Low iron spin - ball or mat or other?

[Jard]

An example of a recent shot on Skytrak with my Ping G 7-iron:
122 MPH ball speed
18 degree vertical launch
4 degree right
4058 backspin
950 left spin
184 carry

almost perfect draw flight

I had the opportunity to hit on a Trackman during a fitting last night and was worried I would have low spin.

Nope, similar ball speed and launch but TM read high 5000 or low 6000s spin, almost perfect, and low 170s carry distance and much better descent angles!

Im using Bridgestone Tour B RXS or XS at home. I think it’s possible that the logo on that ball doesn’t get picked up correctly by Skytrak to read the spin.

I have ave a similar problem with my driver, low carry distance with good ball speed (high 140s) because I struggle to get over 2000 backspin.

Anyone experiencing something similar?

[Wrightson]

I get lower rpm back spin too not as bad though,
7 iron
121 ball speed
5000 back spin
17 launch
178 carry

on trackman I consistently get 6000 rpm back spin and only 171 carry same flight slight draw

pro v ball on both trackman and SkyTrak

[Jard]

Obviously I’ll try swapping balls and retest now that i know my Trackman numbers.

Im using a Divot Action insert mat that’s a little tired. I can try hitting directly off my stance mat for comparison too. Trackman numbers were on a Fiberbuilt studio mat.

[Lgnir]

The toughest part about doing comparisons like that is ensuring you have the same conditions. We all know different mat types gives us different spin numbers. I'd be interested to see what the comparison would be like if you took your SkyTrak to the place you were using the Trackman and see if they will let you do some side by side comparison.

[Morini]

If the mat doesn't create friction with the ball, the ball will climb up the face and will result in a high launch, low spin shot. Anecdotally I would say that fiberbuilt offers high friction compared to most mats. The OP vla is on the high side, so likely that the mat is the culprit.

Interestingly, it is possible that the higher launch and lower spin cancel each other out so that carry can be similar to real life in fairway.

[Jard]

I haven't had my driver fitting yet (next week) but we'll see if I'm getting low numbers on the Trackman setup there versus the Skytrak. That should take the mat out of the equation and help narrow things down.

Meanwhile, I will get a new Divot Action insert and might even investigate putting some carpet padding under it to make it more firm.

Thanks for the thoughts and replies so far!

[jut111]

Were you indoors on trackman? If so did balls have reflective dots on them, plenty of room between ball and net/impact screen?

If not I'd trust spin on Skytrak more then trackman despite the cost differential. Radar indoors needs alot to measure spin right.

[rmyoung88]

I'll jump in here as well. I've got to agree with Jut111... I've tested my skytrak next to a trackman (at the same time).

My skytrak spin numbers came in well below the trackman spin numbers. So I thought, man, my skytrak spin rates must be low and the machine isn't right. Then I bought a GC2. Spin rates from the GC2 were dead in line with my spin numbers from the skytrak.

Then I used a GCQUAD, same spin numbers as skytrak and GC2.

I think trackman overstates spin numbers indoors without room to read the entire flight.

[SkyTrak_Seth]

I don't think that anyone can argue about how great Trackman is outdoors, but this threads illustrates the advantage that photometrics systems have indoors with limited space for ball tracking.

[WISCOGOLFNUT]

I was at a PGA Tour Superstore last weekend for a fitting and the guy who was fitting me said ball spin is always lower off mats than real grass since the club doesn’t slide through the mat like it does grass.. I’m not qualified to know if that is BS or not but just thought I would throw it out there

[SkyTrak_Seth]

That is absolutely correct. Particularly if you take a divot on the course, hitting off a mat will result in lower back spin because you can't get under the ball like you can off grass. The club skirts along the mat and causes lower back spin.

[Jard]

Right, but both Divot Action and Fiberbuilt attempt to address that with some give versus rock hard range mats.

I’ve been out of town since posting this, so haven’t been able to do any follow-up testing but will start with switching balls on my Skytrak.

[wbond]

You will definitely see a difference depending upon ball type.

Right, but both Divot Action and Fiberbuilt attempt to address that with some give versus rock hard range mats.

I’ve been out of town since posting this, so haven’t been able to do any follow-up testing but will start with switching balls on my Skytrak.