P3Proswing Tips!! Make your Sim Better and Easier to Play!

[golfun]

I would like people to list ONLY Tips you have learned to make the P3Proswing easier or better to play.

If anyone knows how to pick a club by hitting a hotkey (like #3 for 3iron) or how to pick a loft of a shot your about to hit (like low for knock down) please let us know!

The more the merrier!

[Stonebattle]

I would have to say I'm not sure I have any tips. I have not tried any methods of controlling the software that I can think of other than what's in the user guide. If anyone has this type of info, my bet in on SFR.

Selecting loft for a shot sounds interesting. I know one can do this in the configuration file, but not while the software is active.

Interesting topic

[golfun]

Can you change the ball type? Like select Foam or No ball at all?

Also when taping clubs, it seems like when the club hits the unit, it starts to peel the tape back toward the back of the club. How is it supposed to stay on?

Any tips using Tiger Woods too? How to get distances better?

[golfun]

Anyone have tips on better reflective tape that you could buy in rolls?

Also how can you do a fly over in the Virtual Courses from the exact spot where your ball is to the hole? Pressing "F" does a flyover of the whole course from Tee to Hole.

[Stonebattle]

I use the tape on this sight - http://www.streetglo.net/reflective.tape/ although the tape on the P3pro sight works well.
I also use a clear packing tape, very sticking, and cover the reflective tape, most of the bottom of the club and a bit of the face. The clear tape has to be changed often, but the reflective tape lasts a long time.

I use foam balls all time except when I'm using the launch angle feature.

[SFR]

P3pro adjusted to match closer to a GC2 ball flight

Well the old P3pro thread is dealing with a lot of old issues that seem to be a lot better now and was not sure where to post this info but it does deal with making the P3pro play better and more realistic so I posted it here.

First a GC2 launch monitor reads the ball and shows a ball flight based on Launch Angle, Ball Speed, Spin on the ball and Direction of Ball. Basically one of the best ways to see actual ball flight and distance.

I have the luxury now of playing with a GC2 now so this is a bit weird to do, but I wanted to see if one could match ball flight better on the P3pro and compare it to the GC2 ball flight. I was able to use the P3pro pad to hit off of and then set up the GC2 beside it and have the GC2 show actual ball flight at the same time the P3pro is estimating what it thinks the ball should do by what your club path was. The P3pro can't tell if you are hitting a knockdown shot or a flop shot and it only sees the club path and if its open or closed and reads club speed and depending on what club you entered it estimates the ball flight. There is a penalty zone that when checked you can see what a miss hit would show up as but I have felt that those stock settings show almost no penalty and when hit bad enough will just say missed ball, even if you still hit it.

I have now been working on adjusting the file of the P3pro so that it shows better ball flight compared to the GC2. The stock file is not bad for overall distance on full swings but the draw and fade seem to be too little and not show the hook or slice as it really was. I also had a hard time to to show my ball flight which is a slight pull with a fade ball flight, so an out to in path with a bit of an open face compared to path. What I always seen with the P3pro was a ball that started straight and faded right but on the GC2 the ball starts left a bit and fades right. In the end the ball was only slightly right of target where the P3pro actually showed it too far right because it did not start the ball left like it did in the real shot.

Bottom line is that I am almost done with this file and would need some testers if interested to see how they feel the ball flight is.

What I have been able to do is match the ball distance better when a ball was miss hit (by using the adjusted penalty zone) and still match within reason the ball flight left or right on draws or fades. All the testing has been done on carry distance only as once the ball hits the ground it will roll different in the two softwares. So if you bladed a shot you would not see the lower LA in the P3Pro but you would see reduced yardage for carry. For the most part the ball flight seems to be a lot closer.

Also for note this file also has the wind working so that when you turn on the wind in the P3pro regular interface (driving range and 2 courses) and then set up the prem course with wind on, you will see the effects. Make sure to turn it off of the P3pro interface also when you don't want it or it will still be there in the Prem Courses.

The last updates with P3pro have fixed the fringe issues and a few others.

If you do want to try this file PM me with your email to send it.

[ZMax]

SFR, one advice. Dump your p3pros now on eBay.

[SFR]

SFR, one advice. Dump your p3pros now on eBay.

But..... they were part of my retirement plan, and I only have 4 of them.

One thing I will say for them is that for as cheap as they are now, they make for good club data to go along with a GC2 or any device that does not show club path and face angle.

[Stonebattle]

SFR:
I'm in on testing the file.

[golfun]

Cool ZMax will buy us all GC2's and we only have to pay him $800 lol
And if that's the case use your Optishot as a floor shim

But speaking on topic, SFR can you give us any numerical data on distance and left and right comparison on some shots?

I also would be down to check it out.

