SC200 Review (unofficial)

[cnosil]

That is a similar approach to how to determine your distances.  Hit your longest club and leave your bag where you hit them from and laser back to the bag.  Then hit your next club toward the bag and measure to the bag again to calculate second wedge distance.  Keep doing this as you go through your clubs and you can figure out all the distances.   Or you could just buy an SC200 and let it tell you 

[Golfspy_CG2]

That is a similar approach to how to determine your distances. Hit your longest club and leave your bag where you hit them from and laser back to the bag. Then hit your next club toward the bag and measure to the bag again to calculate second wedge distance. Keep doing this as you go through your clubs and you can figure out all the distances. Or you could just buy an SC200 and let it tell you

Ha. Using them both provides validation. Validation that I'm a short hitter.

 

 

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[Golfspy_CG2]

update:

So I thought it was time for an update.  

 

I've been using this a lot on the range of late, not only on my swings but other people as well to make sure it is being consistent with all types of speeds and distances.   For the most part it's been very solid.

 

I and our Assistant Superintendent went out to a tee box last week and hit dozens of balls off the tee down the fairway.  We were hitting shots anywhere from 150 to the middle of the fairway to 260 yards to the green, we where hitting from the red sets on a short par 4.   All the distances and club-head speeds registered, and all seemed very accurate, he was on the green with a 3 wood that registered 253 and over on a driver that registered 271.   So all was good that round.

 

I used it on the tee of a par 5 one day hitting about a dozen balls (course was closed for the day...so no holding up play)  I was comparing the Srixon565 and Titleist 917D3..   The D3 came out the winner by the way, and has been back in the bag since.

 

Today was the first hiccup I've had with it in a while.   

 

I hit several partial and full PW's and got readings from 68 to 105, all seemed normal there.

I moved up to my Srixon 565 6 iron and my JPX900 HotMetal 6 iron and things got wonky.   It never seemed to register past 124 yards for either club.  Now I know I'm short, but this is pushing it.   I was landing most shots right at or just past a yellow flag straight out on the range, so I took my precision pro NX7 and shot it at 141.3.   Which is about a normal 6 iron for me these days.   

 

I took out a 23 degree hybrid and hit a few solid shots that flew well past the yellow flag and the SC200 showed 156 to 161.   So that seemed about right.

 

On to Driver and by now our Asst. Super had joined me.   He took a few swings with the 917D3 and registered anywhere from 271 to 286 with a swing speed ranging from 112 to 116 and smash-factors of 143 to 146

 

I took my turns and got my measly 88 to 91 swing out there from 196 to a best of 221.  So all seemed normal with driver for both of us.

 

After he left, I went back to the 6 irons and pretty much got the same result.  i tried moving the monitor to a different location and hitting off some fresh turf.   Still no change,  for it to consistently miss the 6 irons, I'm thinkinng it must have had something to do with the height of the launch, but the drivers were launching much higher than the 6 most of the time.

 

Pretty weird.  But overall I'm still very pleased with it, for the price.  But I know MGS testing showed some inconsistencies in it's very thorough testing of it. 

[STUDque]

Do you hit off turf or grass on your range? I wonder if that's a factor in its readings.

 

 

I was thinking the grass and dirt flying up with your divots could've caused reading issues but that's probably not the case if it reads your PW fine. Unless it reads your PW fine because it clears the divot quicker.

 

 

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[Golfspy_CG2]

Off grass. It's a Bermuda range. So the there aren't too many divots to speak of.

 

Maybe I'm just hitting the ball too far. Ha Ha

 

 

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[cnosil]

Off grass. It's a Bermuda range. So the there aren't too many divots to speak of.

 

Maybe I'm just hitting the ball too far. Ha Ha

 

 

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Is there a minimum distance per iron?

[Golfspy_CG2]

Is there a minimum distance per iron?

Yed apparently it's 124. Lol

 

It's odd as some of my thinned bottom grooved PW went 168'ish. Even though they never got more than 5 feet off the ground. Lol

 

So now at least I know I got that shot

 

 

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[Jmikecpa]

So based on your results I may have to dig mine out and give it a try.  Have been mostly using my ES14 this year but kind of a pain to lug that and my iPad with me at all times.  

[Golfspy_CG2]

So based on your results I may have to dig mine out and give it a try.  Have been mostly using my ES14 this year but kind of a pain to lug that and my iPad with me at all times.  

yeah, I thought really hard on the ES14 based on your comments and personal experience with it.  But the price from a friend on this one and getting it so fast definitely played into it.  I'm very happy with it.  Although yeah, it would be nice to see the spin and other things the ES14 offers.   

