ST vs Trackman

[Morini]

My son had a lesson today, and I had the first chance to compare ST to indoor trackman since I bought it. Not sure if was worth starting another thread about it, but couldn't find a recent one on he topic.

I have had many posters assure me about accuracy, but there are always nagging doubts until you see for yourself.

For the most part it was dead on for ballspeed, launch angle, and carry. The carry was within 2 yards most of the time. It was sometimes off by a lot more, but in those instances, trackman didnt measure the spin, so ST likely the correct one.

I should mention that I juiced the ST slightly by putting elevation at 2500 ft. Also that my son doesn't swing fast enough (yet) so i didn't get a chance to check out the high ball speed issue some have been having.

[Clevited]

Always good to see posts reconfirming the accuracy of Skytrak. I find ball speed, spin and vertical launch angle to always be very close to the Trackman. Where things differ for me is carry, and then ball speeds beyond what is typical for most golfers. The flight model I often times feel needs a tweak, or perhaps its how the effects of elevation on the ball flight. I assume that is why you had to juice your Skytrak? I often find my full iron shots carrying short compared to real life on Skytrak. Usually 10 yards max (my estimate). I think any issues the Skytrak does have may be correctable, they just need to be tested and correctly identified by Skytrak themselves first. There are so many variables that can alter these numbers, and if Skytrak isn't getting all of the required information from users, they would just be chasing clouds.

[Whiskeyjack]

I love my SkyTrak and use it all the time but I agree, I find with me it's around 5% for irons and 8% for woods and driver. I also think with me I draw everyhing so it could be based mostly on run out. If I hit the odd fade and a draw the same carry, run out for me seems very close where as probably shouldn't be. I'm not a long hitter by any means and if you are the percentage difference probably goes up.

But what a fun piece of equipment.

[Morini]

We bought the Skytrak for game improvement (with an eye to future sim). We know our yardages very well, and it it became clear that it was about 4-5% less carry than we expected on course. I figured that 2500 feet elevation would add that back, and sure enough it was very close. I feel good about this decision, since it matched Trackman very well. Also playing a round this weekend, my son had to wait for somebody searching for a ball, so he fired off 6 shots with his pitching wedge. The real world carry was exactly what the Skytrak indicated, all six sat within 10 feet of the pin. More happy with my purchase every day.

Now there is a possibility that hitting off mat could also be the culprit for the missing 5%. It will launch higher and with less spin off mats. Whatever the reason, what matters to me is that ST yardages closely match real world, and they do.

[clark55810]

I have a SkyTrak at home and play/practice on a GC2 weekly.

I was discussing distances and spin with my pro and we both believe that hitting off of mats inflates launch and decreases spin. I also firmly believe that many of us have "inside" swings that are different then our "outdoor" swing.

If you are measuring to a TM (or any device) on grass, you might be getting better numbers.

Of course, the ball flight calculations are slightly different between systems so you will see different distances even if the numbers are exactly the same (which they never are).

I believe that on my SkyTrak, having a slower ball speed makes the spin curve the ball (both left and right) than I experience in real life.

The one thing I really like is that SkyTrak is constant (as are most other devices) for practice. If I find that I am shorter or longer outside, I will adjust my yardages.

I am extremely pleased with my SkyTrak and think it is one of the best golf investments I have made (especially living in MN during the winter).

Clark

[SkyTrak_Seth]

For me, I find that my distances are actually slightly longer on irons off a mat due to my (albeit slightly poor) ball contact creating less spin on irons than it does off the grass. To each their own I guess

[THAXXX]

If you want to juice your numers of distance try this...
I put speedstick deodorant in the faces of my clubs as I practiced to be able to see my ball/face contact locations.
Boy, does it increase distances. Probably 10-20 yards depending on the club. Of course the reason is, you'll see your spin rate go way down.

[Clevited]

I get a similar effect just after hitting a ball a few times into my net. The ball finish gets basically smoothed down, and it also picks up some slippery residue from the net. It gets on the ball and my club face and I can get some pretty spectacular 7 iron distances lol. I have had 240 carries with sub 3k spin lol.

[msg]

Me and my buddy tested the ST versus the Flightscope, I forgot which model. It was done indoors. Amazing how accurate ST was. It was getting the same direction of the ball flight with the FS, which is an expensive machine, the only thing we noticed is that the ball speed and back spin were dead on but the carry and total distances were not the same. But after 10 shots the average were less than 5 yards from one another.

I know FS is more accurate outdoors but to see that my ST is some what getting the same results with the FS, it gives me peace of mind that I have this equipment at the convenience of my own home at a lower price!

BTW I boosted my ST after reading tips here since I was getting very short distances. I use gps my my games so I am very familiar with my distances.