SkyTrak accuracy issue

I recently purchased a SkyTrak and while the distances in my longer irons seem accurate, the distances I’m getting with my wedges seems way off. That is strange because it seems like most have the opposite problem. I my 7i about 170 IRL and on the SkyTrak. With my 56 degree, I typically hit it 107-113, but in the SkyTrak I can barely get it more than 90 yards. The device is perfectly level. Any ideas as to what could cause this?

Just fyi, Golfsimulatorforum is probably a better place for these kinds of questions.

I have a SkyTrak and my wedges are fine. There is a ball speed issue with driver if you get it over 150 or so (probably what you mean by "opposite problem"). Not major, but it will consistently underread a few mph. The fix for that will be in the next update.

Since it's only with wedges my only guess would be maybe you spin the ball a little bit more off the mat than you do outside? I don't think it would be a problem with the SkyTrak. Try to identify what number you think may be incorrect and punch them into the flightscope calculator or something.

> @Celeras said:

> Just fyi, Golfsimulatorforum is probably a better place for these kinds of questions.

>

> I have a SkyTrak and my wedges are fine. There is a ball speed issue with driver if you get it over 150 or so (probably what you mean by "opposite problem"). Not major, but it will consistently underread a few mph. The fix for that will be in the next update.

>

> Since it's only with wedges my only guess would be maybe you spin the ball a little bit more off the mat than you do outside? I don't think it would be a problem with the SkyTrak. Try to identify what number you think may be incorrect and punch them into the flightscope calculator or something.

When we hit the ball from a mat, launch goes up, and spin goes down, and even Trackman might have problem with wedges when used indoor. It seems like that ball moves out of the "window" the monitor measure to fast (launch angle is to high so the monitor dont get a ball flight long enough to do a good measurement.) Try to add distance from the monitor to the tee if possible when using wedges.

This illustration is for projectors, but a launch monitor works the same way, so the shorter the distance is from the monitor to the tee, the smaller is the "window" its able to measure.

> @"Howard Jones" said:

>

> When we hit the ball from a mat, launch goes up, and spin goes down, and even Trackman might have problem with wedges when used indoor. It seems like that ball moves out of the "window" the monitor measure to fast (launch angle is to high so the monitor dont get a ball flight long enough to do a good measurement.) Try to add distance from the monitor to the tee if possible when using wedges.

>

> This illustration is for projectors, but a launch monitor works the same way, so the shorter the distance is from the monitor to the tee, the smaller is the "window" its able to measure.

>

>

>

SkyTrak is a photo metric system similar to GC2 or GC quad so distance from the tee to screen has no bearing on what is measured, it isn’t measuring from behind like Trackman but from the side and only captures the first few feet of flight and calculates flight from that.

I can’t say I have issues hitting wedges on my Skytrak, I feel its fairly accurate. I hit partial/full wedges that I know how far they carry in real word scenarios and am getting the same distances on the Skytrak.

> @jblough99 said:

> > @"Howard Jones" said:

> >

> > When we hit the ball from a mat, launch goes up, and spin goes down, and even Trackman might have problem with wedges when used indoor. It seems like that ball moves out of the "window" the monitor measure to fast (launch angle is to high so the monitor dont get a ball flight long enough to do a good measurement.) Try to add distance from the monitor to the tee if possible when using wedges.

> >

> > This illustration is for projectors, but a launch monitor works the same way, so the shorter the distance is from the monitor to the tee, the smaller is the "window" its able to measure.

> >

> >

> >

>

> SkyTrak is a photo metric system similar to GC2 or GC quad so distance from the tee to screen has no bearing on what is measured, it isn’t measuring from behind like Trackman but from the side and only captures the first few feet of flight and calculates flight from that.

>

You misunderstand what im trying to explain, maybe this illustration is better.

Radar or photo system based does not matter, the area the lens or radar covers becomes to small if we are to close, or launch angle to high, so we simply launch it outside the area the system capture, and then the ball flight the system can measure is to short to give good return values. It does not matter if the unit is behind or from the side. Trackman is behind, then we move it further back from the tee. A unit who capture from the side, move it sideways so the "window" gets larger, its got nothing to to with "the screen" or the visual target in front.

> @"Howard Jones" said:

>

> > @jblough99 said:

> > > @"Howard Jones" said:

> > >

> > > When we hit the ball from a mat, launch goes up, and spin goes down, and even Trackman might have problem with wedges when used indoor. It seems like that ball moves out of the "window" the monitor measure to fast (launch angle is to high so the monitor dont get a ball flight long enough to do a good measurement.) Try to add distance from the monitor to the tee if possible when using wedges.

