Short wedge distances with Skytrak

[Golfser]

Yes, I know this sounds like every other thread where someone complains about short disttances, however...

I decided to check a few shots in Flightscope's trajectory optimizer, and both of these should have carried 10 more yards.

https://flightscope.com/products/trajectory-optimizer/

On a 270 yards drive I wouldn't care much, but on a wedge shot, that's one more club.

See attachments. 107 yards carry should've been 117, and 118 yards should've been 128.

I don't remember seeing such a discrepancy in the Skytrak range, only in E6 Connect, which is why I'm posting in this subforum.
I understand that elevation will affect carry, but going up 5 feet doesn't mean 10 yards less of carry from that descent angle.

[GungHoGolf]

My wedges carry the expected distance in E6 Connect. E6 plays at sea level, did you have the Flight Optimizer set to 0 altitude? Even so, it would take a very high altitude to account for 10 extra yards carry. I'll double check some shots in E6 Connect against Flight Optimizer soon - have you double checked some in the SkyTrak range? E6 just takes the ball flight model from SkyTrak, it doesn't have its own model.

[Golfser]

My wedges carry the expected distance in E6 Connect. E6 plays at sea level, did you have the Flight Optimizer set to 0 altitude? Even so, it would take a very high altitude to account for 10 extra yards carry. I'll double check some shots in E6 Connect against Flight Optimizer soon - have you double checked some in the SkyTrak range? E6 just takes the ball flight model from SkyTrak, it doesn't have its own model.

Yes the flight optimizer was at 0 altitude. I know E6 is supposed to simply take Skytrak's data but I've never had such a big difference in the Skytrak range. A few were around 3-4 yards short compared to Flightscope's algorithm but never 10.

[Golfser]

Bumping with more non sense.

First shot should've carried 10 more yards according to Flightscope (bonus: it also spins back 10 yards despite a very gentle slope, so the ball is effectively 20 yards shorter than it would in real life).

Here's where it gets interesting: 2nd shot somehow carries about the same yardage, from the same launch angle, BUT with 9mph less, what the hell?

I know the first one has 3k more spin but come on...

[3on3putt]

The second one had a higher smash factor, so the contact was better. Also, it was pulled, which is going to increase the carry distance. And like you said, it had less spin. Not hard to fly roughly the same distance despite a little less speed. Remember, speed isn't everything.

I believe the flightscope tool assumes a perfect smash factor and a horizontal launch of 0, no? If so, then your distances can be off because of those (particularly smash).

[Golfser]

The second one had a higher smash factor, so the contact was better. Also, it was pulled, which is going to increase the carry distance. And like you said, it had less spin. Not hard to fly roughly the same distance despite a little less speed. Remember, speed isn't everything.

I believe the flightscope tool assumes a perfect smash factor and a horizontal launch of 0, no? If so, then your distances can be off because of those (particularly smash).

Skytrak can't know the smash factor since it doesn't measure club speed; it can only guesstimate it. Also smash factor on its own doesn't affect ball flight at all. It is the ratio between club speed and ball speed. Only ball speed matters for trajectory.

10 mph less with the same launch angle should pretty much never land in the same spot unless you had an enormous spin difference. In fact using the tool I can't even simulate such a difference, i.e. 10mph slower, even 10k less spin won't reach it.

The flightscope tool let's you enter both vertical and horizontal launch angle as well as sidespin.


My only guess is that this is due to Skytrak's lack of spin decay. However I don't see such a big discrepancy in the Skytrak range (at worst it's around 3 yards).