Typical Symptoms of ST Misalignment

[Dan King]

From a ball flight standpoint, what are the typical symptoms of misalignment if the ST monitor is at the wrong height (vs the mat height) and not perfectly perpendicular to the screen? I think have both pretty close but I've been experiencing an inordinate number of shots that go right (big fades). Especially the low irons and woods. I don't experience a lot of fades/side spin with real play, I'm usually pretty straight with maybe some baby fading, save the obvious pushes and blocking typical of a bad swing. Maybe it's just the fact I haven't play on a real course for a good 8 weeks and my swing's going to hell. lol

[Morini]

I think Seth partially answered that when in your other thread when he wrote "Just as a note, the alignment of the unit will affect the actual/displayed readings, particularly for side angle".

I hope we hear back from Seth as I am interested in this too. Thinking logically, the ball is measured RELATIVE to the reference frame of sensor orientation.

1. ST misaligned left or right simply leads to corresponding false side angle..
2. ST canted will lead to corresponding false spin axis.
3. ST tilted (forward or back) will lead to corresponding false launch angle.
4. ST elevated will not change ball parameters, but may lead to no read.

What was the spin axis of your big fade? 10 degrees of positive spin axis will move the ball 11 yards offline on a 150 yard shot (maybe more on ST due to lack of spin decay in ball flight model).

[Dan King]

I think Seth partially answered that when in your other thread when he wrote "Just as a note, the alignment of the unit will affect the actual/displayed readings, particularly for side angle".

I hope we hear back from Seth as I am interested in this too. Thinking logically, the ball is measured RELATIVE to the reference frame of sensor orientation.

1. ST misaligned left or right simply leads to corresponding false side angle..
2. ST canted will lead to corresponding false spin axis.
3. ST tilted (forward or back) will lead to corresponding false launch angle.
4. ST elevated will not change ball parameters, but may lead to no read.

What was the spin axis of your big fade? 10 degrees of positive spin axis will move the ball 11 yards offline on a 150 yard shot (maybe more on ST due to lack of spin decay in ball flight model).

I do recall Seth writing that, yes. I'll have to go back and look at my numbers regarding spin axis.

[Morini]

If my reasoning is correct (hopefully Seth or other knowledgable person can confirm), the size of alignment errors correspond to magnitude of ball flight error. It would be very obvious to the naked eye if unit alignment was off by more than a few degrees in any orientation.

Thus, minor alignment errors can not be the cause of large ball flight issues. It would be reassuring to have this confirmed.

[trhuke]

Once you've made sure your ST is level keep an eye on the spin and off line numbers. If you get "0" on both and the ball still is fading hard something is wrong.
I bought a cheap carpenters laser level ($10-12) and snug it up to the ST base, then note where the laser hits my screen to determine if I'm aiming at where I think I"m aiming. Helped my alignment quite a bit.
On another note, I find some of my indoor swings are a bit different than the ones on as actual course. That soft bumpy ground under my feet on the course, WTH? And sometimes it's muddy, uneven or not in the least bit level!

[Celeras]

Once you've made sure your ST is level keep an eye on the spin and off line numbers. If you get "0" on both and the ball still is fading hard something is wrong.

That would never happen. If it reads 0 on both the flight will be perfectly straight 100% of the time on the SkyTrak. The problem is that the numbers won't necessarily reflect what the ball is doing in real life (either by actually hitting at a range or just observing your impact into whatever you're hitting at).

But as far as SkyTrak is concerned, the numbers displayed IS the flight in the simulator and there will never be any discrepancy there.

[Buffalo_Joe]

There is another thread on here that talks about spin decay and how the current algorithm does not take this into account in ball flight. This would explain seeing a baby fade on the course and then seeing the ball continue to fade on skytrak. This happens to me as well so I think it is algorithm and not the alignment.

[Dan King]

I played a round this past weekend on a local course, I hadn't played a real round since May. As I suspected, my real life shots were much straighter than that of the ST. My iron shots had little fade on them with a good ball strike whereas with ST it projects a fade more than 75% of the time. My wedge numbers/characteristics are pretty close with ST vs real life but when I start getting down to anything below a 7 iron, ST seems to exaggerate my fades. The biggest difference I saw was with driver. I hit some fades and blocked a drive on the course but for the most part my drives were either fairly straight or maybe a 5-10 yard fade. With ST, my fades are huge (20-30 yards off center) and I struggle to hit straight shots and/or baby fades.

I must have something wrong with how I have the ST aligned so I'll recheck everything again next time I fire it up.