SkyCaddie SkyTrak launch monitor revealed

The new SkyTrak is an affordable and accurate golf launch monitor that can be used by golf pros for club fittings and doubles up as a fun simulator

The SkyTrak from SkyCaddie is world's-first personal launch monitor and golf simulator. It goes on sale in the UK from November with a retail price of £1,695 and combines the accuracy of a professional-grade golf launch monitor, suitable for golf equipment custom-fitting, with the high definition visuals of top-end golf simulator software.

SkyTrak uses photometric technology to measure actual ball speed, launch angle, back spin, side spin and side angle immediately after impact. It also displays carry distance, offline distance and total distance to simulate practice and play as if you were on the course or practice tee.

SkyTrak shows you real results, from your real golf game including your golf ball. Crucially, golfers can use their own favourite brand of golf ball, as most users will be hitting into a practice net. This gives you data for actual competitive play, which you can use to improve your game when out on the course.

A wide variety of Setup options enable you to configure SkyTrak to display the post-shot information you want, with several alternative views available in Driving Range mode.

SkyTrak creates its own Wi-Fi hotspot to put shot results on your screen within seconds. It accurately projects ball flight over a vivid 3D practice range and virtual golf courses, subject to which software you have chosen.

It offers various game-improvement challenges and mini-games for engaging practice such as Closest to the Pin, Longest Drive and Targets, along with Shot History Tables, Performance by Club, and other helpful data screens.

Upgrading to the SkyTrak Premium (Game Improvement) Subscription at a £79 annual fee unlocks all of the SkyTrak's launch monitor capabilities, with extensive data tables enabling deep analysis of a customer's golf swing for custom-fittings.

The SkyTrak Premium subscription also unlocks the fun side of SkyTrak giving full access to all of its in-built challenges and mini-games. SkyTrak Premium also contains a spectacular 9-Shot Closest To The Hole Challenge, played over 9 different holes of the Kiawah Island Ocean Course, through its partnership with World Golf Tour (WGT Golf), the #1 online golf game worldwide. This sets the golfer a variety of challenges to test most types of approach shot, including Par Three tee shots, fairway approaches and greenside bunker shots. It is a highly-popular taster for full-length golf course play on SkyTrak.

In addition to the included 9-Shot Closest To The Hole Challenge at Kiawah Island from WGT Golf, golfers can also pay a further annual subscription to play a different 9-Shot Closest To The Hole Challenge at each of WGT Golf's 20 high-definition golf courses, including St Andrews, Pebble Beach, Bandon Dunes, Celtic Manor, Pinehurst No.2, Royal St George's and Chambers Bay.

Golfers will not have to wait long before full-course play is available, tee to green, on all 18 holes of each of the WGT Golf courses, again for an annual subscription.

"SkyTrak delivers commercial-quality ball flight simulations which reflect a golfer's actual performance for game improvement and entertainment at a price far below comparable alternatives," said Jacqui Surman, Senior Vice-President International Sales & Marketing at SkyCaddie. "This enables golf professionals to use it in custom-fitting situations, and it also provides an accurate and realistic in-home golf experience that both entertains and makes you a better golfer."

"SkyTrak will also be popular with golf professionals who are looking to introduce accurate launch monitor technology to their golf lessons and custom fitting sessions. But most of all, SkyTrak is for the golfer. SkyTrak opens up, at a new affordable low price point, the spectacle of playing in a high-end high-definition golf simulator at your own home and it is portable enough to carry around to a friend's house when a group of people want to play virtual golf together."

SkyTrak is recommended for use with the following compatible iOS products: iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 2 (with Retina), iPad Mini 3. Versions of the SkyTrak App for other platforms will be released in due course.