Indoor simulator

GMR · April 12, 2018

What mats have you guys been using? I'm very concerned about developing and pains or injuries. I don't know what mats they use over at the Lake Forest range I hit at but they don't seem super high quality or anything but I don't have pain with those. Then again I only hit like 300 balls a week there but at home I'll probably hit over 1000 a week easily. I'm leaning toward fiberbuilt just based off what I've read around the internet but am still unsure. I hear the country club elite is a good mat but causes lots of injuries and pains so I'm quite wary of that. I'm also liking the options and prices looking at the DivotAction mats. Truestrike seems a little pricey.

What do they use at the PGA superstore in irvine? I know the strip you hit off of and the one you stand on is different. The one used for hitting seems decent, I hit balls their fairly often too.

I did a lot of research and eventually opted for fiberbuilt. Keep in mind that the mat you purchase is extremely important, not only from an injury standpoint, but also the ballflight you get. All mats (even the best) are somewhat like hitting from flyer lies in the rough, and you are likely to get slightly higher launch with less spin on your irons--generally equating to a bit more carry distance. The better mats are less pronounced, but the effect still exists and it's something to be aware of. For reference I had a Country Club Elite hitting strip before the fiberbuilt and while it was nice, the rubber underneath warped making it not sit flat, and it also was a bit hard on the joints and made you want to hit the ball thin so as not to have to hit through it. The fiberbuilt I have now is a good compromise I believe--you definitely still get punished on fat shots, though perhaps not as much. Downsides are it's expensive and the ball does sit up a bit so you still get some of the low-spin effect I referred to earlier.

GMR · April 12, 2018

Figured I would show you one of the slight "discrepancies" you get used to seeing with the skytrak. This was from my little session tonight. 52* gap my 110-115 club, these two shots were back to back, same exact ball (TP5x), ball position, aim point. Not discounting it at all, it's a great tool for the price, but you will look at your screen with a crooked head at times.

I don't really have this issue--could be the balls you are using, how you are positioning them relative to the unit, or perhaps the lighting in your sim room. Obviously it didn't pick up the spin on the first, accounting for the difference in ballflight and distance. I've used a lot of different sims over the years and while these misreads always will happen to an extent, I find that with my SkyTrak they are extremely rare (i.e. less than 1 in 100 balls). The ones it tends to miss are shanks--and I'm ok with that :)

msg · April 12, 2018

Speaking of injuries. I injured myself due to excessive practicing. My elbows developed pain to the point that I cannot bend them, let along swing a golf club. I have not touched a golf club in a while and it helped tremendously with the recovery and the pain seems to be going away.

I checked my ST and see how many shots I hit in an hour session and based on my ST log, around 150 shots. Usually I spend and hour or two practicing. I wonder if even if I change my mat to Fiber Built, if I would have gotten injured still? Because as far as I remember, majority of my practice consists of driver and woods and they were teed up, because that was my weakness in my game.

I never realized how much stress I have put my elbows by swinging this much, almost every day for three months. In real life we never hit 150 shots of full swing.

Zappster · April 13, 2018

Speaking of injuries. I injured myself due to excessive practicing. My elbows developed pain to the point that I cannot bend them, let along swing a golf club. I have not touched a golf club in a while and it helped tremendously with the recovery and the pain seems to be going away.

I checked my ST and see how many shots I hit in an hour session and based on my ST log, around 150 shots. Usually I spend and hour or two practicing. I wonder if even if I change my mat to Fiber Built, if I would have gotten injured still? Because as far as I remember, majority of my practice consists of driver and woods and they were teed up, because that was my weakness in my game.

I never realized how much stress I have put my elbows by swinging this much, almost every day for three months. In real life we never hit 150 shots of full swing.

Sorry to hear that I'd also like to know if a mat makes a different for you. Weird that you have problems hitting mostly off tees. Can I perhaps ask about your background like age, do you lift weights/stretch/do cardio, sedentary job or active, etc?

stingreye · April 14, 2018

I had no issues with CCE for at least 6 months. Then I started feeling it in my hands(trigger finger), then my elbows and wrists. I first swapped to a diy divot action and without adjusting how much I played, the pain was gone in a week. I have since started usin a fiberbuilt panel. Wrists/elbows/hands haven’t had issues since.

I still preferred how CCE was to hit off of but my body just couldn’t handle it eventually. No mat is perfect but fiberbuilt and divot action are easier on the body.

