first impressions of my new skytrak

[Jon]

hardware
I don't think anyone could argue that relative to the rest of the professional launch monitor market, the skytrak hardware is an exceptional value as a hardware platform to be utilized by various simulators.

value
The cost is somewhere between 1/5 and 1/20 the cost of the most prominent professional launch monitors. As a pga apprentice, I don't make a lot of money and even $2,000 was far more than I could afford in a single payment purchase. Despite the high interest of financing, I was able to get a long enough term for repayment that my monthly payments will be manageable.

skytrak software
packagelay and improve cost: $200/year
The software does have some value in that it provides pretty stable and solid performance a low light enviroment. It provides useful data and tracked ball flight seems to be mostly accurate.
The driving range is very bare bones and I find it disappointing that you have to pay that $200 year after year for an application that is so lacking in useable features.

simulation
It's hard to go into simulation too much because the skytrak app doesn't really offer much of a simulation, without going into the various sims that are compatible with the skylark as long as you pay that annual price for the privilege of using your sky track beyond the most basic ball tracking parameters. I'll just make this brief statement about WGT golf. It shamelessly monetizes every aspect of the app with what I'v seen being referred to around the forums as micro purchases. Do this survey for these credits, or purchase these clubs or balls at a price of x for x additional value. It is extremely off-putting.

[Jon]

I just wanted to write an update. I took my skytrak out to the range tonight to get a little more perspective on how accurate it has been. My feeling is that the yardages were pretty accurate, at least on carry distance. I hit a couple really thin (skulled)wedges that didn't get higher than like 30'. I was impressed that skytrak gave a pretty accurate reproduction of those shots. Direction was not always as good. I tend to hit a slight draw and occasionally, I'll hit a shot without fully committing to a shot. Not a full on block out. But leave it about where I aimed, which is generally about 10' right of the pin. The skytrak still showed the draw despite the ball tying dead straight. So, I got a high enough percentage of shots like that being misread buy the skytrak to take a look at my setup and make sure I'm not doing anything to cause the misreads. Now, it was late enough that the sun wasn't a factor, but there are fluorescent lights in the range bays. I wonder if that could have an impact on the ST. It was a bit disappointing that when I realized there was a temperature setting, I entered the temp(cold, about 38*) and my numbers didn't appear to change at all. So, then I thought I'd test it at 90 degrees setting. The ball flight in ST didn't seem to change in any way, no matter what temp I set it at. In reality, playing golf in the 30s has a significant effect on the ball's flight. I don't know the exact calculation off hand but I'd assume your 150 yard club becomes more of a 144 yard club at those temps.Maybe even a little less than that.

[tlhammond5]

Just curious... Do you have many no-reads? It's been quite some time since I've owned a SkyTrak, but my opinion of the unit was not favorable when I owned it. I know that new firmware has improved the accuracy, but I am curious as to how much it has improved. I was somewhat biased to GC2 because I owned a GC2 prior to SkyTrak. I went back to GC2 after selling the SkyTrak out of frustration. My carry distances with SkyTrak were pretty good, but I had a ton of directional misreads. The one thing I found most interesting was the side spin numbers. My GC2 read almost twice the side spin as SkyTrak. I found SkyTrak to be quite forgiving compared to GC2 and IRL as far as dispersion numbers are concerned. This is what led me to stop playing online sim tournaments after switching back to GC2. I just felt as though SkyTrak users had an advantage.

Don't get me wrong. The SkyTrak is certainly a great value compared to other units. I was just looking for more accuracy, and the no-reads drove me insane. Curious about your no-reads???

[Jon]

out of about 150 balls, I only had 2 or 3 no reads. I never used ST with the old firmware, but I have a feeling it has improved a bit. I used to read all the time about how much people hated that 3 to 4 second delay before the ST software reacted. It's significantly faster now. But if I had access to a GC2, I never would have glanced twice in the direction of ST.

[skytrakali]

Temperature, humidity and lots of other things do have an effect of golf balls, but according to golf equipment manufacturers it's often not as much as you might think. However serious analysis has been done: see for example

Allen, T., Bowley, A., Wood, P., Henrikson, E., Morlaes, E. & James, D. (2012) Effect of Temperature of Golf Ball Dynamics, Procedia Engineering 34 634-639.

One example of the effect that they measure is the fitted results that COR = 0.835 - 0.003 Vin + 0.02 T

So actually the Coefficient of Restitution changes by about 0.1 as you go from -1C to 30C (they measured at -1C, 22C and 30C) and that's quite a lot. They list other papers too.

Here in (currently frozen) England of course the biggest change is in the ground conditions.

[Jon]

Most of the math is over my head but if you ever decided to brave the elements in January or February and go out to play your course with the temporary greens, then you know you need to club up and not to be too disappointed when you crush a drive and it just doesn't get anywhere. Though, I wouldn't be surprised if in reality, the freezing weather actually has it's biggest impact on our bodies. Causing all that shivering tension, which in turn results in significantly shorter golf shots.

[clark55810]

I find the game improvement package ($99 per year) worth the money. There are settings on the driving range. Check out the settings option.

I also find the other items included like closest to the pin, bag mapping, and game improvement to be valuable. Love challenging myself to improve my wedge play at different distances.

