Looking to add club data

[Gresh12]

I have a Skytrak and TGC currently. I’d like to add some club data (mainly path, face angle, club speed but AoA is a nice to have) that is reasonably reliable paired with some knowledge on ball flight laws and the ball data I get from Skytrak to mentally note when to throw out results as club/ball info tell me one has to be wrong.

Integration is a nice to have within software but not totally required. I’m fine to have the club data on my phone while PC runs Skytrak range or TGC if I get better data with separate outputs.

I have a few hundred dollars to spend (let’s say under $500 but that’s at the high end). My hope in general is that in about 5 years when I could justify replacing my Skytrak a reliable QCQuad type device will exist for under $5k (upper limit of what I could justify to get this data/sim).

I’ll only worry about club data during practice sessions not when simply playing a round in TGC so I won’t have to switch clubs after every shot.

I have a Swingbyte 2 but the values it produces for path and face angle are clearly not even close. I’m not sure if it’s a bad product or I have a bad unit (way past warranty now if that’s the case) but it does have me a touch leery of the club attachment measurements. I tried everything with alignment and calibration and results were so clearly wrong it’s not worth even referencing

What I’ve considered:

Skypro
- affordable and owned by same company as Skytrak so most likely to ultimately have seemless integration as things evolve
- current integration with Skytrak range seems to only be club speed which I can technically get from my old swing speed radar
- I’m a little unclear on what data I can get from this device and I haven’t found any great info on how accurate my key parameters are

R-motion
- affordable and currently integrates with TGC but it’s not clear how or if integration will work with TGC 2019
- I think creator has ties to Skytrak but unsure if tight enough ties that future integration with their software is likely
- has the data I want but again I haven’t seen great info on accuracy (most of reviews I find compare the resulting ball flight to launch monitors but I only care about the measured club data not the flight algorithm)

Optishot
- a little more expensive but in the budget
- definitely no integration but it’s measuring the actual club head not the movement of a shaft so I’m wondering if this makes it more accurate (I’ve read accuracy is suspect for sim but not clear to me if it measures data poorly or it’s simply calculation error taking club info and guessing what ball will do)
- a bit more effort to setup each session at start (my sim collapses after each use) but less effort to change clubs

I am also open to other ideas but these are the ones that seem most obvious so I have done some research.

Thanks for any input.

[Alex Gorodetsky]

I have an Optishot and a Skytrak. Since I got my Skytrak I have not turned on my Optishot - it's a step backwards. I am also interested in logging club data - I just found that my OptiShot wasn't overly reliable, and I had to qualitatively adjust my clubhead speed using a fudge factor to make it in line with measured values.

Personally, I use a SwingTalk device. It works reasonably well, and swing speed seemed to be consistent with Swing Speed Radar values. However, since the device plugs into the top of the grip, if it rotates at all, you cannot trust any of the values. It is really good at mapping out your swing from start to finish. I assume your Swingbyte 2 has the same capability.

For simplicity, I am thinking of getting a Skypro for the integration with Skygolf 360. Does anyone know what is logged in the Skypro section of Skygolf 360? I assume that if you just look at averages, your club data will be in line with reality. Does anyone else have some experience with Skypro that they can share?

[StuartG]

Maybe it will change - but I've yet to see any of these units that attach to the club to provide reliable and accurate data concerning path or face data. They just have no way to detect a target line and most methods for determine a face orientation are prone to inaccuracies.

Unfortunately, for accurate and reliable club data the lowest cost entry point still seems to be a used flightscope X2 or Xi Tour. That's assuming you have enough room to use a radar unit.

[GustinBeaverton]

As you mentioned in the first post, nothing in that budget will be as accurate as a GCQuad.

My friend has a PhiGolf and told me the path and face data was pretty good, especially considering the $.