New R10 owner Needs with Backyard setup

Just purchased the R10 from Amazon and found distances were 20 - 30 yards short on my backyard driving net.

Tried increasing the ball to net distance to 8.5 feet (all i can spare).. added metal foil strip to the ball, changed elevation setting, etc.

Seems like club head speed is close, but ball speed is often less than clubhead speed or only a few mph faster.

Help, would like to find a resolution this week - if not, will return to Amazon and try something else.

thanks for any help

PS - my net is a triple thick mesh shade netting from harbor freight. Dirt from net to hitting matt. no metal in area except 3 strands of barbed wire about 5 feet behind netting.

PSS - replaced "old" balls with new and gained about 10 yards on the 7-6 irons.

  • Did you calibrate it when you set up and before use? Is the r10 level and the same height as you hitting area? Do you have any machinery (ac or fan) running nearby that will cause interference.

  • Would be easier to comment if You could paste stats from a shot.

  • Hello all,

    Decided to "bite the bullet" and move dirt around to get +12 feet of ball to net distance and 7 feet of R10 to ball distance.   Ball reading much improved.  Still needed to set elevation to 10000', Humidity to 0. to get distances close to actual.  Ball speed much improved and smash factor is now reasonable.

    Dont know what conditions allow for accurate reading with 8' ball to net.  Need at least 10.5' and optimal at 12'

    thanks

  • Hi.

    Just throwing out some of my thoughts, and certainly not verified.

    I'm hitting indoors, into an impact screen. Distance from ball to screen approx 8-9 ft, way less than You have.

    I don't see Your issue at all.

    My thinking:

    - Ball speed is measured by radar, also clubhead speed. Smash factor is calculated where smash factor is simply ball speed / club speed.

    - You mentioned that club head speed seemed correct, which means ball speed must be measured incorrectly.

    So how can a radar measure wrong ball speed? I mean this is what it is designed to do, with great accuracy.

    Started me thinking, what is the fundamental change between hitting into an impact screen vs net?

    Conclusion was that when hitting into a screen the ball speed drops almost instantly to zero.

    Hitting into a net, the net will move more, and it will gradually lower the ball speed.

    Yes, I know that we are not talking many milliseconds here, but with a radar transmitting several billion times per second, some ms are an eternity.

    I actually believe that the algorythm in the app is measuring ball speed until it either drops below a given value , or a treshold of change in value.

    This would result in a lower calculated ball speed hitting into a net, as the ball moves slower towards the end of the measurement, but is still taken into the measurement.

    The further away the net is, the less impact on the overall calculation the last drop will be.

    The solution for this would be to either disregard the last 10-20% of the measurements in the ball speed calculation, or set an indoor mode only meauring the ball for a given distance, 5-6 ft, and set minimum required distance to this.

    How can You verify?

    Cover Your net with something that stops the ball quickly, and let it hang vertically. 

  • Good thoughts.  I will hang a bottom weighted plastic tarp in front of the net this weekend and if the short-distance velocity improves.

    Some other observations - Originally using Kirkland signature balls with about 8,000 cycles each at my backyard net over the last 10 months.  New Kirkland and Titleist balls improved distance about 5-10 yards.  Actual temperature is still in mid 30's - 40's.  Also probably effecting distance.

    Overall, pleased with the results from 12 feet but worry my 10' net is too low for 8 - PW at that distance.

  • I've found that cold weather seems to affect ball compression, with the ball feeling harder when hit. Not to mention more stiffness from myself when swinging...Both balls mentioned above are great in my opinion for fair-weather golfing preference. 

    Great discussion going on the post on setting up space at home for hitting, spacing, and radar capture resulting from changes being made. Awesome everyone!