for my Superstroke that has to be removed via Allen Wrench. Almost zero chance I’m going to go through that hassle each time to use it. I would’ve liked to at least try it with putting, but I like my grip and I’m not really willing to completely regrip my putter to use it. I think Blast needs to have a list of compatible Putter Grips, at least within the main brands that most people buy.
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Final Thoughts – I know a lot of that sounds kind of negative, but overall, I do think this product is super solid for the value. I just want to provide truthful feedback from my personal experiences with the device. It just doesn’t personally provide me a bunch of things I either didn’t know or really know how to use effectively. I think it’s important the buyer knows exactly what data they will get out of it, and how they intend to use it. If you’re confident in the data and how to use it, it’s a great deal for $125-$150. I’d also say if you’re not an Arccos user, and you have a more standard putter grip it’s much more ideal for you than I.

For me personally, I haven’t found the data insanely helpful, and because of that I’ve not found the device setup for every club to be worth it for regular use. I think I’ll pull it out from to time to time to check on things, but it’s not something I’m going to use daily or even weekly. Overall, I’d rate it a 7/10.
 
Getting some practice on my lunch break. First the 7 iron with full swings. Swings 12 & 13 below. I was really taking it back too slow at first. This feels a bit aggressive but the last 4 balls I hit were all green and the ball flight was a nice high 145ish carry and that is as good as I can hit a 7 iron. This is great feedback as I tend to lay off when I get nervouse and this is telling me I might need to focus on swinging freely and aggressively.

One key I am noting is that if my swing fundamentals are off, my tempo is off. If I am not set up right and I decel to contact the ball, this will tell me my downswing was too slow. Still need to get better at identifying the connections here and hopefully Blast might have some training around this.

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Got a few swings with driver in also. Interestingly my driver swing speed is 8 MPH slower than my 7 iron. Wonder how this is computing swing speed? Still pretty good tempo according to the measures. The real results from the swings were pretty good too.

I really think this thing identifies that you have an issue really well. I am not sure it is as useful at identifying what the issue is.

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I have the same question about the driver swing speed. It says no difference in my 7i and Driver. It’s clearly calculated. Not a metric I use at the moment as I don’t understand it nor believe it yet.
 
I have the same question about the driver swing speed. It says no difference in my 7i and Driver. It’s clearly calculated. Not a metric I use at the moment as I don’t understand it nor believe it yet.
Yeah, definitely curious about that myself. Maybe Blast can stop by again and give us some feedback.
 
it's got to be based off the length of the shaft. I assume that is specified for each different club? haven't been able to get that far in setup. 😕
 
it's got to be based off the length of the shaft. I assume that is specified for each different club? haven't been able to get that far in setup. 😕
You are able to customize the length of the shaft in the my clubs menu. (click the three lines in the top left). from there you can insert the brand/model as well as club length. I am curious if this makes any difference.
I hope to get some chipping work in with it tomorrow.
 
My blast is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I will go grab it because I anticipate a lot of putting practice inside for the next few days. the app is downloaded and ready to set up. It cracks me up that fed ex goes from cali to Tennessee back to AZ lol.
 
Went golfing today. No Blast, but I might truly see the value in it now. Today I knew the tempo I was using was good. All I had to do was swing confidently and I hit the ball well. No more guessing. Before I could luck into a tempo and ride it for a bit, but now I know the correct tempo and I have a way to check it whenever I want. I also had a great day chipping in some wet turf. The tempo training there allowed me to stay calm and confident no matter my lie. Anyway, more to come on the practice side, but my buddies were very complimentary of my ball striking and swing today. I also took their money so there's that.
 
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Short Game:

So I had some time to try out the short game setting on Blast Motion today and it's one that I'm not sure I'll get a ton of benefit from. I started with pitching to a practice green to a short sided pin and then hit some at pin on the opposite side of the green. My was averaged 2.0:1 with a low of 1.9:1 and a high of 2.1:1. I was very consistent in that regard. My overall swing time shows that I'm on the slower side, but not so much that it seems to be an issue for me. Honestly, trying to speed anything up would probably do more damage than good. Short game to me is all about feel and my tempo is good, so there isn't much that I would want to change here. Making good, clean contact all the time is what I need to work on here.

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While I may not get a huge amount of benefit from the short game setting, this is one area that I would like to try to get my wife to test. She struggles to make a smooth consistent swing when chipping and pitching and I think working on tempo could really help her. She doesn't play or practice nearly as much as I do, but eventually I will get her to try it out and see how it works for her.

I didn't get to try the bunker setting as there was someone in the middle of a practice session there, but I want to give that a go before doing any kind of final review of the product.

One other thing to note, I did have some trouble getting it to pick up chip shots. For some reason, it just didn't want to pick those up. It wasn't proximity between the sensor and phone as I was right there at my phone the whole time. It picked up pitch shots with the same club perfectly, so I'm assuming it just wasn't picking up the contact with the ball this time. In any case, I ended up with far fewer data points than I anticipated there. I may switch to a different club with a different grip and see if that makes a difference.
 
Live look at my practice green today. No Blast today.

 
I've used it a bit over the last week, but nothing really new to review on. We also got 5" of snow today, so it'll be awhile before I get to golf again. :(
 
Holidays have been slammed and I fell off the 100 putts a day goal. However, I'm super excited to use the full swing and short game analysis whenever it warms up in the spring. We've been using the baseball sensor during my son's hitting sessions, and it's amazing to see exactly what he needs to work on to improve his swing from the data. So cool, and I'm sure there's a lot of it that carries over to the golf stats.
 