 

I'm sure there will be an updated bunch at the PGA Show in January, so if I go to it this year, I'll definitely be giving them all a through look. 

[cksurfdude]

 

 

........

Pretty weird. But overall I'm still very pleased with it, for the price. But I know MGS testing showed some inconsistencies in it's very thorough testing of it.

 

Question: did you turn it off (power off) when moving between locations?

 

Any of our .. ahem .. "smart" devices can be subject to minor programming issues where old, now junk, data doesn't get cleared out properly from its memory. Funny how many times just a quick power off / power on can clear out "wonky" behavior.

[Golfspy_CG2]

Question: did you turn it off (power off) when moving between locations?

 

Any of our .. ahem .. "smart" devices can be subject to minor programming issues where old, now junk, data doesn't get cleared out properly from its memory. Funny how many times just a quick power off / power on can clear out "wonky" behavior.

Good thought.  I didn't but I'll keep that in mind for the future.  it seems to work so well with so many other electrical devices...ha

[Golfspy_CG2]

I'm thinking about buying an SC200. Here's a video of a pro comparing SC200 results with his full blown $15-25K launch monitor and he says the SC200 is pretty accurate. Of course the expensive monitors provide much more data beyond carry distance, swing speed and ball speed. https://youtu.be/2x9qOJoth84

Regarding the SC200 missing reads, another reviewer (Golf Geek?) noted how close/far behind the ball the unit is (within 40-60”) and how far offline (side to side and above or below) influences it's ability to read as I'M SURE WE'D ALL EXPECT (the expensive LM I used was very sensitive too). It looked like the SC200 might be more forgiving than the expensive LM's...

...BUT the reviewer also claimed the SC200 doesn't “see as well” if it's pointing directly into the sun. That had NOT occurred to me FWIW. I don't know if that's a factor or not?

Thanks for the post and bump to the thread. I've continued to use mine regularly on the range and on course when I'm just practicing. It continues to perform very well.

When on our ramge it's facing south, so I guess it would never be facing directs into the sun.

 

On course I'm sure it's face into the sun at least once or twice. There was one instance a few weeks ago where I couldn't get it to read anything at all so gave up on it after about 10 shots.

 

I chalked it up to using it on a tee box that has been closed for several weeks and maybe that the grass was a bit long causing it to sit too far down. But I tried putting it on a two sleeves of balls in my bag and still nothing. So now I'm wondering if the sun thing could have been a factor. But this was late in the day and I wasn't hitting directly into the sun. But it's something for me to watch in the future.

 

All in all I still feel it was a great deal for the price. I

[tommc23]

I'm very interested in these and have been I'm just hesitant on them but the reviews are good on here so I may have to just give it a try.

 

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[Golfspy_CG2]

I'm very interested in these and have been I'm just hesitant on them but the reviews are good on here so I may have to just give it a try.

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It's a very solid unit that does a lot for the price. After the 1st day I used mine on the range. Two guys who tried it a few times, went out and bought one. I think we need to carry a couple at a time in our shop

[JTexGolfer]

So much better results today. I actually went out to a tee box on the course that was closed. The grass is a little bit tighter on this box as its brand new Bermuda that is still growing in. Yesterday was on Bermuda grass range that is fully mature. So to CK's point above. It could definitely have been the small difference the ball was sitting perhaps down a bit. Something to watch for on the range next.

 

But on to the results. Much improved today from a functionality standpoint. I hit everything from a GW to Driver and it didn't miss a shot. Only one funky distance on a chucked wedge it said 40 yards and I stepped it off at 20.

 

I'll share some pics of results from a 6 iron and driver. As long as you all hold the snickers at the short knocker. Ha As MDGH said above. Launch monitors are humbling and eye opening.

 

But I think an important thing to take on these. You shouldn't use them to really chase distances. But more so to learn the consistent and real distance you hit your scoring clubs. I plan to do a lot of work with this on Wedges.

 

As I continue to get to know the unit. I'll give recaps of each of the modes and how they are most useful (or not) whatever the case maybe.

 

These shots are from practice mode, where it simply tells you distance, ball speed and smash factor.

 

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Just came across this thread. I am very intrigued by this tech and I think I am going to have to pick one up to work on partial wedge shot distances.

[PlaidJacket]

I kind of have my doubts about using any kind of LM to analyze partial wedge shots. Guess it depends on how you define "partial" and the associated distances.

I can have targets or target greens and measure them with my LRF. I wouldn't need a LM for that.

[cnosil]

I kind of have my doubts about using any kind of LM to analyze partial wedge shots. Guess it depends on how you define "partial" and the associated distances.