> > >

> > > This illustration is for projectors, but a launch monitor works the same way, so the shorter the distance is from the monitor to the tee, the smaller is the "window" its able to measure.

> > >

> > >

> > >

> >

> > SkyTrak is a photo metric system similar to GC2 or GC quad so distance from the tee to screen has no bearing on what is measured, it isn’t measuring from behind like Trackman but from the side and only captures the first few feet of flight and calculates flight from that.

> >

>

> You misunderstand what im trying to explain, maybe this illustration is better.

> Radar or photo system based does not matter, the area the lens or radar covers becomes to small if we are to close, or launch angle to high, so we simply launch it outside the area the system capture, and then the ball flight the system can measure is to short to give good return values. It does not matter if the unit is behind or from the side. Trackman is behind, then we move it further back from the tee. A unit who capture from the side, move it sideways so the "window" gets larger, its got nothing to to with "the screen" or the visual target in front.

>

>

>

Howard, I don't think you understand how the SkyTrak works. There is ZERO variable involved in distance from the unit. For the unit to work reliably and properly, its base has to be level with the hitting surface, and the unit has to level in both horizontal and vertical dimensions. It emits a laser pointer from the unit that hits a specific spot on the hitting surface, and the ball has to be placed on that spot. So if you've got the unit set up properly, there are no variables - the ball is always a specific/fixed/static distance and angle from the unit and the cameras. If you don't have it set up properly, you're going to get a LOT of missed shots, which is the most common problem people have with the SkyTrak.

It is possible to hit it at a high enough or low enough launch angle that the unit doesn't register the ball, but it only registers if the ball passes through the "gate" and is picked up by both cameras.

he is saying with wedges the ball pops up to high and the camera loses sight of the ball to early. hence the red line (ball) leaving the sight area in blue.

its similar to a gc2 where it tends to read certain shot better towards the very back side of the the ball detect box.

My spins on my wedges are lower on a mat versus grass which affects distance and roll. I have to mentally re calibrate when I'm playing tourneys on the sim versus irl.

> @Ryan5508 said:

> he is saying with wedges the ball pops up to high and the camera loses sight of the ball to early. hence the red line (ball) leaving the sight area in blue.

>

> its similar to a gc2 where it tends to read certain shot better towards the very back side of the the ball detect box.

But it isn't similar to the gc2. The gc2 has a larger variable area where the ball can be picked up by the cameras, causing the possibility of what is diagrammed above. The SkyTrak does not. It has a laser dot where you have to place the ball. If the unit is properly set up, the distance and angle from the unit to the ball will be static. The ball is measured by both cameras on the upslope of the shot only, in the initial foot or so of flight. If the ball doesn't get picked up by both cameras properly, it results in a "no-read", not an inaccurate read.

the dot is just a placement guide and does not change the fact the camera has a limited view of the ball.

I have owned both and they both have their limitations on high initial launching shots. The gc2 for example will miss a lot of shot all together if the ball is to far forward in the hitting box. It generally performs better with wedges if the ball is on the backside of it. They both seem to just guess on what the ball will do when it doesn't get a full reading. I have had 20+k backspin reading shots on flops that travel straight up hit the ground and roll forward.

I have a SkyTrak that I use a couple of times a week and recently practiced on Trackman. SkyTrak reads spin quite a bit lower in the wedges. I don't get PW to go over 8k RPM's often on SkyTrak and on Trackman I was getting around 9,600 spin on average. I find the SkyTrak does a good job with long irons. I get a 4 iron to spin 4,000 - 4,500 RPM's consistently on both SkyTrak and Trackman.

The other big difference that I noticed is that I almost always hit a push over draw on SkyTrak and on Trackman I hit a lot more pushes to slight push draws. If you read up on SkyTrak spin decay you will see why the SkyTrak shapes the ball more than Trackman and more importantly, on the golf course.

I've had similar experiences with SkyTrak not accurately reading wedge shots.  For me, the 9 iron - wedges don't read accurately.  On the course my 9i is about a 150-155 carry and on the sim it's about 135-140 carry.  PW, GW, and SW all register about 10-15 yards less on carry then on the course.  I've adjusted the humidity, temp and elevation settings to be as accurate to my location as I can, but still get low numbers on the sim.  Also tried moving the ball around the red dot to see if that matters.  It doesn't seem to have an impact on the readings for this.

It seems that when I practice low shots trying to hit it about 50%, those numbers are more accurate.