GC2 Range Test Report

I've been meaning to do this for a while but finally got to the golf dome with the GC2 to see how accurate it is. The summary is yes, in my opinion it is accurate enough.

I am a terrible golfer and don't have enough time to practice to get better. Maybe I will never break 100 but I'm going to try. My range closes around the time I get out of work and living where I do the golf season is short. I wanted to be able to hit balls late at night and through the winter. I picked the GC2 for accuracy above all, followed by portability since I hung nets on wires in the garage and need to be able to set up and break down quickly. I have also used aboutGolf a few times (I highly recommend Tark's Indoor Golf Club in Saratoga Springs, NY for the sims and service) and an Optishot. The aboutGolf is of course not in my budget and the Optishot made me feel like an awesome golfer because every shot looked great but it doesn't pick up spin and I know I am not that good.

I have rev 3 hardware and 2.1.9 firmware, software is the range and Warwick Brabazon.

The dome was about 70 degrees on a 15 degree day. Based on the 50 and 75 yard targets the back wall is about 90 yards away. I had about 25 yards to the right and 50-60 yards left to work with. It's mostly used for soccer so the "grass" is higher than fairway and shorter than rough which led to some difference in roll calculations.

I brought a driver, 19 degree hybrid, 7 iron and pitching wedge. All Ping G5. On the course I can drive 150-180 yards, the hybrid hope for 140-150, the 7 iron 115 and the wedge 80 (I told you I was a terrible golfer!). The range balls were mostly yellow and the GC2 missed 3-4 of 100 shots. I think it was the balls because the orange ones didn't work at all and the few whites were all picked up. At home it misses 1 out of 100 or less with white balls.

Unfortunately I can't say much about the driver because the little rubber tee thing was barely off the mat. I hit a few but they were mostly low ground balls. The software depicted that fairly accurately but since I was getting more than 90 yards carry the ball would hit the wall so I have no idea how the distances were. The left-right and height seemed about right.

I was hitting the hybrid atrociously so I can assure you that the GC2 picks up shanks and toe shots very well! The horizontal angle and distance seemed about right. I think the software may overestimate the spin effect on moderate to severe slices and hooks (with all clubs) since it seemed to go more right or left than I expected about half the time based on watching the ball until it hit something. I don't think this is a big deal since in real life I don't care too much if it goes 25 yards to the right or 35 yards - I just lost the ball anyway! And to be fair it is hard to judge by eye 70 yards down range in a second or two. So maybe it is more accurate than I think.

The 7 iron distances seemed within a few yards based on the carry calculation. Again, the software gives more roll than I saw but I think it was the "grass" in the dome. When I hit it well it told me 115-120 yards which is what I hit in real life.

I was also impressed with wedge shots. They had a 50 and 75 yard target so I could judge the carry fairly close and the GC2 was within a few yards. I was hitting the wedge well for once so was able to see the left-right and that was also fairly spot on.

Nothing is perfect and nothing that takes a few pictures in a few milliseconds can 100% predict a 200 yard flight over several seconds but I am confident that when I hit it well I will know it and when I hit it poorly I will know why. That is why I got the machine and I am satisfied my practice in the garage will substitute for real range time when I need it to. I'm not a consistent enough golfer to use it for ball testing and clubfitting but I imagine the companies buying them by the dozen are satisfied about that.

I wish it was cheaper and that course prices weren't so expensive (I think they price themselves out of people buying more) but I find I use the range most of the time anyway. I am very impressed with the machine and hope it helps me be a better golfer.