Well I had grand plans for a day at the range on both Friday and Saturday, but woke up sick Friday and haven’t been able to shake it. Still not 100% and trying to figure out work this week. I still want to try out the bunker setting and I actually want to get back to the putting tempo, as I’ve seen a glimmer of hope in improving my lag putting by focusing on tempo. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back out there this weekend and provide some more info. I’m really disappointed that I had to spend two almost 80 degree days stuck inside sick.
 
Was able to get a bit of chipping practice in today. I enjoyed looking at the stats afterwards but am a bit confused by the tempo. I hope it warms up a bit to get full swings in shortly.
I have attached a few screenshots that show that my full swing is a little on the longer side but my back swing is in range. It looks like my downswing is what is taking too long. I typically don’t accelerate too much through a chip shot. Is that something I need to work on or a way I need to adjust the app to meet my goals?
overall I am really enjoying the feedback this app provides and the way it makes it exciting to work on the game indoors where you are not able to see the results of shots. 331AF260-EB71-483F-BBE7-FB43FA2EB1B3.jpeg9A04199E-10C5-434C-9BF5-FCB85FADE65D.jpegB8AAD8B0-7E95-4F12-A144-2B860E81AA73.jpeg2AC6AE11-09DC-4B7B-89C6-F09F965DF692.jpeg
 
I think I've ran this thing through it's course and as mentioned above it doesn't work with my putter, so that leaves me with this...

I'd like to give this away to someone else to review for nothing but shipping costs. I have qualifiers though...

1. Must be a 2022 albatross member
2. Must be able to use it within the next month, whether that means you have an indoor setup or the weather to be able to actually use it. Even more points if you have some sort of flight monitor to combo it with.
3. Aren't just trying to get a free item. I want this to go to someone that was on the cusp of buying one, or is genuinely interested in using the data, has followed this thread, etc.
4. Don't have an oversized grip or oversized pistol grip. The adapter just won't work well on your putter.
5. Not a complete deal breaker, but I'd say this is better served to someone who doesn't have screw on arccos sensors.

If you feel like you qualify on those 5 things and are interested ":love:" this post and I'll give it a couple days and pick someone.
 
I think I've ran this thing through it's course and as mentioned above it doesn't work with my putter, so that leaves me with this...

I'd like to give this away to someone else to review for nothing but shipping costs. I have qualifiers though...

1. Must be a 2022 albatross member
2. Must be able to use it within the next month, whether that means you have an indoor setup or the weather to be able to actually use it. Even more points if you have some sort of flight monitor to combo it with.
3. Aren't just trying to get a free item. I want this to go to someone that was on the cusp of buying one, or is genuinely interested in using the data, has followed this thread, etc.
4. Don't have an oversized grip or oversized pistol grip. The adapter just won't work well on your putter.
5. Not a complete deal breaker, but I'd say this is better served to someone who doesn't have screw on arccos sensors.

If you feel like you qualify on those 5 things and are interested ":love:" this post and I'll give it a couple days and pick someone.
Take a look at the baseball bat adapters. Those should fit over your grip. I don't think it would affect functionality as long as you align it correctly, just like with the regular adapters.
 
Take a look at the baseball bat adapters. Those should fit over your grip. I don't think it would affect functionality as long as you align it correctly, just like with the regular adapters.
Hmm, not a bad idea! Maybe I'll call them today and see what they say.
 
Hmm, not a bad idea! Maybe I'll call them today and see what they say.
You're not the only person in the world with an oversized putter grip. They have to have a solution.
 
Did some putting with this yesterday. I was basically nailing the tempo. This is good because I have been putting very well lately. To me this shows the premise of the device is spot on. Again the more I use it the more I see that good strokes with every club are showing as good tempo. This is a great check for where you are.

Couple of other thoughts on the device too. First setup is super easy. Just take the sensor and tap it to your phone with the app open. After that you can pick whatever club in your bag you want to use it with. The app automatically sets up for that club by going into it's Full Swing, Chipping, or Putting mode. From there just swing away. I have found the device is much better at picking up a swing with a ball. I can't remember if I saw that you could swing with no ball, but that doesn't seem to work most of the time. With a ball it picks up the swing every single time. I have had no issues with that.

If you want to switch mid session, simply take the club attachment off the club you're using and put it on the next club you want to use. Next select that club from the club menu and voila' it's ready for you to practice a different skillset. The app automatically adjusts the timing and tempo for any club you're using. I have had a couple times where I have to restart the app to get this switch to happen because the app gets stuck on one club, but this is not the norm.

I find the device very intuitive and the readout on metrics pretty informative. It definitely helps to watch the videos explaining each metric in the training library of videos. I watched a few of the other instructional videos as well. These mainly centered on trying to practice hitting the right tempo over and over. The full swing videos in fairness don't force you to try to hit the tempo that would give you a green indicator every time, but they do say to focus on your tempo being consistent as you practice. So I guess consistency is most important and then trying to hit the ideal tempo is next.

My only qualm on the instructional videos is you don't necessarily need a video to tell you to practice tempo over and over if you bought this device. That is what you're going to naturally do once you have the device on a club and the app on your phone. In fact it's kind of addictive to stick this on a club and hit shots with it. After every shot I pull my phone out of my pocket and upon unlocking the screen that shot loads into the app view and I see all the metrics.

I think the biggest value here for me has been that tempo was yet another thing that I endlessly tinkered with in my swig. Now I know what the ideal tempo is. I'm not guessing anymore. I just do that and it's one less variable in my swing. Also I have played 2 rounds with my friends since acquiring the Blast and both times they exclaimed how much more consistently I was striking the ball. Time will tell next year, but I think I am in rounding into a pretty big handicap improvement for 2022. I am at a 17.3 now after a terrible late spring and summer last year. I started hitting it better right before the Morgan Cup and have been hitting it better and better since then. I intend to use this for practice in 2022 and for tempo checks when I'm off so it should be a good tool for this goal.
 
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