Golf Simulators are Great BUT may not help with...

[Bubba22]

Golf simulators are great but may not help with.....
a. Real golf lie - sand, divot, rough, side hill lies, down hill lies, uphill lie
b. Weather conditions - wet, cold, snow (yah played in snow a few times)
c. Target alignment - One of the biggest challenges for amateurs is target alignment when out on the course. All sims will set the targetline on the screen. Kind of like using alignment sticks out on the course
d. Short game - Some sims better than others. Protee is great for chipping and putting. Putting is aided by the on screen green guide on the break and hill features allowing one to FEEL the putt.

Where golf simulators are great is at ....
a. Grooving ones swing in off season especially
b. Practice/Practice/Practice
c. Online competition - Unbelievable !!!! love the game play and little nerves in tourneys.
d. Just having FUN

This is just for general discussion as I absolutely love my simulator but recognize having played on all simulators that there are limitations. Being able to play in the comfort of ones home is most invaluable.

[jhp016s]

C. Has always been a huge problem for me when practicing at home both before and now that i have a simulator instead of just a net. Because the mat is basically lined up to your target its easy to align yourself (plus I have markings on my mat for stance with each club) with the mat. Additionally with the protee its impossible not to set your club square to the target with the clubface sensors right there! Then when I get to the course all of sudden I have to aim my club face to a target without all the feedback! Yikes! However, once I get that part taken care of the swing I have grooved does produce great results, and the ball flights are really spot on with what I see on the protee.

[Maverick]

So true. My biggest problems are side hill, up hill, and down hill lies. I really need to practice those from those lies. No inexpensive way to similar that.

[Bubba22]

I suppose its just like practicing at a driving range with mats and using the alignment sticks etc. Then get to the real course and suddenly you hit it in a divot, have a sidehill lie and shoot "don't have your alignment sticks then bang, pull to the left etc. For alignment what I have been doing on the sim is picking a mark about 2 feet in front of the sim aligned to the target. I try to reproduce that by doing the same on the real course, ie finding a leaf, pebble, blade of grass that looks aligned to my target. Of course you cant place something there but nothing stopping one from using whatever naturally may align one up.

[Jsgregg]

[quote="Bubba22" post=342]Golf simulators are great but may not help with.....
a. Real golf lie - sand, divot, rough, side hill lies, down hill lies, uphill lie
b. Weather conditions - wet, cold, snow (yah played in snow a few times)
c. Target alignment - One of the biggest challenges for amateurs is target alignment when out on the course. All sims will set the targetline on the screen. Kind of like using alignment sticks out on the course
d. Short game - Some sims better than others. Protee is great for chipping and putting. Putting is aided by the on screen green guide on the break and hill features allowing one to FEEL the putt.

Where golf simulators are great is at ....
a. Grooving ones swing in off season especially
b. Practice/Practice/Practice
c. Online competition - Unbelievable !!!! love the game play and little nerves in tourneys.
d. Just having FUN FUN FUN!!!

This is just for general discussion as I absolutely love my simulator but recognize having played on all simulators that there are limitations. Being able to play in the comfort of ones home is most invaluable.

[Bubba22]

Then you will love one. Understand the limitations but using it for those reasons are perfect!

[HWoods]

#C or alignment is the biggest factor for me. Its so easy on a sim that you don't have to expand energy thinking about it. Especially tee shots with drivers where in real life they mess with your lines with the tee boxes which makes you turn your body offline.

[Bubba22]

Exactly my point Rick. The only thing that has helped me is picking my target in the distance and then finding an object close in front of me that ligns up to that target. then I get square to that object and blast away.

[Maverick]

Winter golf on ProTee plus fine tuning my driver using GC2 and SkyTrak has paid huge dividends. Driver is launching a little higher but much straighter now. Avg 250-260. Less roll than before but I'm in the fairways more now.

August has been a great month for me. Broke 80 4 times. 77, 79, 76, and 77. My HDCP last year was about 11.5. I'm now 8.7. Can't wait for this Winter season.

[Bubba22]

Awesome Z. I have had a great golf year. Looking forward to winter golf as well. TGC here we come!