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Introduction
All golf simulators offer an approximate rendition of the game, and a good golf simulator will be a valuable part of your practice outfit. Golf simulators offer cutting edge technology and features to mimic outside golf, but can never recreate the outdoors.
As we have begun to allude to, golf simulators offer the potential for all zero consequence practice, which is an immense value to the golfer. Moreover, the ability to practice in the comfort of your own home, or garage, will never be an offer that outdoor golf will be able to recreate.
Launch monitors, the main component in most golf simulators, measure the key components of the strike. Specifically, launch and camera based systems, most commonly used in golf simulators, photograph the strike, and measure the ball’s dimples after the strike was made. From that measurement the launch monitor will determine the launch angle, flight direction, and speed. Foresight launch cameras will even analyze ball spin. Using technology, the launch monitor then computes the ball flight as you would have experienced it outdoors.
Your shots are accurately recorded and displayed on the spot. If you hit a draw, you will see a draw. If you come over the top, you will hit shots that go over the top. For the longer shots, this is not an approximation; it is the same physics for the real shot. The swing you groove indoors is the same swing you take outdoors. The feedback is better than the range, where you are mainly squinting to follow the ball as it goes up. (We have written about how virtual coaching is better than range practice in full).
The gap is in the Ground
The biggest difference between indoor and outdoor golf isn’t the scenery, it’s the ground. The lies you play on the outside are never the same, the ball is rarely on a level surface, it rests in the rough, and the fairway is tight, and can even be level to high grass. You make a lot of small adjustments you don’t notice. None of that is there when you play on a mat.
This game is hardest around the greens. The feedback from the turf influences the skill of chip shots and pitches. A screen displays the shot and shows how hard the club was struck, but it will never give you the sensation of successfully nipping a ball off of a tight lie. Putting is even more touch sensitive. Some simulators use putting green controls that are more effective for practicing a stroke than for determining the grain of the putting surface and the green’s slope and break.
Then there’s pressure. A four-foot putt to win your match in front of your friends will make you uncomfortable in a way a quiet room never will. Bad breaks, wind and the walk to a bad hole that you are letting stew will never be fully reproduced by a simulator. Just some of what the solution offers.
There are some areas where
The flat-ground issue is most easily addressed. Zen uses moving platforms that create tilted surfaces for practicing shots with controlled slope. The Swing Stage creates practice stances with controlled slope for practicing shots uphill, downhill, and sidehill. The Green Stage offers an innovative approach to shot practice as described by Zen as “producing millions of shot and putt situations by physically changing the floor and providing breaking putt controls.” This is effective in addressing the issue of slope and lie for putting but will not fully replace the interaction between the ball and your equipment.
So, is it worth it?
Most potential buyers don’t ask that question. What they want is a machine for year-round practice that tracks and measures everything you do. Then the answer is absolutely yes, you should buy one. If you have a real green for practicing your short game, and if you actually get out and play golf, a simulator will be a wise purchase.
Simulators are, at least, a sound investment for golfers in Dubai. There are many months where practice outdoors would be extremely difficult due to the unbearable heat. If the heat is unbearable, you are much better off practicing with a simulator than not practicing at all.
This is a try-before-you-buy kind of purchase we realize how virtual data will feel, we know how moving floors will affect your game, we know how the short game will hold up; you will have to make up your own mind after you have practiced with the simulator. Come to our facility and practice at Jumeirah Golf Estates, test the simulator, and practice standing on our Zen platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
How accurate are golf simulators?
Camera-based systems such as ours, measure both the ball and the club directly at impact. The launch angle, spin, speed, and direction are all measured instantaneously at impact, and system does not have to use a guess to determine where the ball landed. The chip and putts represent the most challenging shots for any system to replicate due to how soft and slow they are.
Does simulator practice help with course play?
For the full swing, I would say almost always, since the data that drives the shot changes is real. Touch on the short game, and reads on the green transfer less to the simulator and benefit greatly from time on the course.
