Interesting ball spin differences

[tonybrown32]

First few days with the SkyTrak and really enjoying it... I've been messing around with it now for 3-4 days, learning as much as I can.. tweaking some settings, getting my setup aligned to my screen.. that sort of thing. As I was practicing the past few days I couldn't for the life of me figure out why my backspin with my 56 degree wedge was so low.. I had a hard time getting the spin numbers over 3000 RPM on a well struck sand wedge shot.. even trying to hit low spinners I could only get to maybe 3500RPM if I was lucky... and the launch angle was HIGH! Like 35-42 degrees! it just didn't make any sense.. odd because usually I don't have a problem stopping balls on the green with my ChromeSoft, sometimes even spinning them back a little... I'm sure that can't happen with 2500 RPM... weird...

So today I tried a few things.. first I removed the little plastic film over the red camera lens and increased the lighting over my mat... that seemed to actually help a little, and shots got more consistent... spin with my wedges though was still very low. My 8i spin seemed ok though which had me confused, I'm not the highest spin player anyway, but spin around 5000RPM with an 8i is close for me... should maybe be a little higher, but not significantly so I was ok with those numbers.

Then I threw down a Chrome soft with Truvis. Hit a few shots with the 56 degree, and I was getting way better spin numbers between 5-7k RPM. Hmm... very weird... threw down a ProV1.. same thing.. better spin... why my White ChromeSoft was only spinning at 2500-3000RPM was a mystery... until I went to mark a sharpie line on my white ChromeSoft to see if that would help....

What I realized is the low spinning White ChromeSoft was actually a Calaway Supersoft! Ugg!!

Now, I know the SuperSoft would spin less.. but I really didn't expect 4-5K RPM or more less spin that the ChromeSoft or ProV1... wow.. huge difference.... Launch angle was 7-10 degrees higher with the SuperSoft using the 56 degree as well.

After all that, I felt better about the spin numbers.. so thought I would do a quick 8i comparison between the SuperSoft, ChromeSoft, and the ProV1 with just a few shots.... It correlates very well with what I see on the course as well, which is the ProV1 and ChromeSoft play very similarly for me but I play the ChromeSoft for the better feel. The Supersoft actually plays pretty similarly as well, maybe goes a tad further for me, but still holds greens reasonbly well on full shots.. but now I know why.. not due to the similar spin.... what the SuperSoft lacks in spin it makes up for in launch angle, allowing it to land a little softer..

Just Interesting findings I would have otherwise would not have thought much about or been able to explain or prove wihout the data from the SkyTrak, so I thought I would share... loving this right now!

[skytrakali]

tonybrown32 has some very interesting data here - thanks for sharing it. Of course this completely ruins my weekend as I will now be compelled to do the same experiment, only with lots more types of balls and clubs

The compressions of these balls are very different - supersoft is about 38, chromesoft is about 75, ProV1 is about 90 (ProV1X about 100), so this data certainly makes sense. Because of a previous career I vaguely know Steve Otto (the R&A's Director of Research) and he once said to me that in his view the thing that handicap golfers appreciated the LEAST was how important ball choice was. If you're finding such spin differences then I agree with him (until recently my ball choice was determined entirely by what I found in hedges and ponds - no longer....)

[tonybrown32]

Thanks.. yes I will continue testing as well just because the results are intersting to me. This was just 3 shots with each ball because I just had to prove to myself how variable the spin differences were between balls... I knew there would be a difference, just not by that much!

[Clevited]

Don't forget that hitting off a mat with an iron can automatically cause you to lose a lot of spin. Depends a lot on your swing type and the kind of mat. So that 3k spinner might be 5k off grass, just a guess.

2 other things that caused really low spin for me, cold golf balls and dirty club and ball. The cold makes the ball behave very differently for me spin and launch and ball speed wise, and hitting into a net leaves a slippery residue on my ball and then club making the problem even worse.

The difference between balls baring variables I mentioned above though can be quite incredible. A ladies golf ball for instance vs a prov shows an amazing difference.

[tonybrown32]

Totally agree on other variables. I am using a Monster Tee mat thats about 5 yrs old, and read these types of mats (like the CCE as well) can affect spin quite a bit. Was still fun to see the differences... if the mat lowers spin it should lower it similarly across the different ball models, so looking more at the comparitive distances than what the true spin might be off grass.

Intersting comments about the ambient temp though. Its winter here and about 40 degrees f in my hitting area in the garage. I know that affects my distances quite a bit, but never thought of it affecting spin much, but could see how the cold temp could affect the flexibility of the different cover materials, in turn, affecting spin as well.

