New optishot purchase

[sb944]

Don't push the wrist. It's so tempting to say "oh it feels OK", but what is the point really? With all this new sim stuff going on, and me being new to golf again, my stomach muscles are constantly sore, muscles in my arm are sore, my knees are on and off. But who can stop now?

Skytrak is a PITA. It is telling me my mis-hits aren't going really long, and that sucks. Nothing more humbling that rarely getting above 7i length with a 2i. But I can't question it that much, as most 2i strikes are far from perfect. And when I do hit it pure, it goes way further, so I don't think it's misreads. I was getting some pure 2i strikes, but seems to have gone since using ST, so it's basically a useless club right now. I can say that it feels completely worth the investment, and I'm sure people that spend 2-5x for better systems say the same thing about those. I don't know about Optishot vs TGC graphics, but being able to dial up Birkdale for next week was pretty sweet, and I'll be playing 18 there tomorrow for the first time. I hope to make the tour later this year, even if I do bring up the rear.

Unlike opti, chips are actually releasing, so not only will the longer distance and harsher rough add to my score, but the realistic release on fast greens will likely push me over 100 tomorrow. But it all feels very real to me, which is all I was after. Pretty thrilled with the purchase right now.

[Chuck]

Sounds great. All I can seem to do for now is just practice the short game and that's OK. It really needs work anyway. Two weeks now and I'm thinking that this wasn't from that fall. That was minor slip. I think this came from a 1 iron that I was playing with for the first time and I accidentally smashed into the ground on a very hard swing. I remember that hurt but I just shook it off and continued to play. It was the next day that wrist hurt like a bad sprain. Now that is been a while, I can tell it was in injury on the leading side of my left wrist as you come through the downswing.

I started looking at the Skytrak a little closer to see if I could understand the tech. I've been using a Zepp1 swing analyzer in conjunction to optishot which gives you a lot of swing motion info. You may want to look into one of those for the skytrak. They are pretty cheap on ebay. The software works on an iPhone or Android and it's a great training aid. With all of the tutorials and practice advise it gives, it's almost like having a pro with you.

[shonofear]

nice updates sb.
im also a fellow Ozzie who recently bought into the Optishot and have had some good and not so good times with it.
I managed to get the version 2.0 shipped to NZ where I am currently staying for work (but also have the version 1 back in Oz) and have bought the Mac upgrade and works great and am just about to purchase the season pass for $30- (mini tour) for some extra challenges.
man, the Skytrac would be great to have, nice work treating yourself, maybe some new 2nd hand clubs as well :P
ive started getting golf lessons recently and have noticed my previous inside/out path to be more consistently outside/in which sorta made me a bit concerned, as i always liked the draw path, but now im a bit confused but i also need to trust my new swing that my coach said will feel different (a few major flaws with my previous swing being corrected) maybe i am more of a natural fader anyways, i remember Dustin Johnson was a drawer but changed to his more natural fade (not to compare myself with the like of a pro, but seems similar)
keep us posted with more updates
cheers

[sb944]

Nice to see a fellow oz sim player.

I found my irons on the web the other day, they are the most modern I currently own: http://www.ironfinder.com/Individual...apex_ii-79.htm

They are thing of beauty, and in my mind when I bought them 8-9 years ago, a great game improvement club. I'm not nuts (not 100% anyway), I'm talking long term game improvement, as opposed to short term score improvement that Ping/Callaway advertises as GI irons. To my mind, the club that gives the most feedback, has the most control, and has the least forgiveness is what I want to be training my swing with.

In the last few weeks my thoughts have changed slightly on this. While that is all good, enjoyment of the game is greatly increased when scoring is lower, and I think most of us need to slightly sacrifice purity for ease of use in some areas. Primarily for me, scoring lower means learning to putt and chip. But on top of that, there are a lot of times I need to hit 150y+, and I need to not worry a slight mis-hit will cost me 40y with a 2i. I first considered getting a 2nd hand full iron set, but the modern top rated clubs, in left handed, in stiff, with shipping to Australia are non-existant, and options here are slim, pretty much just getting brand new is the best option, but expensive. I played with the thought of just replacing the 150y+ irons next, and still like this idea. If my 7i and down is mostly consistant, why replace them with an expensive cavity back? Even then you don't save a lot, as there are no discounts getting new irons 1 by 1. I then hit the ball really solid the next day, right up to 2i, and decided my irons are fine afterall. My latest thoughts are leaving the irons, but get a hybrid or 2, and a more modern driver/3 wood, so I'm probably going to use the 2/3i as just practice irons then. I am contemplating a 2nd hand option right now

As for tuition, I'm going it alone right now, which probably isn't the best idea, but it's going along fine right now. I still can't shake my slicing, which hovers between very slight fade to still the occasional wild slice. The wild slice is mostly just 6i+ (including woods), so if I'm that far out, I just have to plan a decent place to miss it, eg. Don't aim at the pin if there is water/disaster left edge of green, just aim to miss right (for a lefty) and hope it slices a bit. I plan to get better at this. Not sure about DJ, but Hogan had a wild hook, and famously reworked his game to never hook again, and had a fade after that. It's said every drive he hit started left edge, and never went further left. Would be nice! There is a tonne of stuff on Youtube about Hogans swing ideas, I've seen quite a few and have integrated some of it into my swing thoughts.

I think with your coach I'd personally try to get a bit of higher level info out of him. As an example, ask what player he thinks your swing could end up like, and why, and how. It's always nice to get a visual to work towards, rather than have someone just explain that what you are doing is wrong.

[Chuck]

I think it's now week 6 or 7 (not sure).. and my wrist is back and feeling good. Still a linger of sprain on certain wrist angles but I did a good 9 holes on a real course tonight and felt pretty good. According to optishot, my club speed is down from 90mph on a driver to 80 or so but it's improving. Considering I couldn't even lift a coffee cup or even put on underwear, progress has been good :-)

I finally have the basics of a real simulator running and I cant praise the Optoma GT1080Darbee enough. The Darbee part (google it) is some computer technology that dynamically enhances color for the projector. I'm using an 4K HDMI signal splitter with one signal going to my 4K tv and the other going to the Optoma. Comparing the two, the colors are dead close. The Optoma is a true HD projection 1920x1080 native resolution. With Optishot, the courses look very real and are a joy to play (funky wrist and everything). I look forward to this weekend's tournament. It should be a lot of fun.

[sb944]

Excellent. Not going the screen route, at least for now, really just can't justify it for only my golf. If it could double as a movie room I'd probably go for it, but the only room available wouldn't be tall enough for my full swing. My setup is a cheap 27" monitor that sits to the side, does the job, but obviously not the same.

10nph is a lot to lose, though it should come back quickly enough.

Is optishot playing Quail Hollows too this weekend? What length is it? The TGC tour has it at around 7150, and it plays long, 250y par 3, couple of ~500y par 4's with narrow fairways and plenty of water. Kicked my ass 2 rounds in a row.

[Chuck]

Because of the wrist, I changed to a baseball grip, which seems less stressful but that may be effecting my club speed.

This month the Optishot tournament is "Pleasant Hollow" Aug 10-16. Same course as Quail Hollows I suspect. I haven't seen the course yet so I can't even guess at the yardage. The video of it looks really cool on the optishot website. I gather you have the Full TGC and not the starter version that comes with R-motion?

[sb944]

I got the opti email saying "Pleasant Hollow", figured it probably was Quail. I'm a little confused as to why you can't already play it yet. I'm very time conscious, and get way more freedom night times during the week than during the weekend.

I played my final round there on TGC, the fairways are so tight at times, and going left or right is just chip out time, if you are lucky you might get a reasonable chance to get it to 90y or so. I'm going to curse when the pros get right in there and then find some 1y gap in the branches and put it pin high, there is 0 chance of that working in TGC. The thing that really makes it a fun course though, is just when you feel like you can't stomach another 450y+ hole with no room for driving errors, you get a drivable par 4, or a reasonable par 3/5.

