How Much Has Your Sim Helped Your Game?

[3on3putt]

Interesting thread... I am just in the process of building a sim room in my new house build. Going a Uneekor EyeXO build.

I live in Australia so not sure the same indexes / handicaps apply but about 20 years ago I was playing off 7 (shooting high 70's) on one of Melbourne's famous sandbelt courses. Then family happened and like everyone, priorities changed.

I am now at a point where my kids are fully independent, so getting back into the game... I reckon I would go around in the mid 90's now, as until recently I am only playing social golf once every 3 months or so. My reason for the sim was to get the ability to practice, and have a bit of a social hit with some friends over good food, good drinks and plenty of laughs.

I am hoping that the sim will improve my game tee to green, but am I right in saying that because the mechanics of chipping and putting are so different on a sim, that the short game improvement will only come with time on the real life course itself? That has been my assumption.

I will install a putting green in the sim room just to get the putting stroke nailed... but I was thinking with the sim to just bypass putting as it would add negligible value. Can you tell any of the more popular sim softwares (TGC, E6 etc) to just add on a certain number of putts for a certain distance (like 1 putt anything inside 6', 2 putt anything inside 40' etc?

You can select auto putt and set it up for number of putts per distance or whatever like you said. Putting on the sim isn't done for the purpose of trying to improve your putting. It's just done for the fun of playing the game. If you have a good setup for putting (a good putting surface that extends from the hitting mat to the screen) and a launch monitor that reads putts well (some are better than others with putting) then putting on the sim is actually quite fun. And if you want to play in online tournaments, putting is required.

[JNewman1909]

Interesting thread... I am just in the process of building a sim room in my new house build. Going a Uneekor EyeXO build.

I live in Australia so not sure the same indexes / handicaps apply but about 20 years ago I was playing off 7 (shooting high 70's) on one of Melbourne's famous sandbelt courses. Then family happened and like everyone, priorities changed.

I am now at a point where my kids are fully independent, so getting back into the game... I reckon I would go around in the mid 90's now, as until recently I am only playing social golf once every 3 months or so. My reason for the sim was to get the ability to practice, and have a bit of a social hit with some friends over good food, good drinks and plenty of laughs.

I am hoping that the sim will improve my game tee to green, but am I right in saying that because the mechanics of chipping and putting are so different on a sim, that the short game improvement will only come with time on the real life course itself? That has been my assumption.

I will install a putting green in the sim room just to get the putting stroke nailed... but I was thinking with the sim to just bypass putting as it would add negligible value. Can you tell any of the more popular sim softwares (TGC, E6 etc) to just add on a certain number of putts for a certain distance (like 1 putt anything inside 6', 2 putt anything inside 40' etc?

[Driver73]

Just recently started to use the Skytrak, but I definitely can see it being an advantage. Being able to see your numbers and try to optimize them is nice as well as being able to practice 100 yards and in should be a benefit. I just started to learn how to hit draws and fades on command where as before it was all by accident when I wouldn't want them, so being able to try them on the sim and seeing it and then take it to the course was great.

[Needsmoreeagles]

Well my best personal round has been a 79 (+7 1x and +8 2xs). Prior to owning a sim I might get close to beating it a few times per year (maybe). I have had my SIM since April and I have now shot a 73 (+2). I chalk it up to practice. Practice = Confidence. Been striking the ball really well. The feedback that SkyTrak provides is so much better than just blasting away on the range IRL.
Followed the 73 with an 82 and I lost 4 balls. I must be getting better.

[richerod]

Sim play/practice has led to big improvements with the driver on the course. Definately finding more fairways. Also seen some modest gains with pitching and chipping. Haven't seen it translate into crisp iron play yet.

[3on3putt]

Would it be fair to say that SIM golf would/should show the greatest improvement for higher handicap golfers? Those of you with single-digit indexes are already striking the ball very well for the most part, especially those of you sub 5. I would imagine, and hope for my sake, that someone with a 15 plus handicap should see a nice improvement just from the improved ball striking, shot feedback, and ability to practice more?

I would tend to agree, but that is true of golf practice as a whole and not just sim practice. Going from a 15 handicap to a 10 is nothing like going from a 5 to a scratch. The better you get, the less room for improvement and the harder it becomes to shave off strokes. And that's true whether you're spending most of your time on a sim or outdoors on the course.

My own personal experience with my sim has been this =

I was about a 7 handicap when I got my setup completed and started playing and practicing regularly in there while not playing much outdoor golf at all.

As a result, I began hitting the ball better than ever (even better than I did when I was a 5 handicap a few years earlier). However, I developed some bad chipping habits playing TGC2019 all the time and it really got exposed last week when I went on a mini golf excursion with a buddy. We played 4 rounds and every round was the same theme. Hit it awesome (longer off the tee than I've ever been in my life) but was just a wreck around the greens. Even the most routine up-and-downs were anything but routine. Something about chipping on the mat all the time for the last year (and only chipping on grass maybe 6 times) ingrained some weird scoopy chipping action that does not transfer well to grass (especially tight lies). So while I hit it probably better than ever for 4 rounds, my scores were roughly the same because my short game was such a chaotic mess.

So to summarize, my sim has been amazing for my full swing game but I've definitely taken a step backwards in my short game. Chipping and pitching and bunker shots are just harder to simulate indoors. That being said, you aren't really going to practice chipping on a sim. I just play a ton of TGC so I'm chipping a lot in there. And of course, this isn't necessarily true of everyone. Just my experience about 14 months into it.

[agent0024]

Would it be fair to say that SIM golf would/should show the greatest improvement for higher handicap golfers? Those of you with single-digit indexes are already striking the ball very well for the most part, especially those of you sub 5. I would imagine, and hope for my sake, that someone with a 15 plus handicap should see a nice improvement just from the improved ball striking, shot feedback, and ability to practice more?

[Sixmudd]

How much was the GCQuad mate?

US price is $11k for the unit, and another $3k for fsx2020. Club data is another $4k. So all in $18k for the unit, software and club data add on.

Putting data is another $3k I think.

[David Williams 'Chips']

I purchased SkyTrak in Feb 2019 and was a 22 handicap. I am now down to a 16. Just before the end of 2019 I purchased the GCQuad Holiday Bundle. The GCQuad is amazing With the club data I know this will bring my handicap down quicker.

How much was the GCQuad mate?

[trhuke]

I think the sim has helped my outdoor game quite a bit. I'm hitting the ball much more consistently and have built my swing speed back up 4-6 mph since I bought the SkyTrak. Cleaned up my turn and timing and its worked out nicely. I find my chipping and putting haven't gotten better (or worse) but I think that's the nature of the beast, it's hard to get the depth perception you need for chipping and putting. Chipping "touch" is the last thing I get back at the start of the season on a real golf course, I don't think the sim helps or hurts that.

Too bad the "Q" key to view putts/chips from different angles doesn't work around the green in 2019 the way it did in TGC, I use it a lot in TGC but it is worthless in 2019.

[Wizard of Coz]

I dropped from a 3 to 0.4 with skytrak, skypro and range work. 2018 played many rounds outdoors.

Added sim winter 2018 summer of 2019 didn't play outdoors much because i was playing so much sim golf. Lost my summer. Hdcp up slightly from lack of play outdoors. 1.7 still lower than b4 LM.

[DougieMn]

I don't play a lot of rounds but find myself hitting a ton of balls via the range. If you practice incorrectly nothing will change!

Looking for an online coach!

[Bender96]

It took me a couple weeks to get down under par. Mostly getting used to the short game and putting. I am not consistently throwing in mid 60s but once you get used to short chips and green speeds, I find thats when you start to have better looks at low rounds

[shwag33]

I'm a 6 in real life as well, but i'm just finally breaking into the 60's in sim golf, how long did it take you to transition.

[Bender96]

This is my first offseason with the sim. I am a 6 hdcp In outdoor golf and am shooting mid to low 60s on TGC so I fully expect to be breaking course records and hunting a 59 next season of outdoors. 😂