I can have targets or target greens and measure them with my LRF. I wouldn't need a LM for that.

My ideal situation would be to work on 10 yard gaps between say 20-100 yards. I haven't seen a range with that type of granularity nor would I be able to walk out into a range to lay out targets. If I had an inexpensive way to quickly tell me my shot distances without having pull out a laser for each shot would be nice. I would prefer targets since it gives a place to aim.

[PlaidJacket]

I didn't mean me actually laying targets out. I meant targets that are already there. Such as practice target greens or other such areas typically found on practice ranges. Might even be yardage signs, etc.

[cnosil]

I didn't mean me actually laying targets out. I meant targets that are already there. Such as practice target greens or other such areas typically found on practice ranges. Might even be yardage signs, etc.

You are fortunate. Wish the courses around me had targets and yardage signs. They have greens and one has posts but there aren't as many as I would like. I usually just end up hitting to discolorations in the ground.

 

Maybe I just want all the targets because I see the pros, those that don't carry a trackman, working on distance control with all the targets every 10 yards. I know this is the area of my game I need to work on and am just trying to find the best way.

[Golfspy_CG2]

Instead of quoting like 4 posts, I'll just hit a few points here. 
 

@Jdingle, it' is good for that, you can use two different modes, the practice mode, will tell you how far your wedge carried, so you can get a good idea on it.  No spin data and such, just swing speed, ball speed and carry.    There is also a target mode, you can set a distance of say 40 yards, and then hit shots trying for 40 yards, and it tells you how close you are, and kind of scores ou out of 10 shots i think.  I"m not real familiar with that mode, as I mostly use practice.  But I know several find it helpful.

 

@Plaid, I hear what you're saying, but as Cnosil mentioned, most of the public courses around here do a very poor job of short yardage markings.   You may find a random range that has a basket at 50 yards and that's it.   On my course our shortest flag is 94 yards.  So there's really no accurate way to practice a 40 yard shot, unless you have the range to yourself and run out there and throw something down.   or as Cnosil said, maybe laser a big splotch in the grass or something and use that.

 

@cnosil, you are correct and it's a shame, and our course is guilty of it as well.    Our range has a section that isn't' used any more where there were some flags maybe from 25 to 50 yards, but it's not very practical to use that now.  I guess you could from the closest mat if you have a laser to shoot it.  Btu other than that one mat, anyone else trying to do that, would be hitting over people...ha

[PMookie]

I would really like one of these for getting immediate distances on various types of shots.

 

 

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[Golfspy_CG2]

I would really like one of these for getting immediate distances on various types of shots.

 

 

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I use mine on just about every range session I do.  The other night I rented an hour of time at a local simulator course, and used it in conjunction with the Sim numbers.  on just about every shot they were the same yardage or off by 1 yard.   Ball speed was almost always within 1 mph but mostly the same.   I think it very reliable.  I've been on it with my pathetic 210 yard drives, and had some of my buddies with the 290 yard drives on it.   Swing speeds that range from mid 80's to 120 and it seems to pick them all up accurately.    

[cksurfdude]

I use mine on just about every range session I do. The other night I rented an hour of time at a local simulator course, and used it in conjunction with the Sim numbers. on just about every shot they were the same yardage or off by 1 yard. Ball speed was almost always within 1 mph but mostly the same. I think it very reliable. I've been on it with my pathetic 210 yard drives, and had some of my buddies with the 290 yard drives on it. Swing speeds that range from mid 80's to 120 and it seems to pick them all up accurately.

((..lightbulb clicking On..))

 

Wow that's a great idea (use it side-by-side in a simulator)!!

 

CG2 -- Did you happen to also work on partial wedge shots while you were in there?

 

I'd read a few reviews that mentioned the unit was very inconsistent about picking up partial wedge shots..... Thx

[Kenny B]

Instead of quoting like 4 posts, I'll just hit a few points here. 

 

@Jdingle, it' is good for that, you can use two different modes, the practice mode, will tell you how far your wedge carried, so you can get a good idea on it.  No spin data and such, just swing speed, ball speed and carry.    There is also a target mode, you can set a distance of say 40 yards, and then hit shots trying for 40 yards, and it tells you how close you are, and kind of scores ou out of 10 shots i think.  I"m not real familiar with that mode, as I mostly use practice.  But I know several find it helpful.

 

@Plaid, I hear what you're saying, but as Cnosil mentioned, most of the public courses around here do a very poor job of short yardage markings.   You may find a random range that has a basket at 50 yards and that's it.   On my course our shortest flag is 94 yards.  So there's really no accurate way to practice a 40 yard shot, unless you have the range to yourself and run out there and throw something down.   or as Cnosil said, maybe laser a big splotch in the grass or something and use that.

