My golf club just bought a brand new TrackMan system. All members are allowed to sign up and use it as it is available.

So now I have access to the best performance measurement tool on the market (give or take).

The pros at the club are still getting used to the system and are still charging regular teaching rates, which I'd prefer not to pay.

Now, about me:

I am a mid-high handicapper (about a 16 factor). I'm naturally athletic and in decent shape. I am fairly long and wild off the tee, strike my irons decently but have my fair share of mis-hits in a round, both fat and thin. Don't completely flub or duff shots except occasionally out of the sand or when I try to get too fancy with a shot. Putting as always could improve. I used to hit a high slice, now a smother hook has suddenly become my standard shot in the last few weeks, as I began to use my shoulders instead of arms.

My home course is about a 71/135 from the tees I play.

I took an hour with it and my striking is too inconsistent from shot to shot. One PW will go 135, the next 120. I also feel like I'm also being shortchanged by about 10% on yardage.

I have a whole winter ahead of me.

What is the first thing I should do with this thing to get my game going in the right direction?

Go through the "TrackMan combine" to get an idea of my game as a whole? Just take a few shots with each club and post here? What's the best way to get the most out of this tool?

Edit:...for free, while not abusing the generosity of 2p2.

I would start by taking a combine just to get a baseline and plan on taking about every month to track progress.

As far as technical learning, look at your Angle of Attack(AoA), swing planes, and face angles to figure out what your normally do. Do some research to better understand how those 3 factors interact to produce different ball flights and then figure out what you need to do to produce the ball flight you would like.

Regarding getting short changed on yardage, that isn't happening unless you are hitting completely terrible golf balls. I would assume a facility with enough money to purchase a TrackMan has very high quality range balls for you to hit while you are in front of it. More than likely, like 99% of all golfers, you over estimated how far you hit your clubs. TrackMan is the ultimate reality check when it comes knowing your correct "carry" distances.

Congrats on having access to such a great learning tool, utilize it as often as possible and have fun.

stop blaming it for telling you the truth?

Hi Gamblor

Just curious. You are a 16 HDCP playing a 135 slope. What total yardage are you at those tees and what yardage and slope are the tees just in front of the ones you are playing?

You say you have some 135PW and some 120. Trackman should be great for helping you find a tempo that will you give you the most consistent contact and direction. Forget about the distance. Once you find that the tempo that feels best for contact and direction for you, then see what distance you are getting on the PW. If it 125, then take that and take the comfort that if you swing normally and within yourself, that is your PW distance.

As you practice keep in mind that you in particular don't need distance - you need control and consistency. You already have distance.

I'll defer to NXT and others that are better at this technology than I. But if you are a 16 I would expect you to have some fluctuations in the quality of your swings as evidenced by the yardage discrepencies. If you are as long as you state, I would really encourage you to work with an actual instructor. I suspect your current swing has some major issues that could easily be identified by a trained eye.

The Trackman data is a good tool but it can't teach you how to swing well or consistently.

Not much easier, but I play in a regular foursome and those are the tees we play.

Yeah. I should do this. Will stop my backswing at what feels "perpendicular to the ground". A big problem is that I "hit" the ball, even with follow through, instead of swinging through it.

Trackman balls are ProV1s with pink writing (does that mean limited distance?)

I figured wet work was right so I played this weekend using the trackman distances and I was way, way over the green on most shots (i.e. the shots I didn't hit fat). By a full two clubs. After going out I gave up and went back to my usual stock distances and it was better coming in.

Which means two things
1) Trackman needs calibration, or something about my swing changes when im hitting off a mat.

2) I need to be more consistent (see previous post) by limiting my swing.

I'm familiar with the theory of ball flight and read through the ball flight laws thread. So I know in theory what could be happening, but will go through the combine and post numbers here.