The Equipment Manifesto

[Wyzyguy]

I have read countless threads with questions, in some form or another, regarding hitting of a mat, reducing spin, adding spin...Increase launch, reducing launch, monitors not reading correctly... Typically by newish forum members newish to sim golf, launch monitors, mats, hitting indoors & so on. Is any ball, monitor, club, software, mat, screen perfect? No. Nothing is. Blah x 3... But most golfers are guilty of it. SO...

I do have a question. With the exception of Driver. If you catch the ball on a tolerable descending angle of attack with an acceptable amount shaft lean leading to ball first contact somewhere near the COG of the face.. How does the mat/turf really factor into altering important parameters? Is it a camera capture issue? Is it a material, ball, club face friction issue? I am not being a wise guy.. Pun... Intended. I am curious.

When I started with the SkyTrak my ball parameters on wedges, driver, irons were less than optimal ( I sucked).. I slowly through trial and error, a chronic case of the Sha*ks, changing balls, changing everything... I put my game into a coma.. Realized I needed to start from the beginning.. Can I hit the middle of the face? Can I get my path & face matched up within an acceptable range? Can I start the ball online? Are my launch angles vs ball speeds reasonable? In my experience.. almost 10K shots on SkyTrak range alone... Contact is king. Golf is hard. Is it you or the hardware/software...? In my case it was me. Once I came to grips that I was not that good things got better.

Equipment & golf tech improvement has outpaced the improvement in the skill of the average golfer by miles. For elite golfers, I believe that tech has helped to make them the best players ever on the planet. Why...? They have used the feedback in a positive way vs questioning the info. What is the point of this semi rant? I'm bored at work waiting for a meeting!!! The saying it is not you its me.. Well.. It is you.. It is all of us!

Hit the ball, find it, hit it again!
Oh.. BTW.. Happy Holidays.

Would love to hear feedback about the question...

With the exception of Driver. If you catch the ball on a descending angle of attack with an acceptable amount shaft lean leading to ball first contact somewhere near the COG of the face..... How does the mat/turf really factor into altering any of the parameters important to launching a golf ball?

[Boerdoc]

Food for thought. I am not smart enough to answer your question directly so I looked it up.

[Bnorman58]

This was very interesting. I would have never imagined the difference in launch angle.

[wbond]

I think the only way for everyone to truly believe would be to do it with a robot so you can control the entire swing and ensure ball first contact, divot depth and all swing characteristics for all shots. Then people will still question it based on types of turf, type of mat, etc, etc etc.

[Point280]

Maybe I'm mistaken, but I took Wyzguy's post as more or less rhetorical. At the risk of not being politically correct; and with no intention of being derogatory towards anyone, anywhere... the old saying applies: "It's the Indian and not the arrow". Trust me. I do have some Native American Heritage. And I'm also an avid bowhunter and archer. A modern compound bow with sights, stabilizer, release is far easier to master in a much shorter amount of time than a traditional setup involving a long bow, wood shafts and finger release. I've seen some archers who dedicate their time to traditional archery equipment Whom I'd pit against any modern archer. I think that illustrates the time vs tech analogy pretty well. Take any scratch golfer and let him swap equipment with a PGA touring pro? Guess what... the touring pro wins 364 (my odds are 365) days out of the year. Does great equipment help?? Absolutely! Do we all look for excuses as to why our golf games aren't where we want them?? Of course! The OP is having success on the course, after some introspection and rebuilding his swing -- using this fantastic forum, and the amazing advances in the golf tech we see now. This forum is amazing. We're all here to have fun and improve our games. There is no dumb question! But I like the post. Well done Wyz!

[Wyzyguy]

Maybe I'm mistaken, but I took Wyzguy's post as more or less rhetorical. At the risk of not being politically correct; and with no intention of being derogatory towards anyone, anywhere... the old saying applies: "It's the Indian and not the arrow". Trust me. I do have some Native American Heritage. And I'm also an avid bowhunter and archer. A modern compound bow with sights, stabilizer, release is far easier to master in a much shorter amount of time than a traditional setup involving a long bow, wood shafts and finger release. I've seen some archers who dedicate their time to traditional archery equipment Whom I'd pit against any modern archer. I think that illustrates the time vs tech analogy pretty well. Take any scratch golfer and let him swap equipment with a PGA touring pro? Guess what... the touring pro wins 364 (my odds are 365) days out of the year. Does great equipment help?? Absolutely! Do we all look for excuses as to why our golf games aren't where we want them?? Of course! The OP is having success on the course, after some introspection and rebuilding his swing -- using this fantastic forum, and the amazing advances in the golf tech we see now. This forum is amazing. We're all here to have fun and improve our games. There is no dumb question! But I like the post. Well done Wyz!

So... I could have just typed Indian vs. Arrow!!!