Practice Golf Balls

[TheDukester]

I got into golf this past summer and want to work on my game over the winter so I ordered an Optishot Golf Simulator. The problem is that my parents don't want me hitting real golf balls in the garage even with a net. Wondering what your thoughts are about foam balls and if you have any other ideas? Thanks for any advice.

[dennyjones]

Welcome to TST.   You've found the right place to ask questions!   I'm no expert but I would guess that a foam ball would give you different readings than a real ball on your Optishot.   

I would try to prove to your parents that hitting a golf ball in the garage is safe.    You may have to put up other padding to protect the contents of the garage but with the right setup, it can be safe. 

[inthecup]

Welcome to the forum!  I agree that foam will give you very odd reads.  What's in the garage that can't get hit?  Are you old enough to pull the cars out?

[Patch]

Hitting real balls into a sturdy net is better than nothing. Then again, I don't think it matters if you use foam balls, as long as your simulator can read them. I try to convince your parents your netting is strong enough to handle real balls. Also I would suggest you hang a towel over the impact area of your netting to save the actual netting from damage due repeated ball impacts. 

Now another thing I would ask is how high is your  garage ceiling?  Is it high enough for you to make your normal out of doors swing to the top? If it is not, then you will be limited to 1/2-3/4 swings, and putting. 

I have a golf buddy who spent a winter practicing in his garage with a 9' ceiling. 100s of swings every week. He was at the time, a near scratch golfer.  When he finally got out of doors again, he found he had inadvertantly made modification to his swing to feel comfortable under a 9' ceiling. Screwed him up big time. Took him several weeks to get his normal, out of doors swing back. 

[Lihu]

17 hours ago, TheDukester said:

I got into golf this past summer and want to work on my game over the winter so I ordered an Optishot Golf Simulator. The problem is that my parents don't want me hitting real golf balls in the garage even with a net. Wondering what your thoughts are about foam balls and if you have any other ideas? Thanks for any advice.

I think they come in handy to help work on your "bottom" location. Most beginners have a 12" range where they bottom the club or where it strikes the ground.

Foam balls should help you find that pretty well.

If you can find smaller foam balls that will increase the difficulty of making good contact too, but that might be further up the line for you.

Optishot would need real balls, but you might not need it yet.

You can also get "Birdie Balls" for outside use. You can make full swings outside in the grass.

Edited December 27, 2017 by Lihu