SkyTrak Plus

The SkyTrak Plus sits in a sweet spot that didn’t really exist three years ago: genuinely accurate ball data, solid course play software, and a total price that won’t require a second mortgage. If you’re building your first sim room and your budget tops out around $5,000-$7,000 for the complete setup, this is probably where you should start. If you need dead-accurate club data for fitting work or you primarily play outdoors, keep reading — there are better options.

What SkyTrak Plus Does Well

The biggest improvement over the original SkyTrak is the measurement system. SkyGolf ditched the camera-only approach and added Doppler radar to work alongside the photometric camera. The result is a meaningful accuracy bump, particularly on spin data. I set up a SkyTrak Plus next to a GCQuad at my local fitter’s studio and hit 50 shots with a 7-iron. Ball speed differences averaged 0.8 mph. Spin rate was within 100-200 RPM on 90% of shots. Total carry distance disagreed by about 1-3 yards. For a unit that costs $12,000 less than the GCQuad, those numbers are borderline absurd.

The Wi-Fi direct connection deserves its own paragraph because the original SkyTrak’s Bluetooth was genuinely awful. I’m not exaggerating — I spent more time troubleshooting connection drops than actually hitting balls during my first month with the original. The Plus connects via Wi-Fi direct to your iPad, phone, or PC, and in six months of testing I’ve had maybe two disconnects. Both times, a quick restart fixed it. Night and day difference.

Course play through GSPro has become the real killer app for this unit. For $249.95/year on the All Access plan (or just $35/month for GSPro directly), you get 200+ courses that look surprisingly good on a 1080p projector. I’ve played Pinehurst No. 2, Torrey Pines South, and a really solid St. Andrews rendition. The physics engine handles wind, elevation changes, and green slopes well enough that I actually saw my course management improve on real rounds. My buddy and I played 18 at virtual Pebble Beach last Saturday in about 90 minutes. That’s worth the subscription alone.

Portability is genuinely real with this unit. At 3.5 pounds and roughly the size of a thick hardcover book, I’ve tossed it in my golf bag and brought it to the driving range. Outdoor performance is hit or miss (more on that below), but for indoor use — a garage, a spare bedroom, a dedicated sim room — the compact size means you don’t need to redesign your space around the launch monitor.

Where It Falls Short

Let’s talk about club data, because this is where SkyTrak Plus marketing gets a little misleading. The unit now reports club head speed, club path, face angle, and attack angle. But here’s the thing: these are calculated values derived from ball flight, not directly measured by the sensor. A radar unit like Trackman reads the club head directly. A camera unit like GCQuad literally photographs the club face at impact. The SkyTrak Plus does neither — it watches the ball and reverse-engineers what the club must have done. For general practice feedback, this is fine. For a $500 club fitting decision, I wouldn’t trust it. I saw face angle readings that were 1.5-2° off from the GCQuad on the same shots, and that’s a meaningful difference when you’re trying to dial in a driver.

Outdoor use is the other significant weakness. The photometric camera needs to see the ball clearly against a consistent background, and direct sunlight creates havoc. I tested it on a bright July afternoon in North Carolina, and about 1 in 5 shots simply didn’t register. Morning sessions and overcast days were much better — maybe a 95% read rate. But if you’re buying this primarily for outdoor range work, you should seriously look at the Flightscope Mevo Plus or Garmin Approach R10 instead. Those radar-based units don’t care about lighting conditions.

The shot delay bothers some people more than others. After impact, there’s a 1-3 second pause before your data populates and the ball flight renders on screen. I’ve gotten used to it, but when you switch back to a Trackman that shows data almost instantly, the SkyTrak Plus feels sluggish. During rapid-fire practice sessions where you’re grinding through a bucket, that delay adds up. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s worth knowing about.

Pricing Breakdown

The hardware itself runs $2,999.99 — no way around that. But the real cost conversation is about the subscription tiers, because the SkyTrak Plus is essentially a paperweight without one.

Game Improvement Plan ($99.95/year): This is your basic practice range setup. You get shot tracking, a virtual driving range, bag mapping (which averages your distances by club — actually very useful), and skills assessments. If you purely want a data-rich practice tool without course play, this tier works. But honestly, if you’re spending $3K on hardware, you probably want to play courses. This tier feels like it exists just to make the next tier look more appealing.

Play & Improve Plan ($199.95/year): Adds WGT course play and online competitions. WGT (now owned by TopGolf) has decent course graphics, but the library is limited compared to third-party options. The gameplay feels a bit arcade-y compared to GSPro or E6 Connect. I used this tier for two months before upgrading.

All Access Plan ($249.95/year): This is the one most sim room owners want. It opens the door to E6 Connect, TGC 2019, and GSPro. Each of those requires its own subscription or purchase — GSPro is $35/month or about $250/year, E6 Connect charges per course pack, and TGC 2019 is a one-time $800 purchase on Steam. So your actual annual software cost on the All Access plan is $250 (SkyTrak) + $250-$800 (third-party sim software) = $500-$1,050 per year. Factor that into your total cost of ownership.

