RRLavigne

That should have said "using a NET" with no real feedback.

Good question, I'm a believer in practice and working on what I've been shown as much as possible. I still haven't been able to get outside. In New Hampshire some courses have opened and so have some driving ranges but it's still chilly (I don't like swinging while wearing a coat) and it's been raining quite a bit. I AM able to practice in doors with foam balls using my Optishot simulator. It's not REAL golf and foam balls sure don't feel like real balls when hit but i'm able to practice what the instructor shows me and get some good "calculated" feedback from the Optishot. The big thing i'm seeing with the adjustments he made in my swing during the 2nd class is it's much more consistant and repeatable. Also it's not causing blisters so the friction in my right hand is gone. My distance / club head speed according the the Optishot seems to have dropped a little but it's because i'm literally swinging more slowly making sure I do it as instructed while trying to keep control over the swing. (I was TOLD I need to SLOW DOWN.) Speed i'm sure will come in time, right now i'm much more interested in having a repeatable swing. Sooooooooo to answer your questions, even though right now it's simulated golf not real golf I'm probably practicing 4 to 6 hours a week between lessons. On a side note, I'd recommend an Optishot to any golfer who lives where there are cold snowy winters if you have high enough ceilings to at least make full swings with your irons. So much better than putting the clubs away for 4 to 5 months ane better than using a new with no real ball flight feedback! (BTW i have nothing to do with Dancindogg, i just like the sim for the money)

Took my 2nd lesson tonight. Worked more on my swing and then worked on chipping. Apparently my swing still needs work, I still have a little too much movement during the back swing, but my form chipping is good. Next week we'll review THEN start doing some bunker work. All in all I'm very happy i made the decision to take some lessons. I may not take them for a long period of time because they can be expensive but if I can get the fundamentals ironed out or at least know what to work on I will consider it money very well spent.

I understand what you're saying but the missing skin on my fingers don't quite agree. ;-) I'll see what the instructor thinks and follow his recommendations. I suspect i'm doing something incorrectly or I won't be blistering. I'm new to the game and he seems to know his stuff so I fully intend to "follow instructions." His guidance and advice is what I'm paying him for! ;-)

So far in my 1st lesson I was shown how to start my back swing and bend my left knee (i play right handed) enabling me to do a full back turn without swaying "out of the barrel" which as a 55 YO beginner i thought i was unable to do, so THAT's a good thing and has helped my swing a lot already. I was also shown how to have a STRONG grip rather than a beginner's weak one, problem is i now have two very painful blisters on my right hand from usinging this new grip. They are on the two center fingers knuckles on the sides which face my left gloved hand. Bistered and skin removed within one hour long session of practice. (I've still been hitting almost everyday through the pain but am considering wearing TWO golves until i work this thing out. Bandaids haven't helped much. I have my second lesson this coming Thursday and will discuss the issue with my teacher, can't wait to see what he recommends. Am I doing something wrong? We shall see.

Actually the place I'm going for lessons is owned by a PGA pro however the owner not the person who's personally teaching me. Come to think of it I have no idea if my actual teacher is a PGA pro, he may simply be an experienced teacher who works for one. That said I think he's a good teacher so regardless, as a beginner I know he can help me.

Like onephenom the 1st thing I look at is price. Golf is an expensive sport, I'm not a rich man, I'm also new to the game. I go to courses that I consider a good bang for the buck. Perhaps someday if and when I improve (currently taking lessons) I'll be more picky but right now I look at price 1st.

Fair enough.

I think all the TV and mag models makeup makes them all look older than they are. Heck most of the big models are a lot younger than they look. Models in their early teens look 26 in magazines photos.

God that got me laughing out loud in my office at work!!!! ;-)

Wow, how can you be a PGA pro and not know how and why things happen in golf and not be able to explain it? The guy i went too seemd to be able to explain everything including questions about things we haven't gotten to yet in the lessons. Gave me a few exercises to help me with the fundamentals and set up (I'm a beginner) and explained exactly WHY the exercises will help my swing. He also explained exactly why I seem to be able to hit decent with my irons and not my driver ,,, made perfect sense once he explained it. I'm really looking forward to my next lesson.

