Simulator vs the real thing

[Buckeyebowman]

For fun simulators are fine, but don't take them too seriously. If you do they become a cruel hoax! There's no wind, the temperature is constant, the lies are all perfect, etc.

It's like virtual reality, operative word being "virtual"!

[baller7345]

9 hours ago, uitar9 said:

This happened to my wife on a couple of holes. Didn't recognize three putts and 4 wedge shots. Two different holes. For some reason that didn't occur for me and I hit a couple of putts, very lightly. Strange. I wonder if the ball cover itself has an effect.

From my experience the ball does have an effect.  The simulator I've spent most of the winter on doesn't like slate or darker wedge finishes (when chipping), and really hates the chrome soft yellow tru-vis golf balls.  I don't know if it's the yellow or the combination of the yellow and black, but it just wouldn't pick up a putt with that ball.

As much fun as it is to play a round on the simulator I think where I've gotten the most use out of it is getting my driver under control.  It seems to do a pretty good job with my full swing as the above average driving and below average iron play has carried over from simulator to real life.

[boogielicious]

10 hours ago, uitar9 said:

and , never lost a ball, lol

I have! I hit a wedge shot last year and it went between the top of the screen and ceiling. We couldn't find the ball! It wasn't behind the screen. 

[RandallT]

7 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

I have! I hit a wedge shot last year and it went between the top of the screen and ceiling. We couldn't find the ball! It wasn't behind the screen. 

Makes for a good riddle in a rules of golf forum!

when can you lose a ball and, by the rules, NOT take a stroke and distance penalty?  

[boogielicious]

Just now, RandallT said:

Makes for a good riddle in a rules of golf forum!

when can you lose a ball and, by the rules, NOT take a stroke and distance penalty?  

[Ernest Jones]

12 hours ago, uitar9 said:

Greens on these machines are very fast. Not sure if one can change green speed. It wasn't offered as an option. 

All the sims I've played on allowed you to manipulate green speeds, wind, weather, and so on. 

[uitar9]

19 minutes ago, Ernest Jones said:

All the sims I've played on allowed you to manipulate green speeds, wind, weather, and so on. 

Thanks-I'll check that out next session (finally seeing some warming, might see a track open in the next few weeks.) Greens on the sims I've used are blazingly fast

[awmgolfer]

I have about 6 months off from playing due to our winters so the simulator has become an essential part of my practice. I have an Optishot I keep at school and go in on the weekends to use. I play the rounds for fun and have customized my yardages to match my actual yardages but sometimes it just doesn't pick it up well but overall it does a good job. What I use it strictly for is swing path and face angle which it does a really good job of picking up. The previous couple of years I used it a lot and when the season started outside I was pretty much starting out with my normal scores right away. Last year I didn't use it much and there was a definite difference and it took my usual 3-4 weeks to get everything back to normal. If anything it just keeps your swing going, and of course it's better than sitting on the couch looking out the window at all the snow, at least you're swinging a club and "playing" a round.

[baller7345]

Anyone ever have any issue with having the ball fly back at them when hitting a high lofted wedge due hitting it into the top bar of the cage?  I'm starting to develop a flinch every time I hit a 1/2 to full 58* due to getting hit with the rebound.

[Lihu]

1 hour ago, baller7345 said:

Anyone ever have any issue with having the ball fly back at them when hitting a high lofted wedge due hitting it into the top bar of the cage?  I'm starting to develop a flinch every time I hit a 1/2 to full 58* due to getting hit with the rebound.

I think you'll be fine as long as it doesn't develop into something that affects your game. . .

[uitar9]

Our only mishap has been random balls coming at us from the driving range area behind the sims, just rolling in.

Been talking this up at work. Just booked a weeknight round. The lads heard there was beer and hot dogs.

[uitar9]

5 hours ago, awmgolfer said:

I have about 6 months off from playing due to our winters so the simulator has become an essential part of my practice. I have an Optishot I keep at school and go in on the weekends to use. I play the rounds for fun and have customized my yardages to match my actual yardages but sometimes it just doesn't pick it up well but overall it does a good job. What I use it strictly for is swing path and face angle which it does a really good job of picking up. The previous couple of years I used it a lot and when the season started outside I was pretty much starting out with my normal scores right away. Last year I didn't use it much and there was a definite difference and it took my usual 3-4 weeks to get everything back to normal. If anything it just keeps your swing going, and of course it's better than sitting on the couch looking out the window at all the snow, at least you're swinging a club and "playing" a round.

We are also stuck with winter. I  found the sim a nice change to target practice I've been doing this winter at the indoor range. My wife really liked my involvement with the mulligan button. She picked up a couple of wedges this year and it has given her the opportunity to try different swings (full, half etc) for the same lie and have an inkling of where the ball ends up, rather than just smacking them into concrete oblivion.

I like your reference to "playing a round". Once we got started, I was thinking about next shots, slope etc, instead of the snow sliding down the side of the dome structure. I was golfing again. It breaks up the monotony of 5 months indoors. 

[RichWW2]

It's fun to get out and swing the clubs using the simulator,  especially if there are no other options due to stupid mother nature.  I went a few weeks ago with some friends and we all had a blast.  Plenty of ribbing just like on the real course.  The positives were less venturing through the woods and other areas looking for golf balls.  As for the actual "golf" part of it, I'd take it with a grain of salt.  It seems like half my shots had draw on them according to the simulator and I don't think I've ever hit a draw in my whole life on the course. That could've been the mat causing draws, my god awful winter swing, beer, or some combination of all three.  But it felt good to have a club in my hands again and swing them no matter the results.

[Lihu]

On 3/14/2017 at 0:09 PM, bm85 said:

 These things sound like fun alternatives if you could get used to them. Shooting an 88 sounds good to me. I've been on the one at Dicks, and I couldn't even hit it straight.

Or the launch monitor was skewed. That happened to a guy trying a driver and he was complaining that he never hits a push that far off. I went to the radar unit and found that the screw was loose and it was off by 10 degrees. Once we fixed it he was hitting straight just as he so desperately claimed to the salesman who thought the machine was perfect. It was pure fun for an engineer to fix something so simple.

[TechnologyGolfer]

On 3/14/2017 at 2:17 PM, Ernest Jones said:

The sims I have played on (mostly TrueGolf) have all been terrible at reading short game, finesse shots. It seems to do ok on chips, but doesn't read shots that use a lot of bounce very well. Not sure why. After hitting 4 beautiful, float-loady pitches in row - none of which the sim picked up - I had to change my short game technique to get the sim to register the shot at all. 

I play in an indoor winter league on a Trackman and it does take a bit of getting used to. I play to an 8 and shot 90 the first few times. After I go used to the finesse shots I've been able to go lower and lower on Trackman. Shot 68 two weeks in a row. 

The key for me was learning how to carry short shots specific yardages without trying to feel the yardage. With a little practice I found out I carried my 50 degree wedge exactly 30 yards with a 9 o'clock backswing and a smooth tempo. Now I get up and down about 80% on trackman and over 50% most days on the real course.

[uitar9]

Thanks TechnologyGolfer-Once I got the finesse shots and putting figured out, it made it a whole lot like the outdoor experience. I've been using a watch outdoors the past few seasons, but believe I'm gonna spring for a rangefinder this season. Not so much for front-middle-back but for specific hazards the watch doesn't pick up