I don't use the simulator option since I only have an iPad and that limits me to WGT. I don't have room to use a driver, so playing a full course on a simulator isn't an option for me.

I think ST is well worth the value for what you get.

[Jon]

Despite some misgivings about skygolf's business model, I think I probably agree with you that it is worth the $100/year. I'm still not happy about having to pay it, but I'm definitely finding value in the ST range app. I have also found the target practice and closest to the pin to be a refreshing change of pace when it comes to practicing. The data points provided are can really help you focus on the areas of your game that need it the most. There is, however, one aspect of using ST that really bothers me. If your swing plane is at all inside to out, skytyrak is going to render either a hook or a draw just about every time you swing ate the ball. This does force you to confront certain swing faults which really should be addressed anyway. But that doesn't change the fact that the ST ball tracking technology simply does not accurately reproduce the balls actual flight. I hit like 50 shots at the range this afternoon because I wanted to make sure I wasn't actually hooking one shot after another consistently 25 yards left of target. Admittedly, my swing was not feeling very smooth today, but at one point I hit 8 or 9 balls in a row that were right of target and yet on the sky track app, they were big sweeping hooks that more or less ended up in a virtual pile 25 yards left of target. Later on in the day, with the added comfort of a space heater and a roof over my head, I was able to get back on plane. And the ball starting flying straight in the ST app as a result of it. So, I guess I've got to accept it as a net positive. It does reinforce the notion that ST would be a much stronger product if it has some degree of club tracking technology built into their ball flight simulation. Something beyond what they are doing with r-motion. Something that would actually factor into the recreation of the balls natural flight.

[skytrakali]

Jon - interesting points. I did the ST "hit-on-the-range and compare the observed results with the ST results" and most times it was fine - I got just what I saw. Then one time things were not the same. Was it that ST was not measuring correctly? No - it turned out to be my set up.

If you go to the range with ST then you have to plonk it down somewhere random (where I play indoors I have a wooden frame to make sure that ST is always aligned in a known way). It's very easy to be say 5 degrees out at the range with your placement of the unit. 5 degrees is really not much. Suppose you're hitting a 6 iron (that's about 170 yds for me) then

sin(5)*170 = 0.087*170 = 15 yards

so just a small ST alignment error will make you "see" shots that are 15 yds off where ST shows them. The moral for me is that unless you are super-careful with where ST is pointing at the range you can get "bad sessions".

BTW this made me think abut my stance on the course. The pros regularly hit the ball from say 170 yards to very close - just 1 yard L/R of the pin. If you want to do that your setup has to be right within 1/3 of a degree! That's why the pro guys always spend so much time on stance and address. As they say on the PGA adverts: "These guys are GOOD".

Agree totally that some kind of ST club tracking would be super-cool. I would happily pay extra for this.

[almazzo]

Hey guys, I need your opinion on Skytrak as users of it, we can't afford more sophisticated trackers and I just got green light from my wife to get Skytrak in the resell market ($1,500.00 dlls budget).

Is it worth it to get Sytrak? You as owners of one, would you recommend it as entry level?

[EdwardB]

Yes, Skytrak is excellent choice

[DougieMn]

Hey guys, I need your opinion on Skytrak as users of it, we can't afford more sophisticated trackers and I just got green light from my wife to get Skytrak in the resell market ($1,500.00 dlls budget).

Is it worth it to get Sytrak? You as owners of one, would you recommend it as entry level?

In my opinion..........WITHOUT A DOUBT!!!!!!!!!

[Stingreye]

Hey guys, I need your opinion on Skytrak as users of it, we can't afford more sophisticated trackers and I just got green light from my wife to get Skytrak in the resell market ($1,500.00 dlls budget).

Is it worth it to get Sytrak? You as owners of one, would you recommend it as entry level?

Yes, for the price, it’s hard to beat skytrak.

[skytrakali]

Definitely definitely. I have been really pleased with my SkyTrak. I don't actually use it for simulation - I mainly work on the range. I can dial in those wedges and make small changes to my swing and see EXACTLY what effect it has. I know exactly how far I hit each club, what the carry is, and what my level of consistency is. ST is awesome.

[cmckelvmi]

Hey guys, I need your opinion on Skytrak as users of it, we can't afford more sophisticated trackers and I just got green light from my wife to get Skytrak in the resell market ($1,500.00 dlls budget).

Is it worth it to get Sytrak? You as owners of one, would you recommend it as entry level?

Absolutely, definitely highly recommended!

[Jon]

I haver a great many reservations about the skytrak and the the companies business model. However, I have to admit. I love using my skytrak. WGT is garbage and the skytrak driving range app is Atari compared to the ps4 pro and xbox one s, being the other more expensive options. But once you get yourself setup with one of the sim supported games like TGC or JNPG, it is really quite enjoyable to use. I worry about the potential for something to go wrong with the hardware. Have a good read regarding the the warrantee options before purchasing. In order to really take advantage of what the ST has to offer, your gonna have to spend a good bit more than just the $1700 for the ST unit. Some essentials in my opinion are
1. protective case
2. warranty(you really need to weigh your options and choose what is best for you)
3. impact screen and all the framing essentials that entails
4. extra netting to support screen
5. range matt
A conservative estimate of $3000(including your ST purchase), probably more.