New SkyTrak Issue

[Ron R]

So got a new SkyTrak last Thursday and like most had issues with distances etc. . So I leveled it 25 times , tried 2 different mats , moved the ball different places for the laser inch behind inch in front . I have it connected through the usb right now tried it with the wifi and still the same thing .

Did a club mapping last night ST was set to 30% humidity 40 degs. just chipped with the lw being I'm not quiet set up to go full swings with it . The mat affected gw-8i a little I could feel it grabbing hence the pulls left not a problem being at least they gapped out to something apart from one another . The 7I was good but once I hit the 6I it went down hill quick , but from what I've read this seems to be a common problem . Is it something that works itself out by doing a lot of laser testing for ball position etc balls lighting ? I always see people have issues but it's not always posted the outcome to the problem .

I'm asking for a refund but I really want to give ST a honest chance I didn't buy it to return it . They offered support but I'm a bit worried now being right out of the box there is a issue .

Thank You
Ron

[CHansen157]

I'll just say that I never had issues with distances with my ST. Sure, there was some "indoor swing" adjustments, but once I figured out how to make my swing indoors my distances and clubs worked fine. It probably actually saved me some strokes in the wild as after a couple of years of minimal golf due to life events, it forced me to confront the fact that my club distances weren't what they used to be and I needed to club up while I worked on swing speed again.

Those numbers you are seeing seem like more than a mat issue to me--you shouldn't have any turf interactions on your driver for instance. Have you hit enough balls at each club to confirm that these are consistent? Perhaps you're having indoor swing issues with your longer clubs? In my ST experience, laser position primarily just affects read/no read issues, I don't feel like it changes my distances drastically.

[Ron R]

I agree on the mat and I accept that fact . But the hybrid , 3w and driver which was tee'd up have crazy low numbers for my swing , not the best player by any means . Even the irons are at least a 1/2 to full club short in terms of distances but I did set the humidity and temperature low to account for rl weather in Oklahoma right now .

I know when I hit it a bad shot and the feel , can pretty much tell you the direction its going to go with ease . Control can be a issue on days but I normally still have my distance .

Just not sure .....

[Morini]

Half a club is not much. The mat could easily do that. Cold balls could do that. Indoor swing could do much more than that. In any case, if you are certain of your real world yardages, just bump up the elevation for now to compensate.

[GungHoGolf]

First time hitting indoors at home?

Why 40 deg temp setting? What’s the temp in your studio?

What balls are you using? Are they new? Are they cold? When a ball goes bad (is about to crack) distance falls off a cliff before you can see a problem with it.

What’s your handicap? How did you go about finding your club yardages prior to getting the SkyTrak?

For myself and many others, SkyTrak reads a little long with irons due to lower spin and higher launch off mats. Ball-first contact is critical.

More on ISS: https://gunghogolf.com/blog/indoor-s...ndrome-skytrak

[Gresh12]

Except when people have a faulty unit (which I suspect is rare) my belief is distance issues are due to other issues and not the SkyTrak (except maybe some small speed bleeding above 160 mph ball speeds).

I have a Voice caddie and ballspeeds are always within 2 mph to my SkyTrak and I’ve taken my SkyTrak to multiple Trackman sessions and results were very close on items that will give distance issues of the magnitudes people report (spin differences matter at big numbers but losing 30% of your carry across the bag isn’t likely a “spin is off a bit” issue).

Indoor swing occurs even with high ceilings. I didn’t have distance issues early per se but I had massive hook issues as my already flat swing got even flatter inside. This took me 6 months of hiring balls 3-4 times a week to truly get over even though I “felt comfortable”.

Mat and strike is another big one. I actually find my distances are 5-10 yards long on SkyTrak at home because my mat knocks off some spin. I game ProV1 but I use Kirkland 3 piece with SkyTrak for two reasons. First they spin more for me so they add back the spin I lose off the mat roughly. Second I find I crack the ProV1s quicker than I think I should in the sim (the Kirklands never crack).

I’m in the mildly annoyed with no updates to software camp but I won’t replace my SkyTrak until I can get reliable club data for $5-6k in a new unit that can be setup and taken down in a few minutes as I don’t have a place for permanent setup. GC2 has some as advantages but not enough to justify cost difference in my opinion so for me SkyTrak fits in its accuracy relative to cost perfectly.

