Real vs Almost Golf balls

[Stiggity]

Long time reader, first time poster. I just recently got into the golf simulators with an optishot as a beginner. I know the device limitations but cannot afford the upper level simulators. The skytrak looks to be in my price range and with the spacing I have. I do have a question regarding balls used. Since it is only tracking a certain distance in the beginning of ball flight does using a fake ball like an almost golf ball effect distance vs a real ball? My set up is in the garage and at night smashing some real balls will wake up the little one.

[2480]

I just went out and hit both and after 25 shots I can say for me at least the almost golf balls launch way way lower. Could just be me?

[mhage]

I tried my Callaway HX foam balls and up to a 7 iron they seem to report decent numbers. Real balls seem to be 15-20% lower than my actual distances but these seems to be right on. I was able to draw and fade them as expected.

[TWiG]

I'd say that makes sense but didn't want to comment before as didn't know for sure, if you went to a field and hit them both the real would go further.

[davray666]

There is a significant difference between a real ball and another real ball. E.g. ProV1 vs. a cheep Wilson smart core. So if all you can hit is almost golf balls I would not waste the money on a Skytrak. If you can only hit real balls during day time then for me personally I would not hit anything during night time.
The reason being that you might start to develop a swing that is adjusted to the almost golf balls. Depending on your skill level that may or may not be a problem.
Once you get used to practicing with your game ball and lot's of useful data, there is no way back. You will not even accept range balls on a driving range.
Well I guess that is personal, but that's the way I feel.

[mhage]

I don't understand why I can't post to the forum, but here goes again.

I have Callaway HX foam balls and they seem to register ok. The displayed carry and distance actually match up well with my distances with ProV1's in the real world, whereas I come up 20-30 yards short with real balls.

[JV17]

Stig, A foam ball cannot be expected to act like an actual golf ball. It's designed to be a relative substitute, and for reasons like you're describing. To reduce noise or reduce risk of damaging property. Don't expect them to act the same and you'll be fine using them. Eventually you'll come around to davray's way of thinking. Personally on my GC2, I see the trajectory is always lower as 2480 mentioned and the ball speed is down a little bit so the distance is down a fair amount. Not ridiculous... But enough that you'd probably cause yourself issues by dialing in your distances with foam balls. Ok for swing and ball direction/path, and messing around on sim courses!

[Youngsun Kim]

Hi JV17 i own GC2HMT and flightscope however Gc2 cannot locate black colored rubber ball(squash ball) when setup. i only want to practice swingspeed due to big noise with real ball. size or color matters? it looks a little smaller than real golf ball. Have you tried?

[GmanJeff]

As a beginner who is more concerned at this stage with shot direction than with ultimate distance, and who practices indoors with foam balls, I infer from these comments that foam balls (orange ones branded Callaway, in my case) give a reasonably accurate representation of the path the ball takes after being struck? I'd welcome the ability to practice my swing with feedback which helps me (hopefully) get to the point where on a real course the ball at least stays on the same fairway I teed off on. I am taking lessons, but in between range sessions I'd welcome feedback as to how I'm doing.

[2480]

I can't disagree there. Practicing ball striking and club release are pretty important. I personally come home from work and throw down alignment sticks and hit 200 balls every day. the amount that it has helped with ball striking is almost not quantifiable.

[tascot]

I use the almost balls due to noise in a small garage. I have found that to stop me trying to smash it I have to increase ball carry settings 20% for woods , 18% for long irons and 15 % for short irons, but sculled shots seem to fly farther than they should. It might be due to the mass to compression ratio, drop one on a concrete floor with a real ball and they dont bounce very high.
I havent noticed a lower launch angle, my setup doesnt measure spin , only club data and LA. If I hit the soft balls for a few days real balls feel heavy, and it takes a few to readjust. I do think that as long as you dont try to overpower the almost balls, they can be great for practicing and as good , if not better than some bad , worn out range balls. Screen lasts longer too.

[rickbw]

I'm a new Skytrak owner, how do you increase ball carry settings? I have used the skytrak on my indoor setup with Callaway foam balls & compared it to the driving range (w/ Skytrak), the foam balls show significantly shorter distances at my home setup.

[Ironstrokes]

You gotta mess around with the altitude, humidity and temperature settings, depending on where those levels are at will give you more or less carry. Haven't tried it enough to get it down to an exact science, but it definitely changed the carry distance a good account when I moved all those settings to the extremes