SkyTrak setup recommendations? New unit is missing 10-20% of my swings

[frodaddy00]

Are there general recommendations for setting up SkyTrak to register your shots? I have found that about 10-20% of my swings go unnoticed by the unit (all clubs). I see this behavior in the SkyTrak software itself as well as in TGC. I also see the same behavior from SkyTrak app on iphone, ipad and pc. The only common denominator is the SkyTrak unit itself.

Here is my setup:
- SkyTrak unit is only a few months old and has less than 1000 shots
- I have the full metal jacket case with the unit height adjusted so that the bottom of the skytrak unit is sitting at the same height as the bottom of the ball on my mat
- the red dot sits about 10-11 inches away from the unit
- I use alignment sticks on my unit and my feet to make sure I am aiming at the target line properly
- The red dot disappears when I swing so it seems like it is registering my swing.. but it thinks about it for a couple of seconds then the red dot reappears and it ignored my swing
- I dont see any of the green lights on the skytrak unit going red when this happens
- I have tried many different balls with different lines and have settled on the callaway truvis as it seems to pick up those red pentagons consistently
- I use the app mostly plugged into my pc so I dont believe low battery is the culprit
- I usually have the ball positioned out at the red dot and slightly behind it (right of it as a right handed golfer)

One more thing to note.. the unit also seems to get in a funk where like 4 or 5 shots in a row go unregistered. My bad luck usually means I flushed those..and as my irritation grows I get quick and skull a shot.. which of course gets picked up


Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[BadEddieKit]

What kind of mat are you using?

[frodaddy00]

What kind of mat are you using?

I added a picture of my setup. I ordered the net and mat from The Net Return. It is their 6' x 10' pro turf. I found my back taking a beating though hitting off of that due to my hard garage floors. As a result, I added padding underneath and cutout a section where I placed more plush mat that allows for wooden tees.

You can see that this cutout section does sit a little higher than the rest of the mat. I adjust the skytrak unit in the full metal jacket and measured them so the ball and unit are at the same height.

I don't think this matters but I also have thicker padding under my feet so that my feet and the ball are also the same height.

[BadEddieKit]

Were you having these same issues when just hitting of the net return pro turf? Before you made it more plush?

[frodaddy00]

I'm pretty sure I noticed this behavior from the start. However, I made that change a couple of months ago right after I set everything up. You raise a good point though.

I will put the original matting back in place so that everything is the same height and see if that makes a difference. That would be disappointing though since I actually like the current setup.

[BadEddieKit]

Ya i would start there first. Then also maybe try moving your skytrak forward towards your net, so that the red dot is in the first 1/3 of the mat. That also helped me for some reason with putts not registering. Could always try raising and lowering your ST little by little too to see if that helps.

[Tony Holland]

Are you using a clean white golf ball? I found ones with logo's were better.

[frodaddy00]

I've tried a dozen different golf balls (all new) and also tried adding markings. I did not see a huge difference to be honest. I ended up using the callaway balls just because they come out of the box marked so i dont get ink all over my clubs from marked balls.

[JWK]

Try unplugging the Skytrak and not using Direct Mode. The Metal case seems to interfere with the USB connection for some reason

[frodaddy00]

I will give this a try. However, I see the same problems when using skytrak with my phone or ipad for quick practice sessions. In those cases Ive used skytrak connected to my wifi or "offline" mode connected to my device in a private network. So even though no USB cable is involved I still get those misreads.

[trapdraw]

It looks like you have either white or light colored walls. If that's the case, have you tried any type of darker colored backdrop placed behind you so the SkyTrak camera can see some contrast against the white ball?

[pennypepper]

I agree with Trapdraw. I had the same issues in the beginning. Since the Skytrak uses a camera to track the ball, anything that the camera sees that can potentially confuse it. For me the culprit was the washing machine in the garage and sparkly shoes. Once I put a sheet behind my hitting area and changed shoes, we are now at around 98% miss reads.

[frodaddy00]

Interesting thoughts that did not occur to me. My walls are white. I will try to find something dark I can put behind me.

Now that you mention this I did notice something else that happens but only at night (no sunlight). At night my overhead lights are at a spot where my shafts make a shadow that tends to hover right over the red dot.. On rare occasion my takeaway would trigger the red dot to disappear and make me start over.

[jschalk]

I have not had this issue until my last time playing. I will try some of the suggestions in hopes that it was only a one time thing. Thanks

[frodaddy00]

Update:
Here is what I tried so far and the results.

1. I put my original mat back in place. My hitting surface was now flush with the rest of the mat including the SkyTrak. I did not really notice any change in behavior from before. I would get about 1 out of 10 shots ignored. At the end I put my cutoff mat back in place since I like it better and didn't notice any benefit.

2. I hung black cloth behind me. Specifically, I have a guard net that runs the length of both sides of my mat. The netting starts at the floor behind me and has about a 30 degree slope upwards so that the top, at the hitting net, is about 8 feet tall. I did see some improvement and now its maybe 1 out of 20 shots ignored!

My wife parks her van right behind me and I'm starting to believe either the glossy paint and/or the shiny wheels are the culprit. I placed cloth over the guard netting so it blocks almost everything except the middle/back of the van including the back wheel.

It seems to me that SkyTrak is much pickier about seeing things behind you (meaning a line from the skytrak, through your ball, and going behind you through that line). I would have thought it cared more about from the ball forward but this does not appear to be the case.

Next step for me:
I need to get some type of drapery that I can hang up that blocks the entire car including the back. This is not definitive proof but it seems to me that the arc my SkyTrak unit cares about is about 45 degrees out each side of the unit....which means I am planning on blocking out starting at 3 feet behind me and running about 10-12 forward towards the hitting net.

[clark55810]

One other idea...Once in a while I notice that my forward press of the golf club will be read by the SkyTrak and the red dot will disappear as it is trying to read the ball flight. If I continue buy swing, the SkyTrak will miss the shot since it was already trying to track the ball.

This leads to a "missed shot".

Might be causing some of the issue as well as the background.

Clark