6 replies to this topic

[Krep26]

Just a question about the sensitivity of SkyTrak in JNPG. Is there any way to adjust or calibrate the putting? The reason why I ask is everything else about tracking seems accurate to me (Full shots, pitches, chipping). Putting though seems like I barely touch the ball and it goes 20 feet, I have no sense for feel on the green, but chipping from the same distance I have no problem. I know as soon as I hit it a chip if I hit a good shot or if I'm long or short. Putting, not so much. 

I say this because I have a used a Full Swing simulator that I have used at the same time. Why would anyone use Skytrak then when you have a Full Swing sim  might be a logical question? I bought my brother and I each a Skytrak so we can play against one another online.  

So back to Full Swing . . . I can take my putting feel from the Full Swing simulator on to any course I've played and when I hit a putt on the sim or on the real course it feels the same. I even pace off every putt on real greens because I'm so in tune with distance control from playing hundreds of rounds in the Full Swing sim.

In Skytrak with JNPG when I try a 10 foot putt it goes 20-25 feet and in the Full Swing software it goes 10. This is true from any distance, I always have to barely touch the ball in JNPG compared to how hard I normally would hit the ball. Again, this is only the case in putting. Chipping and pitching both software programs the carry and total distance is almost identical. I'm trying to use similarly flat areas to compare. Even putting JNPG on the slowest stimp it is still drastically faster than my putting in Full Swing on medium speed (Which is how I've always played). 

Sorry for the long drawn out explanation. In the short term, my brother and I just use auto putt. Partly to speed up play and partly because by learning a different sensitivity with putting in JNPG and Skytrak I think it would mess up my feel on real greens. 

Any ideas or suggestions? 
Thanks in advance, 

Krep

[SFR]

Do you get a MPH of the putt you hit when using skytrak?

4.2 mph is the base for finding a stimp speed.  So if you hit that speed on an 8 stimp green the ball should roll 8 feet and thus on a 10 stimp green should roll 10 feet.  Make sure you test on Woodys Putting green to have a flat area.

Most guys comment on the off line left and right when putting short putts on the skytrack but not on the speed.

Only thing I found when using a stimp meter and my putting area to test slightly longer putts, is that in JNPG the putts are rolling too far as your ball speed increases compared to the real roll on the real putting area.  On the 11 to 12 stimp setting the in game ball was rolling 20% to 40% too far when in the 20 to 30 foot range putts.  So the real putt on the real putting surface was not going as far as it would as we get in game and this was getting worse as the putts got longer.

When on an About Golf system, the irons and driver were all juiced by about 7-10% but the putting was right for the 10 foot putt range but if I used the numbers from my 10 stimp in JNPG, those numbers for the 20 foot plus putts were coming up shorter in the About Golf System.  I was unable to do a real extensive test due to others playing and the cost per hour, but if their putting algorithm was right, it would match my findings that show JNPG putts rolling too far at least on the 11 - 12 stimp area on putts greater than 10 feet.  

Nothing has ever been said if there may be an issue with the algorithm as is, and I hope this is looked at for the new software to make sure it is right. 

[Krep26]

Thanks for the info. I'll give that a try to see what the mph reads. 

Thank you, 
Krep

[shimonko]

Not wondering at all why you'd have a SkyTrak. I've personally walked out of FullSwing arcade and although no longer use SkyTrak wouldn't have straight swapped it for a FullSwing unless you allowed me to sell the FullSwing.  Mates concur who have used both. FullSwing is always improving however. (They have to!)

When you say you hit a 10 foot putt, you are comparing that to how hard you hit on a real course, and FullSwing. Courses in real life can be as low as 4 stimp, and it's very hard to transfer a feeling outside to inside. 'Medium' green speed could be anything. The grass speed between the two IR curtains FullSwing uses to measure ball speed could be anything and not matched to the software. Chipping can match between SkyTrak and FullSwing because FullSwing/E6 has different ball deceleration to JNPG, but also different landing angles, backspin and green softnesses make them end up being similar. Sometimes two wrongs make a right. 

SFR's suggestions are how you take guesswork out of it. Personally I haven't verified it a 4mph putt goes 10 feet on stimp 10, but others have. I too believe there's something not right with harder putts, especially uphill, but much longer ones. 

If you play on a real stimp 10 golf course IRL (not what courses love to over-represent), you'll find it ridiculously fast. I remember the first time I did in a pro-am - it took 9 holes just not to go too far past the hole if I missed.

[Krep26]

Thanks Shimonko, 

Good info. I understand what you're saying about courses inflating their stimp measurements as most courses boast faster than actual speeds. When I say I can take my game to the course I do some basic tests before my round. I putt from what 10, 20, and 40 a few times and measure the results. If I'm long or short for the course for that day I just do the math in my head. So if the putt is 20 feet and the roll out today is more like 24 I just back off my feel for what I would normally roll for 20 feet and it always serves me well. I've played Bethpage the day after the 2009 US Open and this worked fine. 

As for chipping and pitching, I should have said Full Swing and JNPG are comparable when I'm just looking at carry distance. Since rollout can vary any number of ways.

[Krep26]

UPDATE, Two months ago I switched to a GC2 and the putting now feels normal and identical to what I feel on a real course. I never felt that way with my SkyTrak. My brother and I now don't use auto putt and our rounds only take a few minutes longer with putting out to 6 foot gimmies in our matches. 

[zmax - sim]

Glad to hear you're loving it!