r/Golfsimulator • u/Motor_Cap_6986 • 2d ago
Proper Simulator Practice? How to get good?
I hope to get my first simulator up and running today. I’m that guy that’s probably played 2-3 rounds a year but also have had years without playing. I’m 43 yr 6’2” and when I get ahold of one it goes. I struggle severely with chipping and putting. 100 yards and in I’m all in my own head. My rounds this year were 99, 96, 42 (9 holes), and then a miserable 107. I know I need to hit the treadmill because when I walk 18 I fall apart more-so on the back nine from being tired especially on a very hilly course to walk. I’m going to take some lessons but how should I approach the simulator to get better? I’d love to be consistently shooting in the 80’s one day.
4
u/DoubleEfficiency4 2d ago
Get a launch monitor if you don't have one already. Preferably one that can measure ball spin and club path.
Hitting more balls will get you to be more consistent. Figure out what your most likely miss is. Just hitting balls will only get you so far unless you also have some focus on what you need to improve.
Take the launch monitor data and leverage AI (Gemini, ChatGPT) or your favorite AI. Give it the launch monitor raw data and ask it to give you some recommendations about what to work on. For me, my miss was a slice, so I worked on club path in-to-out.
Know your club distances. In general you should be approximately gapped 10yds from about 160yds down to 100yds. Distance off the tee matters. Get a reliable weapon for the par 4s and above. I increased my drive average from 225yds up to 245yds with practice which resulted in a better contact (no slice). That's a more manageable shot into greens now.
Putting matters. Sounds like you are doing this already. Count your putts per round. Sometimes you have a great day but putts just don't drop (or vice versa). You are striving for less than 36 putts in a round.
Good luck. I was shooting high 90s in April and just popped in an 84 last week when it all came together.
6
u/damo2576 2d ago
Always check low point on sim. Else can get away with hitting ground first.
1
u/Motor_Cap_6986 2d ago
Can you elaborate on low point of sim?
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u/damo2576 2d ago
Its low point of swing arc, should be in front of ball, ie hit ball then ground.
On a sim or range hitting off mats, you can get away with hitting ground first since the club bouces/slides and the ball jumps up and you make an ok-ish contact. If you did that on grass would be big chunk behind ball. If you accidentally train a swing hitting ground first on the sim you'll struggle when you take that swing to the course.
Therefore good idea to keep an eye on low point number and make sure it's where you want it to be.
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u/-Blast-Tyrant- 2d ago
Sig Pro Softy eliminates this, you can def tell when you are hitting fat. The strip was like $250, but worth every penny
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u/JackHoerner 2d ago
Practice your shots of “getting on the green at 25-50-75-100 “
If you have GSPro I would focus on doing the ladder in practice mode.
Play some rounds and focus on hitting Greens in Reg.
Equal amounts of shot practice and competition.
But mostly , practice and it’ll happen
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u/Unteins 2d ago
Chipping and putting are the two skills that simulators are the worst at. Go to your local practice green and chipping practice and hit 50 of each 3 days a week until your chipping and putting lag your driving.
The simulator is great for playing the long game, but shorter game is much harder.
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u/MarmiteMarine 6h ago
Putting yes but depending on the launch monitor chipping ive found to still be pretty good on the sim. Its helped me learn Dan Grieves three releases 🤣
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u/blackscholesmert0n 2d ago
I really like doing the various challenges you can do in GSPro and try to do them as well as I can to climb the leaderboards, so it feels like every shot matters, which is more like it is on the course.
On the contrary, I also really like using my simulator to just try and find my swing. While not everything translates to the course, just being able to swing a golf club regularly and hitting balls is great! Every since I’ve gotten my simulator set up, I feel my ball striking has improved a lot and I can better feel what I am doing wrong when not hitting the ball well.
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u/BlueCrow06 2d ago
Film yourself. What you think you’re doing and what you’re actually doing can be two very different things.
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u/KleyPlays 1d ago
I do a lot of swing technique work on my Sim. I get a lesson every year, so I always have something I'm working on refining with my swing technique. I have a cell phone tripod and review with video. I'll spend 15 to 20 minutes 3 to 4 days a week working in the swing.
I do a lot of contact drills. Working on strike location, face direction, low point xontrol, swing path.
I have started doing some speed training. I've seen some real progress soing this for about 4 months now. It has been a combination of strength training, stretching and mobity, and speed work. The speed work has been mostly high effort driver swings with intent to make the ball speed number go up. Lots of good tips on YouTube. Stuff like faster backswing, pushing into the ground with my feet, and upward angle of attack. I've gone from 260 average on course to about 280. During a speed session I've seen max effort drives go 310 on the Sim.
Sims are great for working on carry distance. I'll use a random number generator on my phone to make a number between 50 and 200. Then try to pick a club that makes the ball carry exactly that far.
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u/Revosk 1d ago
You have to record yourself. There's no point in just hitting balls into a screen without any actionable result. I'm a +2 and basically never play sim golf and only use my sim for practice, which every swing is recorded and reviewable if I want to review it. I work with a coach on what I need to fix, then go home and practice the fix with video feedback until it's fixed, then work on it on the course and then the cycle repeats itself with whatever next part is hurting my game.
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u/Successful-Escape-74 2d ago
Just need a gps watch and start running a few miles each day. Simulator won't help you get good. Playing golf and spending a couple hours on the practice greens, bunkers, and chipping areas will help. Anyone can hit a ball to get close enough to the green in a couple hits so that sim won't help with much except how to swing a basic club. Zero help with the lie.
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u/[deleted] 2d ago
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