How many balls do you put in your ball machine?

P

Posture Guy

Professional
and how do you transport them?

I'm looking to buy a ball machine and I'm trying to plan out how this will work. I'm gonna buy the Tretorn pressureless balls that come in a pack of 72. Ideally I'd get two of 'em, but hoppers don't seem to hold more than about 60-70 balls (at least the ones TW carries) and I would imagine even if there was a 140-ball hopper, trying to maneuver it would be a load.

So I'm really curious, for those of you with ball machines, how many balls do you put into your machine and how do you transport those balls to and from the court, pick 'em up, etc...?
 
Posture Guy said:
and how do you transport them?

I'm looking to buy a ball machine and I'm trying to plan out how this will work. I'm gonna buy the Tretorn pressureless balls that come in a pack of 72. Ideally I'd get two of 'em, but hoppers don't seem to hold more than about 60-70 balls (at least the ones TW carries) and I would imagine even if there was a 140-ball hopper, trying to maneuver it would be a load.

So I'm really curious, for those of you with ball machines, how many balls do you put into your machine and how do you transport those balls to and from the court, pick 'em up, etc...?
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Most machines transport with hopper inverted and will require a separate bag for balls. Even if you had a truck, a machine with battery filled with 100+ balls would become quite unwieldy.

It's a bit of a chore. Machine; bag of 100+ balls; hopper to pick up, racket bag and water. And you need a relatively free set of courts.
 
I'm looking at getting Silent Partner Quest or Star. My hope is that once I pull it out of my trunk and extend the transport handle that I can then put the ball holder on correctly and put my balls in there. Won't have it at capacity so we'll see if they can stay in place while I tilt it a bit to roll it to the court. Or worst case maybe I get a 110-ball Gamma hopper and just make that the capacity. I can put my bag on my back like a backpack, carry the machine in one hand and then the ball hopper and water in the other. Cumbersome to be sure, but I can pull that off.
 
I carry about 150 balls. I use the canvas bag from Oncourt-Offcourt's Quick Cart, placing it right into the hopper of my SP Star Edge -- fits perfectly and eliminates one thing that needs to be hand carried. Strap my 12-pack with racquets and cones to my back and I am good to go. Rolls very easily.
 
Posture Guy said:
I'm looking at getting Silent Partner Quest or Star. My hope is that once I pull it out of my trunk and extend the transport handle that I can then put the ball holder on correctly and put my balls in there. Won't have it at capacity so we'll see if they can stay in place while I tilt it a bit to roll it to the court. Or worst case maybe I get a 110-ball Gamma hopper and just make that the capacity. I can put my bag on my back like a backpack, carry the machine in one hand and then the ball hopper and water in the other. Cumbersome to be sure, but I can pull that off.
Click to expand...

Not as cumbersome as some would have you believe. If you use a 12-pack like me you can carry more stuff than you will ever need (including water) and roll out to the court using only one hand if you use a canvas hopper/bag (loose balls will not work so well). I have been doing this for more than 4 years with no issues whatsoever.
 
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Chotobaka said:
I carry about 150 balls. I use the canvas bag from Oncourt-Offcourt's Quick Cart, placing it right into the hopper of my SP Star Edge -- fits perfectly and eliminates one thing that needs to be hand carried. Strap my 12-pack with racquets and cones to my back and I am good to go. Rolls very easily.
Click to expand...
How do you pick up balls? And I'm looking for an ideal, 150 ball bag....
 
tennis_ocd said:
How do you pick up balls? And I'm looking for an ideal, 150 ball bag....
Click to expand...

The old tried and true method... herd all the balls to the corner(s), squat & pile the balls onto my racquet, then transport to the machine. You can also fill the hopper/bag if you prefer. Easy as pie.
 
Come with the hopper loaded (60 balls) and then have another 20 or so in my bag (usually only bring 1 racquet for ball machine drills).
 
Posture Guy said:
hadn't thought of using a bag. Would this work well?

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/Gamma_Ballhopper_EZ_Travel_Cart_Bag/descpageGAMMA-EZTRVB.html

a lot cheaper than a hopper, could hopefully put it right into the Silent Partner bin and now have one less thing to carry. Would have to pick up balls via the 'herd into a corner/pile onto the racquet' method, but that probably takes about the same time as using a hopper.
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Exactly what I was talking about. This is the replacement Gamma version of the Quick Cart bag I was referring to. The Quick Cart stand is better than the Gamma, notably the much larger and sturdier wheels. The bag also has some extra pockets and four more velro tie downs than the Gamma, but otherwise the same quality. A friend who has the Gamma says the zipper seems better on the Oncourt-Offcourt too, but I haven't done a side by side comparison.

