Trackman Benefits

tbayers

Living in the South East where it seems there are no Trackman's nearby (according to Trackman website). So I am wondering is is worth driving the two hours to spend a session on one and get some stats? Currently playing off 16 but hoping to come down to single figures within the next 12 months. I like the technical side of things, hence my itch to try one.

neckedit

tbayers wrote: »

Living in the South East where it seems there are no Trackman's nearby (according to Trackman website). So I am wondering is is worth driving the two hours to spend a session on one and get some stats? Currently playing off 16 but hoping to come down to single figures within the next 12 months. I like the technical side of things, hence my itch to try one.

Where abouts are you?

Senna

There might not be a trackman, but thats just one brand name, a shop near me in Donegal has a flightscope, same thing.
Driving range about 25 minutes away has one too, £5 for an hours use and its really worth it for experimenting with your own clubs.

FixdePitchmark

I think there would be a long way to go to consider Trackman as part of your plan.


You should be looking at a pro first.

I think people are into technology and is a bit of fun - but off 16 - I think there is a couple of low hanging fruits with a decent pro and even someone who uses video at lessons.

tbayers

neckedit wrote: »

tbayers wrote: »

Living in the South East where it seems there are no Trackman's nearby (according to Trackman website). So I am wondering is is worth driving the two hours to spend a session on one and get some stats? Currently playing off 16 but hoping to come down to single figures within the next 12 months. I like the technical side of things, hence my itch to try one.

Where abouts are you?

Waterford.

And yup, Pro is on the agenda in the next few weeks.

red ears

If you want to get down to single figures course management and decision making are a big part too.

Also do you know your distances, miss-clubbing is costly throughout the rounds too.

tbayers

red ears wrote: »

If you want to get down to single figures course management and decision making are a big part too.

Also do you know your distances, miss-clubbing is costly throughout the rounds too.

Distances are getting better but not 100% there yet, hence some data on each club would be useful. But as others said I dont think I am at the stage where my swing is very consistent yet. Thanks for advice though.

ridonkulous

Senna wrote: »

There might not be a trackman, but thats just one brand name, a shop near me in Donegal has a flightscope, same thing.
Driving range about 25 minutes away has one too, £5 for an hours use and its really worth it for experimenting with your own clubs.

Flightscope and trackman are worlds apart in fairness. Similar products but most definitely not the same.

Senna

ridonkulous wrote: »

Flightscope and trackman are worlds apart in fairness. Similar products but most definitely not the same.

Agreed, but if the OP wants to play about with numbers, then what's the difference? I remember reading that the one Mark Crossfield uses (can't remember the name) is mean to be an even better one for certain data.
These things are all algorithms and thankfully I only used them outside so you can see the flight.
They are fun to use and I found it great for changing the driver settings and seeing what result it had in numbers, but surprise surprise all neutral setting was the best.

augustus gloop

had a session with my pro yesterday on trackman with driver. I felt the kick was too high on driver and my pros reading of the numbers confirmed as much. he gave me a demo shaft with a mid kick and the difference was instant. Also, most people think the hit x club x distance. X is normally a higher number in the players head than reality. Obvious I know, but my next session with my irons will hopefully give concrete figures.
Maybe make a day out of it, bring a mate and play 18 after the session on a course you might never play otherwise. That would make the 2 hour drive a little more worth it!

dan_ep82

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

I think there would be a long way to go to consider Trackman as part of your plan.


You should be looking at a pro first.

I think people are into technology and is a bit of fun - but off 16 - I think there is a couple of low hanging fruits with a decent pro and even someone who uses video at lessons.

Ah Fix you just hate technology until you buy it yourself, I remember you saying the same about range finders and then you had a GPS and a laser last time didn't you? :P
Launch monitor + video lessons are starting to become alot more popular for good reason.

I've never gotten a lesson on a launch monitor but I'd like to. The only thing that stopped me was I was getting lessons on the basics, more on how to hit the ball vs how to hit it better. After a few more lessons with my pro its something I will be doing. Carry distances/Gap Testing could be a huge benifit at least.

