Archive for the ‘Trackman’ category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Recommended Launch Conditions from Trackman

May 21st, 2011

Recommended Launch Conditions from TrackmanTrackman included this chart in some of its presentations and thought I would share with everyone. Click on the image to see it at full size.  Basically, it is a chart showing what Trackman believes will produce the greatest combination of carry and total distance based on certain factors.

Those factors are Club Speed, Angle of Attack, Ball Speed, Vertical Launch Angle and Spin.  I think it is an interesting chart about real carry (distance) not what people think they do.  From my experience, I can tell you that the players I teach with 120 Club Speed are rare and they flat out pound it. The next time you hear someone say they hit it 300 yards, I sure hope they have a swing that generates serious speed.

I hope this chart helps you help more people with a better driving fitting. Please consider sharing this on Facebook and Twitter, by using the buttons at the bottom of this post, or by forwarding it to anyone you think might find value in it.

2 comments »

Posted in Club Fitting, Trackman

Trackman’s Swing Direction

April 16th, 2011

Golf Swing BaselineI thought I would write just a little piece on the swing direction component of Trackman.  Swing Direction (formerly known as Horizontal Swing Plane-HSP) is the direction of the swing at low point. In other words, it is a line tangent to the arc at low point.  A little bit ago, I was talking with Chris Como about low point and whether or not Trackman actually needed to know where low point was to determine swing direction. Chris is a coach in Dallas, Texas and a very smart guy that is constantly pushing the swing theory envelope as a critical thinker. We bounce ideas off each other often as he is much smarter than I am. If you’re ever in Dallas, I would certainly check him out.

Getting back to the topic at hand, we finally agreed that low point was irrelevant to determining swing direction. For example, it will take three points to be able to construct a plane. If a  launch monitor is able to collect 3 different 3d data points it should be able to construct a plane connecting those points. That plane will extend out in all directions and would have a baseline that points somewhere relative to the target. Somewhere on that plane, low point must occur but we don’t need to know where that is or what shape the swing is in. Somewhere on that plane will be the lowest point.

According to Fredrik Tuxen, they do measure low point location when possible but to me, it doesn’t really mean anything. We need to know the swing direction the plane angle and the angle of attack. This will give us the club path number. As we learned from my previous post, since the swing acts exactly like a circle at impact, we can calculate where that club path will be with out ever needing to know where low point is.

Lastly, the only time that the swing direction can actually point directly at the target is when the ball is hit with a level strike. All other times the baseline is pointing somewhere else. Something they don’t really mention either. Let me know if you have any questions on this last part or if you think you know why I said what I said, leave a comment. Please also leave a comment if you disagree with me about this last part.

Again, no real player application here but some food for thought maybe.

6 comments »

Posted in Golf Swing, Trackman

Trackman and Initial Ball Flight Direction

February 19th, 2011

Trackman Horizontal Launch Data

Here’s a picture from a Trackman presentation I thought would make for a very interesting discussion. You can click on the image to see its full size.  Basically, this chart shows the  results from a case study comparing different golfers and Horizontal Launch Angle. It discusses the Face Angles and Club Paths contribution to Horizontal Launch Angle.

Here’s how to read the chart. The bottom numbers represent ball speed (in MPH) and the numbers on the side represent the percentage of contribution in the Horizontal Launch. The blue line would represent 100% contribution from Club Path to Horizontal Launch and the red line would represent 100% contribution from Club Face Angle.

There’s been a general consensus that the ball starts at about 85% of Face Angle.  You can see that this is not necessarily accurate.  Their are many factors that go into the full answer.  Each dot in this chart is a hit. There were a multitude of golfers used and you can see they were from a wide range of skill levels and swing speeds.  I’m am not aware if the slower swing speeds are different clubs or just the same club with a slower speed.  The other thing we don’t know is where on the face these shots were hit and the divergence of the face on path on these shots.

In any event, I think this will give you some food for thought.  Aside from swing speed and loft, friction is the other main component for Horizontal Launch Angle.  This friction is one of the main reasons why lofted clubs will tend to be a little closer to 65% of the face angle direction relative to the 85% we hear about driver face angle direction.  Just remember, the face angles contribution can vary and only with measurements from an accurate machine can we truly understand what happened at impact.