If you are using this with your ball machine, and not the stand, I am sure the Gamma is absolutely fine. Fully loaded it fits in the Star Edge hopper perfectly. Both units appear to be pretty much identical quality wise. How people use a ball machine with <100-150 balls is beyond me. What a PITA refilling with just a few balls.

BTW, only suckers use a hopper to pick-up :lol: Once you have all the ball in a corner, retrieving them en masse is easy.
 
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Usually around 80 balls. Here's my set up.

e1ab1bc1664d55bef5f3302c6c5303ca.jpg
 
well I scored a Silent Partner Star via ****. Hopefully ships tomorrow. So then went and bought the Gamma tennis bag and 144 of the Tretorn Micro X pressureless balls. Gonna go with that setup, per Chotobaka's rec and see how it goes.

I have a hopper, holds about 60 balls or so. If I find I really want a hopper to pick balls up I can always find a way to bring that along.

Then this was cool. In our neighborhood, there are two public parks, each about 3/4 of a mile from our house. Each has two lit tennis courts. I went up to check them out, locked but for $75/year you can get a key fob to access them, and they have an online reservation system, a reservation gives you the court for 2 hours. And most of the time I drive by them, they're empty. Perfect place to practice without the distraction of being at the local high school with 10 courts and 7 of 'em taken by varying levels of players. Nice and quiet, perfect place to practice.

Speaking of practice, one of the things that really motivated me to get this machine was the book "The Talent Code" and what it talks about with respect to "deep practice". If you haven't read it, do it. Actually talks a lot about tennis.
 
Sounds like you are all set. The machine you got is perfect for grooving your swing. I like to set up cross-court shots for both FH and BH -- vary the depth. I also vary shots from moderate paced high rollers with lots of top to much faster paced flat shots. Volleys with a really fast feed is great for working on reaction time. And the machine works well on overheads. I like to set it up for deep overheads using a starting position with my racquet touching the net. The random oscillator does a decent job of running you around, although the feeds are predictable. Excellent basic machine that you can get creative with. Did you get a remote with it?

The Tretorns will last for years.
 
oh yeah, the Stars come with a remote. Wouldn't get a machine without one.

Really excited. I took my first lesson in 35 years about 5 weeks ago, moving from a continental forehand grip to something between eastern and semi western. It's been an "interesting" process but I'm finally starting to feel reasonably comfortable, but having a machine will be huge for helping me get this grooved.
 
Posture Guy said:
oh yeah, the Stars come with a remote. Wouldn't get a machine without one.

Really excited. I took my first lesson in 35 years about 5 weeks ago, moving from a continental forehand grip to something between eastern and semi western. It's been an "interesting" process but I'm finally starting to feel reasonably comfortable, but having a machine will be huge for helping me get this grooved.
Click to expand...

Exactly. <ten>
 
Silent Partner 'Star'. About 220 balls in it. Added a little 'backsplash' so the balls wouldn't jump out when rolling. I just lift it up and put it it, whole, and never take out the balls.

Bit heavy and awkward, but it's just easier as 'all in one'.
 
GoSurfBoy said:
Silent Partner 'Star'. About 220 balls in it. Added a little 'backsplash' so the balls wouldn't jump out when rolling. I just lift it up and put it it, whole, and never take out the balls.

Bit heavy and awkward, but it's just easier as 'all in one'.
Click to expand...

What do you put it in? And how?
 
I'm gonna be putting this thing and my other stuff into the trunk of an Infinity G35 sedan. It's a really big trunk so I don't think I'll have any issues putting it on its side. I want to find a non-skid mat to lay down back there to keep it in place so it's not sliding around, and then I just want to keep it in the trunk unless I'm charging it.

That's the plan.
 
Posture Guy said:
I'm gonna be putting this thing and my other stuff into the trunk of an Infinity G35 sedan. It's a really big trunk so I don't think I'll have any issues putting it on its side. I want to find a non-skid mat to lay down back there to keep it in place so it's not sliding around, and then I just want to keep it in the trunk unless I'm charging it.

That's the plan.
Click to expand...

Awesome! And how will you get it out?
 
What do I put in it?

Everything. Use one type of ball, all the same, you get identical shot pattern.

Put in a bit of everything, you get 'point play' - which is better than buying a machine that has that 'player mode', because THEN - if your balls aren't the same and perfect, many go into the net or long.