Tara (my current) and my old club headfort had Trackman for lessons but the cost more

Senna wrote: »

Agreed, but if the OP wants to play about with numbers, then what's the difference? I remember reading that the one Mark Crossfield uses (can't remember the name) is mean to be an even better one for certain data.
.

GC2 + HMT (HMT is clubhead data) which is replaced now by GCQUAD all in one.

Golfgraffix

Fix, we should head out to the range some evening and I will bring our GC2. It's a bit of fun and quite informative.

The real trick is understanding the numbers and why they are there. No point in seeing that you have 3500 draw spin without knowing why and how to fix, that's where the pro comes in.

They are great for distance checking though. I remember last year bringing a friend out and his 2 rescue, 5 wood and 3 wood pretty much all went the same distance. Dropped his 5 wood, got a stronger 3 wood and added another wedge to his bag.

J

FixdePitchmark

Golfgraffix wrote: »

Fix, we should head out to the range some evening and I will bring our GC2. It's a bit of fun and quite informative.

The real trick is understanding the numbers and why they are there. No point in seeing that you have 3500 draw spin without knowing why and how to fix, that's where the pro comes in.

They are great for distance checking though. I remember last year bringing a friend out and his 2 rescue, 5 wood and 3 wood pretty much all went the same distance. Dropped his 5 wood, got a stronger 3 wood and added another wedge to his bag.

J

Yes we are saying that a few years now J

No - I'm not a total Luddite , but feel some seek solutions in technology as a first resort - when it is hard graft and old tricks that are needed.

A guy off a high handicap going on about trackman data - gives me the shakes.

But I could be wrong again.

Surprised Game Golf hasn't already sorted their distances - or maybe it is no good and on the 3rd drawer down.

Dan is right - learn to hit the ball and about your swing - hit 1000s of balls after that.

ridonkulous

Golfgraffix wrote: »

Fix, we should head out to the range some evening and I will bring our GC2. It's a bit of fun and quite informative.

The real trick is understanding the numbers and why they are there. No point in seeing that you have 3500 draw spin without knowing why and how to fix, that's where the pro comes in.

They are great for distance checking though. I remember last year bringing a friend out and his 2 rescue, 5 wood and 3 wood pretty much all went the same distance. Dropped his 5 wood, got a stronger 3 wood and added another wedge to his bag.

J

I'd happily take you up on this offer. I've used trackman but never any of the foresight golf products until today. I was over at the golf expo and had a look at the GCQuad. I was lucky enough in that it wasn't being demoed when I was there, just the GC2 was in use so grabbed one of the guys to go through some stuff with me on the GCQuad but I didn't get to try the GC2 as they were prominently using it for a closest the pin comp so there was always a queue and not enough time to properly discuss it. I was quietly impressed overall with the product but it was most definitely unusable in the wrong hands. Serious piece of kit in the right ones though.

Russman

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

A guy off a high handicap going on about trackman data - gives me the shakes.

Absolutely this ^^^

Not to offend anyone, but gap testing and knowing your yardages are all well and good and helpful, but most club golfers could have at least a 30 yard back to front gap with most of their irons. You really have to be hitting it somewhat out of the middle of the clubface for the data to mean much, unless you're working on swing direction or attack angles and not too worried about strike.

You could end up like the fella with the perfect backswing but still hits it sh1t.

red ears

Russman wrote: »

Absolutely this ^^^

Not to offend anyone, but gap testing and knowing your yardages are all well and good and helpful, but most club golfers could have at least a 30 yard back to front gap with most of their irons. You really have to be hitting it somewhat out of the middle of the clubface for the data to mean much, unless you're working on swing direction or attack angles and not too worried about strike.

You could end up like the fella with the perfect backswing but still hits it sh1t.

If you are a decent enough ball striker then its useful to know what your distances with a well struck shot will be. We all know that a miss strike won't go the same distance and we will likely come up short. But to be able to club yourself right for when you do hit it well is an important factor in getting your handicap down. I will say that lessons are much more important than trackman form most amateurs but i wouldn't rubbish the idea of higher handicappers using trackman too. Besides some people love the science aspect of the game.

Montgolfier

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Surprised Game Golf hasn't already sorted their distances - or maybe it is no good and on the 3rd drawer down.

