Distance problems indoors

[dsailer]

I have an issue with Skytrak distance reading indoors. For example, I recently hit my 8 iron outdoors and the average carry was 127 but indoors it was only 73. This seems really odd since it seems to be accurate as far as direction and flight. And it also seems to be pretty accurate outdoors. I can't believe this could be my swing. When I hit a ball at the range I'm pretty good at guessing what the yardage is going to be. I have two different mats indoors and it doesn't make any difference which I use. One has firm, short grass the other is a monster mat: much more lush.

I'm at a loss.

[dsailer]

Wow, these are great responses. Just reading this and have to go to work, but I'm gonna be busy digesting all this. I really just want to figure this out. I'm not pointing fingers at the Skytrak at this point.

Thanks all.

[mhage]

Spray the face of your club with foot powder so you can see your impact position. You will lose up to 10 mph by hitting extreme toe and 20-30 mph by hitting the mat first. If you hit the mat first, you will notice all the foot powder will be gone across the bottom of the club. I have a strong tendency to this myself and with my mat, it almost feels like I compressed the ball perfectly when I actually hit it fat.

[SkyTrak_Seth]

I'm going with the mat catching the club or a shagged ball. There should be absolutely no difference between indoor and outdoor, so it has to be some other variable. Are you sure those spin rates are correct outdoors? Could be a misread too.

[Meadows39]

My experience confirms the problem dsailer discusses. The gap from reality gets wider the longer the club. My drives are an easy 40-60 short. I need a 5 wood to get 150 yards. I've had others hit, I've taken it to my dealer and hit against a Trugolf sim and have gone to hit at Golfsmith. All confirm that ST isn't tracking right. I sent it back to ST and they said it was good. I get that others are seeing a better result so maybe it's just something about my swing/spin but at this point I might just send it back for a refund. I was hoping that the "boost" functionality on E6 would get me within a club or 2 or reality...............that seems to help marginally, but I can't really tell how it is trying to work and it seems pretty inconsistent. Anyone have insights on how "boost" is supposed to work?

[m3w]

I only checked carry yardage. I'm quite sure that the GC2 and AboutGolf sims didn't have the yardage bumped up because it was very much in line with what I actually hit on course. I use a GPS watch every time I play outside, so I'm fairly confident in my yardage.

[hks8888]

Then, your Skytrak(s) might have captured the launch data wrong. There has been some reports in this forum about excessive back spins which was cause of shorter distance estimated by the Skytrak's flight model. This could be one hypothesis. But, your second one was the same, so it is difficult to imagine that you get a defective unit two in a row. I would have tried to check some variables in your hitting condition indoors. But, you already gave up on this. Just good luck with your quest for other options to find a launch monitor working for you.

[m3w]

I know it wasn't backspin causing the issue. I got driver backspin numbers ranging from 1900 to 4500 rpm. They always seemed appropriate. I also know that it wasn't the mat because I was hitting the driver off a tee, without even grazing the mat. In fact, I tried for an entire month to sort it out before telling them to keep it. I even sent pics of my setup to their techs, to see if they had any ideas.

[Bubba22]

Most sim will have a boost option. E6, TGC have boost. It simply increases the distance by a certain percentage.

[Meadows39]

2 clarifications............I didn't get a 2nd ST unit. They sent the same one back with a service check list on it saying it was good. As to E6 boost, the E6 guys subsequently told me that boost only works with TruTrack. Bubba22, does TGC boost work in your beta with ST? thx, Mike

[Bubba22]

Yes. Boost works in the TGC beta. There are a few other option that help address excessive high spin, putting etc that ProTee have added to really help with the playability.

[Lefty13]

Meadows39 I've had very similar issues with my Skytrak too. It was a blemished unit purchase last spring. I took it to the local simulator last night with a buddy and compared the carry and overall distance to the Full Swing Golf simulator technology. I did this to remove all of the other variables like hitting surface and hitting indoors which I didn't think was the problem at this point. Skytrak was typically about 20 yards short with almost all clubs. Didn't check all of them as it is consistently short with all of my real life distances as per my expectation. Think I might have to send mine in but I'm a bit nervous now after hearing Meadows39 story. I'll have to go one more time without my buddy and write down all of the spin and launch numbers.

[aja]

I would not rule out the possibilty that the Full Swing sim was boosted. It uses E6 if I'm not mistaken. It's good for business to have customers pleased with their distances.

I would suggest comparing with another launch monitor, eg GC2 at a local big box store, but then also check if theirs hasn't been boosted to inflate distances and sell clubs.

Checking against another launch monitor is a much better test of accuracy.

[goatbarn]

Yeah I would try and see if you can check against a GC2, Flightscope or Trackman. But even then you have to either know the guy running it or be willing to make sure that their unit isn't boosted.

The good thing about the GC2 is that there is no way to boost the numbers on the unit's readout screen that I know of. So maybe see if you can get on a GC2 and see if you can view the numbers on the readout thats on the unit itself.

[Lefty13]

Thanks folks. Would you still do it even if the full swing numbers were quite close to real life imo? My only option is golf town really and I doubt they'd tell me if its boosted. I can try though. I've gotten into a lot of trouble in the course by going long so I do pay very close attention to my distances perhaps a teacher around with a flight scope could help me too.

[goatbarn]

I would. Despite what you've learned from real life golfing, it is still very difficult to truly, truly know what your carries are for each club.

Not for bragging, but for context, I'm a 2 hdcp, tournament golfer and I am still tweaking my carries for every club.

The clothing I'm wearing, the temperature outside, wind, lie, grooves, ball...etc. There are a lot of factors that play into hitting a ball and they all have little influences on carry. It's tough.

Try and get on a GC2 if you can, other than high launch/low spin drivers, it's the most accurate I believe indoors. Flightscope/Trackman are just as accurate indoors, but just not on curvature of the ball, as this is estimated from other measured club/ball data.

[Lefty13]

Thanks goatbarn! What you said makes perfect sense actually! GC2 isn't the one Golftown uses, is it? I really hope it isn't the machine as I don't want to be without it; however, I need to sort this out somehow before my warranty expires in April next year. Thanks again!

[goatbarn]

I have no idea. Google gc2 and see if that's what it looks like....sits besides the ball, like skytrack.

[Lefty13]

goatbarn ... Will do! Thanks!!