# Carry Number > Canonical: https://pinflag.io/glossary/carry-number ## Carry Number URL: https://pinflag.io/glossary/carry-number > A carry number is the distance a ball travels through the air before first touching the ground, as distinct from total distance, which also includes roll after landing. Carry and total distance are often confused but describe different things. Carry is purely the flight; total adds whatever the ball rolls out afterward. Two shots with the same total distance can have very different carry numbers if one flew further and rolled less, or the other way around. On course, carry is usually the more useful number to plan a shot around, because it tells you what's needed to clear a hazard, a bunker, or the front edge of a green — roll happens after that decision is already made. A [launch monitor](https://pinflag.io/glossary/launch-monitor) measures carry directly; a GPS-based on-course number more often reflects total distance to a pin or a landing spot. Carry numbers also vary with conditions a range session can't fully reproduce — firmness, slope, wind — which is one reason a golfer's on-course carry pattern is worth tracking separately from a range-measured one. See [gapping](https://pinflag.io/glossary/gapping) and [dispersion](https://pinflag.io/glossary/dispersion).