Is it possible that stores can rig the hitting booths to show what they want in order to sell a club.

[ghalfaire]

Originally Posted by basscat348

Is it possible that stores can rig the hitting booths to show what they want in order to sell a club? The reason I ask this is because I got fitted for a new driver yesterday and played it today and long story short this thing isnt even on the same planet compared to what they were showing me yesterday.I was leary about it in the first place and should have gone with my gut but I didnt listen.My loft has always been 7.5* and thats what it will always be,I dont know why I got this 9.5* other than this new technolgy is supposed to be better but I am saying thats BS.

It is an electromechanical device so for sure it can give wrong answers because something is broke or it hasn't been maintained properly.  But it just isn't in a store's best interest to sell you a club that doesn't work for you so I doubt they would deliberately "jimmy" the machine.  Like everyone else just take the club back and either get one that works for you or your money.

[delav]

Originally Posted by basscat348

Ok here's how it went down today (interesting) I think.Returned my new driver to the pga store and then went over to the golfsmith store.I believe there launch monitor system is much better anyways and probably should have went there to begin with but hindsite is always perfect.I took my club in with me to get a baseline to go off of and found pretty much what I already new but my backspin rate was up just a bit about 3300 and launch angle was 14.Now we tryed for about an hour and a half and I tryed about 12 or more drivers all with spin rates of about 4400-5900 and launch angles of 16-18* even trying different shafts in some of them. We ended up finding a used taylor made TP 8.5* and turn the shaft in it to get the loft to I believe 7.75 ....close enough the launch came down to 12.5* spin rate was 2800 incredible I thought but didnt get to excited because of my last go around with the other club,I took it and went and played.For anyone wanting  to get the best #'s possible that I have found golfsmith is the place....this club is exactly what I was invisioning but just couldnt find it,launch angle was perfect dispersion was perfect longest drive on the 9 holes I played this evening was 330 yds this club is awesome.

On a side note about people being able to play with the monitors....now  granted this guy was working at golfsmith BUT he said that they can adjust certain parameters to affect distance launch and certain critical things,he said they did it at another store he worked for.

Which head and shaft did you end up with?  You must have a hell of a swing to generate that kind of distance and spin.

[Arsenal8807]

I agree that Golfsmiths launch monitor is good and the store in Austin has one that's pretty spot on. My ball flight was just like hitting outside however I am able to hit the same club outside and compare with what I have already and sure enough the clubs I got fit for using the launch monitor were what I needed and the ball flight was just right

[Golfwolf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by max power

In conclusion always bring your old clubs in to compare. Then you'll have an idea how accurate they are.

This is what you gotta do.

I agree, when using sims in stores you must take some of your own equipment to. Sims can be off for sure, adjustments can be made to inflate the numbers, knowing how far you hit your own clubs is the only way to figure it out.

[basscat348]

Originally Posted by delav

Quote:

Originally Posted by basscat348

Ok here's how it went down today (interesting) I think.Returned my new driver to the pga store and then went over to the golfsmith store.I believe there launch monitor system is much better anyways and probably should have went there to begin with but hindsite is always perfect.I took my club in with me to get a baseline to go off of and found pretty much what I already new but my backspin rate was up just a bit about 3300 and launch angle was 14.Now we tryed for about an hour and a half and I tryed about 12 or more drivers all with spin rates of about 4400-5900 and launch angles of 16-18* even trying different shafts in some of them. We ended up finding a used taylor made TP 8.5* and turn the shaft in it to get the loft to I believe 7.75 ....close enough the launch came down to 12.5* spin rate was 2800 incredible I thought but didnt get to excited because of my last go around with the other club,I took it and went and played.For anyone wanting  to get the best #'s possible that I have found golfsmith is the place....this club is exactly what I was invisioning but just couldnt find it,launch angle was perfect dispersion was perfect longest drive on the 9 holes I played this evening was 330 yds this club is awesome.

On a side note about people being able to play with the monitors....now  granted this guy was working at golfsmith BUT he said that they can adjust certain parameters to affect distance launch and certain critical things,he said they did it at another store he worked for.

Which head and shaft did you end up with?  You must have a hell of a swing to generate that kind of distance and spin.

My swing speed was right at 111 ,although I am usually right around 280-300+ depending on how clean I hit it.

[ND Fan]

LM numbers are a great resource of information, however they are easily manipulated and I wouldn't trust any of them from a guy trying to sell something.  Most places have no clue how to calibrate them properly so this source of great information is only as good as the guy who sets it up, which make the whole process meaningless most of the time.

[sean_miller]

I played a season of indoor golf last year. There were 4 rooms (really nice btw) and each one had a slight bias. The first thing I'd do each week is hit a few wedges and long irons to check my baseline yardages. Some of the variance was me of course, but there was enough of a difference between the setups (and especially whenever they'd just been calibrated or had software patches) to make me check.

They have the same machines at our Golf Town and they're just as accurate with the long clubs, but they're obviously not calibrated for high lobs and knockdowns. I played a round there, when I was playing well, and my distance control was terrible on and around the greens - has a lot to do with the positioning of the hitting area. At Golf Town it's too far away from the screen. I've had lofts and lies on my wedges tweaked based on full swings at the Gof Town simulators, and was 100% satisfied with my distances.

Basically, if you're testing a new driver, especially one they've thrust into your hand as you entered the store, be skeptical. If if outperforms the one you're using, consider it. But is a 295 drive so much better than a 291 yarder? Really?

[enis750]

yes and no i guess

yesterday i played a round on an indoor simualtor, and i was averaging 295 carry (lon gest was 322 w roll) from the tee and some swing speeds as high as 119mph

now this isnt at a place that sells clubs, but still....now way i was carrying those numbers, so take it w a grain of salt i guess

but, have you thought of this??

just because a driver says it has 7.5º of loft, doesnt mean that is its effective (or actual) loft

a driver that is slight open, will actually DECREASE the loft and vise versa for a driver that is set slightly close

so maybe the 9.5 you had, was closed slightly, increasing the loft and causing excess spin and launch angles?

and maybe your traditional 7.5º head, is less or more loft than you think???

its tough to control the loft on retial clubs

they TRY to keep them within 1º either way but its tough

there was a thread on golfwrx that was showing the new R11 tour heads

some heads were stamped with 10.5º and actual loft was 11.1 or even 12º !!!! thats a big difference for a tour head

yes this can be changed with the new adjustable hosels, but still, thats a big variance

[CassinoNorth]

Originally Posted by enis750

there was a thread on golfwrx that was showing the new R11 tour heads

some heads were stamped with 10.5º and actual loft was 11.1 or even 12º !!!! thats a big difference for a tour head

yes this can be changed with the new adjustable hosels, but still, thats a big variance

Those were Tour Issued and tour customized clubs.

The number on the side almost never correlates with the actual number for tour players. They get each club tuned to their exact specifications. But obviously they're not gonna put 11 on the side of a driver when that's not available to the retail public so they go with 10.5 which is.

QC wouldn't let a driver much more than +/- .5* off out of the factory.

[CassinoNorth]

Originally Posted by ND Fan

LM numbers are a great resource of information, however they are easily manipulated and I wouldn't trust any of them from a guy trying to sell something.  Most places have no clue how to calibrate them properly so this source of great information is only as good as the guy who sets it up, which make the whole process meaningless most of the time.

For the record LM's>Simulators every single day of the week.

I trust Trackman over any simulator ever. Those are 100% spot on.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by CassinoNorth

Quote:

Originally Posted by ND Fan

LM numbers are a great resource of information, however they are easily manipulated and I wouldn't trust any of them from a guy trying to sell something.  Most places have no clue how to calibrate them properly so this source of great information is only as good as the guy who sets it up, which make the whole process meaningless most of the time.

For the record LM's>Simulators every single day of the week.

I trust Trackman over any simulator ever. Those are 100% spot on.

It must be nice to have options. the Trackman must be amazing, because the sims can be pretty accurate. When I get 3 wedges set up for 125 yards and then outdoors they're consistently 125 yards (laser confirmed), I trust that number. When I demo drivers and the two drivers I brought from home are getting within 5-10 yards of the yardages I see on the course, I trust those numbers. Maybe I'm just too trusting?!?

[CassinoNorth]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Quote:

Originally Posted by CassinoNorth

Quote:

Originally Posted by ND Fan

LM numbers are a great resource of information, however they are easily manipulated and I wouldn't trust any of them from a guy trying to sell something.  Most places have no clue how to calibrate them properly so this source of great information is only as good as the guy who sets it up, which make the whole process meaningless most of the time.

For the record LM's>Simulators every single day of the week.

I trust Trackman over any simulator ever. Those are 100% spot on.

It must be nice to have options. the Trackman must be amazing, because the sims can be pretty accurate. When I get 3 wedges set up for 125 yards and then outdoors they're consistently 125 yards (laser confirmed), I trust that number. When I demo drivers and the two drivers I brought from home are getting within 5-10 yards of the yardages I see on the course, I trust those numbers. Maybe I'm just too trusting?!?

Make no mistake, some simulators are dead on awesome but trackman is that much better. It's the same technology you see on the PGA tour and almost every OEM uses it when testing products.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by CassinoNorth

Quote:

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Quote:

Originally Posted by CassinoNorth

Quote:

Originally Posted by ND Fan

LM numbers are a great resource of information, however they are easily manipulated and I wouldn't trust any of them from a guy trying to sell something.  Most places have no clue how to calibrate them properly so this source of great information is only as good as the guy who sets it up, which make the whole process meaningless most of the time.

For the record LM's>Simulators every single day of the week.

I trust Trackman over any simulator ever. Those are 100% spot on.

It must be nice to have options. the Trackman must be amazing, because the sims can be pretty accurate. When I get 3 wedges set up for 125 yards and then outdoors they're consistently 125 yards (laser confirmed), I trust that number. When I demo drivers and the two drivers I brought from home are getting within 5-10 yards of the yardages I see on the course, I trust those numbers. Maybe I'm just too trusting?!?

Make no mistake, some simulators are dead on awesome but trackman is that much better. It's the same technology you see on the PGA tour and almost every OEM uses it when testing products.

At the very least, there might be an advantage to where the trackman is physically located - directly in line with the ball flight - or is that just where they put their little promotional billboard?!? I do have an issue with some of the numbers from Golf Town - there's direct measurement of clubhead speed. It's a calculation based on ball speed and a typical smash factor. There's also the simple calculation of (total distance in yards) / 2.5 = clubhead speed in mph, but these are estimates at best.

[tweaky]

i've used three different launch monitors in my shop and i can tell you from experience that it is easy to set them up to give better numbers than what is reality.  i always set mine up properly because i was staking MY reputation on them.  two of them wouldn't work and i ended up with the Golf Achiever II.  the Zelocity PureLaunch would have been nice but it needed more room indoors than i had.  the Vector Pro was way too touchy and unreliable.

[TheGeekGolfer]

Originally Posted by Robato

They rig some of em for sure. I'd take it back. And if you wanna be sure next time, I'd bring in a club that you know you can hit a certain distance, and try it to see how far off the machine is. One machine told me I hit a 19 degree 5-wood 280 yards! Who needs a driver, jeez...

Exactly...bring in your own driver to compare.  If they won't let you hit your own driver, take your business elsewhere.

[granitegolf]

All they have to do is adjust the altitude settings to give false numbers. Always ask to see what altitude and what club it is set for.

Question- Does anyone know if you can set the altitude settings on a trackman?

Thanks, DR