Odd driver Trackman smash factor

[SuperSwede28]

First topic for me,

Had my first lesson in a long time this past weekend and trackman was used. He had me start the session hitting some 6i followed by driver to get a feel for my swing. Although I've only been on a Trackman once before about 10 years ago, I've used other simulators recently and 6i numbers seemed normal, low 90's mph ss and smash factor around 1.38-1.43 at the start of the lesson. I has a ss just below 110 mph with the driver and felt like I was striking it well, but I could not get a smash factor above 1.43 after hitting about 5 shots, showing carry numbers around 255 yards. I believe I hit at least three in a row that all were good strikes on the face (could see dimple pattern lightly on the face) right at 1.43 smash factor. My spin numbers were also surprisingly high to me ~3000 I believe. I'm playing a 915 D4 with AD DI 8X, 9.5 deg, been tinkering with it lately, but believe it was set at +0.75 deg. I wouldn't expect this setup to produce high spin for my ss. Pretty sure I had a positive angle of attack with the driver, believe launch was around 14 deg. I played the day before and was hitting the driver pretty well. On the last hole one of my playing partners thought I hit a bad drive based on the sound. I felt like I smoked it, but only got out there about average distance for me. Playing again this weekend, so will see how it performs then, but might bring a backup to the range.

 

Any ideas or thoughts about why I would get this low smash factor with my driver, any other parameters than strike on the face that can influence it, is my driver toast, am I going crazy over nothing? :)

 

I asked the teacher for a trackman report, or photos of my numbers, so hopefully I can add these if that would help.

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

[QuickFeet]

Don't assume that TrackMan is obtaining an accurate club head speed. In your case the CHS may be high several mph.

[Howard_Jones]

Trackman measure club speed at the center of the face, not at impact spot, so to understand the PTR values it return we have to keep track of impact spot.

 

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/uploads/monthly_03_2015/post-100881-0-50316200-1426396977.jpg

 

 

Spin comes from vertical gear effect, if impact is low on the face it adds tons of spin, so with the same player, head and shaft combo, we can see spin numbers from below 2000 to above 4000, and its got noting to do with Angle of attack

 

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/uploads/monthly_10_2016/post-100881-0-45455600-1476867370.png

[SuperSwede28]

Don't assume that TrackMan is obtaining an accurate club head speed. In your case the CHS may be high several mph.

 

I have read that this can be the case as I tried to go through previous discussions before posting. I remember hitting at least on center middle and one center high on the face. Also my recollection is that ss was very consistent for the 5 or so shots, between 108 and 111 mph. I've also read about your 6i ss is about 85% of your driver ss which my numbers agree pretty well with.

 

Trackman measure club speed at the center of the face, not at impact spot, so to understand the PTR values it return we have to keep track of impact spot.

 

http://www.golfwrx.c...-1426396977.jpg

 

 

Spin comes from vertical gear effect, if impact is low on the face it adds tons of spin, so with the same player, head and shaft combo, we can see spin numbers from below 2000 to above 4000, and its got noting to do with Angle of attack

 

http://www.golfwrx.c...-1476867370.png

 

Thanks, came across a discussion of the first picture you sent, but doesn't seem to be enough change in speed for minor off target strikes, and considering several shots were center struck. I'm aware of the gear effect, but haven't seen that second graphic before, neat.

 

I guess my main confusion lies in that all the 6i data was as expected, while the driver smash factor, spin, and avg. carrying distance seemed quite off/bad. 6i distances were near identical to my normal course numbers w/ ProV1X balls, but I was hitting NXT tour range balls, or similar, for the lesson. Could the ball have this much more (negative) impact on driver numbers vs. irons?

 

Thanks guys!

[Howard_Jones]

Don't assume that TrackMan is obtaining an accurate club head speed. In your case the CHS may be high several mph.

 

I have read that this can be the case as I tried to go through previous discussions before posting. I remember hitting at least on center middle and one center high on the face. Also my recollection is that ss was very consistent for the 5 or so shots, between 108 and 111 mph. I've also read about your 6i ss is about 85% of your driver ss which my numbers agree pretty well with.

