# ProReturn Net, Voice Caddie SC200, Callaway Launch Pad



## Region3 (Jan 4, 2017)

I mentioned on the "what have you bought" thread that I'd ordered these last week, and I've now had the chance to try them out a few times.

Ideally I'd have loved a cage to hit into but I wanted something that I could use inside with a standard height ceiling so this is what I came up with.
It comes folded up in a hula hoop (the child's toy, not the crisp) sized bag, and to put it up you literally let it unfold itself. Their video shows it being easy to fold up too but I've not tried that yet. While it's cold and dark outside it can stay where it is.

When open it forms a triangular shape. The downside of that is that when hitting wedges it's only about 4' wide at the height the balls are hitting the net, but the frame at the sides tilts away from you so you can get within 3' or so of the opening.
I've missed the net twice so far but they were both shanks caused by lazy swings. I've hit more sockets than that but only 2 escaped, and I think they went between the frame and the net rather than missing the opening altogether. I've no idea how, but neither ball hit anything breakable.
As long as the net that touches the floor is not facing away from you and tucked under itself it sends the ball back to you along the floor. I've probably hit around 300 shots into it so far and had to retrieve the ball less than a dozen times.

The Callaway mat is really solid, but very small. It's very nice to hit balls from with a plush fake grass surface backed by quite heavy rubber. It moves on my laminate floor especially when I get a bit steep as I've a tendency to do, but considering the surface it's on I didn't expect anything different.
The biggest downside for me is that I'm standing on the floor so the ball is maybe an inch above my feet so I need to figure something out for that.

The SC200 is better than I expected. The swing speeds it's given me are very much where I expected them to be, and although I don't know what the carry distances should be exactly because a) it's cold, b) I've either been using range balls or inside where I can't swing freely on full swings and c) I'm favouring my shoulder slightly, they seem 'ball park' right.

In all the balls I've hit so far it's only missed 3 that I remember.

I won't say too much more about what it does because it's only stuff you can read of their product specs page, but the approach mode is great. I'm normally getting bored towards the end of a bucket of balls but time flew trying to beat my last score with this. It would be nice if you could specify the range of the random distances it asks you to hit but that's a minor gripe. You can always choose your own distances in practice mode (just hit the ball and it tells you the distance) or target mode (you set a distance up to 200 I think and it scores you on 10 consecutive shots).

One final thought - it really needs a button to delete the last shot from averages. You can look at stats for each club for either 'today' or all time, but to be useful for gapping averages you really need to be able to ignore a bad shot.

I'm going to post a couple of videos I've taken tonight. One from behind me showing the net (although you can hear the voice caddie) and one just showing the SC200 as I play the approach game.
Each is 10 shots and between 3-4 minutes, so unless you're really bored you only need to see a little bit to get an idea of the products.

On the SC200 screen: before I hit the shot it shows the target distance and my score so far, and after the shot it shows carry distance, club speed, ball speed, smash factor and score for that shot. Speaking of the score, it's a little on the generous side. You have to be way off to score less than about an 8 although I haven't experimented to see exactly how far away gets how many points. I remember being 9yds out and getting 8! Spot on scores 11 which is weird.


The 3 items together aren't cheap cheap, but considering the use I'll get out of them for less than the cost of a new M1 I'm very happy with them so far.


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## Region3 (Jan 4, 2017)

Video of behind me, showing the net. You can also hear the voice caddie.

Apologies for the sniffles and one naughty word. I thought I'd said it to myself 
The numbers I'm saying are what it's asking me to hit.


[video=youtube_share;nWD5mHI9vnI]https://youtu.be/nWD5mHI9vnI[/video]


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## Region3 (Jan 4, 2017)

The SC200


[video=youtube_share;c6D2g_LddR0]https://youtu.be/c6D2g_LddR0[/video]


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## DRW (Jan 4, 2017)

Nets, keep you eye on whether the net 'wears out/breaks' and balls can get though the net, I have had to put a bed sheet on mine to  stop the ball flying though again(so like an impact sheet). You may be okay as you are hitting shorter clubs?

Both of my nets had this happen(different makes and not your make), just thought as would hate to see any damage with it being inside


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## Crow (Jan 4, 2017)

Nice set up, how high is your ceiling?

(Good to see you wearing your hat for that "on course" authentic feel.)


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## Region3 (Jan 4, 2017)

The ceiling is 8'. Just high enough for a wedge. I feel like I'm close but not hit it yet, although tried a swing (no ball) with a 7 iron a few months ago and discovered it wasn't high enough.

As for the hat.. it's not obvious from the pic but although it's inside, it's a standalone building in the garden and daaaaaaaaamn cold.


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## MendieGK (Jan 5, 2017)

I have the same net and it's awesome.


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## turkish (Jan 5, 2017)

I've been toying with SC200 for ages and seen mostly good reviews but the odd bad one that's put me off- mainly from american sites saying it's merely a toy and not accurate, or not picking up shots- would you disagree?

I'd like to get for wedge distances so overall distances wouldn't really bother me as with each wedge some shots would be half, quarter swings etc but probably would be ideal if you could specify this and delete the bad ones- but having the distances for the day could be ideal. (one day just half swings with each wedge etc)

Also with it giving a smash factor I am assuming then the device "sees" the club then "sees" the ball?


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## Region3 (Jan 5, 2017)

turkish said:



			I've been toying with SC200 for ages and seen mostly good reviews but the odd bad one that's put me off- mainly from american sites saying it's merely a toy and not accurate, or not picking up shots- would you disagree?
		
