As you may remember from Volume 5, I wanted to try the TopTracer setup at the Alhambra Golf Course. On a lazy Saturday, I decided to head back and try my luck.
This time, the range was open and I was happy to see there were several bays available. When I got to the machine where you get your range balls, it didn’t say anything about how the system worked or how you hooked up to it.
I am a stubborn man that refuses to ask strangers questions until he absolutely has to, so I got my bucket, walked to the top tier, and grabbed an empty bay. I figured I’d figure it out.
I actually did!
There was a place for you to put your cell phone and nothing else. I opened the TopTracer app and it asked me if I was at a TopTracer range. Several clicks later, I was connected to the system and was ready to play games.
The purpose was for me to determine my yardages, so I chose “Practice Session”. This then prompted me to choose a club. I did and then nothing happened.
I had no idea what to do next but, since there was nothing else on my screen but a graphic of the range, I thought, “Hey dumbass, why don’t you try hitting the ball?”
I did and then went to my phone to see if anything happened. Miraculously, the ball path was being traced on the graphic of the range!
I have to say that was actually pretty cool! I hit a decent shot, so the flight path looked very nice. Like what you see on YouTube videos.
My plan was to vary my clubs so I wouldn’t hit the same club 10 times in a row. I figured that was close to real-life playing conditions and would give me a more reliable picture of where my skills were.
I went through my bag and pulled out the clubs I hit most often. I’d hit two or three shots on one club and then move to the next one. As I hit, I’d check the phone to see how I did.
Annoyingly, the system lost connection several times, so a bunch of my shots didn’t get recorded. On some, that was a good thing.
Ultimately, the system recorded 84 shots.
Afterwards, I went to the putting green to get some putting practice in. My drill was to start putting from north, south, east, and west of the hole at 1, 2, 3, and then 4 feet out. Then, I moved on to practicing long putts and trying to get the ball in the hole in two putts as much as possible.
There are two great reasons why it’s a good idea to spend a lot of time on the putting green: 1) the basis for success in golf is putting, so improvement in that area will help your overall game and 2) it’s free.
The other added benefit on this particular putting green is that it has a pretty severe slope, so it’s really good for practicing reading the green and gauging your speed.
After about an hour of putting practice, I went back home to see my stats from the range.
I have to say, the system is pretty impressive! I’m going to share with you some screenshots so you can see the type of data that’s available.
At one point during my practice on the range an elderly gentleman started to hit in the bay next to me and was also using the TopTracer. He asked me if I thought the yardages shown in TopTracer were a bit low. It was funny because I’d had the same thought.
He was wearing an Alhambra Golf Course polo and hat, so either he worked for the course or he was a big fan. I chatted with him a bit and found out how the TopTracer system worked.
There are cameras positioned behind the bays that record all activity on the range. Once you select your bay on the app, the system knows which ball is yours. The magic of math and technology does the rest.
He did tell me, though, that because the range has three levels and the cameras are only on the top deck, the system has to accommodate for that. He thought maybe that was why our yardages were low.
I think that makes sense. When we were hitting, our balls were landing at certain areas of the range that had yardage markings. These yardage markings did not correspond to what the system was telling us.
However, we were three stories above the lowest bay, so the markings were actually downhill! It turned out the TopTracer system accounted for that. Pretty slick!
Here are my screenshots. Please take pity on my poor distances.
Keep in mind the system allows you to exclude shots from the calculations. I excluded about five shots that were really bad and not reflective of my average.
You can also get detailed stats like this:
The beauty part is that the TopTracer app is free and I didn’t have to pay extra at the range to use the system.
PROS
Got some really valuable data on which are my good clubs and which are my bad clubs
Got in a lot of good practice.
Laughed when I noticed there was one hot lady golfer practicing with her sugar daddy. The dude seriously was twice her age.
CONS
The system disconnected several times, but it did improve as time went on.
I see I have a lot of work to do.
I wasn’t consistent in the number of balls I hit with each club, so I have more data on certain clubs than others.
OVERALL RATING:
I’m really happy about using the TopTracer app and I can’t wait to go back. I’m guessing that’s how TopTracer get their money. They must take a piece of the increased revenue the ranges make from people using the app and coming back for more.