 

@cnosil, you are correct and it's a shame, and our course is guilty of it as well.    Our range has a section that isn't' used any more where there were some flags maybe from 25 to 50 yards, but it's not very practical to use that now.  I guess you could from the closest mat if you have a laser to shoot it.  Btu other than that one mat, anyone else trying to do that, would be hitting over people...ha

My wife got me an SC200 for Christmas, but I haven't even put batteries in in yet.  I thought I would wait until my foot healed, then we went to Palm Springs, now I'm being lazy.  Weather is horrible this weekend, andI'm driving to Oregon next week to see my dad.

 

I think it will be very useful for comparing one club to another but on the range, I don't think it will accurately tell me actual distances with range balls.  Maybe I'll take it out on the course sometime for real shots.

 

For short range pitch shots, I don't see me using it.  Right now, I don't even look at the yardage inside 80 yards.  Since it's a less than full shot, it's all feel to me.  I gauge distance by what I see and transfer that information to my swing accordingly.  We have one short par 4 hole where my wife and I end up at the about the same yardage; she lasers the flag and I don't want to know the yardage.  It's a less than 58* wedge so I only plan whether to hit it high or low.  Maybe knowing the yardage would help but it seems to be TMI for this old brain to handle.

[cnosil]

My wife got me an SC200 for Christmas, but I haven't even put batteries in in yet. I thought I would wait until my foot healed, then we went to Palm Springs, now I'm being lazy. Weather is horrible this weekend, andI'm driving to Oregon next week to see my dad.

 

I think it will be very useful for comparing one club to another but on the range, I don't think it will accurately tell me actual distances with range balls. Maybe I'll take it out on the course sometime for real shots.

 

For short range pitch shots, I don't see me using it. Right now, I don't even look at the yardage inside 80 yards. Since it's a less than full shot, it's all feel to me. I gauge distance by what I see and transfer that information to my swing accordingly. We have one short par 4 hole where my wife and I end up at the about the same yardage; she lasers the flag and I don't want to know the yardage. It's a less than 58* wedge so I only plan whether to hit it high or low. Maybe knowing the yardage would help but it seems to be TMI for this old brain to handle.

I am trying to get to short yardage distance being a feel, but I need to build that feel through repetition.

[cksurfdude]

Well, not sure if this totally helps but I'd emailed Voice Caddie tech support to ask if the unit properly handles ".. less than full swings, eg. partial wedge shots?"

 

And got this response:

"We are told algorithm inside of SC200 can calculate any swings if you can hit a minimum of 30 yard."

[Golfspy_CG2]

Well, not sure if this totally helps but I'd emailed Voice Caddie tech support to ask if the unit properly handles ".. less than full swings, eg. partial wedge shots?"

 

And got this response:

"We are told algorithm inside of SC200 can calculate any swings if you can hit a minimum of 30 yard."

I think that is pretty much their stock answer, which I saw in the description of it somewhere as well.   I honestly can't say I've worked on those shots a lot with it if at all really.   Just like Kenny, usually inside 50 or 60 yards (which is my 58 degree) I won't even look for a yardage, I have done a lot of work with my 58 and 50 on 1/2 shots and pretty much have the distance down for those two..(controlling all the time is another issue..ha)  

 

But also like Kenny, I prefer to use this on the real course whenever possible.  As I'm using my game balls and not range balls, all though I don't know if that makes a huge difference since i'ts just using radar and then an algorithm to calculate the distance.  

[JTexGolfer]

It sounds like it will work for what I need it for. When I'm talking about partial wedge shots I'm referring to 45 yards to anything short of a full PW (125). I like to hit lower shots in with my PW and SW instead of always just trying to hoist a LW in, and I ended up with a lot of yardage's in that gap when I play. We have very small greens with some slope on them here so I have to be sure my carry distances are correct.

[HardcoreLooper]

I am trying to get to short yardage distance being a feel, but I need to build that feel through repetition.

I used to be able to do that when I was in high school and practiced all the time. Now it's all mechanical. Maybe I should quit my job and hit half-wedges al day like I used to. I'm sure my wife would be cool with it.

[Golfspy_CG2]

I used to be able to do that when I was in high school and practiced all the time. Now it's all mechanical. Maybe I should quit my job and hit half-wedges al day like I used to. I'm sure my wife would be cool with it.

They all secretly love it when we get out of their way. They just know it's something they can make us feel guilty over.

 

They're evil that way

 

 

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