SkyTrak distances are shorter for longer clubs

[SkyTrakSpiderman]

I'm a relatively new users to SkyTrak. At two different driving ranges with Srixon range balls I'm finding that for my longer clubs the carry distance is much shorter than what I believe I get on the course:

58 degree wedge - 64 yard carry
7 iron - 136 yard carry - a bit shorter than I'd hope/expect but in ball park

...but

3 wood - 180 yard carry / total = 189
Drivers 199 yard carry / total = 208

The 3 wood and driver are ~20 to 30 yards shorter than I'd expect.

I hit my 3 wood on average 220 yards total...and my driver on average 250 yards total

Is the much shorter distance for the longer clubs due to them being range balls? If so why are the distances for my shorter clubs more closely aligned to what I would expect?

[penrose]

This could just be me - but I have concluded you CANNOT use skytrak or any LM to determine real distance of your clubs. For me all will be shorter. What do you get from a skytrak -

practice swinging, the fun of playing indoor golf on many different courses. Use something to track your shots when playing real golf to determine how far you hit stuff.

Just my thoughts.

[GolfSimUN]

Your real world distances are longer or shorter? Hard to tell from your post. For me the numbers are pretty close to what I was already playing my clubs at for real world rounds. I go by Carry yardage from the SkyTrak not total yardage.

[penrose]

the skytrak is about 10 to 20 yards shorter than in real life - depending on the club. I might try the chrome...using pro V1's

[Okbecker]

For what it's worth...I've had skytrak for about two months and also struggled with distance seeming 10-20 yards short.

I was using Titleist prov1's... Just switched to Callaway chrome soft and instantly skytrak matches real life....PW went from 105 to 125, 6 iron went from 170 to 190....can't explain it but my skytrak sure does like the Callaway balls.

[andygg1986]

I would check your spin numbers with each ball. It sounds like you may be getting less backspin with the chrome softs. I doubt ball speed would change much but backspin could affect distance pretty significantly.

[Clevited]

I agree that spin is likely your difference maker.

[GolfSimUN]

That's odd. I have not seen any significant distance loss with Prov1's versus real life. I have tried 4 different ball types now and have not seen any significant drop in distances but I only look at carry and not overall distance.

[Okbecker]

Just checked, I would say all equally comparable swings (6 iron), the prov1's showed average spin of 6500 where chrome soft averaged 5000, roughly....the ball speed with chrome soft averaged about 10-15 mph faster....swing speed amongst both balls averaged same....not real scientific here just my observations. Now I'm interested in trying several brands of balls for the fun of it.

[wbond]

How are you measuring swing speed, if it's from the ST, it's not measured and should be ignored. That is a huge difference in ball speed, more ball speed and less spin in the range you mention will fly further.

[Clevited]

Its possible your prov is cracked from hitting a lot. You might not even see that it is. Otherwise another thing, are you hitting in a cold place? Is the prov cold while the chrome ball is kept warm? There should absolutely not be that much difference between golf balls. I guarantee you. There has to be another issue entirely going on here.

[Okbecker]

There could be another issue perhaps, both balls are kept in same environment...I hit a new prov then a new chrome soft, my results were consistent...prov spun more than chrome while chrome had about 10 mph more ball speed....between lower spin rates and higher ball speeds the chrome softs were noticeably longer on my ST unit...I'll keep my eyes open for other issues as well.

[wbond]

I would agree with clev, no way you are going to see a 10mph difference between a new prov1 and new chromesoft with similar swings.

[Okbecker]

Well, I'm not lying...lol...just posting what I am seeing on my machine...just wanted to post my experience to help others....take it with a grain of salt.

[Clevited]

Definitely don't think you are lying. There is definitely more to what you are seeing though that is for sure. The same swing won't produce that increase in speed between 2 balls as long as strikes are same and neither ball is compromised in any way. Could be Skytrak reading one incorrectly, or something else. Keep hitting away and see if you can figure out what is going on. Curious issue for sure.

[wbond]

Sorry, didn't mean to imply that you were lying in any way. Just stating that with very similar swing and strike you aren't going to see a 10mph difference between balls. Something else is contributing to that large of a difference.

[andygg1986]

Are you using the chrome soft balls that look like a soccer ball or the all white ones? I could see that affecting spin readings, but ball speed should just be the distance the ball has moved between the two images, so not sure how the pattern could affect ball speed.

[tonybrown32]

Welcome to the Skytrak community.

Edit: Are you hitting indoors on your Skytrak? It is common knowledge on these forums that we hold back when swinging longer clubs indoors. Mental block thing, everyone has it, only gets better with lots of practice.

Indoor swing holdback.... it's real for sure!

[tonybrown32]

There could be another issue perhaps, both balls are kept in same environment...I hit a new prov then a new chrome soft, my results were consistent...prov spun more than chrome while chrome had about 10 mph more ball speed....between lower spin rates and higher ball speeds the chrome softs were noticeably longer on my ST unit...I'll keep my eyes open for other issues as well.

One other thing I've noticed... is for some reason, my readings with the ChromeSoft get more erratic as they wear, more so than with any other brand of ball. I've noticed that the lettering on the ChromeSofts wears off more quickly than my ProV1s and other brands, so that may be some of it. I proved this by hitting a wornish looking ChromeSoft to a new ball... very different numbers with an older ball... when the lettering/print starts to wear, and the ball starts turning that grey-ish color, time to try a new one..

Test it out and see what differences you find between a new and well used ball..

[brg1875]

Any update on this? Did you come to a conclusion of the difference?

I'm curious, could you post the numbers between the two with a wedge, 6 iron and driver? I'm curious to see how the discrepancy is reflected over higher and lower spinning clubs.