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Indoor Golf Simulator....Ever Play?

• mrcaddie 2,429 Posts

  Fri, Jan 15 2016 6:55 PM

  So, over the past few years I rekindled my love of golf IRL. I've upgraded some clubs recently and this past season I have never enjoyed playing golf so much in my life.

  I haven't hit a driver off the tee in about five years, I sliced it every time. I used to tee off with a five wood (Fuzzygazz, lvietri and beachedmulligan can confirm that).....and then I bought a new Cleveland Black driver and I have never hit longer and straighter drives in my life and all of a sudden I really love golf again.

  I live in a place where we have stow our clubs for about five months due to cold weather and have to wait for spring to arrive before we can start playing again.

  Recently I found out that a local driving range has two of these indoor golf simulators and in a few days myself and a few friends are going to give it a try. We think it will help us keep our swing tempo and keep us warmed up for when spring arrives and we can start playing outdoors again.

  My question to you is...have you ever played on one of these and does it help or is it a complete waste of time?

  For those of you that may not know what I'm talking about, it works something like this-

  Thanks in advance.

  MC

   

• twinponds169 3,028 Posts

  Fri, Jan 15 2016 7:11 PM

  MC,

  It's a great way to stay tuned up during those long winter months. I live in Central NY State and go through the same 5 months. These started popping up in my area about 4 years ago and I go about a half dozen times during the off season. Kind of pricey, 30 bucks an hour and it takes 2 hours for two to play 18. They have a ton of major courses and the graphics are just a bit below WGT. Full swings, bring your whole bag in with you. Can even wear your golf shoes. Only thing I find lacking is the putting part of it. Kind of cheesy and not a good real life sim. The rest is great though, especially when there is a foot of snow on the ground and it's 10 degrees outside. Thirty an hour is total price so if two of you play 18, it will cost you 30 bucks each. Probably 10 times more of the famous courses to play than WGT offers and you can fine tune the variances of it all, making it easier or harder. Have fun, think you'll like it a lot!

• mrcaddie 2,429 Posts

  Sat, Jan 16 2016 6:48 AM

  twinponds169:

  I live in Central NY State

  Hey TP,

  Thanks for the response.

  If you hadn't said you live in NY I would swear you were a co-worker of mine that I spoke with about this because he said exactly what you did. He agrees, he said the putting was the weakest part of the whole experience but he said the rest of it was a lot of fun and a great way to keep your form through the winter months.

  It's going to cost exactly what said, $30/player. There will be four of us so they booked us for four hours and they even said it's BYOB and we can bring our own food if we want to.

  Interesting about the golf shoes, I was just thinking about that last night, I guess I'll bring them with me just in case.

  Thanks again and I'll report back after we play and let you know how it went.

  MC

• PaulTon 10,731 Posts

  Sat, Jan 16 2016 7:21 AM

  I haven't tried this, I'd love to but my back says no.

  Since these machines came out I couldn't figure out how they would simulate putting. How does putting actually work on them?

• Jimbog1964 8,378 Posts

  Sat, Jan 16 2016 7:40 AM

  They are great for T shots, Fway shots and CTTH.  Anything else goes downhill fast, and putting is just silly anyone that I have ever seen.  Apparently once you get over the fact the putt is saying say 20' but your senses are saying say 8' (physical distance you are away) it can be OK, but then I think that was the salesman talking:) 

   

• twinponds169 3,028 Posts

  Sat, Jan 16 2016 7:52 AM

  PaulTon:

  How does putting actually work on them?

  You putt into the screen from just in front of where you hit full shots. Green is gridded with dots very much like on this game.You can turn them on or off. Overhead lasers pick up the speed and direction when your ball rolls.

  MC,

  Make sure you take a good dozen or so practice shots with your bombers and your wedges before you start your game, just to get used to whacking the crap out of a golf ball indoors in an enclosed space, lol.

  There are four sites within 10 miles of me that each have two of these sims. Then there is one in Syracuse at the giant mall, 2nd biggest in USA. That one has full bar and restaurant and 9 sims. Over 100 famous courses to choose from. Check out optigolfsyracuse dot com. Menu at very top of page. Real pricey though, 48 bucks an hour. Kind of weird walking through the mall with your full bag on your shoulder, lol, you get some strange looks!