[SFR]

I was trying to do that today but seems like when you hit a normal shot with a bit of fade or draw it shows not to bad with stock settings. As soon as the fades or draws get more left or right then that stock file is way too little. Adjusting to match those shots then make the straighter ones move too much. Now I'm not sure now if one can get both to be accurate.

I've gotten wind to work but I may have to work on the spin more to see if it can be any better for all shots.

[SFR]

This may be a lost cause to get the ball flight to be more real. This is a sample of what the P3pro would show and then the GC2.
P3pro club path out-in 14 deg, face closed 2 deg, it says ball path starts left 2.6 deg but the ball ends up 9 feet 1 inch right.
GC2 shows azimuth of -2.1 which I think is that the ball starts left 2.1 deg, ball ends up 26.45 yards right. Big difference.

P3pro club path out-in 5 deg, face closed 3.1 deg, it says ball path starts left 3.2 deg but the ball ends up 7 yards left.
GC2 shows azimuth of -3.9 which I think is that the ball starts left 3.9 deg, ball ends up 4.45 yards left. Not bad

The top one that shows a 14 deg out-in with 2 deg closed should produce a major slice like the GC2 showed should it not?

Seems bad hits will not show very close but the straight ones will.

Also found out with the wind issue in the prem courses is that the wind speed is taken from the p3pro game file so if you set that on variable, no matter what you have on in the Prem Courses it will only effect the ball a bit. However the direction of the wind in the Prem Courses seems to be the right direction that effects the ball. So not much more can be done there.

I think I give up......

[golfun]

It doesn't seem that bad accept for severer slices/hooks.

Is there any way to adjust spin?

[Frans@france]

The top one that shows a 14 deg out-in with 2 deg closed should produce a major slice like the GC2 showed should it not?

yes

[Stonebattle]

Hey SFR:
Very well done. Don't give up yet. I very much like the way you have setup the penalties. I have not tried it for all situations, but I plan to move my play over to it. I don't think my swing is ever 14 degrees out to in, but I get 4 degrees in to out at times. I will be able to provide more feedback after a few rounds.

I think this is the type of file P3pro should consider for a pro option.

[SFR]

Well that makes the time spent feel not so wasted now. I know the P3pro pad reading the club only, is not ever going to be as accurate as one that reads the ball, however there are a few $$ separating those units. The P3pro has the ability to read a thin shot hitting the bottom edge of the club (as you see when penalties are on) and should be able to make a caclulation that estimates the LA being decreased due to it. This would help with ball flight and create a more accurate carry. Big question is, do they think its worth it to look into. They have made a lot of changes this last few months and I give them credit for that.

So Chasiv if you want to examine this file let me know. Not saying you have to use it, but you may see things that you may be able to use to tweak the accuracy even more. It's a lot easier now for me to see what is close or not when I can use the GC2 and P3pro at the same time reading the same ball hit.

As far as the penalties go for the average golfer, if you don't want to see miss hits, you can always turn them off and still have a bit better ball flight. It would also be nice to see the greens accept back spin again but that I can't do.

[Lupo]

Now that P3Proswing are adding all their courses for free if you buy a new unit, I am pondering over purchasing one.
But from reading all I could find, I understand that they will no longer supply their two fictive courses, and that the additional launch angle camera only works with these two. So an additional LA cam will only work on the driving range. Is that assumption correct?
I tried to find videos or pics of how the launch surface (be it rubber or grass top) can be taken off for replacement, but did not find any. Could one of you guys explain how that is done? Is it easy?
Thanks for your help,
Lupo

[SFR]

Now that P3Proswing are adding all their courses for free if you buy a new unit, I am pondering over purchasing one.
But from reading all I could find, I understand that they will no longer supply their two fictive courses, and that the additional launch angle camera only works with these two. So an additional LA cam will only work on the driving range. Is that assumption correct?
I tried to find videos or pics of how the launch surface (be it rubber or grass top) can be taken off for replacement, but did not find any. Could one of you guys explain how that is done? Is it easy?
Thanks for your help,
Lupo

Did not know they were planning to get rid of that part of the software.

Well there should be enough versions of the software out there that you might still be able to use the P3pro 2 courses, however some of the last updates, if I recall, had some weird things changed in those two courses and they did not play well.

As for the LA cam, it is better to use it on the Driving Range and work on you swing. If you tee a ball or hit it off the turf, you may have to keep adjusting the Cam to point at the right spot on the ball to work proper.

You may find just using the Prem Courses and not using actual LA that you will enjoy the practice as well, however there are still bugs they need to work out. Lots of things don't work like they should in their interface compared to others using the same software. For the price it is not a bad setup.

