Golf Simulator ?
Golf Simulator ?
Golf Simulator ?
As some of you may already know the AboutGolf PGA TOUR Simulator has the full approval of the PGA Tour. One very good reason for this is that the About Golf simulator does just about everything that the PGA , a golf instructor, or a golfer could ask for. And it does it all very well.
If you have ever used one of those simulators at one of the golf shops across the country, you know that they are not what could be called very accurate. The reading you get can in fact be so far off in fact, that they are pretty much useless, other than for fun hitting golf balls in the store. In the past, I have pretty much used those kinds of simulators ONLY to compare one OEM driver to another OEM driver. And even for this, they leave a lot to be desired. The best way to describe those old simulators is to think of them as nothing more than a very expensive Sony Play Station or Nintendo gaming system.
The new AboutGolf PGA TOUR simulator changes all of this with state of the art technology that can tell you just about anything you might want to know about your golf swing, and your ball flight. The system is so accurate it is now being used by some very good golf academies for not only evaluating a golfer's swing, but for lessons on how to improve all factors of the swing. If you tend to hit a big nasty fade or slice out on the golf course, you will hit the same nasty shot when hitting on this simulator as well. This is just part of the reason the About Golf sim can be used for club fitting as well as golf lessons with an experienced teaching pro.
When I first went to demo the AboutGolf sim, I used it to play 18 holes at Pebble Beach. I was mostly looking to see how the system would perform as a golf course simulator, not as a training tool. The reason I picked to play Pebble Beach is because I really doubt I will ever play the golf course in real life, not with a green fee of around $550.00, and that's assuming I could get a tee time at this so called Public course. Last I heard, the only way you can book a tee time at Pebble is if you stay at least two nights at the hotel which is $800.00 a night and up. That's a little more than my golf budget will allow. So the system allowed me and any other golfer the chance to play some excellent golf courses that they might not otherwise get to play. And at a fraction of the cost of the greens fee, much less the cost of travel. And if you can afford the $550 greens fee to play Pebble Beach, with the About Golf system you can play a PRACTICE ROUND long before you get there.
This is an excellent way to learn your way around the course, as well as figure out what club you should use on certain shots on every hole. Depending on where you live, your carry yardages might not be the same as they will be when playing at Sea Level. This can be a real factor for a golfer like myself, that lives and plays golf at high altitude, in my case 5300 feet above Sea Level. By playing round at Pebble on the simulator, which is designed to play at the elevation of the course you're playing, I was able to find out exactly what I could expect to get with each of my clubs if I ever do play Pebble for real. In my case, all my shots came up short of what I can expect in Colorado, and pretty much what I expected to find when playing at sea level. By using the FLY OVER feature; I was able to get a great view of each hole, hole by hole. This made it very easy to figure out what club I should use on each hole, going by the shape of each hole, as well as the yardages to certain parts of the fairway from the tee box. Being able to SEE the layout of each hole is a great advantage, especially if you have never played a course before. So even thou I had never seen the course, I was able to select the correct club for EVERY tee shot as well as the second or third shot on every hole.
One of the great features of the system when playing a round of golf, is being able to look at the computer monitor and see exactly what the hole layout is on each hole, as well as the yardage required to hit the fairway from which ever tee you are playing from. On any Dogleg hole this is extremely valuable information. I was able to look at the yardages to the corner of the dogleg, as well as how it was to hit it PAST the corner of the fairway and into the rough. This allowed be to select the right club for the distance. It also allowed me to figure out IF I wanted to try to hit over the corner of the dogleg, or to play is safe.
On each shot you have a line on the screen showing you the line to either the fairway or the green, depending on the shot. The exact yardage to the flag is there for you, so club selection is very simple. Just look at the yardage and pick your weapon. You also get the carry and total yardage of each shot you hit, as you hit them. No more guessing how far you hit your 7 iron, the system will TELL YOU exactly how far you are hitting it. This came in very handy for me, being as I was playing at sea level not 5300 feet. By using the data in provided to me, I was able to see if my 9 iron came up short from 140 yards or not, and correct for it as needed.
When playing Pebble Beach the first time, I came upon a problem with the system. I was off the green with my approach shot, in the rough and according to the data provided me, I had 21 yards to the flag, slightly down hill to the cup. So I hit a pitch shot with my 8 iron, which is what I would normally do in this situation. As it turned out, I hit a 10 yard carry chip. Problem was I was about 12 yards from the green, so my ball landed back in the round just short of the green. What I DIDN"T know was the yardage I needed to carry the ball to reach the green, so I came up short and got ZERO roll out. It seems this is not a yardage that the system gives you around the green, and this was my problem. After my first DEMO of the system, I was able to talk with Chuck Faust, the president of AboutGolf and tell him about my finding from my demo time. When I asked about the lack of the yardage to the edge of the green, not just the yardage to the flag. Mr. Faust didn't have an answer available, so he got the head software engineer on the phone with us, and asked him about it. Turns out the data is available in the system, it's just not DISPLAYED on the screen for the golfer to see. And according to Mr. Faust, I'm the FIRST person to mention this fact to them. As of my phone call the head engineer is working of a software update to correct the problem I brought up and it will be available to all system owners very shortly as a download. I must admit, it made me feel pretty good to know that I was able to help improve on this AboutGolf system with my observations of the system on my first DEMO session. And it is equally nice to find that the company was not only willing to listen to my concerns, but is working on a solution with a software update.
In all, I have had the chance to demo the AboutGolf simulator 3 times now. First two times I used my demo time to play Pebble Beach. After my first round, I wanted to see what I had learned about the system and what I could improve about my play with the knowledge I'd gained the first time around. As it turns out, I must have learned quite a lot, as on the back nine at Pebble, is had one double bogey, due to misplaying a pitch from off the green on a par 3, and EIGHT pars on the remaining holes, for a total of 2 over on the back and a score of 80 for the 18 holes played. What this really shows me is that the system takes a round or two to get used to in order to learn how it works and how to get the most from your playing experience.
On my third DEMO session, I was able to work with the teaching pros at MetaGolf Learning Center. This time I wanted to check out the Practice Mode of the system, to learn what it is able to do for a golfer in terms of learning to play better golf. What I learned from working with the two instructors is that the system is excellent for evaluating a golfer's swing and ball flight. I was able to see how I moved my weight back and then forward during my swing by the pressure sensors under my feet at address. As it turned out, my weight shift was pretty good, so that was nice to know. We used the practice mode to work on chips and pitch shots around the green, from 15 to 45 yards out. Again, this showed up the problem with not knowing the yardage to the green for club selection on chips, but as I mentioned, this is being corrected with the software update. While working with the instructor he mentioned a few things that he would like to see implemented into the system to help him in teaching the short game. Again, this was discussed with Mr. Faust, and again it is being worked on as a software update.
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