Need advice, not enjoying GC2

[twalkey71]

I am $15k into my new indoor simulator set up and I am not enjoying it much. I have the GC2, FSX 2018 top of the line hitting platform/mat, screen, projector etc. I am frustrated for a few reasons which I will explain.
1) Range practice: Ball lines up 10 feet to left of target line. When I hit a straight shot it is a parallel line 10 feet to left of center line. Shot are almost always appear to have bad hook. Even when I purposely slice it a little bit it appears as if I really slice it. Hard to feel good about swing and practicing repeatable swing when the feedback feels terrible. I am a 6 handicap and normally have a draw but it works more than fine because my short game is why I am a 6 not a 2.
2) Bought Pebble Beach and I am finding playing the course is not fun because it is so difficult to gauge chipping and sand trap distances. Unless I am on in regulation it is a sure double or triple bogey. Also, can't trust iron distances-maybe it is an elevation thing you have to get used to.
Questions:
1. Are there software settings I can make to make this experience more enjoyable (both range and course)?
2. What is best way to mange chipping
I apologize if i sound like a whiner!
Thank you in advance for you advice!
Rod

[vrpunk]

Have you used to the simulator setup tool ( separate program to FSX) to set the position of your gc2 in relation to your screen.

[twalkey71]

No! Will try that. TY!

[mthunt]

This is mostly set up and partly getting used to being in a room. Google FSX Set up and run the tool. It's crucial and one of the best tools. You can actually have the ball hit the screen and continue on from where it hit. It'll help with hook too.

[StanMI]

Can you please post a link to it ????? I'd like it also.

[sherrow70]

I have FSX 2018 and never liked playing the courses. I had the same problem tee to green is fine but anywhere around the green or putting didn't like. I dont play their courses anymore. TGC and other software is much better for playing and the tournaments are a lot of fun.

[rgstech]

For chipping I've found that you really need to flop the ball onto the green. Bump and runs don't work in FSX the way they do in real life. For putting I've found that if you can get the green speed to simulate your turf speed it makes putting much more enjoyable. The stimp setting on the latest release of FSX 2018 makes this much easier. For example, my screen is exactly 10' away from my ball location. If I set the stimp to 9.5 and putt on a flat green and the ball dies right at the screen, it travels right around 10' in FSX.

[mmlincon]

The new stimp setting is awesome and seems very accurate. I want to do some testing to confirm but it does look good.

I think people who have issues with chipping and pitching are not used to using numbers for it. A lot of people are visual players and you don't get depth perception in the game. That and the ball location is not from the hitting point its on the screen like putting. I find the chipping/pitching in FSX to be the most accurate of all the sims I've played. It does take some getting used to though.

[sherrow70]

To be honest i gave up on it pretty early if i tried to adjust im sure it would get better.

[Golfbeat]

This is mostly set up and partly getting used to being in a room. Google FSX Set up and run the tool. It's crucial and one of the best tools. You can actually have the ball hit the screen and continue on from where it hit. It'll help with hook too.

When I Google this I get Flight Simulator set ups. Do you have a specific link?

[Ookie]

Read the documentation that comes with FSX. It has a clear explanation of how to do it.

[StanMI]

If he got it used he might not have anything.

[vrpunk]

Would like to know where they store the settings, as it is an old tool, but FR1/FSX/FSX2018/Fairgrounds all know how to setup correctly from the tools parameters. Can't find it in registry and its not folder/location specific as the EXE can be run from anywhere. Presume in the windows folder and associates itself to hardware drivers.

[triplebogeysrbetter]

In FR1 it’s in a separate folder.

[rgstech]

The simulator setup tool runs for me everytime I install an update for FSX 2018.

[mmlincon]

Rod, it sounds like you may have the screen offset or your room is offset. Either way the setup tool will adjust this for you, path below. It also sounds like you have lie penalties enabled. you may want to turn those off until you get used to the system. As for chipping you'll have to get used to it. Understand that the ball is not starting from your hitting location. If the ball is on the screen you are hitting from that spot. This messes up most people who come over to play on my system. Once they figure that out they have a much better time with it.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Foresight Sports Experience Components\SimulatorSetupTool.exe

[shellman19]

mmlincon Regarding: "Understand that the ball is not starting from your hitting location. If the ball is on the screen you are hitting from that spot. This messes up most people who come over to play on my system. Once they figure that out they have a much better time with it."

If you would can you please expand on what you mean by this. Sorry Im a little slow on the uptake I guess but not sure if I understand what you are saying and I think it's important that I do. Thanks in advance!

[mmlincon]

look at the bottom of the screen. If you see the ball then that is it's position. If you don't see the ball it is offset to your hitting location which is defined by the setup utility. Say you are 10ft from your screen and you have a 10 yard chip in the game. If you don't see the ball then you have a 10 yard chip from your hitting location. If you see the ball it is already 10ft ahead of your hitting location so you need to adjust for that. At the end of the day the shot is the same but visually you may hit it too far if you are unaware that the ball position is closer to the hole. Make sense?

