New User - Carry Distance Question

[jrwells]

I just got my SkyTrak yesterday, and wanted to come to the experts with my question/solution.

When I first began using the unit, I used the bubble level to get things going. The unit is in a protective case on my Fiberbuilt mat. Using this mat, I saw a cluster of laser dots due to the mat. I would place the ball at that point, and noticed all my carry distance seemed about 10 percent short on solid hits. The cluster of dots was around 13 inches from the Skytrak. I was a bit bummed out as I really wanted the device for accurate measurements.

This morning I saw some information where it was suggested the ball be between 11.75 inches and 12.25 inches from the unit. I moved my ball closer to the unit, and the laser dot is basically on the middle of the cover on my ball. 8 iron and 9 iron carries seem correct. Does this ball placement issue make sense for the shorter carry distances?

[3on3putt]

Is the bottom of the Skytrak (the actual unit) level with the hitting surface? If you have it right on the mat, the bottom edge of the machine would have to be touching the mat (or the bottom edge of the metal case rather).

Edit: Someone will either confirm or correct this, but I believe Skytrak's official stance is to not have the unit on the same surface from which you are hitting. Rather, place it next to the mat and use the screws to level it with the hitting surface. Again, someone might correct me on this but I thought I remembered reading this somewhere in their setup guide.

[Scoop]

You can have it on your hitting mat, you just need to take the feet out of the case so the bottom of the case is sitting on the mat. If you have the feet it, it will be higher than the mat and the dot will be further away like you are seeing (13 inches).

[3on3putt]

Thanks for clarifying.

[Morini]

• The dot doesn't do anything other than act as a rough guide of where to place the ball. It is not connected in any way to actually reading the ball. If you covered the laser in duct tape, and placed the ball in the correct spot, it would read just fine.
• Yes, 12 inches is roughly the right distance. It is an approximation and this is not the cause of your distance shortfall.
• It is not a good idea to have the unit on the mat you are hitting off due to vibrations affecting read.

No-read and misread are two separate issues. The importance of proper set-up is mostly about avoiding no-read. For example, if the unit is too high, the imagers may not see entire ball for low trajectory shots such as three wood etc.

Set up can cause misreads in a couple of ways. If the unit is tilted it will mess up launch angle and spin axis (depending on which way it is tilting). As long as the bubble is flat, it should be good. Setup issues are unlikely to cause distance short falls. There are literally dozens of threads from new users who are concerned about shortfall in carry distances. Most of the time, the unit is reading the ball correctly. Here are the common causes of distance shortfall:

• Club mat interaction: A grabby mat can slow down the face. Also some poor quality mats result in very high launch. If you took your mat outside, you would see similar distance as the Skytrak reads.
• Cheap or cracked ball.
• Indoor swing syndrome: If you are new to swinging inside and your space is not huge, most people will subconsciously feel a bit cramped and will swing slower. This is almost universal, and there is ample evidence that it is real.
• Shorter real world distance than believed: It happens. Unless you have a spotter, or can find your pitch mark to laser back, it can be hard to know exact carry. And some golfers (myself included) have a tendency to want use our best strikes as our average.
• Miscalibrated skytrak: Rare, but there has been a small number.

Chances are good that it is one of these. The quickest way to figure it out is to take unit outside on a windless day. Avoid direct sun on unit. Use premium balls and use a spotter if possible. Alternatively, if you have access to Trackman, do a side by side (actually side by behind) comparison.

If those aren't possible, you need to eliminate these causes one by one until you find it. If you eliminate the first 4, then you need to get a hold of Skytrak to get it re-calibrated/replaced. Why don't you post some ball data?

[jrwells]

Thanks for the responses. It’s a Fiberbuilt 4 by 7 mat. It would be tough to put the Skytrak anywhere but on the mat. I just thought it was odd that when the ball was placed slightly closer to the unit than the dot that it seemed to give me my carry distances from the course.

I will say that I have noticed the least little bit fat of a shot on the mat does take away more distance than on the course. The mat is very “grabby”. However, that is perfectly acceptable. I just want to make sure the carry distances are accurate for SIM play and bag mapping.

[Morini]

A couple of quick things to try:

• Tee up an iron. The fiberbuilt is a good mat in terms or getting good spin and keeping launch low. But if you are not used to it and hitting a bit fat, it will grab. The tee will eliminate that.
• Take it out of the protective case. It may not sit well in the case, and the cut-out may block some shots, which is why it may have read better when closer to the unit. Again, don't get hung up on the dot, just try to keep it at 11.5 inches or so. If your ball is too far away, the ball is smaller in the images, and just about every ball metric may be less accurate as a result.

[Morini]

Also, can anyone who suffered from ISS pipe in. It is absolutely a factor. Ron from gunghogolf did a nice write up about it, becomes it comes up so much:
https://gunghogolf.com/articles/indo...ndrome-skytrak

[3on3putt]

Also, can anyone who suffered from ISS pipe in. It is absolutely a factor. Ron from gunghogolf did a nice write up about it, becomes it comes up so much:
https://gunghogolf.com/articles/indo...ndrome-skytrak

Absolutely. And it might explain why he found that his short-iron distances were spot on (less likely to suffer from indoor swing speed with the shorter sticks). It took me at least a dozen sessions in my sim before I started to see my expected ball speeds.

[chriscwhite]

For chip and pitch shots I place the ball about 1.5 - 2 inches closer to the hitting curtain. This seems to give me fewer misreads. For putting and full shots I place the ball on the laser dot.

[jrwells]

Thanks Morini. Put the smallest Birtee into play with my 5 iron. Carry went from 155 to 185 as is normal on course.

[Morini]

Great. Now that you have in all likelhood eliminated the unit itself as a cause of shortfall, you just have to get used to hitting off fiberbuilt. I have a flightdeck, and also made a diy divot action. Probably a bit forgiving, but the best mat for reproducing on course feel and distance.

[3on3putt]

Mats definitely make a difference. I have a cheap mat I bought off Amazon as a stance mat with the Fiberbuilt flight deck cut into it. If I hit an iron off the Amazon mat it's easily a full club shorter than when I hit it off the flight deck.