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Re: A pointless rant about club mapping: do they actually work?

• fobby1980 310 Posts

  Thu, Jul 18 2019 3:25 PM

  First of all, a little background. I recently upgraded my irons to the new TM P790 @90. Now the TM has a swing meter of 3, and I experimented with several (affordable) balls of different meter speed to try to find a combination that would let me dings consistently. I found that a ball with a meter of 3 gives me the best result. I decided to get the TM TP5 @7 because it’s relatively cheap and has good stats. 

  Having decided on a ball, I diligently set out to map my shots. I chose Bethpage #10 because it’s virtually flat from tees to greens (difference of 3ft between greens and tees IIRC). The wind was 2-4 mph @3-3:30. Mapping shots from tees is easy enough. I then proceeded to map shots from fairway as well, hitting shots with NS and FS. I will give a specific example: 5I 195, 183. 

  Having done with all the mapping, I decided to play a CCTH round to test my numbers. Luckily, my CC has an ongoing CCTH tournament, with the current round at Harbor Town Links. The first hole, playing from the fairway, has 181 to the pin with a 3ft elevation. Wind is 3-5 mph @9-9:30. Easy shot right, especially with my newfound data? A FS 5I @98% should be in fairly tight. I wound up, dinged the shot.......and it went for 191 yards. Restarting again, this time I tried a FS 6I and it went for 176. 

  So, what’s the point of investing time and effort in mapping balls/clubs if they don’t behave consistently?

  PS: I took the precaution of removing all apparel, wearing only basic stuff, before starting mapping clubs so there was absolutely nothing that could affect my shots. 

• fobby1980 310 Posts

  Fri, Jul 19 2019 8:58 AM

  For anyone who has doubts about what I said, I went back to Bethpage and was able to recreate almost the same conditions. Wind's at 4-4:30 instead of 3-3:30. Here are the images for my 5I shots:

  

  

  

  

  As you can see, the wind did not affect my shots at all.  Still the same distances. And here are the images for Harbour Town Links CCTH #1. With the same conditions like last time: 

  

  

  

  

  188 instead of 191, but I have no doubt that it would go further if not for the rough, and if I had aimed a bit more to the right.

  Look at the apexes of the shots: 240 NS, 282 FS, and 300! FS. This is what caused the different distances I suspect. But what can possibly be the reason for a massive difference like that? I forgot to capture a ding screenshot for the Bethpage one but rest assured I did ding it.

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Fri, Jul 19 2019 9:15 AM

  I'd trust those Harbor Town numbers about as far as I could throw them. 300 foot apex? I doubt that happened, that's as high as a football field is long!  Look at the first TT numbers at HT-do they make sense? Not sure what's going on with mobile but you're looking at flawed data.

  The apex of a shot is the highest point off the ground it gets. Take a look at The Open on tv if you can because they use shot tracers and it becomes instantly clear.  :-)

  FWIW, I can see how you're thinking. By your first trials you knew that 5i carried 183 and rolled out to 195 yards. That seems about right. The back spin knocked 2 yards off the carry and 10 yards off the roll which also seems about right so that's where I'm thinking you said "ok, little bit less than full with back spin should go about 180."

  I think it might have had you choked down more instead of computing 98%. Clubs aren't proportional when you cut down the swing. 98% swing doesn't get 180 like you were expecting (183*.98). In this case it got you carry on a hole that probably plays less than 180 and has plenty of green in front of the pin to let that 6i roll out.  :-)

   

• fobby1980 310 Posts

  Fri, Jul 19 2019 9:32 AM

  If you're talking about the carry number, yes it went straight from the fairway into the rough.

   

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Fri, Jul 19 2019 9:40 AM

  I edited my post to add some stuff that might help.  ;-)

• fobby1980 310 Posts

  Fri, Jul 19 2019 10:10 AM

  The true distance to the hole at HT doesn't matter you see. My point is 2 FS 5I in nearly the same conditions should not behave so drastically different. Even if I add 1 more to BP to account for the wind it still comes out to only 184; whereas HT certainly could go for more than 188 if not for the rough. And it certainly did last time, 98% went for 191.