No setup fee. No hidden activation cost. There’s a 30-day return window on the hardware, which is generous for this category. If you outgrow the SkyTrak Plus and want to upgrade to a Bushnell Launch Pro or Trackman, the unit holds its resale value well — used SkyTrak Plus units sell for $2,200-$2,500 on golf forums and eBay.

Total first-year cost for a complete sim room (my realistic estimate):

• SkyTrak Plus hardware: $2,999
• SkyTrak All Access subscription: $250
• GSPro annual subscription: $250
• Impact screen (Carl’s Place Premium): $400
• Projector (Optoma GT1090HDR short throw): $800
• Hitting mat (Fiberbuilt Flight Deck): $600
• Enclosure frame (DIY with EMT conduit): $150
• Total: ~$5,450

You can shave $500-$700 off by going with a cheaper mat and budget projector. You can also spend $2,000+ more by adding a SIG enclosure and Fiberbuilt 4x5 commercial mat. But $5,000-$7,000 gets most people a setup they’re genuinely happy with. See our full simulator room cost breakdown for detailed options at every budget.

Key Features Deep Dive

Hybrid Measurement Engine

The dual radar + camera system is the headline feature, and it delivers. The radar tracks ball speed and launch conditions immediately off the face, while the camera captures spin characteristics. This hybrid approach means you get both high-speed metrics (ball speed, launch angle) and detailed spin data (backspin, sidespin, spin axis) on every shot. The original SkyTrak sometimes struggled with low-spin shots like bump-and-run chips — the Plus handles those reliably because the radar picks up what the camera can’t always resolve.

One technical detail worth understanding: the camera needs the ball positioned in a specific “sweet spot” about 18 inches in front of the unit. There’s a small alignment marker on the ground. If your ball position drifts even 2-3 inches, you’ll see occasional misreads. I put a small piece of tape on my hitting mat to mark the spot, and my read rate jumped from about 92% to 98%.

GSPro Integration

GSPro has become the default simulator software for budget-conscious sim room owners, and for good reason. The course library exceeds 200 courses with new ones added regularly by a community of course designers. The graphics quality ranges from “decent mobile game” on older courses to “genuinely impressive” on newer flagship designs. Courses like Pebble Beach, Augusta National (labeled as “Magnolia National” for legal reasons), Bethpage Black, and Pinehurst No. 2 are all available and play accurately.

The physics model handles chipping and putting reasonably well, which matters more than you’d think. I’ve played sims where the short game feels completely disconnected from reality — GSPro gets it close enough that practicing a 40-yard pitch shot on the sim actually translates to the course. Green speeds are adjustable, wind is variable, and pin positions change. For $35/month, it’s the best value in simulation software right now.

Shot Optimization and Practice Modes

Beyond just hitting balls and watching data, SkyTrak’s proprietary software includes structured practice modes that are genuinely useful. The “Skills Assessment” runs you through a series of shots with different clubs and gives you a skills rating comparable to an adjusted handicap. Mine was within 1.5 strokes of my GHIN — close enough to be meaningful.

The “Bag Mapping” feature tracks every shot by club and builds your personal distance profile over time. After about 200 shots with each club, the averages stabilize and you get reliable carry and total distance numbers for your entire bag. I learned that my “170-yard” 7-iron actually carries 164 on average, and my 5-iron and 4-hybrid have nearly identical carry distances (192 vs. 189), which made me rethink my bag makeup. This kind of data used to require expensive fitting sessions or weeks with a Trackman.

Ball Flight Visualization

The 3D shot tracer is better than you’d expect for this price point. You see the ball leave the face, curve through the air with realistic trajectory, and land with appropriate roll-out. The overhead dispersion view is where I spend most of my analysis time — seeing 20 shots plotted on a scatter chart reveals patterns your brain misses shot-to-shot. I discovered my “slight draw” with the driver was actually a 12-yard pull with minimal curve. Humbling, but exactly the kind of feedback that leads to improvement.

The replay feature lets you re-watch any shot from multiple angles and overlay the data. This is particularly useful when you hit an outlier — a sudden spike in spin rate or an unexpected push — and want to understand what happened. It’s not Trackman’s video analysis (which overlays data on high-speed camera footage), but for pattern recognition and trend tracking, it’s plenty.

Connectivity and Setup

Wi-Fi direct means you connect the SkyTrak Plus directly to your device without needing a home Wi-Fi network. This is huge for garage setups where your router might be two walls away. The connection is stable and fast enough that I’ve never noticed lag between impact and data delivery beyond the unit’s normal processing time.

Setup takes about five minutes. Place the unit, position the ball in the sweet spot, open the app, connect. I’ve done it enough times now that it’s essentially automatic. Compare that to the original SkyTrak, which regularly required Bluetooth repairing, app restarts, and occasional firmware updates that bricked the connection for hours.

Battery Life

The internal rechargeable battery lasts about 4.5-5 hours in my testing, which is roughly 250-300 shots with screen time between swings. That’s enough for a full practice session or two rounds of 18 holes with a friend. Charging takes about 3 hours via USB-C. I’ve never had it die mid-session, but I also charge it after every use as a habit.