I just took my 1st formal golf lesson and already learned a lot about what I've been doing wrong in my swing. I'm wondering how many on this forum take or took lessons and how many just do their thing? Please chime in.

In NH some of the driving ranges are opening up but most courses still have holes with some snow cover. I spent the winter hitting balls on my optishot home simulator. I'm sure the results i'm seeing won't translate totally to REAL golf but I thank god I was able to play SOME TYPE of golf with decent swing feedback all winter. I've probably played 4 to 5 simulated rounds a week minimum since last Christmas not to mention hitting on a simulated range. Starting this coming Thursday I'll be taking indoor golf lessons for 4 weeks in Chelmsford MA at Pappas Golf and by the end of the month I think most of the local courses will be open for business. Can't wait to see how the optishot rounds and 4 weeks of actual lessons translates on the course! (I've never taken lessons before)

Thanks for the tip!

I'm new to the game, been playing less than a year, but my bag of entry level clubs has two hybrids. (3 and 4) I don't have an answer to the question but I will say I am fairly decent with my irons, fairly consistant and controlled. But i have NO control over my hybirds or my driver (I slice every time, outside in and open according to my Optishot) so I assume I'm hitting my hybrids the way i hit my driver ... very poorly. I intend to sign up for some lessons within the next month.

Yep ... I live in New Hampshire, snowing like crazy right now. The only think keeping me sane is an Optishot sim in my basement. (Ceiling is JUST high enough so I can hit my clubs, without a complete follow through) It's not REAL golf but at least i'm swinging my clubs. Can't wait for spring!!!

72 on a 18 hole par 72 a week ago .... real score, but it was on a simulator! ;-) I was still thrilled!

AWESOME ... I have this set and have been looking everyplace for the specs! Thanks!!

I have an Optishot and it's pretty amazing for the money. It's plastic BUT I've hit it hard a lot and it hasn't had an issue. Been playing at least one simulated full round per day in my basement since last Christmas (Not to mention warming up on the simulater driving range) so it's seen a lot of use and because i'm not that advanced as a golfer a lot of abuse. It has it's drawbacks because it doesn't read the ball, it only reads the club, you can't divot, there's no sand in the simulated bunker, etc., BUT IMO it's MUCH better than simply hitting into a net, you DO get useful feedback ... and it's a lot more enjoyable than hitting into a net which is TOTALLY BORING. And if I spend $35 or $40 a round at the local OptiGOLF pro simulator shop and played as much as i've already played at home on the Optishot (I play a round just about everyday) I would have spent close to 2 grand compared to the $399 I spent on the Optishot. I'd recommend it to any golfer who's show bound during the winter, so much better than hitting into a net or putting the clubs away for 6 months at a time.

I'm very pro Optishot for cheap and fun in home winter practice. It has it's drawbacks, EVERY simulator does, even the $40,000 simulators have drawbacks! The only REAL golf is REAL GOLF played outside. BUT for $399 I think the Optishot is by far the best way to play and practice in your house during winter months. It's far from perfect, but it's FAR from useless and playing it is actually entertaining and you get useful feedback about your swing. Best $399 I ever spent on Winter in New England golf. Oh and It's plastic but seems to be able to take a good wack from the club with no problem. (I've hit some really BAD fat shots where I smashed it with my iron and nothing bad hapened) I give it a 10 out of 10 for the price and recommend it to everyone I know in New England who golfs. OH i have NOTHING to do at all with Dancing Dog, I payed full price for my unit and accessories, I'm simply a happy customer who thinks it's an awesome product. SOOOOOOOOO much better then putting away my clubs for the winter.

