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I have noticed a strange thing with my ST. If I place strike tape on the face of a club, I hit the ball about 20 yards farther, to the correct distance. Can someone else try this. Without tape, my 7 iron goes about 145 to 150. With strike tape on the face of the club, 7 iron is 165 to 170, which is normal for me.
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Are you seeing differences in ball speed and backspin associated with the use of tape on the club face? -
Yes...Use powdered foot spray.Comment
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It is all in your mind. Skytrak will not know the difference, it just takes pictures of the ball in the air and do calculations. You probably hit better when you try to control the impact position.Comment
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well a club with grooves filled with dirt or a damp face can go longer than a club with clean grooves. This is a trick you actually can do when playing. If you want to come in fast an low just smear dirt in the grooves wipe the face clean.
Less friction mean less spinn which means more distance.
When i fit clubs i never use the shots done with tape or spray on the face as reference.
And most if not all players (that hasn't actually checked their gaps in a correct way) overestimate their true average length which leads to the majority of approach shots are short. Not saying you do that but its an observation i done when fitting. Its positive reinforcement (Pavlov's dogs) that you remember that sweet feel of the perfect hit and the mind tells you its the norm, when its not.
ST is very accurate/similar imo when i compare to my Flightscope. I wouldnt worry about the LM.Comment
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Here is some data I collected today with a 5 iron and 7 iron. I used the same ball, hit 3 shots without face tape and 3 shots with face tape and repeated 3 times. I also took some of the data and put it in a goggle spread sheet so you can better view the average of NO TAPE and WITH TAPE. Very interesting, please give me your thoughts.Comment
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I would very much expect the results you experienced. Decreased spin and increased distance with face tape.Comment
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This is what some shops do when customers tests clubs, They tape the face of the club and wow you hit it 20 yards longer than your current club, That 20 yards came from the tape reducing spin and giving you more yards.(they will not tell you that)
Next time you go to try something out where they tape the clubs bring your own and ask them to tape that too :-)Comment
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Agreed!
Would like to add that most shops dont do this in malice, most just dont have the knowledge.
This is the reason why you shouldnt go to a shop at all. Go to a proper custom fitter that has the skill, tools and golf club components to change EVERYTHING in the club according to your preferences and swing. And i just dont mean components now but also balance point, total weight, MOI around the shaft etc.
Having the option to have the correct lie, choose between stiff and regular or having 3 optional grips isnt custom fitting at all. Its a scam.
A proper custom fitter has at least 5 different regular shafts based on swing profile and at least 30 different shafts to cover every aspect from XS to AA. Add tipping to that and counter weighting. If a customer wants a specific club head I can build that club with at least 100 different combinations of components. Now add on balance point, total weight, length, counter weight, lie, custom gaps between clubs, etc and we are talking about real custom fitting that actually makes a dent in the scorecard over time.
Sorry for the rant but its frustrating to see people not playing their best golf due to being scammed by OEM:s.
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Thanks everyone for the comments, but I just can't sell myself on the answer everyone is giving. I agree that tape can affect the results, but look at the 7 iron data, I go from 140 ave without tape to 176 with tape??? Notice how club speed is less for longer distance. (I know ST doesn't measure it, only calculates it). Can someone please try this and see what results they get. Also, I really believe my 7 iron is greater then a 140 average. Maybe I think it is better then it is, but boy I have to say 160 at minimum, that is off by 20 yards? I am in MN so I can start to get out and test it on the driving range and see what I get. Let me know if you can run a test.
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For starters - club speed means absolutely nothing in Skytrak. If it's not measured, it's not worth looking at. Secondly, Trajectory Optimizer confirms that based on those launch conditions, your distances are dead on. If you take that much backspin off your shots, they'll easily go that much farther. That's why it's worth spending hundreds of dollars getting properly fit for custom shafts. -
For your distances, you really should be concentrating on the carry distance, not the total with roll-out.
It's always nice to have higher distances so we all tend to include the roll-out, but roll is totally dependent on course conditions. The carry is more under your control and you will likely get that carry regardless of whether the course is soggy or rock hard.
And while you can't sell yourself on the answer that almost everyone is giving you, they happen to be right.
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I've been wanting to test it outside as well, but haven't had a chance. I have noticed the exact same thing. I was hitting my six iron sometimes 215 yards with hitting tape and as you mentioned with FAR less swing speed. I think part of it is mental at least for me. I "see" the sweet spot and I think it helps me hit the sweet spot. It's crazy though. I can be swinging the club HORRIBLY but as soon as I stick the hit tape on there (mine is the kind of marked stickers) I can usually within two swings start tagging it. I asked someone during a club fitting about this and got the same answers as above, so I was going to do some testing, but haven't had a chance. Looks like you got the data I was looking for.Comment
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What kind of balls are you using? The spin numbers look really low tape or no tape.Comment
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I have seen this many times visually on the range when doing testing with impact tape on a six iron. With the tape applied the balls land about 20 yards further out than without.
Look at it this way, there is your potential distance :-)
I have two friends that both swing around 90 mph with a six iron, one of them carries the ball 135 meters and the other 175meters with the same clubspeed. Guess wich one has a + hcp?Comment
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If you look when you use the tape, the back spin is almost cut in half. That results in the longer carry calculation as well as the lower club speed calculation because we think you hit the ball that much more "efficiently". Those are crazy low back spins for those clubs.Comment
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I have exact the same problem with my new ST. My 8 iron backspin is showing between 7000 to 8000 rpm, carrying 125 to 135 yards. This is ~20 yards off my normal 8 iron at the range and on the course. I've measured it with a laser last week. After reading this thread, I tried it with tape and distance is pretty close to my real carry (spin rate is cut to half). I am using the same golf balls as I used on the course. I've tried Callaway chrome soft and pro v1 golf balls.
I was at golfsmith last week, and GC2 shows the correct distance for my 8/7 iron. I was really excited about getting the ST, but now I am a bit disappointed. I think I am going to return ST and maybe see if ES16 is any better... Surprised most people on this forum are saying their ST distance is right on!?!?
I am using standard AP2 irons, no adjustmentComment
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I was on a course last week, and was hitting my irons fine (8 was between 150 - 160 yards, 7 was 160-175 yards). I scoped the distance with a range finder. Just checking to make sure I did not lose 20 yards over winter on my irons.
I had a few friends over my house, they had similar carry/distance as me on different irons. And I had my hitting setup in my house over 2 years now, so it's not like I am afraid of hitting balls hard in my house. -
Well you've spent 2k on it, it's up to you whether you want to do an accurate test or not. There is a difference swinging out on a course vs having a unit sitting about 1' away that you just dropped some serious money on. Others have noted this many times already. -
This has been discussed to death. Simply indoor you cannot swing as hard. Something mental. If you search the forums you will see st is pretty solid.
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Based on ball speed I don't see how you could be hitting a 7 iron 165 yards on the coarse. With a ball speed average of 102 I would expect to see the ball go around 140 yards.
My average ball speed with a 7 iron on Skytrak is 115-117, and 165 yards is on the upper end of what I can hit a 7 iron on the coarse.
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