SkyTrak - Issues at the range?

[Andre Liloc]

Hi guys,

I just recently purchased a SkyTrak and I love it. I took it to the range for the first time last week and saw some weird things, so wanted to see if anyone else has seen this. I am using the FMJ and it was an outdoor range where the mats were about 2 inches high. I raised the ST using the adjustable bolts to what looked like 2 inches, I believe it was pretty close. It was a cloudy day, not raining, not sunny. So here is what I saw:

- Trajectory with all irons were good, distance seemed a little off, short about 10% on ST
- With 3W and Driver, I had a few shots that IRL were slicing pretty dramatically, but on the ST hooked pretty severely, I've never had this issue at home, I don't believe
- I took out the bolts and placed the ST on the Mat itself and the distance was much better, more accurate.

So my questions are the following:
- If the height of the ST is off, is that normal that the distance would be impacted by about 10% or so? I feel like I've read that, but just want to make sure.
- can hitting outside on a cloudy day impact ST accuracy?
- Anyone else with FMJ see weird readings like this?

Just trying to diagnose and see where the potential issues could be. Gonna try again hopefully this week at the range, so I'll give another update, especially if I get suggestions from this group.

Thanks!

[BadEddieKit]

I haven't taking the ST to the range, so can't comment on portion. But still have a couple of questions for ya..

1. How confident are you that you're not just getting further distances because you're freely swinging outside?

2. were you still getting the misreads of slices and hooks without the FMJ, or only with it on?

[Andre Liloc]

Hey BadEddieKit, I was actually getting lower distances outside which was weird, because I would have figured to swing more freely. But really, my buddy was hitting with it too and his shots were registering really low. But that wasn't as much of a concern as the slices showing up as hooks. I haven't hit without the FMJ (too damn scared to be honest). If I go this week and it's doing the same thing, I might have to take some liquid courage and try to hit a few without the FMJ, but wanted to see if anyone else had experienced it before taking that leap haha. Thanks!

[ltjackson]

From my experience the slice/hook issue probably has a lot to do with the cloudy weather. Consider for a moment the ST unit is photometric and without the proper amount of light it probably misread the shots. Did you make sure to have a logo or something facing the unit? If you didn't and the unit was seeing just the dimples then the shadows from a cloudy day could cause the issues mentioned.

Next time try to always line up your ball with the logo or some mark facing the unit.

[wbond]

Once you try without the FMJ then post the results will be interested to see if that was causing any issues. Are you using the holes provided or do you have the ST pushed up against the FMJ case?

[Andre Liloc]

ltjackson - Ya I always have the logo facing the laser, especially easy at the range since the range balls have all those markings haha. But I was wondering if the cloudy weather did have something to do with it....

wbond - I'm using the holes provided, do you use the holes or push it right up against the case? I believe you got yours earlier than mine and i thought he made adjustments on my batch. If I make it to the range and see the same thing happening, I'll definitely post results with what I see.

[Jasonstanley]

Range yardages are never accurate, if anything they are generous to make you return.

[Misike]

Need to eliminate all variables one by one. For distance issues, I would bring a laser and laser the pin/flag/marker you are hitting too, so you are sure of distance. For the hook vs slice, I think if you want to eliminate the FMJ as a cause, you need to hit just as many without it on and see if that still happens. And, you could modify the holes in the FMJ(drill them out a little) to allow you to scoot SkyTrak closer to the metal. Interested to hear your results after further testing.

[Andre Liloc]

Alright guys, I went the range today and much better results. I took off the adjustable bolts and placed the ST with FMJ on the Mat, no misreads with the irons, very accurate. With my 4W, I got a few misreads again when I sliced one and it read as a hook on the ST. Before taking trying to hit without the FMJ, I decided to move the ball back about a 1/2 inch to an inch behind the laser, I read someone suggest that somewhere, I hit probably 15 more balls and NO misreads at all. I took out my 3W and placed the ball in the same place, 1/2 an inch to an inch behind the laser and hit at list 15-20 balls and no misreads at all. I decided not to take the FMJ off and I didn't get any misreads the rest of the session. I'm chalking the issues up the other day to the ball placement and also the height adjustment. Thanks all for your suggestions!

