If you are fortunate enough to have used a golf simulator Golf Simulator Enclosures - Golf Bays home practice golf bays – GolfBays, you’ll appreciate how incredible the technology can be. The graphics and data that’s available with today’s launch monitors are amazing – to say the least. Why would you ever need to step out onto a real-life golf course, you might well argue?
Nevertheless, however life-like you make things, the stark fact is that a golf simulator is exactly that – simulation. It might be better, it might be worse, but it is never going to replicate the experience of playing golf outdoors on a golf course proper.
So, what is the difference between the two formats? After all, whether you’re standing in a home golf studio or out on the grassy expanse of a fairway, you’re still hitting an actual golf ball with real clubs, over the same perceived distance.
1. Feel
Perhaps the biggest difference between using a golf simulator Must Have Golf Simulator Accessories – GolfBays and playing real golf is the ‘feel’ you get. As a beginner, it might be hard to appreciate exactly what this means but, if you have been playing the game for any length of time, you’ll understand. Feel can’t really be taught, it can only be acquired or appreciated by playing shots over a prolonged period.
The more often you stand over the ball, looking towards where you are aiming, assessing the lie of the course, the contours, what the wind is doing, you develop an instinctive feel for how you are going to take on that particular shot and how you are going to swing the club.
It’s not as easy to create that feel for the shot when you are playing in a golf studio Custom Simulator Setups – GolfBays, hitting from a flat mat towards a screen Golf Enclosure Impact Screens by GolfBays - Golf Practice Screens. Technology can definitely come to your aid, however. The quality of your simulation equipment will go a long way to helping you replicate the feel for the shot. Indeed, many of our home golf clients report how authentic the indoor golf experience really is.
2. Lie
Unless you live in the United States, in places like Florida, where golf courses are renowned for their flatness, real life golf courses are rarely flat – in fact they are forever undulating and are often extremely hilly.
With a golf simulator, you’ll always be hitting your shots off a pan flat lie. Nevertheless, most simulators do enable you to make allowances for playing out of the rough, normally a calculated percentage for how much distance should be knocked off your shot.
Another option when using a golf simulator, is to invest in a mat with different grass lengths Golf Practice Hitting Mats - GolfBays Golf Training Aids. This is a good way to bring an extra challenge or more authenticity to your shot.
3. Chipping and Putting
Chipping and putting can be difficult on a golf simulator. This is where other specific training aids may be handy.
Having said that, launch monitors Golf Simulator Launch Monitors - GolfBays Golf Training Aids do come in for unfair criticism when it comes to the short game. Whilst they can have a harder time picking up lower speed shots, this isn’t because the simulator provides inaccurate readings, it’s more the case that for you, the player, it can be tricky to get a feel for how hard you need to strike the ball, when you are focussing on virtual depth perception. It can be akin to reading a putt when daylight has all but disappeared towards the end of your round.
From experience, what we can say with confidence, is that judging distances when you are chipping and putting on a golf simulator is something that you should be able to master in a relatively short period of time.
4. The Weather
Come rain, shine or blustery winds, if you are using a golf simulator indoors Custom Simulator Setups – GolfBays, you don’t get to experience any of these weather vagaries.
Whenever you play outdoors, more often than not you will definitely have to contend with variable wind speeds and changes in wind direction. Certainly, it will be of sufficient strength to have an effect on the ball’s flight and distance.
Although you can adjust most simulators to take account of the meteorological conditions, you won’t get that feel of wind, rain or the chill factor when playing in a home golf studio Home Practice Golf Sets - GolfBays golf game improvement tools.
5. Bunkers
For anyone who hates playing out of sand, you can avoid bunkers altogether when you are playing virtual golf.
If your ball finishes up in a bunker on the course you are playing on the screen, unless you dump a pile of sand onto the mat in front of you, in a simulated environment, you’ll be playing a normal chip shot to hit back onto the green or fairway.
Where Golf Simulators have a big advantage
1. Choosing when you play
Playing golf can be a time-consuming business, if you are playing for real. It can take hours out of your day, which is fine if you are retired and have time on your hands but, for many people, spare time and golf don’t always work well together. If you lead a hectic life, but still want to be able to enjoy our great game, this is where golf simulators offer a tremendous advantage How much is a Golf Simulator? – GolfBays. You get to play around your diary. No queueing, no waiting around on congested par 3s with three other groups, no need to settle for tee times that aren’t ideal.
Play on your own and it’s quite possible to play a full round, on one of the world’s most iconic courses, in around one hour. You won’t even lose any golf balls in the process!
And if you are a fair weather golfer, with a golf simulator, you can prevent your game going rusty during the winter months. Watch the rain pouring down outside, whilst you tackle Augusta inside.
2. Shot Data
We’ve mentioned this subject in previous blogs, but it’s important to remember. If you play golf out on the course, other than guesswork and a sympathetic word from a playing partner, you have no access to any data which will tell you why you’ve just hit consecutive shots into the water.
With a golf simulator, you have the perfect opportunity to fine tune your game because you can analyse every shot, every swing, every wayward drive Collections – GolfBays - with instantly available info. There is no better way to make fast improvements to your game.
In Conclusion
It’s said that playing on a simulator makes the game of golf easier, compared to playing for real. True, you don’t experience the weather conditions, the bunkers, the slopes and the various cuts of rough Artificial Grass - GolfBays Practice Astro Turf & Putting Mats. This makes simulator golf a little more straightforward. Chipping and putting can be trickier indoors, however – certainly until you get “the feel” for it. Overall, then, your scoring should end up being pretty comparable between simulator golf and real golf.
BUT, when it comes to convenience and making improvements to your game in a fun and relaxed environment, a simulator gets the green jacket every time. And today, with so many golf simulator packages available Simulator Room Bundles – GolfBays, there has never been a more cost effective and opportunistic way to enjoy playing the wonderful game of golf.
If you would like further information about the best type of golf simulators for your requirements, call Golf Bays UK on 0800 288 8805 or contact us by email: sales@golfbays.co.uk
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