As for removing a top off the pads, I have looked at this and if you have a rubber top you are better to keep the pad as is and then just make a housing to go over top or buy an aftermarket top. Their commercial grass top looks nice but is a lot more money and they won't just send the top for you to replace. Cost of shipping the whole pad adds to that as well. If you are crafty, you might be able to just make your own. Once you remove the top, (some screws in the base) all the electronics are then in the open and you could put it under a solid turf top like a fiberbuilt 12" x 12" square but the rubber top left on will protect the unit better and should be left on. You also void your warrantee if you do it. It would not be hard to do on your own but I don't think they will just sell a top to put on yourself.

[iskuo]

I'm a new user and am having issues with the launch angle triggering too early. P3's tech support has been helpful so far. One of the potential issues they've identified is that I'm using packing tape (Staples brand) on top of the club tape to make it last longer. The reflection off the packing tape may be causing the issue.

Does anyone have a suggestion on alternative tapes to go over the club tape?

[SFR]

I'm a new user and am having issues with the launch angle triggering too early. P3's tech support has been helpful so far. One of the potential issues they've identified is that I'm using packing tape (Staples brand) on top of the club tape to make it last longer. The reflection off the packing tape may be causing the issue.

Does anyone have a suggestion on alternative tapes to go over the club tape?

What do you mean about the LA triggering too early?

Is this pad sitting inside any 3rd party hitting pad? The sensors that read the club height are the 2 in front and 2 behind the ball area that are at angles. If they get blocked then the contact point on the club face will be off but will not change the LA.

The reflection issue will cause weird path and face angle issues but more the path from what I had found. In the slow swing mode that is worse as the sensors are way more sensitive. LA is all pre calculated and will not change with the club swing and only differ when you change the club in the window as to what you are using.

You can get away with almost any flat black tape (hockey tape) to tape most of the clubs and then save the real good stuff (non reflecting) for just the putter and possibly the wedge or any club you plan to use when the red light slow swing mode is triggered. I set that distance to about 25 feet so that it would not trigger that mode until you are inside that 26 foot area and that is where you need it so you can swing slow enough to hit short putts.

More info needed?

[iskuo]

I'm trying to use the launch angle camera in the driving range mode. The pad is in the p3pro mat.

This is just before the shot with a 7.



I later changed the club to a PW and this is 19 frames before the shot where it seems to be picking up some green too early.



And this is where it seems like it should be registering.

[SFR]

Your pic's did not come through.

I guess a simple try would be just try a club without the packing tape on it.

[iskuo]

I think I fixed the pictures.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it a go without the packing tape.

[Lupo]

Thank you for your answer, SFR. Once I get the P3Proswing I will then probably replace the top with a self made metal plate onto which I will glue or velcro the turf mat I currently use with my Optishot and which is cheap and easily replacable. Also I will want to keep the height as low as possible.

iskuo, with my Optishot I found that it is important to use the right black tape for the clubs. Black tape with some reflectivity (is there such a word?),the shiny type, is no good. I test it out by covering the whole bottom of the club with it. Swinging over the launch pad should then show no reaction. If it does trigger, then there will be too much reflection left. And in that case the whole taping is of no use.

[iskuo]

Tried it again and it doesn't seem like the tape is the issue. Anyone else have the launch angle working properly? Maybe it's the 10-24-2013 software? Any tips?

[iskuo]

What do you guys use to tape your clubs? Do most of you use the p3 tape or something else? Thanks!

[SFR]

What do you guys use to tape your clubs? Do most of you use the p3 tape or something else? Thanks!

PM sent

[Stonebattle]

iskuo:
I use clear scotch heavy duty packing tape over the reflective tape all the time without issue.


Looking at your pics it appears your camera position may need to be adjusted. The red lines should bracket the ball with the right end of the center red line in the center of the ball. The red lines appear to be pointing down also. To start out, I have found they need to be about parallel with the hitting surface for best results.


I find I need to calibrate the launch angle. This involves placing with white tape, gray screen, on the hitting screen representing launch angles of 9 degrees to 30 degrees in increments of 3 degrees. I can often tell about where the ball impacted the screen and get an approximation for actual launch angle. I also know from trackman sessions what my 7 iron launch is typically. I can compare these data points with those displayed by the camera and software. I have also tried a high speed camera to compare results, but it's difficult because the lighting levels are different to achieve satisfactory result for each. I adjust the camera based on the data.


For best results, one has to experiment with the cameras exposure level, white balance, brightness and contrast levels to get the best/brightest ghost image of the ball. A fairly directional bright LED flash light works well for me. I place it such that the left side, right hand player, of the beam just illuminates the ball.


The launch angle measurement is not perfect, but I find it's not bad at all.

[iskuo]

Thanks for the help. Just a quick update. P3 tech support helped me get the launch angle camera going. The settings are different from what they have in the manual.

1. The camera should be ~20 inches to the side of the tee rather than 28 inches.
2. The camera should be zoomed in all the way.
3. Be sure that there are no grass blades hanging over any of the sensors.
4. The video settings in P3Pro should be:


5. The video settings on the webcam should be: