Golf simulators have come a long way in just the past few years. While they still are not perfect, they have gotten extremely good and accurate to what you would expect your shot would do on a real course. Over the entirety of an 18-hole round of golf on a golf simulator you can expect a few shots that you thought may have gone differently on a real course but for the most part they are in line with what your shot would do in real life.
Arguably the best thing about golf simulators is that you can play a full round in a fraction of the time. If you spend four or five hours playing 18 holes, you might cut that down to an hour or less on a golf simulator. Additionally, you can play some of the best courses from around the world straight from your house.
Are Golf Simulators Accurate?
The answer to the ultimate question if golf simulators are accurate is yes. For the most part, the majority of golf simulators have been rigorously tested and are backed by some of the best and latest technology that allows them to be not only accurate but extremely accurate. If they were not accurate they wouldn’t be so popular among golfers who take golf very seriously. The first thing that a hardcore golfer would notice is if their shots were off even by yards compared to what they are used to. These golf simulators will be accurate down to the specific club and distance you are accustomed to hitting.
The Technology
Golf simulators all come down to how good the technology is. The majority of golf simulators on the market today all have four things that make them incredibly accurate. The first thing is the cameras that take high speed pictures throughout your swing to give club and ball speed data. Doppler radar then tracks the ball while it is in the air to get even further data on your shot. Hitting surfaces also have optical sensors that track your club and ball as you swing through the mat. Lastly, infrared lights track the ball as they pass through them to get an accurate ball speed, direction, and angle.
The most important thing to make your golf simulator setup as accurate as possible is to actually set it up as it should be. If something is off with how it is initially set up, the whole system can be displaying some inaccurate results. Some golfers say that they hit shorter on golf simulators but that is likely just due to the fact that they take something off their swing when hitting indoors or swing harder when they are in some thick grass playing outside.