[awisnia]

Andre Liloc Good to hear that you solved the question. SkyTrak is very particular in their literature regarding height and distance to the ball. (link below) With the low lofted clubs, I think it's possible to be at the lower edges of the camera's field of view and possibly give bad data to the app, which it then turns into strange flight paths. It's also possible that the lower edge of the FMJ openings were interfering with the image. It is similarly sensitive to being level with the ball. In either case, having the bottom of the SkyTrak close to the hitting surface does make a difference. Likely more at either end of the club spectrum. By the way, you have FMJ #49 out of 188 out there. My son has been dropping pins on a google map every time we send one out - will have to figure out how to share it.

http://www.skytrakgolf.com/sites/default/files/skytrak/SkyTrak_TopTipsforCase_REV.PDF

[Dan McWhirter]

I got an early FMJ, did not screw the SkyTrak down to the FMJ, but soon discovered through really weird shot results that the SkyTrak had to be centered closely to the middle of the FMJ front to back (thus the early screw holes mis-alignment). I put the SkyTrak against the face of the FMJ and use a tee to space the front and back alignments. I nailed the FMJ about an inch back from the front, which sent the SkyTrak tumbling out, but no damage!

[DirtyGarry24]

Andre Liloc - I think we have a bit of semantics going on here. To clarify, a miss read can be a couple of things. A "missed" read which means a no read. And a "bad read" which means that the ST gives fuzzy data which causes an irregular ball flight. Very different things.

No reads are a common occurrence. Bad ball flights have not yet been proven with the ST. To my knowledge.

I think we should clear that up first. Ball positioning has never been a way to rectify bad ball flights or bad reads. It has been solely used to rectify no reads. Meaning, ball flight too steep (flop shot) or ball flight too flat (low launch driver). These are the extremes. Ball positioning can help these instances.

Never has anyone said that ball positioning can fix ball flight. That doesn't make sense. Get the ball in the cameras and the ball flight is good.

What you have is simply interference causing bad ball flight. You need to test without your case on and give feedback.

I'm going to add a few forum ST veterans that can maybe disagree or add light to the subject. I personally disagree with your assumptions, but want some others to chime in.

Thinman Vincent_Vega Shardak wbond

[SomaPLR]

beaten up range balls don't give very good reads, in my usage. They do ok, but if they are warn down, dirty, scuffed, or have faded dimple patterns the ST has a tough time reading them for spin numbers.

[James James]

Range balls fly in crazy ways. I have seen this on Trackman with S curved ball flights only rectified by normalisation. I also experimented with the relative height of the Skytrak and didnt see a significant difference. Will try to find the results and post them.

[Andre Liloc]

DirtyGarry24 - Got it, yes you are right, in my case it was bad reads I was referring to, not "missed reads". Yes I agree that probably taking the ST out of the protective case I am using would be the best way to see if the bad reads are 100% gone. As far as changing the ball positioning, I get it now that folks were referring to missed reads when they tried those fixes. But for me, what I saw yesterday was pretty telling as far as 0 "bad reads" once I moved ball placement. I will continue to do this until I see another bad read at the range, but I understand that the range balls could also play a factor there. But if moving the ball position back a bit gives the exact same flight on the ST as I am seeing IRL, I'll continue to do that for Woods that it seemed to work for on mine. Thanks!

[DirtyGarry24]

You getting different readings with ball positioning leads me to believe that it's your case causing distorted readings for the ST. Obviously crummy range balls could too, but I have first hand experience with a case causing similar issues. Having material in the flash area as your case has distorts the pictures and the ST takes in and spits out bad information.

You can maybe fix some of this by shoving the ST up against the face of the case, however you will lose most of if not all of your protection. I'd be interested in your comparison test.

[awisnia]

Andre Liloc Great to hear that the bad reads are 100% gone. Important to have the SkyTrak level with the mat and ball height.

[James James]

I tested altering the height of the Skytrak relative to the ball:

https://exploringimpact.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/does-height-matter.html

[awisnia]

James James - got it thanks. Two thoughts: 1)it might be interesting to raise the SkyTrak to 15mm below the surface and get it to trigger. 2) In your wedge data - there seems to be a small but significant difference in the "OFFLINE" and "SIDE-Deg) if you don't mind attaching the data file, I'll do some graphical representation.

fun stuff!

[James James]

Keen to see that:

https://1drv.ms/x/s!AtooZYq7lKxzfXCnMCE7t0iv7iQ

[awisnia]

posted graphs below

[James James]

I missed that from the description! I tested with the skytrak protective case.

[DirtyGarry24]

That's fine. That's what I expected. I really hope the OP will test without the case because I'm confident that is the issue. Bad balls, ST causing, or fuzzy data from the case are the options. I never believed height should matter so I'm glad you did such a thorough test. I'd like to see you start a thread based on your data. If you could add imperial height numbers as well, that would help us stuck in that mindset. Lol! Nice work!

[awisnia]

OP, Andre Liloc Great to hear that the bad reads are 100% gone. Important to have the SkyTrak level with the mat and ball height.

[Ken Robie]

It would be nice to know what the actual effective size and footprint (cubed) for the unit really is!!!