Skytrak Outdoor Readings

[bhboren]

I have my skytrak setup outdoors, next to my Quattro mat, and a cage net that I built in my backyard. Ive been practicing with it for about a month now, and feel like I have gotten over the indoor swing syndrome (even though I'm outdoors). I made a velcro hood (inspired by this site) for my unit to try to keep direct sun off of it. I have noticed though that:

1) The brighter it is outside, the shorter my readings are, generally by about 5%-10% on skytrak app.
2) At its best, I still find my iron yardages are 5% less than they are on the course, and woods are closer to 10% shorter.
3) On WGT - My yardages are ~10% short at all times.

Curious to know if anyone has any experience / thoughts? I have tried using small tees in lieu of the mat and dont find much difference. I generally place the ball right on the red dot, with a line or logo facing the machine. If teeing it up, I place the base of the tee on the red dot.

I am a low single digit handicap and have a pretty good feel for my yardages. I play at sea level in normal SoCal wind conditions. I have a 360 bubble level on top of the unit to make sure it is level, and I use the metal case with feet to prop the bottom of the machine close to the level of my mat. I do not keep the machine on the mat. Would love to hear any thoughts you guys have.

[bhboren]

Any ideas / thoughts here?

[wbond]

Take it to a range, laser a target and use a few balls you don’t mind donating and see how it compares to the readings. If it’s on, you have something going on at home, probably still not swinging like you normally do.

[3on3putt]

Looks like you're using some sort of birtee or something. Maybe the ball is just coming off that differently than from a real tee?

For drivers, place the ball a few inches behind the dot. May not change the distance but will cut down on any no reads you might be getting.

Your iron distances off a mat/tee may be different than off grass. Spin or launch angle might be different. 5% is pretty small, about half a club or so. Could probably be explained by different launch conditions than what you get off grass.

Even though you have a hood, the sun might still be interfering. The fact that you said it gets worse the brighter it is makes me think the sunlight is the common denominator here. Skytrak is not really designed for outdoor use. The hood is a band aid, but not a true solution.

Like wbond said, take it to the golf course and see whats up.

[SomaPLR]

I just changed the lighting in my garage and I started getting wonky readings about every third shot...because it was too bright. I thought it was the update, it was the lighting. It was cutting all the spin down and had me carrying a 7 iron 200 yards because the spin was only registering around 4000-5000 rpm....so even if bright lights inside screw with the readings, outside is going to make it 10x worse - I've tried it.

On a perfect day, my Trackman numbers on a 7 iron carry is 180- 82 yards outside. On Skytrack I'm about 175-177 carry - not a terrible amount of difference. Focus on CARRY distance and not 'total distance' - if someone launches the ball low, with low spin - you're used to getting a significant amount of roll out at your home course that a machine isn't going to be able to immolate. Carry distance is the only thing that matters. Most people think they carry the ball further than what they do, just FYI.

[hankydysplasia]

I have a 360 bubble level on top of the unit to make sure it is level, and I use the metal case with feet to prop the bottom of the machine close to the level of my mat.

This was the only point that I had a comment on - make sure that the internal level is matching. A bubble on top does not necessarily match the internal one. However, I highly doubt this is the cause for the discrepancy.
You commented in my other thread about 7i and low spins. I just wanted to reiterate that aside from the 7i problem, my numbers are not wrong. They're very true to life.

[Morini]

It is possible that more light reduces contrast, and maybe makes it harder to find the centroid of the ball to calculate ball speed.