Question about altitude

[keither5150]

I live near Calgary Alberta Canada. Our elevation is about 3500 feet. Google says that this will give the ball an extra 6-7% distance compared to someone who lives on the coast. I have my simulator set up for my location. Is it acceptable for me to keep my settings to my location during tournament play? My friends and I have gone to great lengths to represent accurate local ball flight with my 2 camera system. I could easily change distance settings within a few seconds to reflect sea level. Sorry if this has already been discussed..... I haven't seen it...... what would be even better is if TGC had elevations built into their courses. That way you don't change anything with your settings and everyone is even.

[mthunt]

Wouldn't everyone playing at the same elevation be the most fair way?

[Bubba22]

I think we should all be playing online at the same level.

[keither5150]

How do you implement this? Ask people of higher elevations to set to sea level? Everyone will have there sim set for their location. I personally like to see my drives reflect my drives IRL. I do see that I have an advantage and that's why I am bringing this up. I can adjust my distance quite easily. When I first hooked up the system, it was frustrating that my drives were not going the same distance as real life. Maybe ProTee needs to lay out some guidelines for equal play. For the next tournament, I will take 7% off. People in Denver need to take about 10% off. There is no easy solution for this. It would be great if you could enter your elevation in TGC and then choose to play at course elevation or at local elevation. I think that E6 has something like this.

[mthunt]

For tournaments, TGC allows for a max +- of 5%. It's in the rules. It's the same if you were to enter a real tournament at a different elevation IMO

[Dax]

E6 does allow elevation to be set at course elevation or something set by the user. I would agree though that to be fair in a tourney that elevation should be equal for all.

[Bubba22]

Not a concern keith. Keep whatever settings that you think reflect your game. At the end of the day it comes down to the short game. Let's no get too picky about yardages here and there from altitude differences.

[keither5150]

Thanks Bubba, It won't make a difference to my score. After some testing of hitting 50 drives with current and 50 on default settings. I have found that my local settings are 5.4% further than default. I played two rounds on default and didn't see all that much difference. About 15 yards difference on the drive and 5-10 on irons. If you've ever golfed with my ghost you will know that it's my short game that kills me. The next course on the tour is fun. I hit a drive off the top of a maintenance shed. Then the next time on that hole, came up short. second shot over the shed, third shot over the bunker, 4th shot about 15 ft putt for the ugliest par ever. Saved the replay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAM_8eJSdPg Too much fun. More than a few practice rounds are in order for this course.

[THARN]

I have golfed with your ghost a couple of times... :P I just figured you were a big hitter. No worries. play the game you're used to. if you play your local courses and you know how far your 7 go's in that altitude, then you should use those settings. I think the pro tee is pretty accurate at default settings- for us sea level players. I hit my pw 105 and damn if when I hit it flush it will go 105.
now if I could just hit my 7 and 6 iron flush ...

[keither5150]

My last 8 rounds, I took off 3% off the distance. That gives me just over 2% over actual scale. When calibrating a GSA system for speed you put 2 balls in the field of view. The system allows you to measure the pixels between the two balls. You then measure the actual distance and enter the scale. 1 pixel= 0.1900 cm. This gives the user almost infinite speed adjustment. All my rounds on The Oaks at Westchester have been with the 3% off. I have played about 10 rounds at sea level in my life. My last round in Mexico I was hitting my PW about 125-130 compared to 140ish here. I will be keeping my distance at this new setting. If in the spring I find too big of a difference, I will change it back. The Oaks at W has quite a few down sloping fairways so everyone should have good drives there. My ghosts are probably funny to play against. I have been experimenting with big fades and draws sometimes with very bad results. Good luck in the next tournament.