Distances Off 2.1.1 for lefty

[Alienator]

Everyone seems to be ok with the distances but I am wondering if they are all right handed? Have any leftys had issues? I am admittedly not a pro golfer but I can shoot in the 70s on occasion and otherwise low 80s. I use gamegolf every game I play, and before I bought the skytrak I spent at two days a week at a local training facility practicing on a gc2. I have a really good grasp on my distances total and carry in different conditions, real life and on the gc2. I am a good 10 yards short with all wedges, 9-6 irons, 5 iron is about where it starts to catch up it runs about 5 yards short as does 4 and 3 wood is maybee a hair if not good as is driver.

I have tried moving the ball around in front of the laser as Im not the longest hitter to see if that helped but no dice. My normal 7 iron is about 140-143 carry and I have had them come up 120 carry on shots that felt great. I have swung out of my shoes and have yet to get a carry over 136 with my 7iron unless I just pull hook the crap out of it. My average carry on good shots is about 128-131 on the skytrak. I have tried adjusting the humidity to 10% the temp to 80 and the altitude to 10000 and 9000 and it makes little to no difference, I feel those adjustments are just there for place holders.

I have not had anyone right handed over yet to try it out but am planning on having some friends over tomorrow and my father over on sunday. We will see how it is for them.

I have read posts mentioning ball types and hitting mats having an effect on distances but I have yet to find any posts on it only mentions of it in other posts so if anyone can enlighten me about that.

Does lighting effect the unit at all? I have two lights behind me led bulbs and nothing in front so the projector screen is more vivid. I guess I could try messing with the lighting but I doubt that will work.

[Mickey]

Finally got around to taking my Skytrak to an indoor range to test distances. I've always felt like Skytrak was too short with my driver in my home simulator. Fine with all clubs up to 3wood and driver to be clear. My lesson from the indoor range - I clearly swing more aggressively in a large open setting than I do in my home. Driver was out to 270 at the range and 3wood back to 245 consistently. The best I can do in my home sim is 235 with 3wood and 250 with driver. Now certainly not the issue m3w is having. M - your issue almost certainly is a defective unit. Return it asap for a new one.

[N54TT]

Glad you were able to take it to the range and verify distances. Now you can rest assured you didn't get a defective unit and can start concentrating on your swing. I'm not doubting there are some with defective units. But until they take them to the range and verify it with actual ball flight...there are too many other variables to just assume the unit is defective.

[Alienator]

I have found a sort of fix, if I place the altitude settings to 15000-17000.

[Willymakit]

Only problem whit that is all your clubs are going to be long. I had mine set at 12,000 and could hit a 7 iron 210 yards.

[TorchRedRob]

Why not post up some launch data for us?

Right now the discussion is basically:

The unit reports short distances.

Ok, we'd like to help you. Have you taken it to a range?

No, but it's definitely short.

Ok, could you post up some launch data from the skytrak for us?

Man, this thing is like 10 yards short.

Maybe you could go to a range or share some launch data with us?

It's short. This is disappointing. I played with it and jacked up the altitude, though.

[Alienator]

The data is correct based on the reading it is making. You can input the parameters and it give the distances within a percent or two of what the skytrak is reporting. All this means is the algorithms used to calculate carry and total are correct. The issue is clearly ball speed is too low.

There is snow on the ground, makes the range a little difficult, I will gladly take it there at first chance.

I applied a band-aid that doesn't seem to be all that effective and mentioned it in case it was of help to figure out the issue.

[Alienator]

The data is correct based on the reading it is making. You can input the parameters and it give the distances within a percent or two of what the skytrak is reporting. All this means is the algorithms used to calculate carry and total are correct. The issue is clearly ball speed is too low.

There is snow on the ground, makes the range a little difficult, I will gladly take it there at first chance.

I applied a band-aid that doesn't seem to be all that effective and mentioned it in case it was of help to figure out the issue.

[FaultyClubs]

Does increasing the altitude settings means you've decided the unit isn't faulty? It doesn't seem wise to keep it and apply a bandaid solution if it is faulty.

If you've decided the unit is fine, I don't see how increasing altitude helps given your first post stating the wedges are short by 10 yards, 5 iron by 5 yards and the driver (and 3 wood) are correct. Altitude adjustment will affect all the clubs and surely now make your driver far too long.

I note you earlier said adjusted altitude to 10000 had no real difference but now 15000 seems to have fixed things?

I also note you later said you were a "easily 10-20 yards short" on your clubs which seems quite different from the first post?

And you originally said your 7 iron average was around 140 yards carry but later said it was 158 yards (although I now see you deleted that post).

It's all very confusing...

Best to start over with a proper range test, post the results and then go from there. People are willing to help if the testing is logical and provides useful data.

[Alienator]

I still feel the unit is faulty, it has a major issue with just flipping to right handed all the time.

Altitude doesn't fix the issue but adjusting it to 15000 made 7iron distances more realistic.

I had messed with the altitude, I set it to 1000 before not 10000 it was a typo, sorry I was human.

It is easily 10-20 yards short and the first post even states that "My normal 7 iron is about 140-143 carry and I have had them come up 120 carry on shots that felt great"

140-143 CARRY average is 158yards TOTAL average on gps considering the greens I play on are not that receptive and my peak height is about 50-60feet

Hope this clears your confusion, the post you were referring to was deleted for just that reason I will go to a range as soon as time and weather permits

[Alienator]

Apparently I have upset people with my claims and I would like to publicly apologize for whatever I have said that was a problem. It is hard to interpret demeanor via text on the internet so rest assured I meant no foul or ill will to anyone just trying to make sense of what was happening and thought I was onto something with the left handed deal.