See you next time.
[…] you may remember from Volume 6, I tried the TopTracer setup at the Alhambra Golf Course and thoroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, […]
Guess which team leapfrogged the dirty, godless Red Wings in the standings last night? (I heard that Detroit players put beef jerky inside their crotch cups during games so that they have a warm, salty snack for intermission. Ewww…)
The Leafs?
Close, kilometers-wise.
Buffalo?
Or maybe Montreal?
Hamilton?
No team in Hamilton that I’m aware of that would be playing Detroit
If it’s any consolation (it shouldn’t be) your club distance averages are a bit better than what I believe mine to be.
According to Ian Rapoport, an undisclosed team has been repeatedly contacting Peyton Hillis in attempt to convince him to return to the NFL.
In a completely unrelated report, Walter Payton’s grave was desicrated last night. A cemetary staff member discovered several unidentified individuals in the act of disinterring the NFL legend. Bizarrely enough, hoof-prints were found at the scene.
a buddy of mine plays indoor golf weekly. I assume it’s just this but with with only a bit of turf to hit from and then one would be hitting into a net in front of a screen showing you the course.
A reminder to the hacker’s among us… help is there… simply reach out.
I read a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that found that every shot of whisky you drink takes 15 seconds off of your life… and gives it to Keith Richards.
I smile when I hear Ozzy sing his latest song Immortal.
“The Night I Won the Super Bowl” OR “The Most Boastful Story Ever Told at DFO” (part 2):
S_____ moved into the house (which we affectionately referred to as “The Hole” on November 1st. This was less than ten hours after the conclusion of a rager of a Halloween party co-hosted by the guys from the UCSD rugby team who lived in the adjacent half or the duplex (which I missed, having spent the weekend in San Jose dressed up as a leprechaun and partying with a Renaissance Faire crew) that saw the consumption of every single drop of alcohol in the house (including a bottle of port that had been opened two months prior) and left the carpets so soiled that areas underneath furniture were a distinctly lighter shade of gray than the remainder. C_______ said he has never breathed a bigger sigh of relief in his life than the moment when S______ actually signed her name to the lease.
S______’s boyfriend helped her move in. You could read the dismay on his face that this meant doom for their relationship, and he was right. Within a month they had broken up. She and I bonded by celebrating our December birthdays – which fell on consecutive days – together. By New Year’s Eve, we had our first makeout session. As 2001 began, so did the sex.
Where’s Part 1? Under the furniture on the unsoiled portion of the carpet?
He never said “unsoiled” under the furniture…
Last week: https://doorfliesopen.com/2023/01/25/balls-magazine-volume-5/
Although nobody on the planet ever learns to golf this way, Harvey Pennock (I think) says you should learn to golf inside out. Start with putting, then the short game, then finally longer clubs. That way you are less likely to skull some 20-yard pitch way off into the trees behind the green.
I was also told that unless the ball rises as it flies (250+ yards), you might as well forget you have a driver and drive with a 3-wood.
I learned to play by pitching from patch to patch of grass on campus when I was in college. As such my pitching has usually been the strongest part of my game. It’s too bad we didn’t have a mini-golf course; though I can see why colleges might not want to foster such an environment.
Gumby does all of his driving with either a 3 or 5 wood.
Top Tracer sounds all kinds of awesome. I’ll have to look and see if there is anything like that out here.
I’m holding a jar of dry roasted peanuts that has a warning that it contains peanuts.
Every warning label has a story.
Every safety regulation is written in blood.
Just like every new addition to the concussion protocol is written in spongified brain tissue.
Sigh…
So just posting in to say…. Brady retired… again…. something
Bengals lost due to referee incompetence and no offensive line and Brady retires.
Aw, shit. I’m in a Groundhog Loop.
Ugh. Well, let’s just hope he stays retired this time. Last year he was like Football Jesus. Everybody thought he was gone, but then he came back; and I had to hear about it again and again and again every damned Sunday
Stake him in the heart, it’s the only way to be sure.
He left his family to play for Tampa Bay. He doesn’t have a heart to stake!
Next you should try the Bottom Tracer app, which now that I say that sounds like a collaboration between you and Buddy Cole.