Winter Indoor Practice setup

[Watchnut33 82]

I recently moved from South Carolina back to Pennsylvania so playing year round isn’t going to be an option. I only started playing again in August 2019 after a 5 year break and the big hit me big time. I got fitted for new clubs, spent a ton of time practicing and went from struggling to break 100 at the beginning of 2020 to a 12.4 handicap and almost breaking 80 on several occasions at the end of this season. Then it got cold and that was that. 
 

I didn’t want to lose all the hard work I put in for next season so I decided to invest in a net, mat and launch monitor. After a lot of reviews, searching for deals and taking garage space into consideration I ended up on a Spornia net/mat combo and a Swing Caddy SC300i. 
 

I’ve used Arccos for the last year and a half so the first thing I wanted to test was distance, comparing the SC300i results to over 5000 Arccos shots. They lined up very similarly after 1 full session. 
 

The net and mat so far have met all of my expectations. I was a little nervous hitting into it the first few swings, but I quickly realized even shanks won’t escape the net  the mat feels similar to a mat you’d encounter at the range, and it’ll be interesting to see how it breaks in over time. 
 

All in all I’m pretty happy with the setup, and I’m really looking forward to seeing if I can keep my momentum going through the winter and shooting for sub 80 early next year  

 

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by Watchnut33

[Watchnut33 82]

The kind of consistency I need with my 8i, my 150 yard club. This is from practice today, and one of the things I love most about my irons is the “click” they make on sweet spot contact so I could tell I was flushing it. 

[pakman92 452]

@Watchnut33 Nice set up.  I made a similar investment for a set up much like yours, net, launch monitor (skytrak) and quality mat two years ago.  My set up was out on my deck which meant that I needed to sign up for indoor range for the off season.  I don't have a space that with high enough ceiling to move my setup inside my house.    What I can tell you is that it was the best investment I've made for improving my golf game.  Handicap has drop 6+ points to 12.5

Good luck! and Happy Holidays!

[Shapotomous 4,831]

Nice indoor set up!   

I am wondering about the 7i data in the  second table.....is that data from a lot of sessions or just that one?

[Watchnut33 82]

17 hours ago, Shapotomous said:

Nice indoor set up!   

I am wondering about the 7i data in the  second table.....is that data from a lot of sessions or just that one?

I had 7i data from 2 sessions in that picture. The first was actually outdoors, the 2nd was a test round with the indoor setup using just 7i. I’ll add some more data after I have 5+ sessions with all clubs to see where they compare. 

[Watchnut33 82]

17 hours ago, pakman92 said:

@Watchnut33 Nice set up.  I made a similar investment for a set up much like yours, net, launch monitor (skytrak) and quality mat two years ago.  My set up was out on my deck which meant that I needed to sign up for indoor range for the off season.  I don't have a space that with high enough ceiling to move my setup inside my house.    What I can tell you is that it was the best investment I've made for improving my golf game.  Handicap has drop 6+ points to 12.5

Good luck! and Happy Holidays!

Awesome, nice improvement!
 

I got lucky that the garage had high enough ceilings to set up inside. My handicap goal for next season is to get to single digits, with a couple practice sessions a week I think I can get there.

[pakman92 452]

2 minutes ago, Watchnut33 said:

Awesome, nice improvement!
 

I got lucky that the garage had high enough ceilings to set up inside. My handicap goal for next season is to get to single digits, with a couple practice sessions a week I think I can get there.

It's not entirely true that I don't have a space in my house with high enough ceiling.  For whatever reason my wife is against putting up a golf simulator smack in the middle of the living room.   I need to get her addicted to golf somehow.

[Watchnut33 82]

48 minutes ago, pakman92 said:

It's not entirely true that I don't have a space in my house with high enough ceiling.  For whatever reason my wife is against putting up a golf simulator smack in the middle of the living room.   I need to get her addicted to golf somehow.

I didn’t want to move back north, so I had several stipulations revolving around golf, and how much I can play at home and or on the course.

[Tom the Golf Nut 7,766]

I received a putting mat for Christmas. Now my indoor practice area is complete.

 

[Watchnut33 82]

48 minutes ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

I received a putting mat for Christmas. Now my indoor practice area is complete.

 

Outstanding! I have 2 putting mats, 1 knockoff perfect practice mat and a birdie ball mat. I let a friend borrow the BB mat since he doesn’t have one. 
 

I think Target mode on the SC300i is a great tool to keep my chipping sharp.

A lot of reviews on the Spornia net mentioned quick set up and takedown, and so far that’s been a huge positive. Less than 5 minutes on either side to put it up or down. 

[Watchnut33 82]

Found my first complaint with the setup: there have been a couple times where the SC300i didn’t sync with the app after a session so the data didn’t transfer over. I’ve found that if I connect during practice I never have an issue, and will continue to monitor. 
 

I still haven’t gotten up the courage to hit driver indoors, so far just 5w off the mat and hybrids/irons. I typically lay a towel on the mat behind the ball to give me the feedback of hitting it fat when I hit the towel. I’ve been hitting pretty well and I can’t wait to see how it translates to the course in the spring. I’ve also been using 3-4 clubs per session rather than working through the whole bag. 
 

Im probably going to spring for some simulator time to make sure my ball flight isn’t all over the place, but I’ve been pretty consistent hitting the target in the net, so at the very least my start line is on point. 
 

current carry and total yardage in the pics. 

[Tom the Golf Nut 7,766]

2 hours ago, Watchnut33 said:

Found my first complaint with the setup: there have been a couple times where the SC300i didn’t sync with the app after a session so the data didn’t transfer over. I’ve found that if I connect during practice I never have an issue, and will continue to monitor. 
 

I still haven’t gotten up the courage to hit driver indoors, so far just 5w off the mat and hybrids/irons. I typically lay a towel on the mat behind the ball to give me the feedback of hitting it fat when I hit the towel. I’ve been hitting pretty well and I can’t wait to see how it translates to the course in the spring. I’ve also been using 3-4 clubs per session rather than working through the whole bag. 
 

Im probably going to spring for some simulator time to make sure my ball flight isn’t all over the place, but I’ve been pretty consistent hitting the target in the net, so at the very least my start line is on point. 
 

current carry and total yardage in the pics. 

I like that you lay a towel behind the ball. This is a great way to eliminate the chunks and fat shots. It gets you a good angle of attack into the ball.

[Watchnut33 82]

18 hours ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

I like that you lay a towel behind the ball. This is a great way to eliminate the chunks and fat shots. It gets you a good angle of attack into the ball.

Yeah, hitting off a mat I needed a way to tell when I wasn’t getting ball first contact so I’ve used that method for a long time when grass ranges aren’t available. I’m going to break 80 next year, and I’m going to get there early in the season.