Best Way to Use Skytrak

Hello All,
I just purchased a skytrak and am looking for the best way to improve by using it.

Certainly the wedge matrix feature is a winner. I keep feeling like there is an opportunity to create a short game course in TGC that would be really helpful too. Any ideas?

Nick

Nick I have owned a SkyTrak for two years.

I mainly use it to figure out carry distances hitting into a net at home. That way I can use my game ball.

The skills challenges were fun but as a 10 handicap I wasn’t improving by doing it more.

I realized my swing was wildly inconsistent and was finding more time on a launch monitor didn’t help.

That’s how I stumbled into GSA.

Hope that is useful to you

Thanks Tyler and Ed,
I had been thinking that getting wedge practice would be the most valuable use for the skytrak. This is what I planned on using it for the most. I’m very excited to stand any distance away from the green 100 yards and in and feel confident I can hit that shot. For me, that’s the hardest area to practice right now and should be easy to practice with the launch monitor.

Ed,
Did you find that the skills assessment was not helpful in getting you to improve? Did you purchase one of the simulation packages? It seems like that would be helpful for “random” practice.

Nick

Nick,

I purchased the Game Improvement Package for Skytrak.

For about 6 months, I completed the skills assessment, bag mapping, and closest to the pin challenges bi-weekly.

I would set it to 3 balls per club, and with a 7 iron, the results would often look like this:

- 165 yd carry, miss 20 yds left (pull draw)
- 145 yd carry, miss 15 yds right (push slice)
- 155 yd carry, miss 1 yd left (push draw)

In the beginning, I told myself more time on the launch monitor would help me improve & tighten up my dispersion (after all, I got the launch monitor to give me valuable feedback on ball data and to practice more). But several months in, I was still just as inconsistent in the skills assessment. Bag mapping - outside of wedges - was useless because 5 iron went as far as 7 iron.

And I couldn't blame it on inconsistent range balls because I was hitting Pro V1s into a net in my garage.

So it was either get a GCQuad to capture club data, or find another way to improve.

I started video recording my swing in early 2019, was appalled at what I saw, joined GSA, and started watching Tyler's videos like they were Seinfeld reruns to better understand and build a better swing.

I still use my Skytrak to gap wedges, and to check clubhead & ball speed with driver, but not much else.

Ed,
That's really interesting on the club data. I started with the R-Motion (which is compatible with the SkyTrak) that cost $200. R-Motion is just an attachment to the club, but I've found that it works very accurately for flight simulation. It's weakness is on things like wedge shots where the ball's launch angle is so important, but even that has been right on a lot of time.

It's interesting that we started from different points. I started at GSA and my swing looks so much better after a little over a year here. I'm also striking the ball much better than I ever have and shooting better scores than ever. I'm struggling now with getting my distance and finesse wedge game up to the level that my full swing is at, which I expect the SkyTrak will be perfect for. I also need to work on getting my driver in play more often (although I do not expect the SkyTrak will be source of that fix.)

Each of the last two years I've asked my wife to catch my wedge shots while I recorded the distances with my rangefinder. I'm very happy that I will be able to get accurate distances for these wedges in a practice setting more than just once a year as a birthday present!