Range Balls with Skytrak

[Clevited]

Anyone with the capability interested in doing some range ball testing? I want some official numbers for all kinds of range balls out there and as far as I can tell, nobody has done it yet. I would do it myself if I had a more consistent swing but alas, I have good days and bad days and there is no middle ground. What I was thinking was, a willing party would be the tester with Skytrak, the rest of us would "borrow" a range ball in as good of shape as possible and send it to the tester. He/She would then hit each ball lets say 10 times, take the 5 best strikes and post ball speed, launch angle and spin and carry distance. Post a picture of the ball next to the data of each one (I am willing to organize all of the data and post if needed). The tester would also post data when hitting a ProV1 or equivalent.

Us Skytrak guys could be the first to officially document the performance difference between range balls when in new condition. If we actually do this, we could also do a formal test with very worn balls and measure the same thing. There are other options like looking at performance with irons and such too.

Reason I am interested in this is that there is so much misinformation out there regarding range balls. People say they are 15% shorter etc etc. Some maybe, but nobody has documented which ones which and why they fly shorter or why they perform better than expected etc. My local range has a few different kinds I could "borrow" for testing purposes, I am curious as to how much ball speed I lose with each when hitting driver.

I know its a lot to ask to get this to happen and I may have to do it myself but I thought it might be worth a shot and seeing if others find value in this. Would also have the side benefit of possibly revealing a durable option that plays as close to a premium ball as possible but for a fraction of the price.

[Morini]

Interesting idea. I do think it would be very nice if Skytrak/Rhapsody provided some official testing. It does get complicated because mats matter as well.

The one and only time I took my ST to the range I found that the yellow balls consistently carried about 10 yards too far on iron shots.

I have done testing of ST carry vs actual (laser to exact landing spot). When I tried my fluorescent yellow practice balls, they would consistently read 10 yards far on 70 yard pitches vs +-2 with white premium balls.

As such I have given up on range balls and prefer to practice at home in my net.

[Clevited]

Yeah, range balls can be knuckle balls due to what I am guessing is limited friction of a harder cover. Mat effects on spin and such is a whole other issue, we would have to be consistent if testing irons for sure. I am currently mostly interested in the difference in ball speed with a driver.

[FaultyClubs]

https://blog.trackmangolf.com/the-difference-in-range-ball-distances/

[Clevited]

Yeah I have read that, its not specific enough for what I want to know. Can't take that information and assume anything other than range balls vary a lot.

Edit: I misspoke, this is the one about wet and worn balls, there is also one out there where they test a bunch of different range balls and all they say is they are all over the place.

[cmckelvmi]

Very good idea, Clevited ! I hope this materializes and we are able to see the results. I would volunteer to do the testing, but I am atrocious and in search of a decent swing.

[Clevited]

Well, I haven't been able to test any range balls personally, but I did notice something that might be useful to you guys. I watched a video of Clay Ballard's on Youtube and noticed that the range balls he was hitting where the same the ones at my local range. They looked to be in good shape just like mine as well (still fairly new). In his video using a Flightscope he was getting 1.42 average smash factor. I never saw anything above 1.43. That is interesting to know because at my range I can't get above 175 ball speed with those suckers right now (measured by my swing caddie). I had been starting to think I was doing something wrong, or lost my stuff.

With Clay's numbers, it might just be that I am as fast or faster with my short driver than I thought. I should be around 182 ball speed. If my swing caddie also on occaision reads a couple mph low like his does compared to his Flightscope, I could even be touching nearer to 185 ball speed. Last time I hit that ball speed very regularily, it was with a 45.5 inch club rather than my 44 inch club.

Just fyi, the ball looks like this (see attached)

Edit: My apologies for the personal excitement. Not trying to tout my numbers, I have truly been flabbergasted lately and I don't have a great way to test things. I don't swing full speed in my hitting bay with driver vs the range, so I can't rely on those numbers to help me figure out if it is me or the ball.