New driver "issues" with SkyTrak?

[cberglof]

I'm not sure if this is an issue or not and is really a couple of questions. First, I recently purchased a new driver. My old one is a Taylor Made R9. 10.5 degree set up neutral upright. I recently started getting a rattle in it. Figured it was a good excuse to upgrade. Got a Taylor Made M1 2017 model, same loft, little bit lighter shaft and regular flex (swing speeds slowing down with age, figured I'd try it). It has a partially white head and I immediately noticed that I was getting 20 yards less off the tee. Both in SkyTrak app and TGC and Perfect Golf. Did some tweaking to no avail. Even tried some different flex shafts, maybe I'm getting old. Launch angle is much lower, probably a couple degrees on average and the carry distance is at least 15 yards less. I've yet to hit the club in real life, and I'm thinking that it feels just fine and that I'm hitting it as good, but maybe the white head is messing with the SkyTrak's calculations? Any thoughts on this?

Secondly, I think that my drivers distances have always been a tad low, maybe 6 to 10 percent, and always play with a driver boost of anywhere from 5-12% in TGC, but since their is no such feature in JNPG, I am really suffering with my new driver and will have to hit the old one with the rattle when playing courses on there. I will update once I hit the M1 on the course in real life on Saturday.

Question one...has anyone had any experience like this?

Question two...is there any mod for JNPG that anyone knows of to boost the driver?

[V8burble]

1) I've found that my driver distance on SkyTrak has generally been about 6% lower than it is on GC2. Irons spot on.
It's just something that I have accepted given the great price point for SkyTrak and perhaps the GC2 algorithm is a tiny bit generous?
2) I'm not aware of any boost for SkyTrak usage with JNPG. [edited after mistakenly responding about GC2 instead of SkyTrak)

[V8burble]

Sorry! I got mixed up there and was talking GC2, not SkyTrak. My mistake. I'm not aware of any boost for SkyTrak with JNPG.

[James James]

I think the gc2 is generous, I noticed this on loads of YouTube videos so I looked into it in more detail:

https://exploringimpact.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/efficiency-spin-axis.html?m=1

[BadEddieKit]

Interesting stuff James, It appears that protee is aware of this as well, as I have read in other posts, that GC2 display distances are longer than those in TGC?

[Lefty13]

I've had the exact same problem... moving the ball backwards behind the red dot has helped a bit I think. I've just kind of accepted my driver distances are, on average, around 5% to 10% lower in real life...

[Igor-247-golf]

My driver speed gets to around 114mph - I tee off about 2 inches behind the red laser. Never misses a beat and gets out to 300yrd

[ganders75]

Q. were you fitted professionally for the new driver? Different clubs, but more importantly different shafts from different manufacturers have different launch characteristics. More than enough to cover the 5-10% difference you are seeing. Take along your device to the fitting and try to run them in parallel with whatever they are using - sometimes they'll be cheeky and use boost to sell more golf clubs. Get them to try you on a bunch of different shafts and you'll see what I mean. Sounds like your new shaft maybe has a higher kick point than your previous one, launching the ball lower, hence less carry. If you play in real life on fairly hard courses you might find that you make up the difference in the run you get.

I'll also pipe up with how you fix your existing driver - which might help you. You need to be a little careful with this method to make sure that you don't cook/burn/ruin anything important

A light rattle is generally just a tiny piece of shaft glue or weld material which has been knocked loose inside the head. I agree it can be super annoying, but the fix is dead easy. The driver head normally has a layer of glue inside it which you can use to catch these little pieces. You heat up the head of the club to soften this, and then just take a couple of baseball swings with it to set the rattling piece into the melted glue inside the head. Depending on the type of driver you have, you do need to be a little careful not to heat it up too much or you'll damage the aesthetics of the club. I just use one of those electric outdoor heaters that glow bright red. Some other people I know recommend boiling the sole of the club for 10 seconds or so but i've never done that so can't comment. Either way - be very careful not to heat the hosel of the club - you'll melt the glue holding it in! Anyway, if you're using the heater you just hold the sole of the club up to it for about 10 seconds, maybe 3-6 inches away, couple of baseball style swings, let it cool down and boom - you're good to go. If you still have a rattle, repeat and heat for a little longer this time...

If it's a heavier rattle, then it's probably a swing weight or something which has come loose. You'll likely need to have that repaired professionally to get it sorted.

[cberglof]

No fitting, bought off the rack at the sporting goods store. Thanks for the advice!

[wbond]

No issues with driver being short on ST and no issues with the 2017 M1 either. I tee it right on the laser dot, but I also don't have the BS that others have on here. If you think it's the color you can cover easily with some blue painters tape to test and confirm if that's the issue for you.

[Stiggity]

I had an m1 when they first came out and could barely get my carry to 210 yards and I had it fitted and had a constant slice no matter what I did. I changed to a mizuno jpg 900 stiff shaft and my distances have greatly increased 240- 260 and found my slice is few and far in between with the same swing. I have had my skytrak since the beginning and it's def not the unit. I cannot recall skytrak not picking up a shot due to club head color

[Ryan_luan@yahoo.com]

Overall I don't see the 5%-10% under-measure of driver distance in SkyTrak. Driver typically measure at 230, 3 wood 205, both close to real world numbers

[cberglof]

Just an update:

I did hit my new driver in real life this weekend and I was definitely hitting it longer on the course than the numbers from my SkyTrak suggested. BUT, I may have been suffering from a little tentativeness swinging the club in the garage as my numbers the next day were much closer to how I was hitting it on the course on Saturday. I still feel that it might be a little off, but not enough to cry about. I can recommend the M1...but it definitely has a different sound coming off the club than what I'm used to. Golfing buddies said it was definitely a keeper, as we won our scramble!

[SkyTrak_Seth]

Glad to hear it! Yeah, swinging indoors definitely lends itself to some tentativeness. It'll get better with time. Congrats on the win!