Using a simulator and/or launch monitor to help improve your game.

[bubba22]

Just hope it will stay!

[psace]

Yes, great scores Bubba. I can't seem to break 83 so far. Maybe I need to play an easier course or just play more often!

[bubba22]

Play more often Psace. Practice that short game. You'll do it!

[ZMax]

My last 5 rounds: 81, 95, 82, 85, 79(this afternoon). Protee has helped a lot, especially online play. Short game has improved but it can always be a lot better.

[bubba22]

Awesome Z. You are right there!

[ZMax]

Thanks bubba22. I'm swinging really good right now with all clubs.

[CPA]

95 the odd one out Z. Bad hair day. Well done.

[ZMax]

Thanks CPA.

[ZMax]

This has been my best year so far. Broke 80 5 times already this year. 4 79s and 1 78. I know it gets harder to improve from here but my goal now is to get to a single digit HDCP. Hopefully Protee online tournaments this Winter will help.

[bubba22]

Fantastic ZMax! Online play is very fun and helpful.

[psace]

Great job Zmax. Happily, I have had a similar year. Bubba is right about the short game. That is where we need to practice to stay in the single digits.

[ZMax]

Thanks psace. Totally agree about short game. I am tired of hitting a great drive then take 3 strokes to go 65 yards.

[psace]

For sure, Zmax. Three putting greens has kept me from having more scores in the 70s. But the simulator won't help that very much. For me the simulator helped the most with shots from 100 yards in, that is until I got on the green.

After this season I feel that I can adjust my settings on ProTee to get more accurate results. I know this is kind of the opposite of this thread but now that I am hitting consistent shots on the real course with all clubs, I feel I can really fine tune my simulator. Last season I had some questions regarding my shot making on the simulator, particularly the distance with the driver and the side spin (left to right) with the longer clubs.

[DjPiLL]

I holed one out for eagle on Purgatory Golf Club hole #6 yesterday. First eagle and first hole out of anything outside a chip. Hole out was with a short iron thanks to a big drive. Have to say the GC2 has definitely helped and hopefully more eagles are in the future.

[ZMax]

Not as good as CPA's GC2 helped me with my hole-in-ones

[CPA]

Have not been trying to hit the pin lately Z. Have gone to a PGA coach and we are 3 lessons in reconstructing a silky swing.
You will have to wait for the video!

[cklguy2013]

So, about 2 months into a Protee system, and just now figuring out how to use it for game improvement (I think.. Lol). The first month or so basically did little or nothing for my game other that create a great deal of confusion, as I tried this and that to try to groove an inside-out swing, as I figured out per the system that I was swinging about 6 degrees outside-in with my Driver.. YUCK!!!! So after trying just about every piece of advise out there to fix the problem, and becoming totally frustrated in the process, I made a discovery. What I found (and this is with a 6 Iron) is that if I did a practice swing without a ball I could I swing inside out, so basically now I take a practice swing with out a ball, then hit a ball, back and forth.. after about 2 weeks of doing this I'm consistently swinging my 6 Iron, with a ball, about 3 degrees inside-out. So I will continue to do this drill for quite some time, hoping to ingrain the move. After that the next thing will be creating more lag in my swing.

So overall, yes if you go about it correctly I think it is possible to improve your game via the use of a simulator.

[syhlif32]

You can put a card box up on the outside of the club path. So that you will hit the box if you swing outside-in.
I had a bad case of too much inside-out. Cut a swimming pool noodle i 6 pieces mounted them on two board with velcro on a couple of planks like on the photo.
swing support.jpg

You can use the simulator with the noodles in place. I cut the angle for a 6 iron and just used small wedges to adjusting the angle for different clubs.
Less than $5 total cost.

I am a fare cry from being a Golf pro. But trying to create more lag will at best be a waste of time.
Generate more club head speed/ rotational speed and you will create more lag.

[Golfmaxxx]

Great idea Sthylif ! how long are your pieces and do they get warped or fly off if you hit them ?

Cheers

[syhlif32]

They are about 10" Just cut one in 6 pieces.
Do not know what happens when you hit them, never did!

Joke aside. No damage when you hit them. But kind of true you will not hit them much after a few hits you want to avoid hitting them and you can put them pretty close together without hitting them.

[nosevi]

I've recently been interviewed on this topic by the guys who sell my launch monitor (GC2). My background is as an air traffic controller and I was an instructor as well as an examiner towards the end of my career (recently left to take up golf more seriously - subject for a different thread I feel). In air traffic we train extensively on simulators in order to build up both skills and confidence before exposing a trainee to the real world where outside factors such as weather and consequences for bad decisions or actions are really there - screw up on a simulator and your instructor has a go, screw up with an airliner and it's a tad more serious. Trainees learn the skills in a sterile environment then implement them in the real world with real pressure.

