Optishot pad alignment secret for perfect accuracy

Hello, I am new to this forum, I purchased the optishot last year around this time and played on it maybe about 2 weeks and then stored it away because of such inaccurate results, I am a golf teaching pro and play to a 2 handicap I know when i put a good swing on the ball and exactly where i hit in on the clubface just by feel. I decided to dig it back out and find out why the heck this thing is so inaccurate. I taped my clubs with just a small piece of white electric tape on the leading edge and started playing around with it by turning the pad left and right and then hitting balls everytime i moved it a little bit. Ok, so I angled the entire pad to the left pretty severely. Well guess what folks it made all the difference in world in accuracy this thing went from being maybe 60% accurate to 99.9%. I a had to adjust offsets slightly and it looks really awkward at setup looking down at a crooked sensor pad, but the results are phenominal, i know alot of people will say you need to have the sensor pad pointed perfectly straight at the screen but this is not true. I know for me with it pointed straight it always showed a closed clubface and a hook and I know for a fact it was not hooking. It might be a little different for some peoples swings, I will try to post pics of the setup later. I am blown away now by the accuracy even in the tiger woods 08 game, I even believe it's just as accurate in that game now as it is in 3dd golf. I mean who would have ever thought you would turn the pad at an angle to get accurate results as it should be the other way around.

I would be extremely interested in seeing how much of an angle is needed and if it is consistent with other players -- with the new soft shell cover I developed, although the sensor cutouts would have to remain at an angle coming through the 120 oz turf or the fiberbuilt mat, I could easily modify the housing to hold the DD unit steady in that position and still have the turf itself point straight. That would at least provide a somewhat better feeling standing over the ball.

Any chance you can post the pictures and perhaps measure the angle necessary in degrees?

I would be more inclined to believe that you may have a defective unit. Just my 2 cents.

Was holding my thoughts. You completely said it thorin33. I am glad it works for you corecracker but that would be aweful if every sensor pad required some be angled to the left severely to allow it to read correctly. Just doesn't sit well eith me but hey, whatever works!!

Ok, so I measured the angle I have the optishot sensor pad placed at and it's around 16 degrees turned toward the left if your standing directly behind it and i don't think it's a defective unit, I was looking at faulty clubs post and I think his test is totally valid and it's the optishot that's really inaccurate. What faultyclubs posted about the outside in swing path and closed clubface is true, that's exaclty what mine is doing and I normally have a inside out swing path. To get the most accuracy take some matte black tape and cover the entire bottom of your woods and trim it to fit perfectly, stretching it really tight. Then get you some air duct vent tape the kind that's really shiny aluminum and cut a small strip then place it about 1/4 of an inch from leading edge covering heel to toe. I think the optishot is really good for the price, I wish optishot would make an add on sensor strip that measured launch angle, spin and ball speed. I sure it could be programmed into the 3dd golf program. I would be willing to pay anywhere from 150 to maybe even 250 for an addon like that. Guess I'll have to buy a 50,000 dollar sim to get perfect accuracy.

No need to spend that type of money for a more accurate simulator. Just read the threads on the various options including the GC2, ProTee, GSA etc. It really doesn't sit right with me that the unit needs to be turned 16 degrees to measure and accurate clubpath pr face angle. Mine does not do that at all. Something does not add up.

It's not easy to correlate my tests with actual swing results. At least they weren't intended that way. In any case, I don't think they explain such drastic results. You mentioned needing an offset with that amount...how much offset did you have to dial in? Is there any chance you've taped your clubs and not got it straight? Are you subconsiously aiming at a different spot on the screen than where the Optishot pad is aligned? And of course there's always lighting/reflections to consider. Just some ideas as something seems off (assuming it isn't defective).

Merged these 2 threads as they are essential the same.