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Found this response to a reviewer of the Optishot 2. Thought it might be a helpful troubleshooting guide.
The height of the swing pad is just over an inch. If you do not like choking up, and who does, and you do not want to buy a stance mat, then you might try standing on a couple layers of carpet remnants. Or a piece of plywood from Home Depot and some astro turf stapled onto it. Not standing at the same height can have a dramatic affect on the experience.
As for lighting and calibration and hooks and slices and distances here is what you need to know. This is what I send everyone that might be struggling to get everything going correctly. It gets us all on the same page.
*Club Calibration*
You only really need to calibrate for those clubs such as the driver that return very wild hooks or slices.
When you calibrate we save your calibrated swings and attach them to the club in the club set. On each step it validates each swing to make sure the calibration is good. If we have a moderate number of swings that appear 'out of range' we warn you that we didn't see consistent input.
What is 'out of range'?
In the case of square swings - if we see a swing that is very open or very closed.
In the case of a open face - if we see a swing that is closed
In the case of a closed face - if we see a swing that is opened
How can an 'out of range' swing happen?
The exaggerated curvature on the bottom of some woods creates a curved reflection. (Picture an upside down U.) That can cause some swings to be 'out of range'.
Asymmetrical surfaces (wood with more curve or recesses on one side than the other) can cause swings to be 'out of range'.
The final step of calibration may also warn you. This message has a recalibrate, accept, cancel option.
This step analyzes all the swings for variance. If we statistically see too much variance in any of the square, open, closed steps. Then we warn you a final time.
Do these warnings mean that your calibration is invalid?
The calibration may still work and often work very well. It means that sometimes that club may give you a false reading. The more warning messages you are getting the lower the 'grade' for the calibration.
How do I fix it?
The best way to fix it is to ensure that your clubs provide a consistent reflection.
When a swing comes in for a calibrated club the face angle calculation uses the calibration data to calculate the 'true' face angle. Let's say that a club reads with a slightly open face when you in fact swing it square. (This could be due to a number of factors including offsets and other irregular reflections of the club.) After calibration what used to read as slightly open club would register as square. In a similar way the open and closed face angles are adjusted to the 'true' face angle registered in the calibration.
What about Offsets in the Club Sets?
If calibration data is available for a given club, it does NOT use the club offsets in the face angle calculations.
*Next we look at Accuracy and reasons for inaccuracy*
The most common cause of inaccurate or even zero swing results is lighting. OptiShot is basically a set of infrared emitters and detectors. If there are any other sources of infrared light in the room, then the detectors will have a hard time reading its emitter's infrared pulses. Examples of things that give off too much infrared are the Sun, incandescent light bulbs, halogen light bulbs, and even space heaters. Fluorescent and LED bulbs are the best provided they are not "daylight" or "natural light" or "full spectrum." I should point out that OptiShot will not work in dim light or darkness either.
Next we should look at the club heads themselves. Generally speaking the simple, clean, and reflective design of irons are better at reflecting OptiShot's infrared pulses back into it's detectors than the more complex undersides of some drivers on the market. Matte finish, gun metal, angular bevels, and cutouts do anything but reflect light cleanly down, rather, these surfaces scatter and diffuse the light.
If your lighting is properly set up and you are still having an issue try running OptiShot with the Swing Pad connected and turn off or at least dim all the lights in the room and observe the infrared sensors. With the exception of the Green/Red status light, every second bulb should be steadily glowing faintly red. If some are out that should be lit then the Swing Pad should be replaced.
- - -
*Lastly, How to Make Adjustments*
If all of the above checks out and there is no issue and armed with a solid understanding of your swing and the ball's flight in the real world, adjustments may be made in the software to bring its swing results inline.
To correct for an inaccurate face angle and hook or slice you will need to adjust each offending club's offset setting until the swing results are inline with what you would expect to see in the real world. Please keep in mind that the offset setting is merely a tool used to correct inaccurate face angle readings and is not meant to specifically represent your club's actual offset.
To begin you will need to create a custom clubset
To get to the place where you may customize clubsets, launch into either Practice or Play mode. I suggest Practice mode driving range because of the marked distances. Then mouse over the bottom right hand corner to open the Clubs Menu and click Manage Clubsets. Select New and give your new clubset a name. Then click your new clubset and click Edit. From there you may edit each of the clubset's clubs.
Use the Previous and Next buttons to select the actual club you are using, take a few swings, and observe the results. If your club face is always open you could try setting the club's offset to something dramatic like -1.5 and observe the results. Then dial in that number bit by bit until the ball flies true. The goal here is to get the results to be what you would expect to find in the real world. Once you are happy with the results, move on the the next club.
Speeds and distances may also be adjusted until they too match what you would expect to see in the real world. If you know your speed for a particular club, then that should be tweaked in the software first. If you do not, then just skip editing its speed and go straight to editing the distance.
Again, select the actual club you are using, take a few swings and observe the results. If the results are not quite what you would expect then make an adjustment to the club's Speed Adjustment percentage up or down from 100% until the speed feels correct. After your speeds are in line you would then observe the distances each club returns. Chances are they have fallen in line, but if they are still off simply follow the instructions above as before but make changes to each club's Distance Adjustment percentage instead.
Once you get going with all of this, changes can be made quite rapidly and can even be done on the fly during a round of golf with friends.
The height of the swing pad is just over an inch. If you do not like choking up, and who does, and you do not want to buy a stance mat, then you might try standing on a couple layers of carpet remnants. Or a piece of plywood from Home Depot and some astro turf stapled onto it. Not standing at the same height can have a dramatic affect on the experience.
As for lighting and calibration and hooks and slices and distances here is what you need to know. This is what I send everyone that might be struggling to get everything going correctly. It gets us all on the same page.
*Club Calibration*
You only really need to calibrate for those clubs such as the driver that return very wild hooks or slices.
When you calibrate we save your calibrated swings and attach them to the club in the club set. On each step it validates each swing to make sure the calibration is good. If we have a moderate number of swings that appear 'out of range' we warn you that we didn't see consistent input.
What is 'out of range'?
In the case of square swings - if we see a swing that is very open or very closed.
In the case of a open face - if we see a swing that is closed
In the case of a closed face - if we see a swing that is opened
How can an 'out of range' swing happen?
The exaggerated curvature on the bottom of some woods creates a curved reflection. (Picture an upside down U.) That can cause some swings to be 'out of range'.
Asymmetrical surfaces (wood with more curve or recesses on one side than the other) can cause swings to be 'out of range'.
The final step of calibration may also warn you. This message has a recalibrate, accept, cancel option.
This step analyzes all the swings for variance. If we statistically see too much variance in any of the square, open, closed steps. Then we warn you a final time.
Do these warnings mean that your calibration is invalid?
The calibration may still work and often work very well. It means that sometimes that club may give you a false reading. The more warning messages you are getting the lower the 'grade' for the calibration.
How do I fix it?
The best way to fix it is to ensure that your clubs provide a consistent reflection.
When a swing comes in for a calibrated club the face angle calculation uses the calibration data to calculate the 'true' face angle. Let's say that a club reads with a slightly open face when you in fact swing it square. (This could be due to a number of factors including offsets and other irregular reflections of the club.) After calibration what used to read as slightly open club would register as square. In a similar way the open and closed face angles are adjusted to the 'true' face angle registered in the calibration.
What about Offsets in the Club Sets?
If calibration data is available for a given club, it does NOT use the club offsets in the face angle calculations.
*Next we look at Accuracy and reasons for inaccuracy*
The most common cause of inaccurate or even zero swing results is lighting. OptiShot is basically a set of infrared emitters and detectors. If there are any other sources of infrared light in the room, then the detectors will have a hard time reading its emitter's infrared pulses. Examples of things that give off too much infrared are the Sun, incandescent light bulbs, halogen light bulbs, and even space heaters. Fluorescent and LED bulbs are the best provided they are not "daylight" or "natural light" or "full spectrum." I should point out that OptiShot will not work in dim light or darkness either.
Next we should look at the club heads themselves. Generally speaking the simple, clean, and reflective design of irons are better at reflecting OptiShot's infrared pulses back into it's detectors than the more complex undersides of some drivers on the market. Matte finish, gun metal, angular bevels, and cutouts do anything but reflect light cleanly down, rather, these surfaces scatter and diffuse the light.
If your lighting is properly set up and you are still having an issue try running OptiShot with the Swing Pad connected and turn off or at least dim all the lights in the room and observe the infrared sensors. With the exception of the Green/Red status light, every second bulb should be steadily glowing faintly red. If some are out that should be lit then the Swing Pad should be replaced.
- - -
*Lastly, How to Make Adjustments*
If all of the above checks out and there is no issue and armed with a solid understanding of your swing and the ball's flight in the real world, adjustments may be made in the software to bring its swing results inline.
To correct for an inaccurate face angle and hook or slice you will need to adjust each offending club's offset setting until the swing results are inline with what you would expect to see in the real world. Please keep in mind that the offset setting is merely a tool used to correct inaccurate face angle readings and is not meant to specifically represent your club's actual offset.
To begin you will need to create a custom clubset
To get to the place where you may customize clubsets, launch into either Practice or Play mode. I suggest Practice mode driving range because of the marked distances. Then mouse over the bottom right hand corner to open the Clubs Menu and click Manage Clubsets. Select New and give your new clubset a name. Then click your new clubset and click Edit. From there you may edit each of the clubset's clubs.
Use the Previous and Next buttons to select the actual club you are using, take a few swings, and observe the results. If your club face is always open you could try setting the club's offset to something dramatic like -1.5 and observe the results. Then dial in that number bit by bit until the ball flies true. The goal here is to get the results to be what you would expect to find in the real world. Once you are happy with the results, move on the the next club.
Speeds and distances may also be adjusted until they too match what you would expect to see in the real world. If you know your speed for a particular club, then that should be tweaked in the software first. If you do not, then just skip editing its speed and go straight to editing the distance.
Again, select the actual club you are using, take a few swings and observe the results. If the results are not quite what you would expect then make an adjustment to the club's Speed Adjustment percentage up or down from 100% until the speed feels correct. After your speeds are in line you would then observe the distances each club returns. Chances are they have fallen in line, but if they are still off simply follow the instructions above as before but make changes to each club's Distance Adjustment percentage instead.
Once you get going with all of this, changes can be made quite rapidly and can even be done on the fly during a round of golf with friends.
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