I demo'd such a machine, and it had random balls. Drove me frikken nuts trying to get some kind of consistency out of it.

Was told to skip the 'player' feature and just use random balls.

Never looked back.
 
GoSurfBoy said:
What do I put in it?

Everything. Use one type of ball, all the same, you get identical shot pattern.

Put in a bit of everything, you get 'point play' - which is better than buying a machine that has that 'player mode', because THEN - if your balls aren't the same and perfect, many go into the net or long.

I demo'd such a machine, and it had random balls. Drove me frikken nuts trying to get some kind of consistency out of it.

Was told to skip the 'player' feature and just use random balls.

Never looked back.
Click to expand...

Transport this pig
 
Ohhhhhh. Sorry!

Van...lol. Read too fast! Just lift it up. Also have a set of stairs to go down and back up at the courts.
 
Ronaldo.....not sure what you're asking. How am I going to get it out of my trunk? It weighs 46 pounds, so I'm gonna lift it. I do squats and swings with a 55 lb kettlebell, so I don’t' think a 46 pound ball machine is gonna pose any serious problems.
 
question for you Star owners: could you recommend initial settings for the different variables to create a nice easy throw for grooving strokes? Like something I can use to start from and then fine tune from there. Sounds like when starting from scratch it can take a bit to figure out how to achieve that effect, like someone standing at the opposite service line feeding you balls at a moderate pace.

Right now, I want to find that setting as a baseline for working to groove my new forehand grip and stroke. Then I'll play with increasing speed, increasing spin, etc..

Thanks for all the feedback, guys. Much appreciated.
 
You just have to play around with it. Machine control panels vary, so tilt, speed, spin, feed, are just something you have to work out.
 
GoSurfBoy....I'm specifically asking the owners of the same machine what they put those settings at to get that kind of ball behavior. Should be fairly consistent from SP Star to SP Star, I'd think. And the control panels should all be the same unless it's a really old model.

The whole point of my question is I don't want to have to "work it out" by trial and error, I want to discover what settings others are using with this same machine.
 
Posture Guy said:
Ronaldo.....not sure what you're asking. How am I going to get it out of my trunk? It weighs 46 pounds, so I'm gonna lift it. I do squats and swings with a 55 lb kettlebell, so I don’t' think a 46 pound ball machine is gonna pose any serious problems.
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Got mixed up with GoSurfBoy, thought you were leaving 220 balls in the machine then moving it.
 
lol, oh HECK no. I may be a little crazy, but I'm not THAT crazy.

The plan at this point it to do what Chotobaka does. Balls go in the Gamma ball bag. I take the machine out, flip the ball hopper into place, put the bag in that, put my tennis bag on my back and the water cooler in my other hand and away I go.
 
I have a Star, and trust me - the panels with the control 'pots' varies. They are very good machines, but have some idiosyncrasies.

And some ghosts....Trust me...

PS: The dials are just not that accurate! Not trying to be contrary, but I just replaced the old panel, and the settings are now quite a bit different.
 
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The machine IS very good, and for the money, you won't find more, but I would imagine a digital display would be far more accurate.

As you will find with the dial/pot controllers, a slight turn can rev' up/down the setting - a lot, so it's just a matter of playing with yours a bit until you get used to how much/little - on each control, will change it.

By the way; I bent those 'feed springs' up about a 30 degree angle. Parallel, they don't 'churn' the balls all that well. Seems to be the biggest weakness on these machines - the hopper-disturber....for lack of a better word. I really wish they'd come up with a retro-fit ABS blade, or something, as I call it 'iglooing'. You'll get a stop-feed, go over, and see a big 'igloo' above the feedhole.

Cheers
 
GoSurfBoy said:
The machine IS very good, and for the money, you won't find more, but I would imagine a digital display would be far more accurate.

As you will find with the dial/pot controllers, a slight turn can rev' up/down the setting - a lot, so it's just a matter of playing with yours a bit until you get used to how much/little - on each control, will change it.

By the way; I bent those 'feed springs' up about a 30 degree angle. Parallel, they don't 'churn' the balls all that well. Seems to be the biggest weakness on these machines - the hopper-disturber....for lack of a better word. I really wish they'd come up with a retro-fit ABS blade, or something, as I call it 'iglooing'. You'll get a stop-feed, go over, and see a big 'igloo' above the feedhole.

Cheers
Click to expand...

That happens sometimes with my tennis tutor as well...unless you have a funnel shaped bin, it's hard to avoid.
 
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