Estimated simulator handicap to real life conversion

[Monovision]

I know they're different games, and the sim preferentially covers over some real life golf weaknesses, but does anyone have an estimation of converting sim handicap from the tour to real life handicap?

[Jwheels9876]

I'm a scratch in the sim and a 1 in real life. I must be doing something wrong. lol

No, you're doing something right. I'm way too inconsistent. The other day on the back 9 of a course I was even par through 7 holes then tripled the 17th sne bogeyed the 18th. That's why I'm a 15 and not a 4 or 5 lol. Way too many penalities off the tee (usually 2-3 a round) I got the hooks lately which are killing me. And I'm 3 putting 2-3 times per round and a couple of bad chips a round cost me a few strokes. I waste 6-7 shots per round on average on those things and shoot 85 ish mostly. So I know I can get into the 70's but its gonna take smart play and limiting my mistakes perfectly.

[dagratest816]

this is my irl golf game to a T...penalties, not chipping close to the flag and then a 2 or even worse 3 putt....if i could somehow limit penalties and get more GIR i feel like my scores would drop considerably and quickly. looking at my 18birdies stats...avg penalties from last 5 rounds is 5.4 penalties a round. for comparison (im a hack when it comes to golf btw lol) my worst round in a long time happened last week new golf course was terrible off the tee and had tight lines in to the fairway hook right or go left the ball was lost. i shot a 115 terrible i know my stats i had was 1 GIR 33 putts 7 chips and 14 penalties! the week before that i actually shot my best round ever a 93 (shouldve been lower imo but oh well) I hit less fairways 2 vs 5 on the 115 score, had more GIR's at 4 more putts at 36 more chips at 12 but only 2 penalties (one im still not sure how i couldnt find my ball somebody mustve picked it up lol) but man is it frustrating....

[DirtyGarry24]

I've struggled to take my sim game outside at times. Don't really understand it. I really need to play equally outside and that's often hard for me to do. Too many 4 week stretches without playing outside. That's life though.

[cmckelvmi]

I think there are a few reasons why I play better IRL compared to sim. One is feel, I can read the green undulation and lie of the ball, and take several practice swings to prepare for the shot. Another might be because I walk when I play, so I have plenty of time in between shots. Also, I am afraid to take practice swings during a tournament round on the sim because I don't want some phantom shot to occur.

[triplebogeysrbetter]

I'm surprised people chip better IRL when you get the same exact lie every time in your sim. If anything it's made me struggle outdoors because I'm used to a certain swing off my mat chipping and that doesn't work all the time IRL. You get varying rough lengths and lies outside that you'll never replicate indoors.

I usually struggle with this one on the first couple of holes IRL. The course rough is usually 2.5 - 3 deep and takes me a extra shot or two to get to the green if my drive is in the rough.

A few weeks / months (dont remember) all of local had deep rough due to the constant rains. If you didn't find the fairway it was almost a guarantee extra stroke. Hard to replicate that inside.

[mpendle]

10 shots difference for me. 8.8 on the sim tour and 19 IRL.
Other reasons (not already mentioned) sim is easier for me;
Perfectly flat lies every time, no ball above/below your feet
Being able to align to the same objects in the room every time (for me that's my square mat)
Putts rolling straight every time and being able to get used to reading the gridlines on the green (both when putting and playing approach shots)
In addition to the aforementioned not losing balls, 6ft gimmies, easier sand and chip shots etc.

[BlechBOX]

This is an interesting thread. I was a +5 in sim and it helped me get to a +1 IRL. I think there is a strong correlation between sim and real golf as the sim game can give you confidence to take that game outside. For me it helped me get comfortable being under par.

One major differences is putting on the simulator as I find i rarely misread greens on TGC and I usually make most putts under 10 feet. Thats not the case IRL. Always having a perfect lie with no wind helps too.

[triplebogeysrbetter]

I can wrap it up for myself this way. I suck IRL and the SIM. My excuse to play more of both. :-)

[Sascha1818]

For me it's about the same, I have been between 13 and 14 in real life the last 2 years and between 13 and 17 on TGC. I'm just too inconsistent and don't have enough time. Hardly ever play a practice round for the TGC tournament and usually play all tournament round in one run. IRL I very rarely play another course then the one I'm member at.

[BSCampbell]

Another difference that makes the sim easier, at least on the tour, is no wind. Other than that, I think most everything else has been covered. I fall somewhere in the 5-10 shot window being better in the sim. It might be closer than that but the practice range at our course has been shut down all year and I think that has hurt my game IRL. Good topic!

[bk1106]

I am 11 irl and ~4 sim, so 7 shots better in sim. It also agrees well with the 10% differential on whole round strokes mentioned earlier by BadEddieKit (i.e., 83 irl and 76 sim). Very interesting.

[bballer320xu]

2.5 cap on tour, 7.5 in real life. 10% differential is about right. 6 foot gimmies, easier chipping, and drive recovery after you lose one on the sim all contribute to better scores in my opinion.

[dg_1983]

Interesting!

UK scratch and +3ish on the sim


Agree with alot of what bleechbox said. Driving the ball on tight SIM courses has been good for real life. SIM courses are often longer than home courses (6500+). SIM courses greens are mostly drop and stop so knowing and practising wedge yardages with confidence helps.

I can give or take the putting. Bunker play is absolutely without a shadow of a doubt the most horrible fristrtingf thing about SIM play

[cmckelvmi]

Something else I don't know how to compare with IRL are the rough penalties we have on the sim. Maybe it's due to my inconsistency, but in one 'heavy rough' shot I might take one club stronger and overshoot the green. However, in another 'heavy rough' shot I take a club stronger and it ends up short of the green by 30 yards. IRL it doesn't seem to be so unpredictable, it might be similar to being around the greens and using feel...?

[BlechBOX]

the penalty is always 93% of the registered shot. You can calculate it yourself. Same for light and heavy rough and also bunkers outside of 40 yards (not sure exact yardage if its 4-, 50, or 60). For bunkers inside that yardage it is only 60%. An alternative way to think about it is a 7% penalty and a 40% penalty.

[A.West]

Over 20 for me - I struggle to break 100 IRL but shot in the 70s a couple times in a simulator, where I typically shoot in the low-mid 80s. So at one point I had a 26HC in GHIN, and a 4HC on a simulator tour after a brief string of good play for a month during the winter (after which even my simulator game started falling back). IRL I lose too many balls in the weeds that simulators always find and let me hit with a playable lie. So simulators are much more forgiving for high-handicappers than low-handicappers who tend to hit more fairways and avoid more bad lies. And green-reading is easier on simulators, plus the gimmies. Everything is easier off a level trustrike mat.

[A.West]

Here's my guess at a rough formula: Sim Handicap = ((1/2 real life handicap) minus (lesser of (avg number of monthly rounds on the simulator or 10)))