How my golf Outside Scores/Handicap compare to my Indoor Simulator Scores/Handicap

[BigEx44]

I'm a member of a golf "Digital Country Club".  It's basically a golf simulator country club where the owner installed 3 state of the art simulators (AG Golf).  Graphics are fantastic.  Ball flight is super realistic.  A great option for the winter months here in Upstate NY.  Here's a quick view of what it looks like:


There are 80+ golf courses available plus a number of different golf "ranges" (regular range, green that is 40 yds away to practice pitches, green that is 15 yds away to practice chips, an online simulator green to practice putting AND they have a separate room with an indoor artificial green to practice even more realistic putting!)  On that AG Golf add you see the guy practicing at one of the ranges.

The owner limits membership to 60 people to ensure plenty of available Sim time (I've never had a problem.....especially now being retired).
Plus, we can store our clubs and golf shoes there.
There's a pro on site who manages the place and gives lessons upon request.
They have leagues, a club championship, member-guest tournament etc etc.
And it's only 10 minutes down the road from me to boot!
A phenomenal setup for me that I'm super fortunate to have available (its the next best thing to owning my own simulator!)

Anyways, I thought this year it would be interesting to track how my outdoor average scores and handicap compare to my indoor.
Here's how it's tracking so far:
Outdoors:
 Number of Rds-74,  Avg length of course-6,067,  Avg Rating-69.4,  Avg Slope-123.5,  Avg Score-83.2,  Avg Handicap-9.6
Simulator:
 Number of Rds-42,  Avg length of course-6,212,  Avg Rating-71.1,  Avg Slope-126.3,  Avg Score-81.9,  Avg Handicap-5.9

Interesting for those of you who wonder how simulator golf tracks to actual golf......

[dugue4]

The most important difference for me between sim and real is I never have a lost ball in sim and I’m usually good for one or four in a real round. 

[phizzy30]

I absolutely blow at sim golf.  I think I'm a 12 cap, lol.  Outdoors where it counts, I'm a 5 cap.  Go figure. 

[b.mattay]

Sim golf is definitely easier-I'm about a +7 on the simulator. However, on my worst days, the sim is worse than real life. Without seeing ball flight, my "bad" score goes from 77ish (real) to 85ish (sim). 

[msg]

I regularly play sim golf and use different setups. Sky Trak, Trackman and GC Hawk. I play with autoputt so that makes it easier. I always break 80 on courses that are about 6000 - 6500 yards. Perfect lie all the time, weather is perfect, no putting to deal with on inconsistent greens. 

 

Currently I am playing the same course on my set up at home for the rest of the winter, to try out ideas on course management etc. So far in 8 games in 2 months:

 

5 Over par 
9 Greens per round 
3 Scrambles per round
.3 doubles or worse per round
10 pars per round
6 bogeys per round
2 birdies per round
31 Putts per round 
 

In real life I am about 8 - 6 handicap. 

Edited December 25, 2022 by msg

[Ghostwedge]

On 12/24/2022 at 10:11 AM, BigEx44 said:

I'm a member of a golf "Digital Country Club".  It's basically a golf simulator country club where the owner installed 3 state of the art simulators (AG Golf).  Graphics are fantastic.  Ball flight is super realistic.  A great option for the winter months here in Upstate NY.  Here's a quick view of what it looks like:


There are 80+ golf courses available plus a number of different golf "ranges" (regular range, green that is 40 yds away to practice pitches, green that is 15 yds away to practice chips, an online simulator green to practice putting AND they have a separate room with an indoor artificial green to practice even more realistic putting!)  On that AG Golf add you see the guy practicing at one of the ranges.

The owner limits membership to 60 people to ensure plenty of available Sim time (I've never had a problem.....especially now being retired).
Plus, we can store our clubs and golf shoes there.
There's a pro on site who manages the place and gives lessons upon request.
They have leagues, a club championship, member-guest tournament etc etc.
And it's only 10 minutes down the road from me to boot!
A phenomenal setup for me that I'm super fortunate to have available (its the next best thing to owning my own simulator!)

Anyways, I thought this year it would be interesting to track how my outdoor average scores and handicap compare to my indoor.
Here's how it's tracking so far:
Outdoors:
 Number of Rds-74,  Avg length of course-6,067,  Avg Rating-69.4,  Avg Slope-123.5,  Avg Score-83.2,  Avg Handicap-9.6
Simulator:
 Number of Rds-42,  Avg length of course-6,212,  Avg Rating-71.1,  Avg Slope-126.3,  Avg Score-81.9,  Avg Handicap-5.9

Interesting for those of you who wonder how simulator golf tracks to actual golf......

 

On 12/24/2022 at 11:25 AM, phizzy30 said:

I absolutely blow at sim golf.  I think I'm a 12 cap, lol.  Outdoors where it counts, I'm a 5 cap.  Go figure. 