Please consider sharing this information with as many people as you can by using the Twitter and Facebook buttons at the bottom of this post. The more teachers and players that understand the reality of ball flight, the better off everyone will be.

11 comments »

Posted in D Plane, Trackman

Trackman vs Flightscope 2

March 28th, 2010
Trackman Launch Moniter

Trackman Launch Moniter

Almost exactly a year ago, I did a blog post called Trackman vs. Flightscope where I talked about my experience with testing the two machines.  You can follow the previous link the read my initial review.  Basically, it states the Trackman is just more accurate.  This is especially true when it comes to the angle of attack.

I’d heard that Flightscope had come out with some new software and wanted to see how the two compared again.  One of my twitter followers sent me some results from a side by side comparison of the new Flightscope Prime with the new software and Trackman.

I am in the process of loading the data onto my server and will post it here when complete.  Data is located at the end of the post.

Until then, I will tell you what it shows.  For the most part, the two machines tracked the flight and launch of the ball almost exactly.

Flightscope Prime

Flightscope Prime

Some shots had variables in spin but not enough for me to say that one is worse than the other.  This test composed of a sand wedge, 6 iron and a driver.  Once again, the issue with Flightscope was the angle of attack.  Driver comparisons were pretty close but when it came to the 6 iron and sandwedge, the Flightscope was way off.  In 8 of 10 shots, Flightscope returned a positive angle of attack for a club professional.  This is just way off.

We all know that we are supposed to take a divot after the ball with an iron shot.  The only way to accomplish this is with a downward angle of attack.  Not only is the angle of attack incorrect but because it is incorrect, the club path numbers are inaccurate.   The angle of attack has a direct impact on the 3d club path.  Downward angles of attack create a more rightward path relative to the swing and upward angles of attack create a more leftward path relative to the swing.  So when Trackman says 2 degrees down and Flightscope says 2 degrees up, we have a major difference in club path.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again.  Flightscope would work very well as a fitting tool but if you want a fitting tool and a teaching tool you need a Trackman.  Just remember Flightscope is about $8000 and Trackman Pro is about $28000.  Accuracy is what you get for that extra $20000.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Update:  I had some questions regarding the set up of the test so here’s a picture of the set up:

Trackman vs Flightscope Set Up

Trackman vs Flightscope Set Up

Here is the Data and screen shots from the 6irons in question:

Trackman Screen Shot for 6 Iron Data

Trackman Screen Shot for 6 Iron Data

Flightscope Screen Shot for 6 Iron Data

Flightscope Screen Shot for 6 Iron Data

Here are the screen shots to show that this data is from the newest version of software and firmware that Flightscope offers:

Flightscope Firmware Version

Flightscope Firmware Version

Flightscope Software

Flightscope Software

40 comments »

Posted in Product Reviews, Trackman

Tags:

Golf Lesson – Trackman Confirms

March 1st, 2010

This Golf Lesson post is going to discuss a topic I feel hurts more golfers than any swing technique I can think of.  The funny thing is it usually doesn’t start showing symptoms until the golfer has reached a high level of skill.  The your swing looks weird so let’s make it look better disease.  This is where Trackman can level the playing field.  I tend to not get caught up in a lot of swing techniques with my students.  I wonder if that makes me look like I don’t know what’s right or wrong.  Or maybe it makes me look like I just don’t care.

To me, impact and ball flight are what I work mostly with.  I look at the whole swing as series of events that lead to a collision with the ball and how they interact with each other gives me clues as to what ball flight will happen when they’re off.  I have one student currently playing on the Gateway Tour that has an incredibly strong grip that he off sets with a ton of lag.  Every time I see him, he comments on his grip or tells me stories of other pros commenting on his grip.  I continually have to reinforce him that his grip works for him.

A few months ago, he went and hit on a trackman and gave me his data sheets.  This data was the most powerful piece of confirmation I could give him.  Here’s a piece of technology telling us both that his grip produced a clubface angle that was repetitive and useable.  This is where trackman pays huge dividends for the unorthodox swinger.  It compares impact and ballflight to impact and ballflight.  it doesn’t care what your swing look likes and neither should you.

Here’s a look at his swing:

Here’s a look at his numbers with 6 iron:

Trackman Club Data

Trackman Club Data

2 comments »

Posted in Teaching Techniques, Trackman

Tags: