Is SkyTrak or TGC2019 Range More Accurate?

[Andrew Jolley]

Hi, hoping others can help form a consensus here. I've had my unit for about 6 months (winter in UK), and mainly been working off TGC19. In that time, my ball striking and overall game has improved significantly - although due to weather and relocation i've had only a few real life rounds in that time.
My issue is, when i switch between using the skytrak software and TGC, i'm getting very different carry distances through my whole bag. Setup etc is exactly the same. Even if i flick between them, 30 minutes on one, 30 minutes on the other, i get very different results.
My carry, shot shaping, swing tempo etc has all improved, and regardless of the software, it is far better today than when i first started using the system 6 months ago. So there in lies my issue - I do not know which software i should now start to trust with yardages. And now we're in lockdown, i can't test my clubs IRL.
It seems that TGC2019 gives me much better carry (and total but only interested in carry ATM). I see lots of posts about software versus real-life, mainly resolved with setup, matt, ball type etc. But my issue is knowing which software is more accurate given exactly the same variables.

Anyone able to help?

Thanks,
Andy

[Jay28]

I think I read somewhere that TGC2019 gives inflated distances. Personally I would go with what you see on the SkyTrak range.

[simmb]

Yep agree with Jay SkyTrak range all day long. Also worth pointing out that the standard range in TGC2019 I believe is slightly down hill so that adds a few extra yards on top as well.

[mikemcd22]

The only way to tell for sure is to bring your Skytrak to the range and compare. As you pointed out, you really want to know the carry distances. The algorithm in TGC does seem to inflate the total distance. When I use TGC side by side with Ignite (Uneekor), Driver can be 20-30 yards different but Carry is generally close. I, too, would go with the Skytrak on this one (I still have mine).

Then there's always the debate of how much stock golfers should be putting into how far you can hit a 5 iron off a mat in perfect conditions, indoors, no wind, flat ground, no trees or water, etc. when really, we have to know how to hit a 5 iron off an uphill lie, with 15 mph wind from the left, to an elevated green with a false front.

[Jgain]

This thread has a quite a bit of information concerning Skytrak vs. TGC19 ball flight.

https://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum/skytrak/251244-skytrak-ball-flight-vs-tgc2019-ball-flight

[Morini]

Topical, as I just got TGC2019 installed yesterday. My son played 9 holes. He knows his yardages VERY well, and complained constantly that his short irons came up short. On the other hand his 3 wood carry was huge, 230+ (he weighs 110 pounds soaking wet). We're not sure if that is a misread or what. He had three in a row like that, so not sure.

We did juice our ST range to match real world yardages by adding 800 feet of elevation so that it as closely as possible match real world yardages.

The other thing to take note of is that shot shape is more accurate in TGC as it takes spin decay into account, whereas ST range does not.

[Harch84]

The standard TGC driving range is sloped downhill, hence the inflated carry numbers. Skytrak is more accurate or else look for "flat range" in the search to get a completely flat one created by a user

[Andrew Jolley]

Thanks all for your replies, really helpful. So looking like skytrak is the more realistic of the two, so will use that for range work for now and take TGC with a pinch of salt and just enjoy it for what it is, maybe club down.
Interesting that it is a downhill range, I haven't ever noticed that, so will maybe do a bit more of a comparison on a flatter range.
Once lockdown is done and dusted I will get out onto the range/course and use my gps watch & rangefinder and try and put some comparisons together of RL versus TGC & ST.

[PROTEE UK]

I use both and have Skytrack altitude at 0 with absolutely no difference between the carry distances.

[Andrew Jolley]

Oh interesting. Are you using the standard practice range in TGC19? Did you try to configure both to match? It anything think I would need to bump up altitude in ST to get carry to match TGC.
Any config tips you have would be useful. Thanks.

[PROTEE UK]

Tbh, this all that is set. We don't use it too much as have 2 Protee systems also.
somedays ST is spot on, some days a little low and some a little high but they match the TGC software.

TGC I have found to be a better experience and best sim play for sure, very realistic.

Everyone has their own findings and feelings but for me I prefer TGC