Yes, I have the full TGC, and the empty wallet that goes with it.

[Chuck]

Hay Sb.. I think the folks at Optishot gave us a stinker on Quail Hollow or whatever it was supposed to be. I signed up for the mini-tour just to play the tournament and damn if the Pheasant_hollow download was missing some tree model and it crashed the game on startup. Arrrggghhh!!!!. Of course it was fixed Monday but with only 9 hrs left to play arrggghhh!!! After the PGA championship was already over. Arrrrrgggghhhh!!! I wonder how may others got bit by Quail Hollow tree bug?

[sb944]

That's different. No crashes on on TGC, but it would have been a lot better rounds if the trees weren't there. Every time the course is mentioned all I visualise being in the middle of a forest, trying to work out a better route than just chipping out sideways/backwards.

Was it at least a good course for a few hours?

[Chuck]

I got through 18 on the Quail Hollow optishot tournament, and have to say the course was well done. However the game play was nothing like what the PGA championship was like with green speeds and fairway speeds. Watching the putting in the PGA on TV, it was like putting on a marble floor. That was one of the fastest greens I've ever seen. I think it was too fast actually. Optishot would have been a terror if it had set greens speeds to fast. As it was, It was kind of typical game play for optishot. The modeling was good, if you could keep it on the fairway.

Speeking of TGC, is there any news on TGC-2 for the SIM world?

[sb944]

TGC greens are very quick. Not sure if it's PGA quick, but I have a lot of trouble due to green speed. Also, since most greens are modelled off real tournament courses, when you do get it close, you almost always still have a decent slope to contend with to knock it in. And all the time I'm freaking out about missing the putt and being further away after it stops rolling.

No word on TGC2 yet. Speculation was about a 6 month delay from the release date, but no news yet as far as I'm aware.

[DirtyGarry24]

You can adjust green stimp/speed/firmness on TGC.

[Bilbo]

Sorry to jump into your thread, but I'm in the process of a sim build for myself and my kids and wanted to get your opinion on if your Optishot2 accurately reflected the ball flight in regards to swing path? I know how far I hit my clubs, but while I'm working on things I want to see the proper shape. Eventual goal would be to end up with a skytrak or gs2, but for now if this will work and I can get the kids involved then when we go to upgrade it will be an easier sell to my wife. Thanks

[sb944]

I haven't had a crack for a few weeks, but found flight path to be very good in general. I have sliced it on the range, on opti and on skytrak since starting back. the huge shock in moving to skytrak was learning just how weak my misses were, opti really didn't reduce the length enough when I missed. long irons and persimmon clubs read very well, couldn't get my titanium to read, but didn't try all that hard either

[wbond]

I'd recommend Rmotion over optishot. IMO, it's way more consistent, and gives more accurate results. I've used both.

Sorry to jump into your thread, but I'm in the process of a sim build for myself and my kids and wanted to get your opinion on if your Optishot2 accurately reflected the ball flight in regards to swing path? I know how far I hit my clubs, but while I'm working on things I want to see the proper shape. Eventual goal would be to end up with a skytrak or gs2, but for now if this will work and I can get the kids involved then when we go to upgrade it will be an easier sell to my wife. Thanks

[Jb50]

I agree with wbond. I also own both and would definitely chose Rmotion. However, your going to want to get extra clips assuming your kids are using junior clubs. You're not going to want to keep moving clips around to the different clubs all the time. Rmotion only come with 4 clips and then they sell a pack of 10 for I believe $100. Also, early on, Rmotion was having trouble with the junior clubs/swings. I think that was fixed with an update but not positive. I didn't pay much attention to that since I don't have juniors playing.

[wbond]

I missed the part using it for your kids as well. If that is the case, you could try using the poster putty stuff in lieu of buying more clips. It works well on steel shafts and ok on graphite shafts. Not sure why but that's what i've noticed anyway. Buying lots of clips does make it quite a bit more than the optishot.