New simulator room help wanted (skytrak vs gc2)(tgc vs jnpg)

[Carlbren21]

I am in the market for a new launch monitor setup. I have been reading through the forums and it seems that this is the place to be! I am a scratch golfer swaying into plus handicap depending on the year and how much, if any, practice I am able to do throughout the year (wife, 3 kids, and 3 businesses take up a lot of time 😂😂).

We recently moved to a new home that has a perfect room for a simulator, about 25x30 with 12ft ceiling in the middle third. So, I am on the market for a simulator setup. I have a projector, screen, computer, and currently an optishot. The optishot got real old, real fast. As a decent golfer, it isn't hard to tell that the readings weren't close on most shots. As such, I am loiking to upgrade to a skytrak or gc2. Money isn't necessarily an issue, however I also don't believe in spending unnecessary money. I was hoping to get your input, and also to see if you had anything available that could help me out moving forward. Here is how I envision the use of the simulator.

1. Me and friends/family would be greatly interested in simulated rounds, and also online tour play. Most of us are good golfers. Family is in the learning stage, all under 10. Which would be best and most accurate for this use?

2. I can see using it outdoors for lessons I give and/or receive. Ibheard the gc2 is much better in thus area? Most of the use though would be indoors.

3. Have both left and right handers that ivplay with? One better than another at accommodating?

4. TGC vs jnpg. Which is better and has a more active tour following? Really excited about competing online.

5. Gc2 cost of device doesn't concern me. The cost of software on top of that does. Is fsx necessary to play TGC and jnpg? Wouldbtgat software even be necessary at all?

6. I heard aeroburner was the man to talk to about equipment but I wasn't able to message him direct!

I can provide more info and pictures of my room if that would help but this is a start. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!

[andygg1986]

I will take a shot at answering at least some of your questions.

1. TGC is great for simulated rounds. There is an online tour run by this forum, but only you will be able to play. You can set up tournaments yourself if you just wanted it to be you and your friends. TGC also has a good selection of short courses, but everyone has to play from the same tees for now. TGC2 is supposed to address that soon. When you say accurate, do you mean accuracy of course recreations or ball flight? TGC has tons of courses that are user-created. You have to find the good ones, but guys on here can be helpful with that.

2. The good thing about GC2 outdoors is that you have a larger area to put the ball down. If you are on mats it doesn't matter as much, but on grass you won't want to hit out of your previous divot.

3. Neither one is going to be great for left/right handed play. Some people swing over the top of their GC2 to handle this. Not sure if you can do that with Skytrak

4. This forum is run by TGC and they don't like comparisons being made because it devolves into name calling and overall negative threads. You can check the tournament page on here and see how many people play any given week. It is usually 100+ with maybe 10-20 guys who would be as good or better than you (scratch golfer)

5. You don't need FSX for TGC. There is just a $1k one time purchase of TGC. JNPG is $250/year, so it depends on which pricing model you like. If you buy a new GC2 from foresight I think they make you buy FSX. You can buy a refurbished one from them without it.

6. Aeroburner had bought up a bunch of used GC2s when Golfsmith went out of business and was selling them for a while. I think he still buys and sells used ones but not to the extent that he was. There is one for sale right now in the classified section for $4k which is a good price.

[Kent]

I don't have any experience with skytrak, but I have a GC2 so I can give you some feedback on that.

1. I have 3 boys that play on the simulator with me and they are 7, 8, and 13. The GC2 works great and is very accurate.
2. I actually haven't taken my GC2 outside, but it is very accurate indoors
3. It sounds like you have enough room to accommodate swings from both sides. You would need to move the unit(GC2, Skytrak) from one side to the other to switch hands. I believe something fixed like Protee may work better or the new GCHawk.
4. I only have experience with TGC and there seems to be a large active tour.
5. You don't need FSX to play TGC. TGC comes with GSX which allows the GC2 to communicate with TGC.

[Carlbren21]

Thanks so much for your help, and I apologize about asking for comparisons between the tours. I didn't realize the TGC one was actually a part of this site. That is a bummer that friends and I couldn't play in the same tourney at the same time. Do you know if this will be an option down the road? Without asking you to tell me which one is better, because what I have read, it is 6 on one, half dozen on the other, do you know if jnpg allows multiple players to play in the same tourney, from the same simulator, at the same time? I maybe purchasing both anyway, as I see value in options.

Concerning TGC tourneys and casual play. The license is a one time fee per simulator? In other words, I could buy the license, then have as many users come over and play on the same license, correct? They wouldn't all have to purchase their own accounts? Anything else I am missing?

Does TGC have practice ranges? Are they pretty solid for practicing, and display a decent amount of information? I have heard FSX is good for it's practice options/range, but not sure it is worth the price tag. Just trying to gather the value behind a $3,000 purchase of FSX.

Would you say, that from what you have seen of my intended uses, the GC2 would be worth the extra price? I have been going back and forth. I know I would likely be happy with either decision I make once it is in my hand, but I typically suffer from paralysis by analysis when it comes to purchases like these, and I just want to get something up and running!

I have uploaded a picture of my somewhat blank canvas. Won't start finishing until I get it all planned out!

[andygg1986]

I'm not sure about JNPG tournaments. For TGC, the fee is per simulator. When you start a round you can add guest players, but you won't be able to save them for future use. There have been requests to have multiple profiles for personal play so that you can track stats of you, your wife, your kids, etc. I don't know if that will happen or not in TGC2.

TGC has practice ranges. It will show stuff like carry, roll, offline distance as well as the GC2 parameters like ball speed and spin after each shot. There isn't a great way to find averages or trends though, which is where FSX is supposed to be better. In TGC, you can select your club before hitting. Then you can go online and download a text file which has all of your shot data. Someone on here had written some scripts to read through the text file and give you statistics from it, but I have never tried that. You could do basic stuff in Excel by sorting by club and then calculating averages and such. You can also go to a course and just keep hitting from the same spot if you want to work on a particular distance with a green, bunkers, etc.

Personally I would spend the extra money to get a used GC2 or refurbished one. Having to buy FSX with a new one would make it too much more money for the value for me. They hold their value well so you can recoup some of your investment down the road. I have also heard that the short game is more enjoyable with GC2 because it does better at reading short shots, and as a scratch golfer looking to improve you would probably appreciate that.

[Carlbren21]

Thanks so much for your information and willingness to help. So, would friends be able to come over and play in online tourneys, just not at the same time? We would need to take turns? Perhaps someone could play nine, save it, then switch to the next? Just trying to think of a way to let others enjoy the online tourneys when they come over without being isolated in the room by themselves. This site has been a great tool for deciding, though it could end up costing me a lot more money in the end!!

[Tommyseb]

Both sim software options require the game to be bought from steam in addition to the cost of the sim licence, so maybe buy both and have a play with them with the mouse and keyboard to see what you like, also for 'the other software' there is a week trial for gc2 users for $20 so you can try it without committing to the full years fee. Search for online golf and you'll find their forum if you want more info on the other software option

ive got both the sim options, on tgc I've only played online completions solo, but on the other software I have had friends over and can set up local profiles for each player, and they can play comps on my gc2

[CW35]

I will echo the GC2 comments from andy and Kent. If its in your budget, go with the gc2. You can either find a used one or buy a refurb (which i did). As for left/right handed play, some people build a DIY turntable type device to rotate the launch monitor for the other person to hit. It looks like you have the width to put the LM in the middle and have people swinging from both sides.

The driving ranges in TGC are acceptable in that it gives you the most recent shots data. If you are looking to compile that data for avgs, trends, etc which could be used for improving specific areas you could always use the Foresight app. Its free and will give you all of that data and will compile it. The extra $$ for FSX just for the range is not worth it.

For tourneys w/ friends, you just add them as a guest and then load the tourney and play. You would take turns just like in real life but as andy said only your profile would save (in TGC).

[CBearsSB]

To do left and right hand you need either have two GC2s or constantly move one back and fourth. Neither of these options are practical in my opinion. Foresight has the new GCHawk which is a fixed ceiling monitor that is coming out soon. It is described on their website. I believe will capture both ball and club data. This is a good option for left and right hand golfers. Another option for left/right is Trackman.

[Carlbren21]

I will echo the GC2 comments from andy and Kent. If its in your budget, go with the gc2. You can either find a used one or buy a refurb (which i did). As for left/right handed play, some people build a DIY turntable type device to rotate the launch monitor for the other person to hit. It looks like you have the width to put the LM in the middle and have people swinging from both sides.

The driving ranges in TGC are acceptable in that it gives you the most recent shots data. If you are looking to compile that data for avgs, trends, etc which could be used for improving specific areas you could always use the Foresight app. Its free and will give you all of that data and will compile it. The extra $$ for FSX just for the range is not worth it.

For tourneys w/ friends, you just add them as a guest and then load the tourney and play. You would take turns just like in real life but as andy said only your profile would save (in TGC).

Thanks for the info. So, to clarify, friends could play in TGC tourneys, but results wouldn't be saved? A turntable sounds interesting. I wouldn't think it would be that hard to build. Do you have to do anything else on screen when switching directions, or does the gc2 automatically recognize it? Thanks again. You guys have been great.

I don't think I'm ready to make the trackman or other 10,000+ lm jump. That's a lot of coin to swallow for an amateur golfer.

[CW35]

Correct, only your results would pull to leader boards, etc. Basically, they are just playing with you. I don't believe anything else is needed when the gc2 is turned to the other side. Once it picks up the ball in the field of view it should be good to go.

The GC Hawk as noted above is definitely an interesting product which will take care of the lefty/righty issues, however, it supporsedly will be priced similarly to a Quad. In addition, i'm sure they will block 3rd party software just as they've done w/ the Quad. Time will tell I guess for this...