Keeping your golf going over the winter no longer has to mean wrapping up and shelling 50 balls at the range and feeling like you’ve got nowhere.
But there are indoor simulators all over the place now, more and more pros have invested in one and they’re as entertaining as they are useful.
Here we point out five ways to make the most of one this winter.
1 Forget the data
Despite all the data available and all the talk of learning every element of your swing, try practising with the projector off so you’re not focusing on your movement and improving your swing.
Rory McIlroy famously did this over a three-week period when he didn’t look at any numbers while hitting balls on a simulator, just hitting balls into a screen with no images or data to look at. He just focused on the movement that he was trying to make.
The more that we can focus on the bit that we do, which moves the metal bit into the impact, the more the outcome will take care of itself.
2 Carry is key
Because you can use the same golf ball indoors, as you do outdoors, you can gather really, really precise data on your spin rates, yardages and carry. Your carry distance is the key and that’s the only bit you can control when it lands.
The A to B where it starts is what you should focus on, the rest is more unpredictable and that’s why carry distance is really the only number that I would work with.
When someone says they hit their 7-iron 165 yards, that’s where it finishes. How far does it go through the air? That’s all we need to know.
Then you can get your really good launch and spin data and it’s all accurate because it’s using the same golf ball that you would be using on the course. And then you can randomise the weather to get those numbers in the different types of wind.
3 The problem shots
A simulator isn’t just set up for full swings. It will give you the opportunity to practise specific shots in specific scenarios on the course. It has on-course practice so you can literally take the ball and put it anywhere on any hole that’s on the simulator.
So if you wanted to practise hitting a low approach shot underneath the oak tree from the middle of the fairway at the 18th at Pebble Beach, then you can. You can put yourself into scenarios that you struggle with and the simulator will allow for the lie and you will lose power and have reduced spin accordingly.
You can improve on your weaker shots and practise them a lot and, when you get out on the course, you just need to account for the lie.
4) World-class venues
You may never get the opportunity to play at Bethpage Black or Lofoten Links but on the simulator you can. Green fees can be extortionate but here you get the chance to stimulate your golf by tackling some of the best courses in the world and trying to conquer some of the best holes.
I’ll do lots of course-management lessons where we will play three holes and then have a look at how they tackled them, helping them to improve on their thinking, plus you’re also playing an incredible course.
5) It’s always warm
The weather’s not an issue and never will be. We don’t really want to go to a driving range when it’s minus two and we’re hitting really bad range balls to iffy targets that are badly lit. And we’re getting absolutely no feedback whatsoever.
Now we can hit balls in a warmer environment with a real golf ball with realistic feedback.
You can always book split lessons so you and a mate can share the experience which will probably motivate you to keep going with the lessons when you’re not out on the course much and it can be a nice, social event too.
About Ged Walters
Ged is a Golf Monthly Top 50 coach and one of the leading teachers in the North West. For more tips follow Ged on Instagram – gedwaltersgolf