I also have an Optishot in my basement. I have the correct lighting and because it's in my basement sunlight is never an issue. As i wrote in another thread about the unit I think buying an Optishot was the best $399 I've ever spent on "Winter in New england" golf. In regard to reading drivers, it depends on your driver, it reads irons real good. They actually sell a driver made to read well with the unit fairly cheap so if you bought one and weren't happy with how it reads your driver you could always buy theirs which is specifically made to read well with the unit. It's not REAL golf, (No simulator is) it doesn't know if you opened the club fact to add loft, you can't take a divot, you don't feel sand when your in a bunker etc. BUT it does most everything a real expensive simulator does. Expensive simulators do it with high speed cameras reading the ball, Optishot does it by reading the club head. Oh and you can't take a divot or hit out of real sand on a $40,000 simulator either. $40,000 VS $399 ... the difference in experience using the units isn't anywhere near the difference in cost. Personally I use foam balls hit into a suspended sheet. I may get a projector down the road but i actually had to buy a computer for the unit because all my home computers are MACS and i didn't want to use bootcamp and put Windows on one of my MACS. I don't think it would run as well through bootcamp as using an actual PC. SOOOOOO I spent my projector money on a desktop PC and monitor. The PC is ONLY for the Optishot, it's not used for anything else so i consider it part of the simulator "package." Even though i had to spend $700 on a PC i'm still thrilled with the Optishot. It's NOT real golf but it does give you awesome information in regard to what your club head is doing at impact so you know what you need to fix in your swing and bottom line, it's fun! It's simulated golf BUT you FEEL like you're playing real golf and that's a great feeling in the dead of winter. How can you lose for $399? OH ... It's plastic and some have questioned how strong it is. Well I've hit TONS of fat shots and have been playing almost everyday since December 26th 2012 when i bought it and so far I haven't had any issues! I'm not afraid of wacking it anymore. (I was at first but it's holding up great) So my obvious opinion, go for it, you'll be glad you did. Especially if you're snow bound like me.

My goals are: 1. Play more! 2. Become better than just a bogy player. (I'm currently pretty much a bogy player) 3 "Possibly" become a member of a local golf club and get an official handicap. (I have no idea how to calculate my handicap) 4. TRY to finish my games with the same ball I started with! ;-) 5. MAYBE get some lessons (Cost is a big factor here considering how expensive a simple round of golf can sometimes be)

Hi new member here. I bought an Optishot right after Christmas 2012 and think it's the best $399 I've ever spent on "winter in New England" golf. Sure it has it's drawbacks, for one you can't manipulate the loft of the club by simply opening the face because it doesn't reat that. It doesn't read the ball, it calculates spin by the actions of the club at impact. If you're "in out" for example it calculates the spin you may have given the ball but it doesn't actually read the ball. That's something but it's not totally natural. Also your hitting off a platform, you can't take divots, you can't FEEL the sand when your in the bunker or the tall grass of the rough. BUT you also can't feel those conditions when using top end simulators either. I played at an OPTIGOLF center a few weeks ago. It cost me $25 for 9 holes of simulated golf and you didn't hit out of sand of you were in a bunker, you couldn't feel the resistance of long grass in the rough and also couldn't take divots. So regardless how good or expensive the simulator is and regardless if it reads the ball rather than the club, even on high end simulators you still can't really do things like get under the ball to create backspin, you can't divot and you can't get under a ball in the sand ... so you really have to put things into perspective. The only real golf is real golf, NO simulator is 100% real golf. And REAL GOLF is not possible during a New England winter. For $399 the Optishot tells you the club head speed, face angle, swing path, where you hit the ball on the club face, then calculates that to give you a fairly realistic calculated GUESS what your real world shot would have done. It's 100 times better feedback than we snow bound golfers get from hitting a ball into a net ... or putting our clubs away and not playing until spring. And yes ... like a video game and unlike a hitting net it's FUN! I played a simulated round with my son last weekend and we had a blast. Our results were very similar to our real world results ... we're both generally BOGY players in real life and we are when using the Optishot. It seemed very realistic to our real world results. So is it real golf ... NOPE. NO SIMULATOR is real golf. Can it help your game ... I believe it can, the feedback it gives is useful. Is it fun? Very much so. (I'd say as much fun as paying to play on a pro simulator) Is it better than putting the clubs away all winter? God yes! Again it's the best $399 I ever spend for "Winter in New England " golf.

Thanks ... looks like a great forum! Glad to be a part of it.