I also noticed some whitish film building on my club face. Obviously material from the balls, but not sure if its from all models or just the SuperSoft. Will have to watch that and see... I can also see how if not cleaned off, could start to impact spin as well..

Great feedback thanks! Gives me some things to consider as I do some more thorough testing, controlling more variables. You know... for the good of science..

I will also be ordering a Fiberbuilt mat tomorrow.. hopefully have it by next weekend. Will be interesting to see how the different turf materials affect launch and spin as well.

[Clevited]

The mat issue is really hard to pinpoint. I am actually trying to find the scientific reason for the behavior off a ball on different surfaces. It could be anything from tendancy for strikes to be fat more often, or it could be a change in the ever controversial "pinching" effect of the ball against the ground. I hope to do a little slow mo experiment and post findings on youtube and here for the nerds like me to analyze.

I often hit balls in cold temps in my garage. I generally see a drastic change in feel, ball speed, spin and launch angle, oh and ball durability after temps dip below 40 F.

Oh and that scum from the balls. I think its varnish.

[Stingreye]

For me the biggest difference is the cover of the ball. Urethane balls spin similarly for me. The surlyn (spelling?). Spin a lot less and it’s noticeable on shots into the green IRL.

[James James]

Even tiny amounts of water interacting with the ball/face can decimate spin when using a non premium ball:

https://exploringimpact.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/wet-ball-testing.html

[shooterMcG]

Hey Tony - I am having the same issue as you and looks like we have the exact same mat so maybe the mats really do make that big a difference? I cannot get my 56 or 60 degree wedges anywhere close to what have seen other Skytrak users get (9-10k spin) I have tried a few different balls all with the same result - in the low 5k spin and lower. Sometimes my driver spin rate is even higher. I also get the high launch like you reported - around 42-45 degrees.
Please let me know what results you get with the Fiberbuilt as if the mat is the issue, I will probably go with a different one as well.
thanks!

[tonybrown32]

Hey Tony - I am having the same issue as you and looks like we have the exact same mat so maybe the mats really do make that big a difference? I cannot get my 56 or 60 degree wedges anywhere close to what have seen other Skytrak users get (9-10k spin) I have tried a few different balls all with the same result - in the low 5k spin and lower. Sometimes my driver spin rate is even higher. I also get the high launch like you reported - around 42-45 degrees.
Please let me know what results you get with the Fiberbuilt as if the mat is the issue, I will probably go with a different one as well.
thanks!

Hey Shooter, sorry didn't see this post until now... Many shots under my belt now on the Fiberbuilt... I feel the Fiberbuilt does give me more consistent spin numbers and is showing consistently higher spin numbers through the bag.

The biggest spin differences I now notice are squarely related to the ball I'm using. The ball I use makes a significant impact on spin and launch. I will see 7-8k spin with a Supersoft or NXT Tour S vs. a ProV1 or ChromeSoft which I can spin at 9000+ on full shots with my 56 degree wedge.

Just for fun, I decided to do a comparison between 5 different balls that I've used the past 2 years, on half wedge shots, full wedge shots, 7 iron shots, and Driver. I wanted to see if the average SkyTrak numbers match up with what I experienced on the course with these... I also wanted to see how these balls I'm familiar playing stack up against the Q-Star Tour which I haven't tried yet.. I'll get some numbers indoors, and see if the Q-Star numbers I get translate to the course...

I'm almost done with the comparison, and will start a new thread. Got through the wedge testing, and the 7 iron shots... probably do driver in the next few days when I'm fresh and can put up some good swings. So far, results are suprisingly what I would expect, and what I have experienced playing each of these 5 balls...

ProV1
Chrome Soft
Srixon Q-Star Tour
NXT Tour - S
Super Soft

Will post full results in a new thread soon!

[GolfSimUN]

Not sure it's necessary to go through all that testing besides for the mat itself. All we need, at least for pitch shots, might be right here:

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/spi...t-lower-prices

[msg]

I play the Supersoft and I did experience less than 5k spin on ST. I have some old PROV1's and tried them and I got 10k spin on full wedge shots. I saw some video done by Rick Shiels and Mark Crossfield on the SS and Chromesoft and they were able to spin the golf balls around 10k to 11k.

[tonybrown32]

Not sure it's necessary to go through all that testing besides for the mat itself. All we need, at least for pitch shots, might be right here:

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/spi...t-lower-prices

Yes, that's a great comparison grid... Golf Digest usually puts that in the hot list edition every year in the ball section... nice grid. I'm testing for myself, and just sharing for those who find the information interesting. My game and swing are different from the golf digest testers... my results may vary, as they would for anyone.