Golf Practice Routines At Home
Thanks to technology, golf is a year-round activity for many golfers, regardless of where they live in the United States. Public courses and private clubs are installing indoor simulators, like the Foresight GCHawk SIG 12, in unused areas of their facilities, or they’re building new infrastructure to accommodate such amenities. Stand-alone simulator studios are cropping up all over the place, and even bars are utilizing every last bit of available space to give patrons the opportunity to tee it up after the sun goes down.
But what we’re seeing more of is the die-hard golfers adding indoor golf simulators and practice setups in their homes. Whether it’s in the basement, den, or garage, playing and practicing golf without leaving your house was gaining some traction before the pandemic, and has absolutely blown up since COVID entered our world.
As is the case with mobile phones, indoor golf simulators were once considered a high-end luxury only destined for the most affluent economic demographic. Today, they are more affordable, easier to add to a multitude of spaces, and definitely more user-friendly than before. With the extensive knowledge and expertise of golf technology professionals like ours at The Indoor Golf Shop, consumers are more comfortable with the process and happier with the end result.
The indoor setup isn’t too complicated. The simplest and most cost-effective plans call for a net, a hitting mat, a launch monitor, and a device to stream the image of your shots and resulting data. There are easy to use and portable launch monitors like the Garmin Approach R10, the Rapsodo MLM2PRO, and the FlightScope Mevo+2023, that range in price from $600 to $1,200. The next level up includes the new SkyTrak+, Uneekor EYE Mini, Bushnell Launch Pro, Full Swing KIT, and Foresight GC3 that range from just under $3,000 to $7,500.
The higher tier of launch monitors include Uneekor EYE XO2, Flightscope X3, TruGolf Apogee, Foresight GCQuad, and the aforementioned GCHawk, which all fall in between $10,000 and $20,000.
Of course, as you peruse this website, you’ll see a plethora of other options and add-ons that provide many additional features and accessories. After all, the benefits of investing in a home golf simulator are plentiful – a better golf game, time well spent with family and friends, and fulfillment of a love for the game when you just can’t get enough of it the more traditional way.
Our professionals will help you design your indoor simulator space and build it from scratch. But for your general knowledge, we have provided some valuable information on our website in March of 2023.
As a general rule when gauging your at-home golf simulator options, you’ll need a space that is at least 12 feet wide, 18 feet deep, and nine feet high. If you can leave more room across these dimensions, you’ll surely enjoy more options and a better user experience, as these are minimal dimensions to consider. Going bigger means you’ll have room for a build-out that includes a high-quality hitting screen, side panels to protect your home’s walls, a protective cover to prevent skied shots from hitting your ceiling, and a base to ensure your flooring remains intact. Of course, these add-ons come at a greater cost. Figuring out the purpose of your investment helps determine how deep to go with the expenses. Group simulator play on multiple worldwide courses and a stellar social experience means these added features are a must. Whereas, simply working on your individual game with a handful of swings every day could warrant the more streamlined, bare-bones setup that we mentioned earlier. Figure out your why, where, and how much and you’ll be able to figure out if you need a small, medium, or large setup.
Of course, much of this information could apply outside your home as well, in your backyard or other free space around your property. The required dimensions are less important in this case, but other factors come into play – electricity and power, sunlight, weather protection, and proper ground to support your hitting mat.
Once you turn your attention to the launch monitor device itself, you’ll again need to gauge your needs and your budget. From there, the vast list of options will be conveniently more focused.
When window shopping, make sure the technology covers the basics – swing speed, ball speed, carry distance, total distance, angle of approach, and ball flight trajectory. More intricate models will display shot dispersion and take into account temperature and wind if outdoors and the type of ball (if on a driving range).
As is always the case, you should practice with a purpose. That means not just hitting ball after ball, but instead implementing drills and a practice regimen into your daily or weekly routine. Try these drills when practicing:
Drill One:
Speed sticks – There are several brands (SuperSpeed, Rypstick, SpeedStix) that sell weighted clubs and/or shaft-like sticks that help you increase your swing speed through a regimented program of swings, often left-handed and right-handed, from a standing position and from your knees.
Drill Two:
Posture drill – Assume your proper setup with your rear end against the back of a chair. As you turn into your backswing, push the right side of your rear into the chair, doing the opposite as you transition into the downswing. Doing this effectively will ensure the proper spine angle throughout the swing and not just at the address position, as is the case with many golfers.
Drill Three:
Emulate Outdoor Practice – Your indoor simulator practice can very closely mirror your more traditional outdoor range sessions. Weather settings in some simulator software programs allow you to play in any weather, virtually. You can’t control Mother Nature outside – what makes you think you can inside? Practice shots into the wind and club up. Ride the wind and club down. Play those left-to-right and right-to-left gusts and hone those skills that will take your on-course game to the next level.
Here are a few more pages we have on improving your golf game with a simulator: Increasing your driver distance with a launch monitor, Improve your Wedge Game, Practice Habits for better golf.
Also, practice multiple golf shots on your simulator, as you would in a random range session, rather than a block practice of 10 or 20 7-irons in a row. You don’t hit the same shots back-to-back on the course – don’t do it on the range or on your indoor simulator.
An indoor golf simulator is a great thing to have in your home. Just as the game itself betters the lives of its many enthusiasts, so too will a home simulator. Contact the professionals here at The Indoor Golf Shop and we’ll walk you through the decision process so you’re all-in on stepping up your golf game.
