What do you guys do for dialing in club distances other than trial and error on the course? I feel pretty confident in picking the right club, but I'd love to actual see what my gaps are on the top end and with the wedges.

Anyone used an indoor bay/trackman and found it to be pretty accurate?

I dont like trying to do it on the range given the crappier balls and various wind conditions.

I live in Dallas, so any good recs of places people have used would be great.

I used to use PGA superstore before I got a sim in the garage

cpatin said:

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What do you guys do for dialing in club distances other than trial and error on the course? I feel pretty confident in picking the right club, but I'd love to actual see what my gaps are on the top end and with the wedges.

Anyone used an indoor bay/trackman and found it to be pretty accurate?

I dont like trying to do it on the range given the crappier balls and various wind conditions.

I live in Dallas, so any good recs of places people have used would be great.

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Use a simulator. PGA Tour Superstore has bays you can rent. Take a sleeve of the golf balls you would use on the course. The secret is to go 3-4 times and compare your numbers across multiple sessions. If you show up and have a bad/good day, you'll just have that as your baseline. Go 3-4 times and average your distances across all 3-4 sessions and you'll likely have a good idea of how far you hit the ball.


Also, I wouldn't discount the range for this activity. Range balls don't matter nearly as much with wedges as they do with driver. You can absolutely get an idea of your distances at the bottom of your bag with range balls. And the wind you're worried about? It will be there on the course. Why not get an idea of your wind-adjusted differences?


Also also....Trackman and Foresight make the high-end launch monitors. Some will argue, but Trackman is for the outdoors, Foresight is for the indoor simulator. Trackman uses dopler and follows the ball as it goes down range. Forsight uses cameras pointed at impact zone. BOTH have to use calculations for some of the measurements. I have had a Foresight GCQuad simulator setup for several years now distance control is easily one of the best qualities of my game. The simulator and lots of reps are the reason why.

Obi Wan Ginobili said:

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cpatin said:

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What do you guys do for dialing in club distances other than trial and error on the course? I feel pretty confident in picking the right club, but I'd love to actual see what my gaps are on the top end and with the wedges.

Anyone used an indoor bay/trackman and found it to be pretty accurate?

I dont like trying to do it on the range given the crappier balls and various wind conditions.

I live in Dallas, so any good recs of places people have used would be great.

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Use a simulator. PGA Tour Superstore has bays you can rent. Take a sleeve of the golf balls you would use on the course. The secret is to go 3-4 times and compare your numbers across multiple sessions. If you show up and have a bad/good day, you'll just have that as your baseline. Go 3-4 times and average your distances across all 3-4 sessions and you'll likely have a good idea of how far you hit the ball.


Also, I wouldn't discount the range for this activity. Range balls don't matter nearly as much with wedges as they do with driver. You can absolutely get an idea of your distances at the bottom of your bag with range balls. And the wind you're worried about? It will be there on the course. Why not get an idea of your wind-adjusted differences?

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Yeah, I defiitely shoot targets at the range to have an idea and sometimes just see if the distances make sense w maybe a 5-10% reduction in flight. Usually its the longer clubs where I start to notice the drop off.

But just out of curiosity, I wanted to see what a sim would say. PGA is a good idea that I didnt think about. Im not too far from the Plano one. How much is an hour rental?

Edit: Nevermind, found it on the website. $30/hour is great.

It's pretty cheap, but I'm in San Antonio and prices might be different. Something like $20/hour? It's not TopGolf. You won't have someone to come check on you or anything. They just want you in the store in case you decide to buy stuff after a dart throwing range session.

Have you used the simulator at San Pedro?

I built a simulator in my shop

I use my arccos numbers

Do you get paid to play? If not, just hit the ball.

I think the best way, on no wind days, is to chart your distances on crisply hit approach shots while playing. It may take half a dozen rounds, but carry is your most important distance for irons, so on the course is no simulation

I got a sim in my house now, but if I didn't I would either use the tangent app (which I do use as well) or Arccos. I can't recommend the tangent app enough. It's great at detecting your swings if you have an Apple Watch.

Renting a sim bay is another great option, but I would still pair it with one of the methods of tracking club and distance listed above.

Another great thing about tangent is you can use it while playing courses on the sim as well. Works really good once you learn what to do.

jja79 said:

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Have you used the simulator at San Pedro?

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I did a couple years ago, not sure if they have the same setup. It was alright, but it was a little expensive back then and I only tried it once.

i was in SA last week to watch one son play a tournament and we went there. $10 for an hour plus the putting and short game areas before and after.

One more thing to add, if you do rent a sim bay. At the end of your session before you exit out of the driving range, you can see if they will let you export the file and email it to yourself. If so, tangent (other apps probably as well) allow you to import that file and it will input the distance and variance (length and width) into its algorithm for each club when making recommendations to you based on distance from pin.

DGrimesAg92 said:

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Muy said:

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Do you get paid to play? If not, just hit the ball.

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Dumbest comment on this thread.

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After looking at the putter fitting thread, I imagine he has won this award a lot over his career.

I have a home sim. But I'd add one more old school option that no one has mentioned. Go play a late twilight round when it's calm, stop down on a hole that is consistent elevation-wise (ie no slope impact), and hit shots in groups of 5-7 using a rangefinder or gps.

When I first got a rangefinder, I took notes on the course: yardage, club, how was the strike, and what was the result. Only took 2 or 3 sessions to get a very good idea.

Every round after that is just more data. If you don't have a rangefinder, get one.

After that, the next step will be developing a system to really dial in tight dispersion for everything inside ~150. Dedicate practice time for that.

I can recommend not going to the Golf Ranch in Richardson. Driving range with TopTracer bays. I'm convinced they have it set to add 20 yards to your shot

Hah, yeah, I wouldnt count on that or TG numbers. I do enjoy the par 3 course for practice. And I can convince the wife to play that vs a real 18.

Muy said:

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Do you get paid to play?

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Absolutely

If I hit the ball well enough to take money off my buddies then yeah they'll pay me.

Who doesn't gamble when they golf?

Simulator

I'll hit 10 shots with every club in the bag, jot down the well struck averages as a baseline stock yardage and throw out the mis****s or way longer than normal.
I do keep the high outliers and get feel for a flyer distance or how much I could squeeze out of a trapped shot.

Big think I want to know is carry yardages but also avg roll out with each club.

The 3 wood and driver I want to know what my carry numbers are to fly trees, water etc, but I also need to know roll out when you are talking rolling through a fairway etc.

Write down everything and keep it on you, it can only help on the course if you know how far you actually hit it.

From there grouping patterns and stock shot shape. I tend to draw the wedges 5 yards, irons maybe 10 so I aim accordingly when hitting something stock.

I actually practice hungover/buzzed for the annual golf trip

For love of the game

cpatin said:

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Muy said:

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Do you get paid to play? If not, just hit the ball.

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What an insanely useless answer. Obviously plenty of people on this thread like knowing their distances fairly accurately. Just stay off the thread if you're gonna post stupid crap like this. Good lord.

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Dude I wasn't being a dick, it's the mindset I try and take anytime I'm not playing well. I need this mindset today as I'm flying to Northern Ireland tonight for 7 days of golf.

So when your caddie tells you to hit it 170 you have no clue which club to swing. Sounds like a formula for a lot of +100 rounds.

On a lighter note, have fun. But I'd sure want to know my distances if I'm taking that kind of a trip!

Shot Scope numbers.

Would be fun to know everyone's handicap when judging the questions or replies.

I just started taking golf serious a few months ago (hadn't played in about 8 years and didn't play very often prior to that either). Built a sim in my house in April and use it about 5 days a week. Just started playing a round a week at a local course as well.

In the last three months I went from shooting 120+ to breaking 100 my last two rounds and shooting a 46 the last time I played 9.

I just started using Tangent and also registered to establish a handicap with the USGA via the GHIN app.

My goal is to get to a 15 handicap and then see how it goes from there.

Impressive trajectory. I don't know if I was prepared for such a detailed response.

Played when I was younger that I think established a good foundation. Then several rounds a year with scrambles sprinkled in for a good 15 years to pick up some really bad habits. Picked it back up during COVID and been hooked ever since.

I have a Garmin monitor. I know my rough distances. I club up or down based on where the trouble is. I'm an 11.

Thought Muys post was a joke too.

Garmin launch monitor on the range and then I'll take it out on the course in the evenings when no one is out. Might hit a few at different places during a 5-6 hole practice session.