How does Trackman work? Is it accurate?

• Zack Creed
• June 2020
• 0 Comment

If you’ve trained or played a round of indoor golf, you’ve probably encountered a golf simulator like TrackMan, which we use here at PARfect Swing.

After seeing your ball react after each shot and a lot of numbers on the screen, you might’ve wondered if what you’re seeing is accurate and similar to the way your ball would behave at an outdoor golf course.

We caught up with Cody Miller from TrackMan Canada to tell us about those exact things — how TrackMan works, the accuracy of TrackMan technology and a few of the different ways you can use it as an indoor golf simulator.

How accurate is the TrackMan launch monitor? Is it reliable?

So, are TrackMan numbers realistic? Here’s what Cody said:

“TrackMan 4 is a dual radar technology. We have a radar device built into the TrackMan 4 that tracks the flight of the golf ball, and that’s on a high frequency radar. We also have a low frequency radar built in there that tracks the clubhead through impact. 

We capture about 45,000 samples per second, which allows us to see exactly what the club’s doing from waist-high through impact to waist-high on the exit and then the high frequency radar tracks the flight of the ball

Indoors, we take the first 12 feet of that ball flight and we extrapolate that into an estimated ball flight. Outdoors we’re the only technology in the world that tracks the full flight of the golf ball until it lands on the ground.”

Given that, we’d say TrackMan is pretty accurate!

Read More: What is TrackMan Golf? Here’s how it helps you improve your game

We’re also asked fairly often about the types of training options and scenarios available to you when you use our TrackMan 4 indoor golf simulators. 

Here’s a rundown of some of the most popular ways you can use our TrackMan units when you come into PARfect Swing for a private golf lesson, to practice, or to play a full round. 

TrackMan Performance Studio

Performance Studio is what TrackMan is most known for and is full of ways to improve your golf game. Here you combine data and information with integrated video analysis so you can combine what you feel with what is really happening to your club and ball.

If you have a feeling in your swing — topping the ball, for example — the video feedback will show you whether what you’re feeling is actually what’s happening or whether there’s something else going on.

Every time you hit a shot, you receive key information in real time. Select a view that fits your needs, from easy-to-understand numbers to video recordings to a 3D view of the ball flight, all at your fingertips.

There’s even a normalization feature which allows you to play in all weather conditions and with any ball type. It converts your range ball numbers to what they would have been if you hit your shots with a premium golf ball. It also allows you to see what the ball flight would have been under calm conditions. You can even adjust temperature and altitude to see how they affect distance and trajectory.

Feeling like something more social that you can play with friends? 

No problem — there’s a full-featured range with different games that you can play, like Capture the Flag and Bullseye.

Virtual Golf 2 & Course Practice

While TrackMan’s Performance Studio is incredibly helpful for practicing all parts of your golf game, sometimes nothing beats playing a full round of golf on one of the most well-known courses in the world. 

That’s where TrackMan’s Virtual Golf 2 software comes in. 

After you’ve used our indoor putting green or warmed up with a few practice swings, you can switch to playing a full round in seconds after just a few clicks. 

Choose from over 65 courses, including:

• Albany GC
• Glen Abbey GC (yeah Oakville!)
• Hualalai Resort
• PGA National
• St. Andrews Links Castle Course
• And more

With high-definition graphics, hole previews, and more, it’s like you’re playing during a TV broadcast. 

The entire course library has been redesigned from the ground up to be played in either daylight or evening light, too.

Prefer to get your reps in a game-like scenario? There’s an on-course practice feature which allows you to create certain types of shots. 

So let’s say you struggle with a high draw off the tee. You can set yourself up on a Par 5 with a dog leg left and try to hit that shot that you struggle with.

This lets you not only practice with feedback, but practice in game areas where you’re playing with a game mentality — it’s not just hitting a ball, seeing some numbers, trying to change those numbers into what you want them to be. 

TrackMan Combine & Test Centre

The TrackMan Combine is a 60-shot standardized test where you hit six shots at 10 different yardages. So you start at 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180 all the way to Driver. 

At the end of the test, you get a score zero to 100 on how well you’ve performed, but you also get a zero to 100 score for each yardage. 

So now you can see where your weaknesses are. Then ask yourself, where do you perform really well and where do you have issues? 

There’s also a secondary feature called the Test Center, which allows you to create a mini-combine. Once you’ve identified your weaknesses, you can create a combine for yourself just to work on your weakest parts of your game. So you really get a well-rounded idea of what you do well and what you need to improve.

Dynamic PDF Report

At the end of a practice session, what’s really important is to take what you’ve done and be able to identify it and see it at a later date. 

Say you’ve had this really great and effective practice session, but two weeks from now, you’re wondering if you’re still working on the same things or have you improved.

After an entire session on the performance studio software, your instructor in a private lesson (or even yourself if you’re practicing on your own) can send yourself what’s called a dynamic PDF report. 

Within that report, you have all the shots that you’ve hit. You have all of the data shown in an easy-to-use chart. There are averages and consistencies as well so that you can work on gapping your clubs, which is making sure that the distance gaps are equal or where they should be so that you know which clubs to choose. 

Even better? All of the video of your swings that you captured during your training session is integrated right in that report as well. 

So you have everything you would possibly need to go to your home, to your office, if you’re on the subway headed to work, whatever it is that you’re doing, you can have that report right there and spend 15 or 20 minutes just reviewing your sessions. 

That’s just scratching the surface of what you can do with TrackMan

Because TrackMan works with all of the top PGA Tour players and top coaches in the world, they’ve listened to all of the pros’ feedback and determined what’s needed to make players better, faster. Over the last decade, TrackMan’s taken that feedback and built the ultimate golf training software.

From providing voiceover feedback to your private lesson videos to analyzing your putting the same way TrackMan looks at your golf swing, there are so many more TrackMan features that can help you improve your golf game.

Feel free to ask us any questions next time you come into PARfect Swing, or give us a call — we’re here to help!