CCE dramatically slows down the club even on good strikes (it just happens after contact vs a fat shot that is before contact). I think the deceleration causes the injuries.

adamnapes · April 14, 2018

Figured I would show you one of the slight "discrepancies" you get used to seeing with the skytrak. This was from my little session tonight. 52* gap my 110-115 club, these two shots were back to back, same exact ball (TP5x), ball position, aim point. Not discounting it at all, it's a great tool for the price, but you will look at your screen with a crooked head at times.
I don't really have this issue--could be the balls you are using, how you are positioning them relative to the unit, or perhaps the lighting in your sim room. Obviously it didn't pick up the spin on the first, accounting for the difference in ballflight and distance. I've used a lot of different sims over the years and while these misreads always will happen to an extent, I find that with my SkyTrak they are extremely rare (i.e. less than 1 in 100 balls). The ones it tends to miss are shanks--and I'm ok with that :)

I'll be honest with you, since the update, v.3.1 and now v3.1.1, I've had zero issues. And overall, ball numbers seem a lot more accurate. They hit a homerun with this update. I haven't tried anything longer than an 8 iron and will definitely follow up when I do, but for me, ball speed smash and spin have been much improved.

I actually picked up a skypro but have yet to integrate it into practice. Looking forward to moving the setup to my deck once the weather officially breaks for the spring/summer months.

TTGolf77 · April 17, 2018

For the PC it's all about the video card. I run a couple generation old i5 and a mediocre video card and it's fine on a TV. I'd have to upgrade video card if I wanted it to look good on a projector

How do you think a gtx 960m would do?

GungHoGolf · April 17, 2018

For the PC it's all about the video card. I run a couple generation old i5 and a mediocre video card and it's fine on a TV. I'd have to upgrade video card if I wanted it to look good on a projector

How do you think a gtx 960m would do?

Based on benchmarks at https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/common_gpus.html, it would probably be "ok" for the SkyTrak range software, and probably terrible with sim software like TGC. I run a GTX 1060 which is "mid range" for sim use, and it's over 4X faster than the 960m. ProTee (makers of TGC) recommend the GTX 760 as "minimum requirement" for TGC, and it's about 2.5X faster than the 960m.

msg · April 17, 2018

Speaking of injuries. I injured myself due to excessive practicing. My elbows developed pain to the point that I cannot bend them, let along swing a golf club. I have not touched a golf club in a while and it helped tremendously with the recovery and the pain seems to be going away.

I checked my ST and see how many shots I hit in an hour session and based on my ST log, around 150 shots. Usually I spend and hour or two practicing. I wonder if even if I change my mat to Fiber Built, if I would have gotten injured still? Because as far as I remember, majority of my practice consists of driver and woods and they were teed up, because that was my weakness in my game.

I never realized how much stress I have put my elbows by swinging this much, almost every day for three months. In real life we never hit 150 shots of full swing.

Sorry to hear that I'd also like to know if a mat makes a different for you. Weird that you have problems hitting mostly off tees. Can I perhaps ask about your background like age, do you lift weights/stretch/do cardio, sedentary job or active, etc?

Hi there.

I think regardless what mat I use, my doctor told me I was really bound to get injured. But I still believe that Fiberbuilt and other mats that are more friendly on the body will definitely help big time. The difference between the FB and CCE in my experience is day and night. Though I really prefer the CCE mat, it was just not going to cut it for my swing.

I never realized how many shots I hit when practicing. I can go on for an hour or two hitting golf balls. Sometimes I'd do this even without noticing how time flies by quickly. I simulated hitting shots in 20 mins and I can hit 50 shots in 20 mins, no rest. lol So imagine how many golf balls I'd hit in 1 to 2 hours. No wonder my Supersofts were cracking that fast.

I think one of the contributing factors to this injury is the way I swing. I used to swing on plane and for some reason my swing has become really steep on all clubs.

I never got injured playing everyday golf before some five years ago. Since if I play everyday, I won't hit 150 full swings shots.

I did rest my elbow and a week of rest did help a lot. I think it's getting better slowly. I am just 35 years old. I used to be a gym rat. Now I just walk every day for 30 minutes since it's winter here and my work has always been a desk job in the office ever since.

Hopefully when I fully heal, I won't repeat this mistake again. I need to find the sweet spot when it comes to the time I log practicing indoors. I was able to swing again on my sim but limited shots to 50 shots and mostly were pitch and chip shots.

Courses open next week here in Canada. I will finally be able to put to the test my practice sessions with my Sky Trak and see if I will improve. That is if this injury gets better first!