I have been saving to buy this thing since December of last year and finally was able to save enough money to make my purchase and when it didn't work the way I had hoped was very disappointed.

[TorchRedRob]

I'm certainly not upset and I hope I have not upset you, either. I'd like to help you, but the only way I know to do that over the internet is to see some of the numbers that the unit puts out. You have stated carry distances several times, but that doesn't tell us if something the unit is reading sounds wacky or not. The launch data would be helpful to us. For example, if you could tell us something like the following:

A 7 iron that was hit on this unit:
BS 110 mph
VLA 18 deg
HLA 2 deg R
Total Spin 6354 rpm
Spin Axis 4 deg L

A driver that was hit on this unit:
BS 145 mph
VLA 13 deg
HLA 3 deg R
Total Spin 2670 rpm
Spin Axis 6 deg L

Anyway, from your comments above it sounds like you are confident the issue is the ball speed is too low. My question is simply, how do you know that? Are you familiar with your typical launch numbers? If so, I'm glad you identified the problem and I'll be quiet now. Cheers!

[m3w]

I have a bunch of different drivers. The ones with a black head read no differently on Skytrak than my usual driver with a white head. I also tried different coloured tees. I even tried making a cylinder out of black duct tape, to use as a tee. All combinations gave roughly the exact same numbers. You can see from the table above that the readings are very consistent. I never had a problem getting shots to register, and I never had a problem getting consistent readings. They're just consistently low.

[TorchRedRob]

That is really strange, and it really stinks. It sounds like they were decent to give you a refund and another unit to try, but it stinks that it wouldn't work for you.

[m3w]

To be honest, they were very good about it. They even wanted to try sending me a third brand new unit to try. But, I figured, if they tested both of the first two, the third probably wouldn't be any different. I was actually quite disappointed that I couldn't get it working out for me. I had such high hopes for it. Maybe, after they get all their integration partners sorted out, I'll give them another try.

[N54TT]

I've got a voice caddie sc100 and skypro laying around. Will try and do some sessions next week on the skytrak along with the sc100 and skypro to see if the numbers correlate. I have used the skypro while on a gc2/hmt and the club head speed was accurate on the skypro. *disclaimer* yes I know the skytrak club head speed is calculated.
What I'm more curious about, is if the ball speed correlates on the skytrak and sc100.

[Tekbud]

I did some tests with skytrak vs sc100 a few weeks back and everything was very close

[apljb]

I had an SC100 as well, and my Skytrak was consistently just about dead on ball speed compared to the SC100 readings.

[N54TT]

Was able to hit a few iron shots...and ball speed was consistent between the sc100 and my SkyTrak.

[druid68]

On a slightly different topic, I've got some questions about ST backspin numbers. I'm a short hitter and high handicapper fwiw. Using ST in well lit garage, off realfeel mat, white golf balls, unit is level on offset hard surface next to mat. Using a PW, I see backspin numbers between 2-4k pretty consistently. I've never seen a ball I hit from 80 yds hold a green without running out quite a bit, so it seems to make sense; if it said 9k I would be suspicious. But what is confusing me is that as I move toward the 6, 5, 4, 3 iron, I am seeing some very high backspin rates, 7k, 8k, once with the 6I it was 11k. I have skulled shots and it tells me 7k backspin, not sure what is going on? Should I expect a trend of reduced backspin numbers as loft decreases? Launch angle is decreasing with less lofted clubs, which is kind of what I would expect. Thanks in advance

[Alienator]

a good rule of thumb backspin would be the club x1000 so 7iron =7000 spin. For this to work you have to have really good club speed and be using urethane tour type balls and forged blade type clubs. Take 1-2k off for using cavity back forgiving irons. Take another bit off for using cheap balls like top rocks and slazengers ect. The funny part about the cheaper balls is that the spin difference is more on higher spinning clubs but as you move to longer clubs the gap in spin difference gets smaller and smaller, hybrids woods and drivers see very little difference in spin between ball types.
A skulled shot or thinned shot has the ability to increase the spin quite dramatically, ive had 7irons that I thinned get 12k spin before its just one of those things, It really has that spin also because it travels about knee heigth hits the green then hops a couple times and backs up.

[druid68]

Good info, thanks. I would definitely say that I have pretty low club head speed, I use old worn cavity back irons, and 'top flite' quality balls. Still not sure how I average higher spin on 3,4,5 irons than I do on wedge, 9I etc. Perhaps my "swing" is so unconventional and screwy that the ST can't process the output. Has anybody else seen it where your average backspin is higher on your long irons than on your wedge, 9I?

[TorchRedRob]

it could also be that the grooves are worn on your old cavity backs (hence much less spin). This makes sense on the shorter irons since they are typically used more than the longer irons. Take a close up look at the grooves and try a groove sharpener if they look worn (shallow and dull edges)

[Lefty13]

Just wondering if any lefties had noticed the majority of their shots starting to the right. To get my shots to start straightISH, I have to aim way out to the left. Both e6 and skytrak software have 99% of my shots going way right. I've tried pushing some shots left but can only manage to get them to go straight or right. Anyone else notice this? Thanks!!!

[N54TT]

Hate to sound like a broken record. But have you compared the skytrak flight with actual flight at the range?
If not take it to the range...use the alignment feature...and if it's off send it back.

[Lefty13]

Can't right now as they're all closed due to the snow. I guess the only option I have is the simulator at either Golf Town or the Full Swing Golf simulator... it's pretty crazy movement towards the right though.

[Lefty13]

I did try the Full Swing simulator about 4 weeks ago and had no such problems with the ball flight starting out as it does in my garage.... lots of room to swing in my garage as well.