I took a field trip to the Tracer Golf facility in my backyard and overall had no issues with it.
I didn’t shoot any swing videos because 1) I was wearing sweats and sneakers and 2) I wanted to just see how the facility worked as far as being able to video record, as well as get some swings in.
The good news is that there is ample room for down the line shooting.
I may just be able to get head-on video because even though there is only a gap of 7 feet (2.13m) between the tee and the facing wall, I am pretty sure my iPhone’s zoom-out feature will allow me to get a full view.
I’ll have to see about that the next time there.
As far as the simulator, it fell more into line with my own expectation of swing numbers regarding club and ball speed (I was in the 120s and 170s with a high of 127 mph club speed and 185 mph ball speed).
So, it looks like that SC300i that so disappointed me was more than just off on club speed and spin, and distance… I won’t be using it again and won’t sell it either, because I think it’s rubbish.
You’ll all remember that 4 years ago, my top speed at an indoor facility was around 120/170 or so, but since I’ve refined my swing technique by a good margin since then (switching from left-dominant to right is a huge boost, as well as tightening my setup and pivot), I was fully expecting to exceed those numbers from 2018.
I thought at first that the system was way off because of the initial readings, but it was because I was mis-aligning myself to the left of my target line (I hate simulators because it’s so disorienting for me, but that’s a good thing, which I’ll discuss later).
By the time I figured it out, I immediately jumped from low 1-teens and 160s to in the 120s and 170s.
I did have to take one snap of a swing once I had re-aligned myself and before my time was up because I haven’t seen club and ball speed numbers like that in a while:
This was with my Geek Dot-Com driver, and my guess is that the shaft is a little too whippy because the contact felt perfect but the ball went 65 yards right of target – that combined with a back spin number of 2725 (should be low 2000s with a 6 degree loft) tells me that either I came into impact with the face slightly open or the shaft couldn’t square the face in time, creating the same effect.
I’ve gotten more run-out with long irons – how on earth do you drive a ball 290 yards carry and have it just drop out of the sky like that?
Answer – Spin.
It could simply be my own flaw or a soft shaft, but 2725 is too high for a good carry & run distance with nearly 128 mph club speed and 185 mph ball speed – a poor SMASH of 1.45, I might add.
I am pretty sure it’s the shaft, because that 2700 spin number was about the lowest I could get it, most of my drives were in the plus-3000 range, but I can’t be spinning the ball as some negative AA swingers do because my AA is upwards of positive 3.
I remember when I went to TXG’s facility and was given a Callaway Rogue (8 degrees loft with a Fuji Pro 2 6X shaft) to compare to my own drivers, my spin dropped instantly from in the 3000-4000 range to in the 2000’s:
DJ’s Numbers With The Callaway Rogue – July 2018
So, even though I can get those same distances hitting my own drivers, it’s much easier to do with a proper fitted driver (even with a poor SMASH of 1.44, look at the carry and total distances with that lower spin), which I’ll now be looking into.
Now, to bring us back to why I hate simulators – it’s because I’m very visually-oriented, so when I have to try to drive a ball 300 yards while aiming at a spot mere feet away, I get very discombobulated, to say the least.
I think it’s because I can see the screen in my left eye, and my body reacts as though I’m going to hit it with my club on the follow-through, and everything goes haywire.
However, this will be a great opportunity to “Iron Byron” my swing – my theory all along has been that you build a setup over the ball and simply swing without manipulations or compensations.
A simulator will allow me that opportunity, so it’s a challenge I accept.
I will make a longer foray next time and see how video shooting works as well as begin to work on getting used to just setting up on a line and simply swinging.
WAX Golf 