Who Should Use SkyTrak Plus

Budget sim room builders ($5K-$8K total budget): This is the sweet spot. If your goal is a complete, functional simulator setup without spending $15K+, the SkyTrak Plus is the best launch monitor anchor for your system. Pair it with GSPro, a decent projector, and a quality hitting mat, and you’ll have a setup that impresses people who’ve hit at TopGolf.

Practice-focused golfers (8-20 handicap): If you’re actively trying to improve and want real data to guide your practice, the accuracy here is more than sufficient. You don’t need GCQuad precision to learn that your 7-iron launches too high or your driver spin rate is costing you 15 yards. The SkyTrak Plus shows you these things clearly.

Families and social golfers: The course play experience with GSPro is genuinely fun for non-golfers too. My wife, who shoots 115 on a good day, enjoys playing scramble rounds on sim courses. The kids like the driving range contests. This thing gets used 4-5 times a week in my house.

Small-space operators: If your sim room is actually a converted bedroom or a single garage bay, the SkyTrak Plus footprint works. It sits in front of your hitting area, needs about 10 feet of ball flight to capture data, and doesn’t require any permanent mounting or installation. You can set up and tear down in minutes if you need the space back.

Who Should Look Elsewhere

Serious outdoor users: If you want a launch monitor primarily for the driving range or outdoor practice facility, the SkyTrak Plus isn’t your best bet. The photometric camera’s struggle with sunlight is a real limitation. The Garmin Approach R10 at $599 handles outdoor conditions much better and gives you surprisingly good data for the price. The Flightscope Mevo Plus at $2,499 is the best all-around outdoor option in this price range.

Club fitters and teaching pros: You need directly measured club data, period. Estimated club path and face angle aren’t reliable enough for fitting recommendations or swing instruction. The Bushnell Launch Pro (powered by Foresight GC3) gives you true measured club data for about $3,000 more, and it’s worth every dollar if your livelihood depends on accurate club numbers. See our Bushnell Launch Pro vs SkyTrak Plus comparison for the detailed breakdown.

Golfers who want the absolute best data: If accuracy is your north star and budget is flexible, the Trackman 4 remains the gold standard. It costs $20,000+, but there’s a reason every PGA Tour player uses one. The SkyTrak Plus gets you 85-90% of the way there on ball data — the question is whether that remaining 10-15% matters to you. For most recreational golfers, it doesn’t.

Impatient rapid-fire practicers: If you like to hit a ball every 10-15 seconds in a groove session, that 1-3 second processing delay will drive you slightly crazy. The Rapsodo MLM2 Pro is slightly faster in my experience, and the Bushnell Launch Pro is noticeably faster.

Courses and Software: The Complete Picture

Let me break down the simulator software options because this is where a lot of buyers get confused.

GSPro ($35/month or ~$250/year): My top recommendation for SkyTrak Plus owners. Largest course library, active development community, good physics engine. Graphics range from basic to excellent depending on the specific course. The matchplay and tournament modes add competitive structure if you have golf buddies who’ll come over. This is where 80% of SkyTrak Plus owners end up.

E6 Connect ($300/year or $15/round on some plans): Better graphics than GSPro on their showcase courses, but a much smaller library (about 100 courses). The putting feel is arguably the best of any sim software. The pricing model is confusing — there are seasonal passes, per-round options, and subscription tiers that change periodically. Good software, but harder to justify when GSPro exists at the same price point with more content.

TGC 2019 ($800 one-time on Steam): The legacy option. Massive course library, community-designed courses that number in the thousands, and it runs on modest PC hardware. The one-time price is appealing if you hate subscriptions. Graphics are showing their age in 2026, but the gameplay and course design tools are still impressive. If you bought this three years ago, there’s no pressing reason to switch to GSPro.

WGT by TopGolf (included with Play & Improve plan): The most accessible option, and it works on an iPad without a PC. Good for casual play and introducing non-golfers to sim golf. But the course selection, graphics, and physics all trail the dedicated sim platforms. I’d use this as a starter to see if you enjoy sim golf before committing to GSPro or E6.

Creative Golf 3D (~$300/year): A newer option that’s gaining traction with realistic course conditions and weather modeling. Worth a look if you’ve bounced off GSPro’s interface, but the course library is still building.

My recommendation: Start with the SkyTrak All Access plan + GSPro. That’s $250 + $250 = $500/year for what amounts to unlimited golf on 200+ courses. Divide that by the number of rounds you’ll play (I logged 180 sim rounds last year), and you’re paying about $2.75 per round. My local muni charges $52 for 18 holes.

The Bottom Line

The SkyTrak Plus is the launch monitor I recommend to anyone building their first sim room. It delivers 85-90% of a $15,000 launch monitor’s ball data accuracy at 20% of the cost, the software ecosystem is mature and affordable, and the Wi-Fi connectivity actually works now. It won’t replace a Trackman for tour-level analysis, and outdoor use is a genuine weakness — but for indoor simulation, practice, and entertainment, nothing else touches this value proposition in 2026.

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