[Morini]

This is topical, as my son just finished club gapping a few minutes ago. He finished last season a 3 handicap. His approaches are slightly better than scratch, as he averages about 6% distance error (150 yard approach to 27 feet from pin average). His gapping looks just like yours, especially around the mid iron and down. We have probably done about 15 gappings over the past two years, and not one has had nice even gapping between the mid/low irons.

The ball speed increment is there, so it is likely a launch angle/mat/spin issue. Also, the margin for error is much smaller on long irons, so gaps could be all over the place on small sample size. My son would probably get better gapping data if he hit 8-10 balls and rejected the worst 3. But who wants to hit 13 clubs x 10 swings = 130 total? Not my 14 year old.

I wouldn't get too hung up about this. In all likelihood, the problem is not with the ST.

[Rthomas28]

I have the same issue with the driver. The data for all of my clubs from SW - 3Wood is spot on to what I would expect outdoors and also what I have seen on trackman. My driver though is showing the same ball speed and carry as my 3 wood and Is constantly curving to the right. Outdoors and on trackman I average 280yards with 165ball speed. On skytrak its 144 ball speed with 225 carry. I've tried loads of different ball positions, different tees and heights and I've been absolutely smashing the ball more so than I do outside but it's the same data everytime. Pretty gutted and not sure whether to send the unit back or just forget about ever using the driver on it which really sucks especially after spending all this money on the set up and TGC2019 software.

[Morini]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but is it possible that indoor swing is an issue. It is the longest club, and I know that for myself, the reduced margins of error for space affects how I swing. It might also help to lay down an alignment aid because not having a true distant target can mess with our subconscious. You might want to try some foot spray to ensure that you are getting good contact. If it is curving right, your face could be open or you could be contacting it towards the heel. Both will reduce your ball speed. If the ST reads other clubs accurately, I see no reason to not read driver. If your driver is white or reflective, try a different one. Are your spin numbers and VLA reasonable? What is the spin axis?

[Rthomas28]

Yeah completely understand what your saying. I've tried again today and blanked out the environment and went for it as always but still the same readings. Went through all my other clubs and again they were spot on.

[Rthomas28]

I was going to spend some money on a new mat. Does the mat make a huge difference to justify the cost?? At the moment I have just a cheap basic mat I got from amazon.

[Morini]

Since only the driver gives you issues is teed up, mat should make no difference. A cheap mat will likely launch high and have low spin compared to real fairway, but that is a different issue. Again, are your launch angles and spin rates reasonable? With the ball speed numbers that far off, you are either getting very bad contact, or something is up with your setup or ST. You could try an easy swing with the driver to see if the carry shortfall remains relative. With actual ball speeds at PGA Tour levels, this chart should give you an idea of what your numbers should be.

https://blog.trackmangolf.com/trackman-average-tour-stats/

[philbanc]

I was going to spend some money on a new mat. Does the mat make a huge difference to justify the cost?? At the moment I have just a cheap basic mat I got from amazon.

I have a good mat, I would recommend a good mat, but it shouldn't matter for a driver.

I use these tees, which work great:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[wbond]

Do you have any ranges near you that are still open? If so, take it outside laser a target around 250 and see if the ball carries the target or not and then see what skytrak said. Use your own balls, not the range ones for a test.

Yeah completely understand what your saying. I've tried again today and blanked out the environment and went for it as always but still the same readings. Went through all my other clubs and again they were spot on.

[Jbuzz]

The mat definitely makes the difference. I have a mat that will grab the club if I hit it fat. When that happens even a little my numbers decrease. When I hit ball first, the numbers are spot on or close.

[Rthomas28]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm going to book in with my local pro who has a trackman in a huge space and has a great outdoor range, I can place ST alongside and compare. So I will try what you have said take pics and write down all the info and try and find out what's going on.

[Rthomas28]

Hi guys, merry xmas to u all. Well I've had a reality check and must say the ST is spot on. I took it to the range and also placed next to a trackman. It is me holding back but also changing my technique which was picked up straight away by the pro. Driver on ST is now showing a carry of around 260y, 155mph ball speed and average 275y total. The numbers are so close to the trackman with max 5y +/-. I've also used a laser to get the ST alignment perfect, put grips under my mat so it doesn't move and just take my time to make sure the setup is perfect everytime. Thank you all for the advice and comments.

[GungHoGolf]

Thanks for the update - great to hear!