I just bought a SkyTrak system

[Hooli]

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone in these forums, so much useful information for setting up a DIY 'simulator' at home. I've turned my once cluttered one-car garage into a space in which I can safely hit real golf balls. And as a result of all the tips and advice, it cost less than $500 (Canadian). And with Par2Pro's still having a labour day sale units available, I even managed to save a little on the SkyTrak (cheers!). Now I just have to wait for delivery... excited!

Is there anything I should know as a new user? I know this has been asked a couple of times, but it's been a while since the last time, and I was wondering if anyone had any advice for setting up and getting going?

Cheers!

[Clevited]

Welcome to the club! My advice would be to just be aware of the common pitfalls new Skytrak users fall into.

Indoor swing is real. It can take some time to see your clubspeed, contact, and general swing technique to reach outdoor levels. Even pros have been shown to swing less than efficient indoors at times. If seeing low numbers, I suggest taking it to an open range, hit off a mat and see if its still a problem.

Your mat can do a number on your swing as well and what Skytrak reads. Don't have the Skytrak on the mat you are standing on unless its very resist to movement. Certain mats can slow down clubhead significantly even if strike barely fat. They can also turn your club or make you hit high on face. They can also give you significantly different spin numbers for irons.

Lastly, Skytrak calculates ball flight after each hit. Its method for calculating that can give you slightly shorter distance in general,especially if you spin your irons a lot. Many have said it can be up tona club short at times but its not for sure if that is the Skytrak or effects of the mat or indoor swing.

There are other little details you can find on here, or perhaps someone else will chime in for. Overall it works very well for me and I am sure it will for you!

[Hooli]

Cheers for the advice. There's a couple of things here I hadn't considered, so I really appreciate your suggestions.

[Little_Stickner]

I'm just gonna say it. This guy skytraks. Am I right? 'Cause I'm looking at the rest of you guys, and this is the guy on the forum doing all the skytraking. Am I right? You know I'm right. This guy skytraks.

Welcome! Love your user name!

I am a new skytrak user as well so thanks for getting this thread started.

[Hooli]

How's your new skytrak working out for you?

[JJ62]

I wish someone had told me not to hit too many balls
I work from home and smoke - so I go out in my garage about every couple hours and smoke a cig. While I'm out there I hit a 'few' balls - depends, but somewhere in the number of 50. Then after work I may hit a bunch more and then play 18 holes. My golfer's elbow went away ( I just played through the pain and it got better) - then I fixed my golfer shoulder, then my back finally healed.... DON'T HIT TOO MANY BALLS! lol

[Clevited]

I second this advice. I hit a lot of balls last winter in my garage with the new Skytrak. Between a harsh harsh mat, and 20 degree temps often in my garage, my ligaments in my elbows, and wrists are annoyingly sore often (still). I havn't taken enough time off to fully let them heal, have been trying to now, but its always so tempting to hit a bunch with the garage just right there you know?

[Ports]

I third that advise. My back was destroyed until I layed off for a couple weeks. Much better now

4th now, somebody beat me to the response

[Hooli]

Funny you should say that. I just realized I've hit 200 shots today, because well why not?! I have a new SkyTrak! Haha

Perhaps best to call it a day and not hurt myself.

cheers!!!

[Sandbar]

I third the advice of not hitting too many balls. I got my skytrak last december and it is setup in a detached garage with no heat(I live in MD so it gets a wee bit chilly in the winter). I would go out there and hit a couple hundred balls after work. After a couple weeks I got an unbearable pain on the right side of my chest after hitting a ball...like somebody was twisting a knife in my ribs...pulled a muscle i didn't even know existed...the Serratus Anterior. I was laid up and couldn't hit golf balls for 3 months....so make sure you take it easy in the beginning so you don't end up just staring at the skytrak wondering when the pain will go away.

[Hooli]

Well, it has been a couple of days and I thought I'd add my initial impressions.

Ultimately, I am really pleased with the ST. It does everything I could hope for.

I was a little concerned initially by the yardages it was reporting. A quick trip to the driving range with a buddy with a range finder (it's ~5°C here now so it took some convincing) showed that a) I don't hit the ball as far as I think I do (no surprise), and b) 30+ years of being told not to play ball games indoors is a lot of conditioning to overcome. It's day 3 now and my 'indoor' yardages are essentially what they would be outside.

I've had a few misreads, but they usually occur when I don't hit the ball cleanly. (It's not a mulligan if the ST doesn't register the shot!)

It's super easy to set up. My Garage is insulated but not heated or cooled, so I take the ST back into the house with me when I'm not using it. It takes <60 s to get it set up and working.

Hitting a driver inside is really loud. A little disconcerting the first time, if I'm honest. It's the only club my wife has commented on that can be heard upstairs. I guess I can play some executive par 3 courses when she's sleeping.

Putting is hard. I'm really struggling to gauge the force required. I find myself playing into the 6 ft radius for a gimme. I realize it will come with practice.

I've taken the advice in this thread and really restrained myself from playing too much. Thank you for that. It's just so tempting! A round of golf is available anytime!

