Newbie Question.

[Ck33]

Hello everyone thanks for allowing me to join the community. My names Colin and I'm a 9 HC who lives in Amesbury Wiltshire UK.

I have been thinking of a launch monitor/simulator for ages and when SKYTRAK came along with its ALMOST affordable price it made my decision easier. My question for the more clued up about these sort of things is, am I wasting money buying The Golf Club or should I stick with the play and improve package if I can only afford the ST and a net at the moment? Is anyone out there using this software with just an iPad or monitor?

sorry if this has been asked a bunch of times before

[A.West]

I'd suggest playing on the SkyTrak & net first with play & improve. Then you will have a feel for how you like the basic mechanics of using it. After some weeks or months, you'll have a better idea of whether you'd be wanting to play simulated golf in your setup. After a month with the same setup - Skytrak, Net, laptop, fairly confident it "worked" for me, I decided to add a JNPG simulation subscription, and merely added a larger TV screen, rather than a projector setup, which works ok for me. Every shot is really based on swinging on the target line - I don't feel I need the picture ahead of me. It may actually be breaking me of my bad habit of moving my head off the ball in anticipation of following the ball flight- which shows up a few seconds later on-screen.

[Ck33]

Good advice, thanks. I think it's just when you see all these superb builds the guys have it gets you thinking (and wishing!!)

[Dan McWhirter]

I started early March with a SkyTrak, new iPad and stand, and my outdoor net and mat. Went through all the "this thing reads too short" angst. Took it to the range where the pro hit 170 yrd 7 irons onto the green and SkyTrak was right there. My only angst then was, maybe it punishes the short knocker. Anyway, worked through all that angst....and started to catch the "flu." TGC came out, bought it and a gaming computer with a large monitor. Well, it started raining all the time in April. I looked at my storeroom...within which was 27 years of collections. Got me some gumption and bought $700 of storage shelves, a bitch to assemble, and started moving stuff...still thinking of having just my net and matt. More rain, going into May. Now the "flu" has fuzzed my thinking...one day I order frame, nets, screen, blackout cloth, matts and a new projector. I let all that stuff just sit there for three weeks because we got a break in the rain and real golf was out there almost every day...also, I needed to think about the set-up. Come June, more rain, the driven feel returns, the money already spent, I mount the final effort, with much caution and thought, but now an overwhelming dream, day and night, of playing golf whenever, even at 2 AM. Complete at the end of June. Four months from, "Oh! How cool, a launch monitor that claims it accurately reads ball flight for only $2,000." Once you've gone over the SkyTrak falls, another $4,000 will likely trickle over. Happy happy!
Advice: be patient, enjoy your skytrak, trust it, save money...if you watch these forums, you will be smitten...but you will arrive!
PS: looked at my postings and I did not actually play 18 holes until nearly the end of July...so five months.

[Ck33]

Haha thanks I need to stay strong or I'll have a cracking set up with no roof over my head !!!

[jchiavetta]

Funny, that is exactly what I'm experiencing now. I bought a SkyTrak about two months ago, and hooked it up to my ipad. Last week, I just framed out a 9x16 foot spot in my attic for the impact screen, ordered the GT1080 projector, a HQ2 impact screen, bought a gaming computer with the intel i7 and Nividia 1070 card - I'm fully into it now, and there is no turning back. I have yet to order the TGC software, but will probably get that in the next couple of days. There is still a lot of work to put it all together, but this forum has been incredibly helpful in starting to set up my home simulator. My only concern is with the delay of the SkyTrak. Hopefully it won't be too annoying during sim play.

[A.West]

If I had a large spare room with high ceilings, I'd go for the more complicated projector/projector screen, because of the coolness and immersion factor. (I know, because I have a home theater projector with a large screen, and have taken some lessons in a high-end golf simulator). But what simulators generally do is test whether you can hit and pitch off artificial turf, relative to a target line and a specified distance. And that works perfectly fine with a mat/net/ and small screen. Simulated putting is kind of a chore to me, and I doubt it helps me much with real-life putting, where seeing the line is my real challenge. Nor is a simulator going to help me get out of a real rough or real sand trap. I hope it does help me get better about staying on the fairway in the first place, however! After a few weeks of practicing with SkyTrak, I could "feel" when I hit the ball approximately where my misses were going, and whether I hit it fat/thin/too much sidespin. While the weather is nice, I plan to mostly play outdoors on real courses. When the weather makes the courses unplayable, I plan to play a lot more simulated games in my garage. And simulated play is still fun, even on a small screen.

[aeroburner]

the skytrak hole in one package comes with WGT which also has courses and top golf simulator its a year of playing while you figure out if you want to invest in TGC.

[Sledge0001]

Skytrak in my opinion really comes to life when paired up with TGC. The skytrak app is getting better everyday as seen in their newest release but as far as fun goes I think the golf simulation software, screen and net are a must have. WGT has realistic photos that it uses for the courses but the limitations of WGT and the playablitlity suffer greatly.

[Mark72]

I have TGC with Skytrak, and to be honest, I use ST Practice Range 99% of the time. I only play TGC when friends come over. The key is that I enjoy practicing - especially fine tuning all the half wedges from 50yd - 125yds in 5 yard increments. I can spend hours doing that, and the results have been spectacular! My game is sooo much better because of this practice. If you like to practice and want to improve your game, ST alone is fine. TGC with an overhead projector in a good room is still really cool, although it takes a while to get used to chipping and putting. Some of my friends have no interest in the practice range, so for them TGC would be the only way to make it worthwhile. The answer is hat it depends on you and what you like. Good luck!

[wterryiv]

I've been using mine for about a month on a surface pro 3 and only the driving range feature and since 2.5 the challenge skills mode. I do have the play and improve package and will probably use the WGT that comes with it once winter rolls around in up state NY and I can't go play. I really bought mine to improve my swing and work some on being able to hit a fade as my stock shot is a little draw. Simulation sounds fun and will probably be necessary in the winter

[A.West]

I only started golf a year ago at age 45. I've spent lots of time on a real driving range, and played some rounds of golf as well, and had at least 8 or 9 lessons. SkyTrak practice mode has been great for helping me see what's actually going on with the ball. One thing about driving range and practice mode is that hitting the same club over and over is one thing, but going from driver, to iron, to wedge, to putter, to driver, etc, is very different. That's where simulation is a real benefit - it gives me a chance to go through that rotation without the same amount of time and expense and the lost balls. And I can get a simulated round in at night after work- not possible on the course. And I expect it will help me improve over the winter rather than losing what I've learned over the past year. For someone like me who works during the day and has long winters where courses may not be playable for extended stretches, I think both practice and simulation modes are great benefits.

[MainStGolf]

I think it really depends on what you "want" out of your SkyTrak. Do you want just a practicing machine or do you want to play golf. The thing about is if you want to play golf then you actually end up getting both and have the choice. If you just go with the practicing aspect you can "play" with WGT, but not nearly as nice as TGC or JNPG. Not sure about e6.