I did some testing with my R50 today in regards to uncaptured club metrics. I was testing outside in the shade on a sunny day with an extra 3000 lumen work light directed at the ball. I also have a small radar based launch monitor I am using to capture swing speed of swings the R50 did not capture.
- Ball data is captured accurately in all swings and matches my radar based monitor closely.
- Swings under 30 MPH with any club almost never have club data.
- Swings between 30-40 MPH are sometimes captured, maybe around 20%.
- Swings between 40-45 are captured around half the time.
- Swings between 45-50 are usually captured, around 75%.
- Swings between 50-55 are almost always captured, 90%.
- Swings over 55 seem to always be captured.
- Face angle seems to affect it, flop shots with open face are captured more often than regular shots.
- Higher lofted clubs are harder for it to read. IE 59* wedge club data is uncaptured more often at the same swing speed as a 26* 5 iron
- Using my 5 iron when I left the face open 10-15 degrees and swung at 35-40 MPH it was captured. However the same thing with my 59* was not.
The good news is that the ball data was always captured, and ball data is what matters for simulation. However if you are wanting to work on club delivery, this unit makes it very difficult for swings under 50 MPH. To put that in perspective, a 50 MPH swing with my 59* is about 40 yards, and a 30 MPH swing is about 25 yards. So this unit does not capture almost any club data on shots shorter than 30 yards.
This is obviously disappointing to learn, I was hoping it would be able to capture club metrics for all swings of all speeds (including putting). Not only is it bad for those of us who want to work on our chipping and short game, but it is also bad if you have kids. I doubt most kids will be able to swing faster than 50 MPH with irons until they are 9-10 years old or so. I really hope it is something that can be fixed in software and updated.