Same here, I can't wrap my head or swing around not seeing my ball flight in real time outdoor conditions. So glad I live where I can play year around.

[HitSomeMissSome]

Contact issues are masked off mats. Drop-kick 8 iron shots don’t work off grass. Pay attention to your contact. Grooving a poor swing bottom on a sim will crush your real game. 

[hanginnwangin]

First off, I want to say that I think Sim golf translates to the course. If you do well in Sim golf, you're going to see some results on the course as well. I am pretty confused by those who play worse on the Sim though. For me, my scores can get very low on the sim in comparison to real life. My scores in real life get low too, but not under par.

 

I have SIM settings set to 4 yard give me's so I don't have to putt on the stupid thing. But here is the kick, I also have a setting that if I barely miss the green on my approach and am within 15 yards of the hole, I will automatically be given a bogey, where in a real life scenario, the up and down try would be a piece of cake. So in a way it almost evens itself out as I get more birdies, more undeserved bogies, and easier lies on the sim.

 

I haven't tracked an official handicap on the sim. But I would say I am around scratch, maybe even below on it. I have gone under plenty of times on the SIM, but in real life I have only done it once. I'm a 3-4 handicap in real life and am able to get out on the golf course about once a week, maybe a little less on average. So all in all, I have potential for lower scores on the sim and I'd say I am about 3-4 strokes worse on the course than on the Sim. 

 

Love the sim though and I really think if I just played more real golf, I would be able to have a lower handicap with my current skillset. Unfortunately, I have a day job so the bulk of my golf comes from the sim. I am jealous of the people that are able to play real golf 3-4 times a week. 

 

Edited December 30, 2022 by hanginnwangin

[sethdavidsdad]

On 12/24/2022 at 11:25 AM, phizzy30 said:

I absolutely blow at sim golf.  I think I'm a 12 cap, lol.  Outdoors where it counts, I'm a 5 cap.  Go figure. 

This is me, I'm the worst sim golfer. Around a 3 handicap get close to scratch when I get to play a lot outdoors. Indoors I struggle to break 80. 

Guess biggest issue is my short game is really good outdoors just doesn't seem to transfer over indoors. Plus I have it set to auto 2 putt on greens unless inside 6 feet. 

[vbb]

I know some people hate it, but I love playing sim golf.  I live in an area where we have no off-season, and you can play golf 12 months out of the year (though Jan and Feb can be a little dicey at times) so the nice simulator facilities that you see up North never seem to do well and end up shutting down.  There's yet another new one opening up in mid 2023 that's going to be less than 4 miles from my house and I'm really hoping they can stay open.  I'm a better sim golfer than "real" golfer, particularly because my short game is trash and I lose a lot of strokes around the green in real life whereas my bad short shots on the seem turn out ok.

[dennispullhook]

On 12/24/2022 at 5:11 PM, BigEx44 said:

I'm a member of a golf "Digital Country Club".  It's basically a golf simulator country club where the owner installed 3 state of the art simulators (AG Golf).  Graphics are fantastic.  Ball flight is super realistic.  A great option for the winter months here in Upstate NY.  Here's a quick view of what it looks like:

The owner limits membership to 60 people to ensure plenty of available Sim time (I've never had a problem.....especially now being retired).
Plus, we can store our clubs and golf shoes there.
There's a pro on site who manages the place and gives lessons upon request.
They have leagues, a club championship, member-guest tournament etc etc.
And it's only 10 minutes down the road from me to boot!
A phenomenal setup for me that I'm super fortunate to have available (its the next best thing to owning my own simulator!)

 

How much is the member fee?

[BigEx44]

37 minutes ago, dennispullhook said:

How much is the member fee?

 

About $1,500 a year.

[Santiago Golf]

I think its all relative in sim golf versus real golf 

 

I have friend who is an Instructor and has shot 59 in a competitive setting in Sim Golf and hasn't shot a competitive round under par since junior golf 

 

I have had mixed results playing simulator golf ... I'm a lefty, that might matter

 

 

[Bradford]

I'm the exact opposite.  I shoot between 76-81 on just about any course, but I can't hit the ball in a simulator to save my life.  Took 4.5 hours to do an iron fitting because most of my shots just weren't what I do in real life.  I have no idea why, but it's consistent across all simulators, I just can't aim at a screen or hit off of plastic. 

[MattC555]

I play in a winter sim league using AG simulators.  I love the AG simulators.  When properly calibrated the output is very accurate, even the putting.  I'm around scratch outside and currently a +4 in my Sim league.  Sim golf is definitely easier for most once you get the hang of it.  Some of the kids who work at the place I go to struggle to break 90 outside, but routinely shoot in the 70s on the sim.

 

I have played on a few trackman setups with really wonky numbers.  I find the distance reductions from certain lies hard to correlate as well.  I don't typically fair too well on those.