Golf simulators are fast becoming popular among golf enthusiasts. Not just PGA golfers and golf teachers, it can be the best friend of amateur golfers as well. With a good-quality golf simulator, your indoor golf experience can be as fun as on a real golf course and allow you to enter online events and play with your friends in real-time. Not to forget, it has the immense potential to improve your swinging skills by giving you realistic feedback on your shots and ball data.
However, if you are planning to buy your first ever golf simulator, there are certain things you should be aware of. Playing with a golf simulator has certain differences from playing on the field. To help you understand the differences, we present you with a complete guide of what you should expect from a golf simulator versus playing out on the field.
Getting The Feel
Perhaps the most significant difference between a golf simulator and real golf is the feel. The simulation is not exactly where you are used to seeing while playing on the field. Experienced golfers can tell that they can sense a distinct feel while preparing for a swing. For example, the contour of their target holes, the curvature of the ground, and of course, the environmental factors like wind speed and humidity. It is rather hard to replicate these factors indoor, even with the most advanced golf simulators.
However, this should not be a problem anymore since most high-end golf simulators now contain amazing graphics and display real-life golf courses. Moreover, choosing the right projector and impact screen, combined with high-quality simulator software should help you overcome this problem.
Chipping and Putting
Sometimes using golf simulators can be misleading in terms of practising putting and chipping due to the inaccurate results provided by the launch simulator. This is true because some golf simulators can have a hard time tracking low-speed shots or face difficulties in perceiving virtual depths.
Putting can be difficult with limited depth perception as it is hard to judge the hole distance as well as break of your putt. But such inaccuracies majorly arise due to improper setting adjustments. Therefore, make sure you adjust your indoor golf simulator right. Besides, as you continue to play with the golf simulator. You will gradually get the hang of it.
A Perfect Lie!
Unlike golf courses, you get a perfect lie every time you play using a golf simulator. Although some golf simulators will let you simulate a game out of the usual rough, it mostly represents a calculated percentage indicating your total shot distance. The most effective way to turn this difference into a more realistic experience is by using a golf mat containing diverse turf lengths.
Golf simulators are a perfect solution to improve your shots and techniques. Therefore, it is important that you understand the nuances of the technology right, so that you can efficiently translate all your skills acquired from the simulator into real-life techniques once you get back on the real grass.