[shellman19]

mmlincon I got it now! Thank you for explaining. I will keep that in mind next time I play. I certainly find all the touch shots around the green BY FAR the most difficult and frustrating part of sim play!

[Captargo]

I feel your pain - I too had some early buyers remorse or buyers anxiety after investing money in a gc2 and sim setup a while back. When I started in the sim I wasn't coming close to my normal outside distances and typical shot shape at all. It was very frustrating. Things that helped, for me at least.

indoor swing - it is mentioned a lot in this forum and it really was a factor for me. Took me a while, frustratingly longer than I thought, to get comfortable swinging the same speed indoors as I do outdoors. My sim is setup in my garage so I have a lot of room as well. Likely would have been even worse if I was in a smaller room.

Hitting strip - started with a cce hitting mat. The mat is good but really penalized my bad swings - more so I think than than outdoors. Had some wild hooks and slices if my swing was just a little off. For me, switching to a fiberbuilt hitting strip made a huge difference. Much more forgiving and my shot shape is more similar to how I hit outside now

Alignment - getting the gc2 squarely aligned to your hitting surface and the screen was key for me. Sometimes I would be hitting everything right then the next time everything would be left. i pick up and put away my hitting surface each time I play so alignment is always a bit of a challenge. I finally have a "system" (tape, tape measure, laser level) that seems to work quite well. I am confident now that if I am hitting it right or left it is me and not the gc2 :-)

Offset - having the aiming reticle offset was key as well. I have a righty/lefty setup and used to keep the aiming target in the middle of the screen. It made a surprising big difference for me when playing by myself to offset the aim so it was square to where I should be hitting on the screen.

Forum knowledge - there is a wealth of info and very knowledgable people on the forum that go out of there way to help you. You quickly realize you are not alone, that others are typically experiencing the things that you are going through and that there are a ton of people that are more than willing to provide advice and help.

Not sure if any of this helps, but when I read your post, it brought back some "frustrating" memories when I started so I wanted to share this with you. I am very happy now, after going through the growing pains, and the buyers remorse is now long gone

[shellman19]

Captargo Thanks for your post above... lots of good info! Was hoping you would not mind going into more detail of exactly what steps you go through for your topic on "Alignment" above and what you use the different tools for? Thank you!

[Captargo]

I have a sliding platform that my gc2 sits on so I can move it back and forth (toward me or away from me) so I don't have to putt on the fiberbuilt hitting strip.
First, I try to ensure that this platform and the gc2 are square to the hitting area - using a square and a tape measure (lining up both edges of the platform so they are an equal distance from the edge of the fiberbuilt hitting strip.
Second, I take a laser level and line it up to the front edge of the sliding platform so the laser projects onto the screen.Then I confirm or set the distance between the aim reticle in Tgc and laser dot on the screen is the same distance as the distance between the platform/hitting strip
Lastly if things go well when playing, I put a piece of tape down on my hitting platform along the front of the sliding platform, so I don't have to do the First step when setting things up the next time - just line the edge it the platform to the tape
Unfortunately the tape doesn't always stay in place between sessions so sometimes I have to do First step over again :-)
Both steps only take a couple of minutes to do and seems to work quite well for me.
Hope this helps and is understandable

[sherrow70]

I agree a lot with Captargo about the indoor swing. It took a awhile to feel comfortable swing inside. The other thing with me was I bought my GC2 used. It wasnt that old but didnt like a lot of the readings so switched out flash and added the super flash. Things got better. Also I put my GC2 up every time so have to re align everything again. The best way for me is hit some little chips shot straight and see how it reads then some left and do the same. I adjust the unit to depending on the IRL result. After doing this now for over 9 months its very easy to line up.

[mmlincon]

oh yeah, the old alignment issue. Kinda forgot about that. The aim stick with the Quad is a godsend.

[shellman19]

Rod, it sounds like you may have the screen offset or your room is offset. Either way the setup tool will adjust this for you, path below. It also sounds like you have lie penalties enabled. you may want to turn those off until you get used to the system. As for chipping you'll have to get used to it. Understand that the ball is not starting from your hitting location. If the ball is on the screen you are hitting from that spot. This messes up most people who come over to play on my system. Once they figure that out they have a much better time with it.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Foresight Sports Experience Components\SimulatorSetupTool.exe

mmlincon I just tried using the Sim Setup Tool above and made some changes but when I clicked to save the changes it would not take the changes and said I have to be logged on as administrator.... any idea what that is about?

[mmlincon]

Yeah, this one got me again after I rebuilt my pc. right-click it and run as administrator and it will save. Be sure to set the correct unit of measure. I thought mine was set to inches when in fact it was feet. I was about 30 ft in the air teeing off LOL

[shellman19]

Thx gents!

[StuartG]

Really a poor design choice (IMO) by the foresight developers. I ran into the same problem in FR1 and hoped they would have "fixed" that in FSX.