Silly Thought

[Clevited]

So I had this brilliant (or maybe not so brilliant) idea to trick Skytrak into telling me swing speed. I drilled a hole in a golf ball big enough to fit on a spare shaft, as well as a brass weight that together, when glued onto the shaft, will be very close to my actual driver in weight, length and feel. I haven't actually finished this yet, just started on it and will try and glue things together this week or weekend.

My thinking is that I could swing the club with the ball on the end and Skytrak will pick it up and accurately tell me how fast I swung. It will obviously tell me the speed in the form of ball speed since I am effectively swinging the ball lol.

What do you think? Will it work? lol. I understand some of the technical issues with it that might arise, and the fact that swing speed isn't constant through the entire distance the Skytrak measures the ball, but it should be really close I am guessing (if it will actualy measure it).

This is just a for fun thing, and I obviously can't measure while hitting a ball, dry swings only but I can't help but try it.

[sdrthedj]

I believe it needs the sound of impact to trigger the camera to flash?

Couldn't you just buy a swing speed monitor and put it next to the skytrak?

[Mirek_62]

ST does not use sound to trigger the camera, but the light curtain.

[andygg1986]

Doesn't the Skytrak have to lock onto a stationary ball before you can hit? That's at least how GC2's work.

[Clevited]

I believe it triggers camera as soon as an object breaks a laser curtain. So in theory, it could work. Also, I am doing this for fun, yes I have many other devices to measure swing speed with. I am curious.

[Dan McWhirter]

I have a swing speed trainer with an orange plastic tip. The SkyTrak will sometimes pick it up. Oddly, it reads as a duck hook, going two hundred yards with a ball speed of about 150 mph. The thing is a bit wippy. The thing is, my best actual ball speeds on SkyTrak are about 120 mph. I think your idea will work! Just make sure that ball is well attached so it doesn't fly off right into your SkyTrak.

[Clevited]

Duck hook makes sense if you are swinging something with a circular end on it? I would imagine that is what I will see with this experiment.

[Clevited]

I just thought of something else, if this works, it could also tell me my toe closure rate in the form of spin rate and spin axis. I should see almost no backspin in the readout, only sidespin. Should make for some wicked looking shots lol.

[DirtyGarry24]

I think your theory is valid. Might work, interested to see what you find.

[Clevited]

I should have some information come this weekend. I will find it pretty dang funny if it works, and really really funny if its actually accurate.

[DirtyGarry24]

I wanted to do a similar experiment with a ping pong ball and test spin difference when using a cheap $3 paddle vs a good paddle. Never got a round to it so can't say if it would have worked though.

[Clevited]

LOL! That is awesome, I have a ping pong table, I should try that. I have lots of ideas in the works, you know me. I still have ambitions to create my little chipping machine that tests the difference between mats and grass. I have it modeled, I have to make prints so my work can laser out the parts for me. Maybe I will see if it can also pick up a cue ball when I put english on it.

[SkyTrak_Seth]

Ha! Sounds like a fun experiment! I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work, aside from matching up to your driver head's weight and feel. What if you just mounted (epoxy? screw?) a white ball into the face of a spare club head painted flat black?

[Clevited]

Ha interesting, I hadn't considered trying that. I might have to now.

[petroche]

Don't know about others, but, I have great difficulty getting decent club head speed unless I'm actually hitting a ball. I have been using a swing speed radar positioned correctly (not picking up the ball) for more than a year now and I'm consistently 10mph slower when swinging without a ball to hit.

[Clevited]

I am the opposite. I am 10+ mph faster without a ball. My subconcious just can't seem to free the beast with a ball in front of me. I imagine its because the way I get speed with no ball in front of me, won't actually hit a ball, I would likely wiff. My subconcious takes over and limits everything in order to hit the ball. Sort of like a govenor on a car lol.

[DirtyGarry24]

I am the same as petroche when using a swing speed radar. I’m considerably slower with no ball in the way. However, I’m pretty confident it is a mental thing as I’ve seen friends be exactly the same speed with or without a ball.

[Thundergolf]

U can get a pretty accurate swing speed using your skytrak and Dr. Scholl's foot spray