Newbie Question. Very low Launch Angle Problems

[Lee]

Hi all.

I purchased a used Skytrak and tested it in my Indoor Simulator. First thing I notice is that it has a draw bias. I have to try really hard to get it to show fades.

Today I take it with me to the range. It was a sunny Day and you have to search for the red Dot on the Mat.
My shots in real life are way higher than the Skytrak shows it. It shows all the Shots way lower than they are in reality.
The Skytrak was level and I did this as accurate as possible.

Furthermore, it shows very short carry numbers from the 6 Iron up to 3 Wood.
My 8 Iron shows my normal numbers (160 yards carry), but from the 6 Iron up it only shows 180-185 yards carry, even if I smash my Balls over the Green on the Range, which is carry 190 yards to the flag, so over 200 yards to the end of the Green.

Any Ideas how I can fix it?

[Clevited]

First thing to do is be doubly sure you have eliminated all of the variables. Here are some that I can think of.

-weather, was it a helping wind, was it really hot outside? Skytrak doesn't account for weather unless you tell it to.
-altitude, did you set the altitude on the ST to what it is where you were playing?
-sunlight, was there a lot of direct sunlight hitting the Skytrak's cameras? This can cause misreads or no reads and phantom reads.
-distances, were those distances at your range accurate? Did you laser them? Were they downhill?
-range balls, unless they are in really nice shape, the range ball can behave differently once in the air for a while if the dimples are gone or worn. ST will use its algorithm to calculate flight based on it being a typical ball with typical aerodynamics which could differ from a worn range ball.
-Skytrak algorithms are not perfect. I personally am a high spin, high ball speed player and see roughly 10 yards less carry distance on ST than I do in real life with irons. As of late, the carry distances Skytrak gives me for driver seem spot on with the well known flightscope trajectory optimizer. Not sure if they updated their algorithm in the past months or if some shots just aren't modeled as well as others.

Edit: By lower do you mean it looks lower in the skytrak range app, or that the physical number it shows for height or launch angle is way wrong? I personally think the graphics of the ball trajectory don't match the numbers it shows or what the real ball trajectory looks like. A 16 degree launch driver looks like a low bullet on ST vs real life.

Edit2: Red dot is very hard to see in the daylight, I find it, then shove a tee into the ground deep to mark it and tee up slightly behind that. At the range I generally hit off of a tee to keep from having to move the ST all of the time due to divots. If on a mat, a sticker works to mark the spot and then hit behind it with tees or off the turf.

[Alphaseekr]

Check ur set up.

For the launch angle, Is the unit in a case and set at the right height relative to the mat and ball location?

For the draw and fade, try chipping a few balls to your center or aim/target point and then review against the monitor. Once aligned well, swing away and there should effectively be no severe biases.

[BWJones]

Also, I would suggest a bubble level on top of the devices I ensure the device is level, if you don’t already have one. I have seen a case or two where the software level measurements and an actual bubble level are a little different.

[Lee]

The Skytrak has a bubble Level on top and it was spot on.

Yes it was in direct Sunlight.

My 7 Iron apex high is 37 yards, the Skytrak shows consistent 29-30 yards. Flightscope shows 37 yards correctly.

Yes the distance was measured with a laser range finder.

The Skytrak is in the original plastic Case which sets the unit about 1/8 inch higher than without it. But I take care of it.

Should I check the Altitude? Or some more settings?

Thanks for your help :-)

[Ahecht415]

1. Was the base of the unit at the same height as the bottom of the ball?
2. I find when there is a hook or fade bias to my Skytrak that it is not aligned or perfectly. It very important with Skytrak to take your time, using alignment rods (possibly lasers) to have perfect alignment.

[Morini]

1. I wouldn't trust any numbers from sessions with direct sun.
2. Draw and fade are related to spin axis. AFAIK spin axis is not affected by alignment.