Game golf shows a massive distance variation on all my clubs not really helpful. The main reason being your hitting with the wind into the wind, up hill, down hill and not to mention hot and cold weather.
The worst of which is wet conditions I've never seen anything to kill driver distance than rain maybe it's a modern low spin driver issue. If its raining I use my 13deg 3 wood instead of driver it goes further.
Anyway trackman won't tell you what the conditions will do our the flight. I just went out on the course when its quiet and mild with a alignment stick with a hat on it and lasered set distances.

alxmorgan

red ears wrote: »

If you are a decent enough ball striker then its useful to know what your distances with a well struck shot will be. We all know that a miss strike won't go the same distance and we will likely come up short. But to be able to club yourself right for when you do hit it well is an important factor in getting your handicap down. I will say that lessons are much more important than trackman form most amateurs but i wouldn't rubbish the idea of higher handicappers using trackman too. Besides some people love the science aspect of the game.

For me these go hand in hand. A lesson which leverages the technology intelligently is the ideal scenario.
Technology for me had made a huge difference. Take the new versus old ball flight laws for example. Pros were getting this wrong for years before technology proved it.

A pro may have a great eye but I'd much rather he be backed up by the latest in technology rather than risk being wrong given you're not going to be with him much for the average amateur anyway

Its all about impact anyway and that is in the order of thousands of a second so we all need help in that regard

ChippingSodbury

alxmorgan wrote: »

For me these go hand in hand. A lesson which leverages the technology intelligently is the ideal scenario.

Keith in Sligo got a Trackman this year. It's a serious piece of kit! I had my "once every 2 years" lesson last week and he brought the trackman. We got a bit carried away and it lasted more than 1 1/2 hours!!
Anyway, I discovered my swing is quite consistent but not really what I had pictured in my head so a few things to work on:
Swing speed 109mph so only another 14mph to catch up with Dustin Johnson!
Swing path not what I'd like but you could see the improvement (in numbers as well as ball flight) while hitting shots in a practice routine.
It makes it so much easier to "believe" what you're being told when there is hard evidence there to back it up.

And all of this for €50...

Montgolfier

tbayers wrote: »

Living in the South East where it seems there are no Trackman's nearby (according to Trackman website). So I am wondering is is worth driving the two hours to spend a session on one and get some stats? Currently playing off 16 but hoping to come down to single figures within the next 12 months. I like the technical side of things, hence my itch to try one.

Sorry for the poor photography but the guy upstairs in the tramore driving range rents out his flight scope.

levitronix

Distances are key to scoring but more so with the wedges , nail your wedge distance down
As for trackman ball flight will tell you what you want to know 90% of the time and feel where the ball hit the club face

WheresMyPar

I found trackman and flightscope very useful
I was working on swing plane for a draw but still fading the ball
Trackman showed me that my attack angles were good swing plane was on plane my issue was club face was open at impact

red ears

WheresMyPar wrote: »

I found trackman and flightscope very useful
I was working on swing plane for a draw but still fading the ball
Trackman showed me that my attack angles were good swing plane was on plane my issue was club face was open at impact

What sort of stats were you getting, smash factor, angle of attack, ball speed, swing speed etc.

WheresMyPar

7 iron attack angle -4
Smash factor was about 1.27 that's because I'm a sweeper so need to get more compression to bring up smash factor and that will increase ball speed but I'm sure I've almost ticked that box now
Swing speed was 89 with 7 iron

mikepajero182

Senna wrote: »

There might not be a trackman, but thats just one brand name, a shop near me in Donegal has a flightscope, same thing.
Driving range about 25 minutes away has one too, £5 for an hours use and its really worth it for experimenting with your own clubs.

Where abouts is this shop? Would be interested in trying that.

tbayers

Montgolfier wrote: »

tbayers wrote: »

Living in the South East where it seems there are no Trackman's nearby (according to Trackman website). So I am wondering is is worth driving the two hours to spend a session on one and get some stats? Currently playing off 16 but hoping to come down to single figures within the next 12 months. I like the technical side of things, hence my itch to try one.

Sorry for the poor photography but the guy upstairs in the tramore driving range rents out his flight scope.

Cheers, didn't know he rented it out. Will look into it!