Carry distance is the distance the ball travels through the air, from the point of impact to where it first touches the ground. It excludes any roll or bounce after landing.
Why it matters
Carry is the distance most golfers care about for club selection. If you know your 7-iron carries 150 yards, you can plan a 150-yard shot to a green — regardless of what the ball does after it lands.
It's also the distance metric that's most consistent across surfaces. Total distance depends heavily on how soft or firm the landing area is; carry depends on what your club and ball did at impact.
How launch monitors compute carry
Most launch monitors compute carry from a combination of measured ball speed, launch angle, and spin rate, then apply standard atmospheric assumptions (temperature, altitude, wind = 0). Some units measure carry directly when they can track enough of the flight; others estimate it from the data captured at impact.
Different units may report slightly different carry numbers for the same shot — this is usually due to the assumptions baked into their flight models.