I'm enjoying the e6 demo. Does everything I'd expect, although it does seem to lack ambient noises, perhaps because it's just the demo. I hadn't considered this software at all. It seems good. I will still get TGC. From what I can tell it seems to be a better product and I've played the console version a few times and I think I prefer it. For now I think I'll wait until the 30 day e6 demo expires. Who knows, maybe TGC2 might appear...

Thanks for the advice in this thread and, again, thanks to everyone in the forums for being so helpful.

[msg]

Hey Hooli! It seems we almost bought our unit at the same time and also from Corey at Par2pro, I am also from Canada. I got mine recently and was able to move to our new house. I have set up mine in the basement. So far I am pleased with the Sky Trak. It is very accurate. The only problem I am having is I suffer from pains and aches after a long session which I have recently taken a break. Too excited I guess. Other issue I am having is swinging indoors. When it comes to my hybrids and driver, I cannot hit them because I think I am holding back. I have read about swinging indoors and it is real, at least for me. My buddy tried it out and he had no issues. Last issues I have is the CCE mat. It seems like I am not hitting my irons pure that I am seeing a huge distance loss when that happens. I usually am a very good ball striker in real life but it seems I cannot figure out the CCE mat. Good thing I did not purchase TGC or else I would be in big trouble.

It seems like you are not having set backs as I am, which I think mostly is my fault lol. I cannot blame you if you spend time using the unit, it is indeed addicting. I think I need to try our local indoor range and see if I will be experiencing the same issues that I am having down my basement so that I can rule out user issues haha.

[Stingreye]

Cce hurts. At first I thought guys were exaggerating but after a year of beating myself up on cce my elbows and wrists were killing me. I thought it was the number of balls but it’s the mat. Even good shots will wear on you.

[Hooli]

I was definitely suffering from the indoor swing issues. It's better, but still not perfect. Unless I'm really settled and focused, Driver to 5 iron can be really under hit.

I've had no major problems. Some soreness. I'm not sure where you are located in Canada, but I got a Mat from http://foreverlawngta.ca/

I got the ProDrive mat which also takes a tee like CCE. It's quite unforgiving on fat shots, but nothing too serious.

I also have chipping grass, which was super forgiving and I played with that for the first week while I waited for the ProDrive mat to arrive. This might have helped the transition. I got this chipping mat from here http://www.aglgrass.com/

TGC has me hooked. I've been averaging 9 holes a day. Very happy to be able to squeeze in at least 30 min of golf a day.

[msg]

Thanks guys for the response. I have no doubt with the ST readings. It is very spot on. Anyways After further testing, pain is not as bad as before. I guess I got used to hitting on the cce mat. It is still not as forgiving as the usual mats at the range but I am learning on how to use it. I am still not comfortable hitting indoors. I have also discovered that there is something very wrong with my swing. I am hitting extreme toe shots on every club. The only time I hit the center of the face is when I do 50 yard pitch shots. I got to figure out what is going on as I cannot enjoy my ST fully. I usually am a very good ball striker and am a single handicapper but with my ball striking lately at least down my basement, you might tell me I am full of bs lol

[Shifty]

Hey Hooli! It seems we almost bought our unit at the same time and also from Corey at Par2pro, I am also from Canada. I got mine recently and was able to move to our new house. I have set up mine in the basement. So far I am pleased with the Sky Trak. It is very accurate. The only problem I am having is I suffer from pains and aches after a long session which I have recently taken a break. Too excited I guess. Other issue I am having is swinging indoors. When it comes to my hybrids and driver, I cannot hit them because I think I am holding back. I have read about swinging indoors and it is real, at least for me. My buddy tried it out and he had no issues. Last issues I have is the CCE mat. It seems like I am not hitting my irons pure that I am seeing a huge distance loss when that happens. I usually am a very good ball striker in real life but it seems I cannot figure out the CCE mat. Good thing I did not purchase TGC or else I would be in big trouble.

It seems like you are not having set backs as I am, which I think mostly is my fault lol. I cannot blame you if you spend time using the unit, it is indeed addicting. I think I need to try our local indoor range and see if I will be experiencing the same issues that I am having down my basement so that I can rule out user issues haha.

I also bought a skytrak from Corey. I'm from Saskatchewan.
For the mat I went fibrebuilt. You could hit 1000 shots /day and no pain. Only problem is that putting sucks off of it as it bounces.
I built this little trolley today for my skytrak, so I can slide it forward and putt off of actual putting turf.
The fibrebuilt is higher than most mats so am testing out the trolley system. If it doesn't work I'll have to try build a slide like others on here have. I'll know by tonight how it works.

[Little_Stickner]

Clever idea Shifty!

[Hooli]

I like that idea. I think I'm going to steal it and set up something similar.

[Shifty]

tried it last night, and it worked really well. I just needed to make the track 1' longer per side. I made them 4' long, and 5' would have made it a little better. Now thinking of making a handle of some type to slide this back and forth with out bending over.