• PaulTon 10,731 Posts

  Sat, Jan 16 2016 8:41 AM

  twinponds169:

  You putt into the screen from just in front of where you hit full shots. Green is gridded with dots very much like on this game.You can turn them on or off. Overhead lasers pick up the speed and direction when your ball rolls.

  Thanks for that, I had a look, it is very WGT like.

• bubbsboy 6,879 Posts

  Sat, Jan 16 2016 8:55 AM

  Although nothing beats the real thing those machines are good. Far better than a driving range for honing your action.

  Reason is because you have a focus unlike driving range where any mid to high handicapper tries to hit the ball too hard. Reason is they are using a DR ball, hitting to a large open space and they know they don't have a second shot to take.

  Picture the fact that once you have decided club and where you wish to land the ball, then whatever is in front of you is meaningless during the most imprtant thing......that thing being your swing.

  Have even a screen in front of you gives you the focus to swing correctly. As your club on point of impact and follow through, does not really care what's in front of you. 

  As with hitting into a net in front of you. It maybe boring but repeating a correct action over and over again can benefit enormously. 

  Here ended the lesson ;-)

• mathia14 1,271 Posts

  Sat, Jan 16 2016 10:21 AM

  mrcaddie:

  So, over the past few years I rekindled my love of golf IRL. I've upgraded some clubs recently and this past season I have never enjoyed playing golf so much in my life.

  I haven't hit a driver off the tee in about five years, I sliced it every time. I used to tee off with a five wood (Fuzzygazz, lvietri and beachedmulligan can confirm that).....and then I bought a new Cleveland Black driver and I have never hit longer and straighter drives in my life and all of a sudden I really love golf again.

  I live in a place where we have stow our clubs for about five months due to cold weather and have to wait for spring to arrive before we can start playing again.

  Recently I found out that a local driving range has two of these indoor golf simulators and in a few days myself and a few friends are going to give it a try. We think it will help us keep our swing tempo and keep us warmed up for when spring arrives and we can start playing outdoors again.

  My question to you is...have you ever played on one of these and does it help or is it a complete waste of time?

  For those of you that may not know what I'm talking about, it works something like this-

  Thanks in advance.

  MC

   

  We have a few large empty building here & for years I thought that indoor golf would be great.  Get a big enough building & set up a bunch of nets.  Long winters here also, & even when it's raining or too hot to play they will come.  Put in the 19th hole & charge less then your place.  Sell discount passes & the like.  Group rates.  Even get a few leagues together.  Make the $$ cheap enough & you will make $$$$.

• mrcaddie 2,429 Posts

  Sun, Jan 17 2016 5:32 PM

  mrcaddie:

  I'll report back after we play and let you know how it went.

  Hey guys, I just got back and here's my report-

  You can choose from lots of courses and I chose Kiawah: The Ocean Course because I've played it here on WGT and thought I'd know my way around. The three friends that I played with don't play WGT but I figured maybe I could help them find their way around the course.

  TP was right...you have to hit/swing a few times to get used to swinging a golf club in an enclosed space, my friends took a few practice swings and then it was my turn. I broke out my new driver and went for it...it felt pretty good, I saw it hit the screen in front of me and then the ball looked as if it was coming back in my direction and I think I heard it hit the ceiling next and before I knew it it whacked me on my forehead....oh, this is going to be fun.

  So, I go out and talk to he guy running the program and tell him what just happened and ask if we need safety goggles and body armor. He tells me that he has never heard of someone getting hit by a ball coming off the screen before and that we should be fine...yeah, we'll see about that.

  Once the guy running the shop gave us our quick tutorial on how it works and we started playing....we had a blast! The putting wasn't as bad as we thought it would be but our drives were awful, go figure. Yeah we brought some beer and lots of food because we just wanted to have some fun on a cold January afternoon and this was exactly what the doctor ordered....full belly, lots of laughs and golf in the winter.

  Are we going to play again....you bet, that was so much fun. Can't wait until spring.

  Here I am on Kiawah #3 (?) on the simulator-

  

  MC

  ps- Played indoors because it's too cold to play outdoors. Hasn't snowed here yet this year. Played indoors for four hours and when we walked out the door, there was a quarter inch of snow on the ground.