Your thoughts on Sim Golf

[Hindsy1987]

Hi guys recently I've moved back up to the big smoke and have noticed a heap of "X-Golf" centres around, I know that top golf style outdoor ranges are huge at the moment and obviously I've watched a lot of Sim Testing via Rick Shiels and Co. What's the biggest obstacle you guys have when you go for the virtual experience? The only thing that I can forsee being a problem translating from the Virtual World over to the Physical one is playing wedges and such out of bunkers, are there tools or plugins if you will that change the nature of the hitting surface i.e. and this sounds stupid mini sand traps or thicker rough ? I'd love you hear your experiences, thoughts and any tips you might have ? 

Edited July 4 by Hindsy1987

[cnosil]

The biggest potential issue with playing indoors versus real golf is that mats are more forgiving than the ground and will make fat shots better.   There are mats that are designed to simulate fairway, rough, sand, etc. but most facilities don't have those as it is cumbersome to put the correct mat in the launch  monitors field of vision.   Here are some samples (I am not implying they are good):

 

The other area that is difficult is putting since you can't actually see the breaks.    

I've played some sim golf and it is great when weather prevents you from getting outside. 

[Swood1994]

I Agree with @cnosil . Sim golf is great especially if you live in a region with harsh winters like myself. As long as you go in with level set expectations it’s a lot of fun. 

I mainly focused on 7-GW in terms of proper striking and distances. The rest were just hoping I made decent contact. 

[Hacker60521]

I really like using a sim for practice sessions and just to keep me in form when the course is closed. I like having the feedback and knowing that my ball flight isn’t being affected by factors like wind and stuff (unless I add it to the sim ). I’ll play courses every now and then but it’s really just for fun and I view it as a different way of practicing. 
 

In terms of obstacles, a sim offers you a perfect experience instead of what you’ll likely encounter on a course. So sidehill, uphill, downhill lies, sand, heavy rough etc can’t be replicated well of at all. But for a means to practice or just have fun, indoor sims are great. 

[Bossfan]

It’s a different game with different challenges. It does help keep the swing in shape during the winter and I get off to better starts during the season than I used to before I started playing in a sim in the winter. 

[Rob Person]

For me, it's the cost. Here it's $60 per hour for the sim. I can play 18 for less than that. Also, as mentioned,  hitting clubs off the mat and levelness of the ground. Variables on course affect everything.  In a sim, they are constant 

[buckpillar]

I like to use a sim every now and then, I will say that it helped me keep my swing through the winter months. Normally around here it cost about 30.00 for 18 on the sim. I’m going to be going to top golf for the first time within the next couple weeks, my daughter got me a gift card, the have all you can hit balls Monday through Friday from open till Noon at the one near me. Overall I like the sims, 

[Hindsy1987]

10 hours ago, Rob Person said:

For me, it's the cost. Here it's $60 per hour for the sim. I can play 18 for less than that. Also, as mentioned,  hitting clubs off the mat and levelness of the ground. Variables on course affect everything.  In a sim, they are constant 

The thing that appealed to me about this x golf is that's it's $25 AUD a week and you get two hours per day in the Sim 

[Hindsy1987]

10 hours ago, buckpillar said:

I like to use a sim every now and then, I will say that it helped me keep my swing through the winter months. Normally around here it cost about 30.00 for 18 on the sim. I’m going to be going to top golf for the first time within the next couple weeks, my daughter got me a gift card, the have all you can hit balls Monday through Friday from open till Noon at the one near me. Overall I like the sims, 

I wish we had top golf here I hear there's one in Melbourne but I'm in Perth and it's always at least a decade behind

[Hacker60521]

29 minutes ago, Hindsy1987 said:

The thing that appealed to me about this x golf is that's it's $25 AUD a week and you get two hours per day in the Sim 

@Hindsy1987 that seems like a bargain! As I mentioned in my post, the nice thing about a sim is you can practice in a “perfect” environment. So I can really take the time and reps to work on my driver, irons, etc. But then I can also switch over to courses and play a quick round. I can easily finish 18 holes on a sim in under two hours, and think how great two hours of practice a week could be. 

[RStreet]

Love SIM golf, is it accurate, no, can it be better, yes, it’s putting atrocious… absolutely! But living in Canada where my golf season is only 6 months long SIM golf is a big part of my golf life. Plus it gets us out with our friends for a nice causal round of fun getting to “see some courses we’d otherwise never get to play”. Some of the places we have in town have some pretty wild tech from Korea as well that get you way more feedback on your swing that a simple session at the range would provide, you can learn a lot about your consistent metrics and where you may need to improve.

[Tom the Golf Nut]

I can honestly say that sim golf brought my handicap from the  teens to where it is now (As of last week 0.6,  I know, it went up a fraction of a point. It was the Kingsmill outing). I have my own hitting bay using the Optishot2  in conjunction with a Mevo.

The Optishot2 gives me the club path (open, closed, swing path outside in or inside out) and swing speed. I can use the driving range or play a lot of courses without yearly fees. The OS2 I believe is the only system that will work with hard foam balls. This will help save you from golfers elbow and you don't have to worry about a guest shanking a ball into something. 

I set the Mevo up behind the Optishot to get me all the ball data. Spin, carry, ball speed, smash factor, and more using real balls.

I can really work on my game at any time. Today it was 101 degrees outside so I just turned on the system and spent 45 minutes on the range without breaking a sweat. 

When I go to the course its just to play golf. No range. The balls usually suck and it can mess up all the things I worked on at home with good balls. On occasion I'll bring my own balls (ones I have played that made it to the shag bag) to the range to work on a driver but that's about it. 

Is a sim perfect, no. Can you groove a repeatable swing, yes. 

[BLSkee]

I recently DIY'd my own garage sim and while it's not a perfect replica of outdoor play, I definitely love having it. I'm at the stage where I'm really starting to figure out my game, so reps and consistent practice are absolutely necessary to meet my scoring goals.

My biggest pro, which basically makes all the cost worth it, is that I can hit from home at any time of day I'm able. I've got a 1 year old and another on the way, so it's especially hard to find time to practice, let alone book a whole day away from the family. So, after the baby is in bed and everything is taken care of in the house, I get to go send a few into the screen/net.

The idea is, I'm able to continue to improve at the game while the family needs more of me, so that when I'm back at it, I can still be competitive.

[BLSkee]

I guess I side-barred there a bit. 

Biggest play issues with the sim I've found are:

• Putting is not really worth doing in the sim unless you're just playing for fun. Auto-putt is fine.
• You don't get different up/down/left/right lies, so all the shots feel the same and show well on the sim
• The alignment can be finicky sometimes, unless you have a permanent, perfectly aligned sim and projection... So some shots may start more left or right than what you felt.

But honestly, I mostly use the driving range, target practice, and skills assessments modes much more than course play.

Hope this helps! ^ Good luck!

[Haile]

Sim golf in conjunction with with lessons have paid off very well for me. I have my own sim at home. I own the MLM2pro and a DIY enclosure. I can now walk out to the garage and practice whenever I get some time. Which has translated to significantly lower scores than last year. I've cut 8 strokes. Hopefully I can dedicate some time to continuing lessons later this year. But, the one downside is the mat. After switching from the course to the garage and back, I can really tell when I got away with something that I never should have due to the mat. Awkward lies still get to me on the course because there's no way for me to practice that. So, I just go with what I know for it and hope it works out. I can usually get kinda close to what I was doing. Either way, I love having it around. If nothing else, I can go out on a Friday afternoon, have a few drinks and play some courses I would otherwise never see.