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Compared to the big boys it's a toy, but I've also seen reviews that say it's surprisingly accurate. THP was the main review that swayed me.
I've not had a problem with it missing shots, in fact it's positioning is less critical than I'd imagined it to be. I wonder if the people saying it won't pick up shots are not extending the kickstand all the way back (so not seeing at the trajectory the ball takes off at) as it seems to have 2 movements to it before it's fully extended.

As I mentioned in the OP, I've only had it miss a few shots out of a few hundred which is very acceptable imo. I've not found the height of the unit compared to the ball critical (it sits on the floor whereas the ball is on a mat), or the distance behind the ball, although it sometimes gives what I think are low readings and I notice the unit is maybe a little close. It may be the reason or I might just have hit a bad shot, I've not looked into it any deeper because I just move it back a little bit and it's fine again.

As for accuracy I think it's very good. Not every shot will be spot on because it assumes good launch conditions, but the majority seem to be around where I'd expect them to be. I'll be ignoring the shots I feel weren't struck right, but I don't need a 6k GC2 to tell me I've skulled one 
For example, I have 3 distances with my SW that I'm fairly confident in, and whenever the target distance it gives me is near one of those I'm not usually more than a few yards out with my shot.




turkish said:



			I'd like to get for wedge distances so overall distances wouldn't really bother me as with each wedge some shots would be half, quarter swings etc but probably would be ideal if you could specify this and delete the bad ones- but having the distances for the day could be ideal. (one day just half swings with each wedge etc)
		
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This is my main reason for buying it, which is why I wasn't bothered that my ceiling is too low for full swings with anything longer than a wedge.




turkish said:



			Also with it giving a smash factor I am assuming then the device "sees" the club then "sees" the ball?
		
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Yes. Club speed and ball speed are both measured by radar, smash factor is a calculation anyway, and it calculates carry distance from an algorithm built in to it presumably based on good launch conditions for the club it thinks you're using.


If you had issues with launch angle or spin characteristics the SC200 would be useless for you, but if all you want to do is get a rough handle on your distances I'd trust it to average out about right over a succession of shots.

It would be nice to be able to remove bad hits but in my case I'll be using different swings for different distances and doing it the old fashioned way with pen and paper so it isn't much of an issue to ignore the odd one.


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## Region3 (Jan 5, 2017)

MendieGK said:



			I have the same net and it's awesome.
		
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How long have you had it, and have you noticed any deterioration in the netting?


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## patricks148 (Jan 5, 2017)

are you sure this post wasn't just to show off of all those Trophies on display???


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## turkish (Jan 5, 2017)

Region3 said:



			As for accuracy I think it's very good. Not every shot will be spot on because it assumes good launch conditions, but the majority seem to be around where I'd expect them to be. I'll be ignoring the shots I feel weren't struck right, but I don't need a 6k GC2 to tell me I've skulled one 



If you had issues with launch angle or spin characteristics the SC200 would be useless for you, but if all you want to do is get a rough handle on your distances I'd trust it to average out about right over a succession of shots.
		
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Well this is another reason why I am a bit sceptical as my launch conditions and trajectories aren't accurate as I probably don't get enough consistent strikes but I suppose that in itself could be something to work on with it.

Do you know what launch conditions it assumes? IE what dynamic loft and spin it "expects" the ball to be coming off at compared to actual loft of club?

For driver it would be hopeless for distances for me as I already know I spin it far too much and don't have a great degree of consistency in launch.


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## turkish (Jan 5, 2017)

PS one thing that does make me fancy it is the fact you get smash factor and these videos from James Ridyard:

http://jamesridyardgolf.com/pages/video-clips

I would have never thought about smash factor for chipping and pitching wedges but from that it's very important- so if the SF is reasonably accurate then it's some food for thought.


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## Region3 (Jan 5, 2017)

patricks148 said:



			are you sure this post wasn't just to show off of all those Trophies on display???

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Rumbled 

Hardly anything there for golf lol.


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## Region3 (Jan 5, 2017)

turkish said:



			Well this is another reason why I am a bit sceptical as my launch conditions and trajectories aren't accurate as I probably don't get enough consistent strikes but I suppose that in itself could be something to work on with it.

Do you know what launch conditions it assumes? IE what dynamic loft and spin it "expects" the ball to be coming off at compared to actual loft of club?

For driver it would be hopeless for distances for me as I already know I spin it far too much and don't have a great degree of consistency in launch.
		
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I don't think non-optimal launch conditions would affect distance a massive amount (although I'm no expert so could be wrong).
If you spin a driver too much for example, it must be because you hit the ball with more of a glancing blow (downwards) which in turn will reduce the energy transfer efficiency (smash factor) into the ball. The device will obviously see that as it measures ball speed.

I've no idea what launch angle and spin it assumes for a given club. I remember seeing on Youtube somewhere that a well struck 6i should take off around 20Â°, so plenty less than the loft of the club, and a respectable spin number is 1k multiplied by the iron number, so 6i approx 6k rpm, although the newer breed of 'distance is everything' irons tend to spin significantly less.


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## Region3 (Jan 24, 2017)

Back to the drawing board 

Net returned to amazon today as a ball ricocheted around the room after going through the net. I've only hit wedges into it and it lasted around 2-3 weeks.

I asked if they could just send a replacement net only from the manufacturer but it was just refund or exchange, so they can refund me if I have to go to the hassle of wrapping it up and sending it. Also sent the mat back as it's no good to me without a net.


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## MendieGK (Jan 25, 2017)

suprised, i've hit 100's of balls with every club into it and had no issues at all.


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## Alex1975 (Jan 26, 2017)

What's next or are you scrapping the idea?


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## Region3 (Jan 26, 2017)

Shelving it for now I think. I may look for the X2 version of the net as it's double layered, but for now I'll just take the SC200 to the range.


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