Architecture via Simulator

[Jason Thurman]

I've started playing simulator golf since winter got rolling.


I was able to play The Old Course in 3 hours with my mother, who walks at about 1.5 mph and flies her driver 85 yards these days. It was miraculous.


I drove through 3 inches of freshly accumulated snow and played Harbour Town in 45 minutes.


My top simulator course so far is Chicago GC. It's riveting tee to green, and that part of a course shines through pretty well in VR. Scenery, slopes, and variety of lies obviously don't, but you can squint and imagine.


I enjoy it as a winter activity that maintains feel and indulges an architectural interest. Anybody else?

[Thomas Dai]

Indoor golf on a quality simulator is fine by me and preferable to outdoor play on a muddy course on a cold winters day or visiting a driving range.
The clever techie aspects likely get most of the attention but the quality of the mat is pretty important and they wear out quite quickly. As for putting, I don't bother.
Each to their own though.
atb

[Brad Tufts]

I've been playing once a week with some guys at a simulator place, and I find it curious.


I don't like that the ball carries 220 for me even though it normally goes 260+ with roll.  Outdoors you don't get as much sense for actual carry/roll numbers


I find the short game aspects maddening, as you have to hit pitches and chips without much feel, and that is my strength on an actual course.  If I was to have a simulator handicap, I bet I'd be easily 3-4 shots higher than I am for real.  We play mostly scrambles for this reason as stroke play would take forever.


Architecture-wise, it seems to work best on undulating but not severe sites.  I've played a place like Reserve at Moonlight Basin with hundreds of feet of elevation change, and it's just weird.

[Tim Martin]

I’ve only done it once recently at a bachelor party and I didn’t find it that compelling. The course we played was Royal Melbourne West and my impression before playing was that the images would be sharper. That said the social component seems like the best reason to check it out/play.

[David_Tepper]

Speaking of which, has anyone been to the Hangar Club in Colorado?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1iw6HAl4GI

[astavrides]

Coincidentally, I almost started a thread about this a couple days ago.
I've only done it a couple times, but I 'played' Pebble the other day.
Simulators are a little funky, but it's a decent way to 'play' some courses on the cheap (depending a bit on what the facility charges per hour) without travelling.

[Matthew Rose]

I'm not a huge fan of it; I've done it a handful of times and while I think it is kinda fun, the novelty seems to wear off quickly.

I think I would probably enjoy it more if there was a better way to chip and putt; that is where the real disconnect is, for me. And i'm not a fan of hitting off of mats, either.

The great irony in all this is that I produce course content for Trackman.

[Joe_Tucholski]

I built a simulator room in my house and use GSPro software.  I don't really love it, but it has some entertainment value.


I've played a couple courses on the simulator before playing the real courses and it did help a little bit with regards to where to hit my shots.


I'm finally heading to the Masters and have played Augusta a dozen times since finding out I'll be going so it is fun in that respect.


Also "building" out my home course with lidar which is kind of an interesting exercise.


I said it before but when I lived in Korea screen golf was way more popular than traditional golf (that was 10 years ago now).  The craze seems to be coming to the US as it's become more affordable for home use with launch monitors that allow simulator play as low as $600.

[Kalen Braley]

I'd agree with Matt here on both the novelty and very sub-par chipping and putting aspects (not that it's anyone fault, I don't know how you replicate actual play on and around the green)

As for simulators I'd rank them using a slightly modified Doak Scale 2 definition:

"A mediocre golf course experience with little or no architectural interest, but nothing really horrible. As my friend Dave Richards summed up: "Play it in a scramble with friends, and drink a lot of beer."

[Cal Carlisle]

In no way is it a substitute for real golf, but in my part of the world? At this time of year? It's better than nothing.

I like it for the tee and fairway shots. It gives me something to aim at rather than just mashing balls. As many here have said, the chipping and putting (I set the putting to be an automatic two-putt unless it's within 5' of the hole) are not so good. I often find myself playing Peter Flory's version of The Lido. Some pretty healthy shots on that one.

[John Handley]

I really enjoy playing golf on a simulator.  It's fun when you don't have much time, the weather isn't great or you want to hit balls at night. I've only done Trackman and really enjoy playing the course in GB&I.


Curious, if you played Chicago GC and St. Andrews, what system are you playing on?  What has the best course options?


Certainly not a replacement for real golf but a fun addition in my opinion.

[Matthew Rose]

I think sims are especially popular in colder climates, perhaps unsurprisingly. Trackman is based in Copenhagen, and a great deal of our courses tend to be ones from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and even a few from Iceland. Of my own projects I've probably done more Swedish courses than any others. We definitely have a very strong client base in Scandanavia and surrounding areas.

[Joe_Tucholski]

Curious, if you played Chicago GC and St. Andrews, what system are you playing on?  What has the best course options?

I'm using GSPro and very happy with the software.  It has Chicago Golf but not a ton of courses in the UK and Ireland (it does have Royal Dornoch).


The course list can be found here:  https://simulatorgolftour.com/courses/  It has a pretty broad array of courses that are tested prior to being put up for download (unlike TGC which has tons of courses but some are pretty bad).  There are pretty detailed instructions online on building your own course if you're interested and it's relatively easy to use publicly available lidar data to build a course (tough to get the details like trees, bushes, benches, and other peripheral things).


Some of the courses use alternate names (I'm assuming for legal reasons).

[Peter Sayegh]

Never experienced simulated golf. I don't think I would enjoy it.

https://www.doubleeaglenc.com/


Never heard of this place before, but a local recommended it. Don't know how long it's been there, but I may check it out.
Anyone here been there or know the technology?