VR/AR sim

[Morini]

A little OT, but just some thoughts.

I just got my kids the Oculus Quest VR headset. It is the wireless one powered by a Snapdragon Mobile chip.

A couple of general takeaways: It is cheap, the display is great, the graphics look surprisingly good, and the controllers track very well.

More golf specific takeaways: It totally messes with my sense of place and space. I played a fishing game, and I lost the sensation of being in my cramped and cluttered den, and psychologically transported myself to being on a lake shore in the evening with a fishing rod in my hand.

Why not a golf club?

• It will totally remove indoors swing syndrome as you truly feel that you are in the expanse of a real golf course. This feeling has to be experienced to be appreciated.
• It will replace the cost of projector and screen with a cheap net.
• It is very immersive, which will make it a more realistic and enjoyable experience. A thirty yard short sided pitch over a bunker REALLY looks like a thirty yard short sided pitch over a bunker.
• It can also be social, as you can play in groups with avatars that closely track real player motion. Anybody who has interacted in VR with a real person avatar will know what I am talking about, it is eerie.

The original TGC is actually available as a VR game. It has a few die hard fans, but it didn't sell well, and it had glitches, It would be different if players could hit real balls using ST or other launch monitor to read actual ball speed.

It probably won't work this generation, as the visual tracking of the ball, club and virtual hands is not precise enough. It is possible next generation AR could pass through the 6 by 6 feet hitting area, so players see a real ball, but everything else would be immersed in virtual golf course.

It is probably a fantasy, and will never have large enough market to be viable. I can dream, however.

[Trickle007]

VR gives me massive headaches.

[Jerome]

I have and play TGC VR on Oculus Rift. It is good fun but not very much like real golf. I do think AR with real balls, clubs and a launch monitor is possible today.
I've been thinking about this for a while, my ideal:
AR/VR headset would be "clear" during swing and strike. Clear mode would automatically triggered based on head tracking position.
Headset would go full VR after strike:

• No need for screen or projector
• Hit into cheap net
• No chase cam(would make most sick)

Reading putts would be far more realistic.

I don't think the above would fix ISS and would likely introduce an additional, to be named later, syndrome.
Market for such a system would be very small. Maybe I'll build it, just for fun, after I retire.