Strange misread problem

[cbe1962]

We replaced E6 with TGC 2019 a couple of weeks ago. Our sim is a family setup with SkyTrak and we are all extremely happy with the switch. We are having an interesting misread issue though.

For the most part, 4 of the 5 regular users have the occasional misread, a few shots per 9 holes, which I consider normal. The 5th user has a horrible time with misreads. In 9 holes yesterday, in two separate circumstances, I saw him hit 8 putts to get one to read. He also struggles, but not as much, with drives & irons. He has tried different putters & shoes thinking the ST is confused by something in the background of the images, but nothing seems to solve the problem.

He does not have the fastest nor the slowest club head speed and there is nothing particularly unusual about his swing.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks!

[FaultyClubs]

Since the Skytrsk uses infrared, how does the background and his shoes, socks and pants look in IR? It can be radically different.

For example I have a dark green couch and dark green chair. Look similar to me but under IR the couch is pure white and the chair is black.

I also have black side curtains that are bright white under IR. The whitest and brightest things in the room!

[GungHoGolf]

Interesting. What are you using to see these things with IR?

[ganders75]

Use an IR trail camera, the ones which activate with movement...

[FaultyClubs]

I have an IR camera that I made. But any camera with "IR night vision" such as a trail camera or security camera works great.

If you don't have one of those but have a monochrome webcam that responds well to IR then you can buy an IR light source (around $10) and use that.

Edit: A lot of cellphones respond somewhat to IR but do it poorly so aren't suitable.

[cbe1962]

We have tried different shoes, socks and putters in the same session and different pants in multiple sessions. So far, we have not landed on a combination that explains his unusually high rate of misreads.

We have not looked at things with an IR camera/scope/etc, will work on that. I know cell phone cameras see infrared, I'll look for a filter that allows only infrared to pass and see if that tells us anything.

Thanks!

[Scoop]

Have you tried having him use a different ball placement? I would try having him put his ball a few inches behind the laser dot to start.

[cbe1962]

I will try moving the ball away from the screen a couple of inches and let you know if it changes things.

[allen2be]

Only other thing I would add is that I see misreads a lot on really low (thin) shots or really high flops. You said his swing isn't anything unusual, but if he's hitting a lot of thin 5 irons or something, that might be something to look at. Let us know on the IR results

[Gresh12]

If he has a low launch this could be on the right track even on non thin ones but definitely on thin shots. My 5 iron no reads a lot unless I move ball back 1-2 inches from laser (I do this for driver also) but almost never does with ball position back.

I’ve been working on more shaft lean and compression and as I’ve been getting my ball speeds up with a lower launch (launches roughly in line with tour average Trackman data) I have found I need to move ball a bit right of dot starting with 7 iron.

[cbe1962]

Thanks to all! I will pay more attention to his launch angle this weekend and report back.

[cbe1962]

One newbie question - Does the club indicated in the upper right window have anything to do with how the shot is read? In other words, if it says 3-wood and you hit a 5-iron, does that impact the outcome?

Thanks,
Cam

[GungHoGolf]

It only matters if a) you want to use putter from the fringe, or b) you want your shot tracking data to be accurate.

[cbe1962]

Thanks! That is what I thought.

[Shipwreck34]

Just my two cents... but I bought these shoes (in red) over a month ago, and curiously noticed that I hardly got any false reads while moving the ball into place with my foot.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013U62M56/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My miss reads dropped a little bit as well I'd say. Don't know why, but it doesn't seem to read red as much. When I am using my black shoes... false reads almost every time. More false reads = more miss reads in my experience. The unit seems to hang more with repeated zero outcome reps.

Come to think of it, I believe I also got less swing path miss reads with my Nike Covert Drivers and Woods. (Red top) I'll have to put some red tape to cover my Titleist Drivers/Woods I'm using now and see how it reacts.

(Oh, and... FIRST POST! Been learning a lot for the last couple weeks from all your comments. I'm working on a ball placement guide base with all the info gathered. Needs more data from me and a little more refinement before I put it out for public testing.)

[JBIER04]

Not much to add here, I don’t struggle a lot with misreads but I am anxious to try these new tour soft balls for 2020. The markings look great for Skytrak.

[cbe1962]

Things have stabilized a bit, but I can not attribute it to anything in particular. Misreads are not gone, but they have evened out among the players. If I come up with anything obvious, I will let you all know.