Golf is no different. You can use a simulator in order to learn the skills you need in a controlled environment before taking those skills out onto the course. You just need to know how to make the transition. What works for most is to train on the simulator as if it's real life and then go on a real course in as close to a mindset that it's the simulator as possible. So on the sim you'd go through a full preshot routine etc then in the real world you'd get into the same bubble (imagine you're just on your mat in your sim) as you are in your sim. This minimises the jump from one to the other.

A simulator isn't a substitute for hitting off grass in a real world environment but if used wisely it can give you far more - the only variable is how you strike the ball, not the lie or the wind or temperature; you know if you get it wrong it's you not the outside world. You then need to transfer that skill into the real world but if you have both confidence and ability built up on the sim, that's not such a big deal. Within a year of getting my initial handicap and starting using my GC2 in this way my lowest score on my home course was 4 under par - trust me, used in the correct manner simulators like the GC2 based systems are worth their weight in gold.

[mthunt]

Are you the inventor of the GC2 or are you Foresight? If you sold two tee markers for a better price, I would have bought them. Honest feedback.

I do like your launch monitor.

[nosevi]

Are you the inventor of the GC2 or are you Foresight? If you sold two tee markers for a better price, I would have bought them. Honest feedback.

I do like your launch monitor.

Nope, I'm just a foresight customer but given my background training on simulators in another field I've spoken to Foresight UK on this subject.

Many people think you can't train for golf on a simulator, it's not as lifelike, not the same pressure, you don't need to deal with weather etc. The thing is they're missing the point. For effective learning to take place it's far quicker to train in a somewhat 'sterile' environment then take those skills out into the real world (or onto the course in this case). Learning techniques can be accelerated if you take away the randomness of the real world and just deal with what you are actually doing yourself.

I played socially for a couple of years off about 18. Then I got my GC2 and basically looking at it in the same way as we would an air traffic simulator I used it to 'learn golf', or at least make a start. Combined with a good instructor I got my initial handicap at 5.5 (about 3.5 USGA equivalent - I'm under CONGU which is a bit different). They are fantastic bits of kit if you know how to get the most out of them.

[mthunt]

Sorry about that nosevi. You said people were selling your launch monitor. I took that literally.

[nosevi]

Sorry about that nosevi. You said people were selling your launch monitor. I took that literally.

Sorry, just meant the people who sell the launch monitor I own

[Mikkaat]

Hi all.

There was some chatter a while ago on another forum about some new sim/lm technology which was coming out. The chatter went DEAD for some unknown reason. The forum was up to date with information on the skytrak release so I stayed true. However now that another release season is nearing, the forum is silent.

Does anyone know where I can find out about new or unreleased or upcoming sim/lm products? Doesn't have to be specifics, chatter will do for now. There are at least a couple of people here that contributed greatly to the other forum, so I am hoping they will know. Thanks in advance.

[AJA]

I've got the distinct feeling that there really isn't anything new on the way.

The "chatter" emanated from one or two people as far as I know. I have not seen a posting from one of them for, it seems, a couple of months.

The other who contributed to the chatter is involved in testing sim technology/software for use with the "SkyTrak".

Most of the promises of new affordable LMs have been just that, promises.

Even the "announced" sim products for SkyTrak have yet to materialize (WGT, TGC) as available and usable products and SkyTrak itself is sufferring from a terrible rollout and a well earned reputation for dismal product support.

[wbond]

Just curious, how is skytrak suffering? Do you have some inside knowledge on their sales? I see current owners who are getting tired of waiting for sim to show up, but there are more people coming on frequently who have just recently purchased it. Ive had mine since the initial preorder deliveries and it's certainly been a bumpy rollout but I don't think they are suffering.

I've got the distinct feeling that there really isn't anything new on the way.

The "chatter" emanated from one or two people as far as I know. I have not seen a posting from one of them for, it seems, a couple of months.

The other who contributed to the chatter is involved in testing sim technology/software for use with the "SkyTrak".

Most of the promises of new affordable LMs have been just that, promises.

Even the "announced" sim products for SkyTrak have yet to materialize (WGT, TGC) as available and usable products and SkyTrak itself is sufferring from a terrible rollout and a well earned reputation for dismal product support.

[AJA]

"Suffering" perhaps wasn't the best word to use, I was referring more about the fact that their roll-out was terrible and their support just as bad. No one knows what SkyTrak sales are or could be. I think it limits them that there is no Android or PC version available.

[AlmaRobert]

Using the simulator last winter allowed me to use swing training aids (the swing extender specifically) to shorten my backswing as I tend to overawing, especially with the longer clubs.