Sim Golf

All of a sudden it has gotten cold in beautiful Arizona. Last night, the temperatures dipped into the high 40s. This weather is not conducive to going to the lighted driving range at night! I have been hitting balls into the Giant in my private indoor driving range and I feel like I am making solid contact and hitting down and through the ball, but without seeing the ball flight it is difficult to see any improvement (I have not missed the net in a while!).

I found two cool indoor golf simulation facilities on the internet, Crosswoods Indoor Golf Center and Bunker Indoor Golf and Training Center. Crosswoods is in the far East Valley and Bunker is in the far West Valley and I live in central Phoenix so neither is geographically desirable. At Crosswoods, you can play sim golf at Pebble Beach, Spyglass, the Old Course at St. Andrews, the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, Harbour Town and Pine Needles, among others. Bunker also has the Bayhill, Pinehurst and Torrey Pines courses. And you can play a full 18 holes in less than one hour!

According to the propaganda, the sims have realistic 3D rendered environments and you hit all of the shots from the driver to tap-in putts (I wonder if the sim has gimmes and plays by my Rules of Golf!). You also get ball speed, vertical launch angle, horizontal launch angle, sidespin, back spin, club head speed, horizontal strike angle, vertical strike angle, and club face angle information on each shot. If all of that information does not distract you, you have the concentration of Tiger Woods! Here's a story on the company that designed these golf simulators and the product. The story is a few years old and I assume that the technology is getting better and better.

I am going to sign up and give this a try. I will report back shortly.