Backspin RPM

[petey1010]

So I have had my skytrak for just a few weeks now and I'm still doing little things to it .I did call skytrak and talk to them and they want me to send some pics and I will later today. But I also wanted to reach out to you guys and hear what u guys have to say. So when I hit my PW - 5 I'm 20 to 30 yards shorter then if I was on the course .my back spin RPM reads 10000 to 15000. That can be right .I feel with all that spin would be why I'm so short. Do u guys have any ideas thank you all.

[wbond]

If you haven’t done so, Try a brand new ball and make sure the putting alignment or ball marking is facing the unit. See what you get then.

[petey1010]

I have and that didn't work

[wbond]

Have you tried balls that are known to spin less like a super soft or e7, just to confirm that it’s at least seeing a difference between ball types

[petey1010]

Yes I have tried that as well

[wbond]

Do you see a difference between ball types? If so, how much?

[frodaddy00]

That seems very high considering the average loft of a pitching wedge. Using a tour ball and a 58 degree sand wedge the highest spin rate I produce is 10000 sometimes close to 11000. I'm not pretending I am the greatest player but I've rarely heard of anyone going over 12k RPM with any club.

[skytrakali]

PGA tour pros average about 9300 RPM with a PW and you can see how they get the ball to stop. I've never seen a shot with stats of 15000 RPM. I'm not the greatest but I've never hit a shot with over 11000 RPM (Sand Wedge). 15000 is too high to be a credible reading IMHO. Don't ignore possible mat issues - what mat are you using?

[trapdraw]

What does the area behind you look like, the area where the skytrak cameras are pointed when you hit a ball? You could try a darker backdrop behind you so the cameras can pick up the ball better. Could also try to play with the lighting and see if that makes any difference.

[petey1010]

I will doing all that this week thank u

[Morini]

For irons, amateur men spin roughly club# x 850. Thus the pitching wedge should be 10 x 850= 8500. You are way way over. Since I presume your swing speed is in the normal range, and you are hitting off a mat (mats spin less), this is abnormal.

I see four possibilities:

1. Your swing really causes it to spin that much (possible, but unlikely).
2. Something else is causing excessive spin (ie. massive friction between ball and mat for whatever reason, again unlikely)
3. Something is causing skytrak to misread your shots (ball, reflective club/shaft, background clutter). Again unlikely.
4. Skytrak has some issues (again, unlikely).

Some things you can do to try to narrow things down:
Different ball (already tried)
Hit same shot off a tee.
Half swing with pitching wedge.
Hit same shot, different pitching wedge.

Post ball speed, VLA, spin axis. To generate that much spin, spin loft must be huge, and should show up in reduced ball speed

[Dan McWhirter]

To me, it appeared the turf of the mat was tall and weak enough to let a wedge slide under, un-impeded by the mat, so the ball could see club grooves advancing at high speed. My SkyTrak has never shown a backspin greater than 11,600 rpm, as though that was a max limit. Meanwhile, in respect of misreads, the device has reported that same max spin on some drives! Misread? or did I contact the lowest one fourth of the ball on the upper lip of the driver?

[Morini]

Ball speed should help you determine the cause. Physically, there is no way you can spin like that without huge spin loft, and huge spin loft means low smash, hence low ball speed.

Tall and weak mat should cause the ball to climb up the club, and result in high launch with low spin, no?

[Dan McWhirter]

I was thinking along the lines of a great sand bunker shot...for me, those very few shots in my life hit so fine and high they land ten yards away and spin back two yards to the pin.

[FaultyClubs]

...my back spin RPM reads 10000 to 15000....

Skytrak specs list 12000 as the maximum...I can see why they wanted you to send pictures.

[petey1010]

So skytrak got back to me and said my dot was to close to my skytrak .it should be 12in away .I got it to 12in and got some light in my room cuz it was very dark and BAM . No it reads around 8000 with my Pitching wedge . Thank you all for giving me ideas.

[Llamma]

So to help people in future that might have similar issues, was the dot too close due to the SkyTrak being angled (pitched down towards the mat), or set low (below the level of your hitting mat)

[petey1010]

It was just to close. The want it at 12 inches and my was to close.

[DannyMRICS]

From the OP’s first post, the set up (height and angle) looks OK, so I don’t understand that. Can you expand Petey1010?

Dan

[David Williams 'Chips']

A case of I'm alright jack it seems there. I've got same problem which has resurfaced for no apparent reason. Getting 7i spinning at around 9500-10500, taking 20 yards off my course distance. I had the problem before and it just randomly stopped happening, getting more believable spin 3,500 - 4,500 and getting carry 150, roll out 165. Now 135 and stopping quickly. Very frustrating, will search for some posts on here but tried different light, from bright to complete darkness and tried different balls.

[trhuke]

I put a clip-on gooseneck desk lamp shining on the ball from behind and a little above my SkyTrak, in a fairly dim room, which seems to help eliminate misreads. My $.02.