 

Trackman measure club speed at the center of the face, not at impact spot, so to understand the PTR values it return we have to keep track of impact spot.

 

http://www.golfwrx.c...-1426396977.jpg

 

 

Spin comes from vertical gear effect, if impact is low on the face it adds tons of spin, so with the same player, head and shaft combo, we can see spin numbers from below 2000 to above 4000, and its got noting to do with Angle of attack

 

http://www.golfwrx.c...-1476867370.png

 

Thanks, came across a discussion of the first picture you sent, but doesn't seem to be enough change in speed for minor off target strikes, and considering several shots were center struck. I'm aware of the gear effect, but haven't seen that second graphic before, neat.

 

I guess my main confusion lies in that all the 6i data was as expected, while the driver smash factor, spin, and avg. carrying distance seemed quite off/bad. 6i distances were near identical to my normal course numbers w/ ProV1X balls, but I was hitting NXT tour range balls, or similar, for the lesson. Could the ball have this much more (negative) impact on driver numbers vs. irons?

 

Thanks guys!

 

Range balls dont have the same launch and spin as regular gamers, but PTR values is the same.

If you really made CENTER strikes and only got a PTR of 1.43 its a bad club head, not a bad launch monitor, because its not only about club speed measurements, it included ball speed and launch parameters, and thats where distance and launch numbers comes from.

 

Trackmans PTR return in simply Ballspeed / club speed at the center of the face on that line who goes about 55*-60* (horizontal swing plane)

[Golfrnut]

The AoA would be somewhat helpful to know here. Depending on what it actually was, there could be a change for some excess dynamic loft that's generating that launch angle number. That could be at the point where it's effecting smash factor.

 

Just a thought...

[sfdoddsy]

If you check out the Trackman Optimal numbers charts, 255 carry is on the low side for your swing speed, especially if you have a positive AOA. They have a +5 AOA launching at 14* ideally at 2400rpm and getting 280 carry.

[Stuart_G]

What was the shot shape? It's a long shot but large numbers for face to path can also reduce the PTR.

 

 

On the last hole one of my playing partners thought I hit a bad drive based on the sound. I felt like I smoked it, but only got out there about average distance for me. Playing again this weekend, so will see how it performs then, but might bring a backup to the range.

 

Check the face and the perimeter for any damage - dimples, cave in's, or cracks. If the sound changed and the performance drops off, that's a very typical indication of some possible hardware failure.

 

[SuperSwede28]

Thanks for all the input!

 

The AoA would be somewhat helpful to know here. Depending on what it actually was, there could be a change for some excess dynamic loft that's generating that launch angle number. That could be at the point where it's effecting smash factor.

 

Just a thought...

 

Hopefully I'll will receive the trackman data soon to post.

 

If you check out the Trackman Optimal numbers charts, 255 carry is on the low side for your swing speed, especially if you have a positive AOA. They have a +5 AOA launching at 14* ideally at 2400rpm and getting 280 carry.

 

Based on course numbers I'd expect to carry a well struck driver at least somewhere in the 270 range, 255 would be a very poor result for me, probably closer to my 3-wood, all not considering calm and flat conditions.

 

What was the shot shape? It's a long shot but large numbers for face to path can also reduce the PTR.

 

 

On the last hole one of my playing partners thought I hit a bad drive based on the sound. I felt like I smoked it, but only got out there about average distance for me. Playing again this weekend, so will see how it performs then, but might bring a backup to the range.

 

Check the face and the perimeter for any damage - dimples, cave in's, or cracks. If the sound changed and the performance drops off, that's a very typical indication of some possible hardware failure.

 

From what I remember I was hitting fairly high fades for these shots, maybe 20-30 yrds curve on the worst ones, but some near straight ones as well. Checked the face under bright light this morning, but didn't notice any damage.

 

I'll post again once I receive the data, or after getting out on the course this weekend and see if I can compare it to my old/backup driver.

 

Thanks!