Golf Forums - Virtual golf

Hi,
 Has anyone had experance of playing on one of these virtal golf machines?, as a club near me has just installed one and with the weather as it is i thought i might give it a go.
As its a bit expensive thought i would see if anyone had any comments on them before i go and spend my pension on a round.
Roger

Hi Roger, not used one but seen one being demonstrated and it did look impressive. Go on, have a go, and then tell us whether it was worth your money :)

Hello Roger,

I've used the WrightWay2Golf centre in South Croydon which has these.  We had great fun, and although not as enjoyable as a proper round it was well worth it.  Tee to green was very good, although if they offer you 6 foot gimmes!!!! take it, as putting wasn't very realistic and very hard to judge.  We played St Andrews, and what a great feeling it was to aim over the hotel on the 17th hole and find the fairway.  It may have been a virtual round but i'll treasure that tee shot.

Rob

Hi Roger 
I have played on these a couple of times. It depends on what you want to use it for. They have a practice mode where you can hit balls down the "driving range". This should give a fair representation of distance for each club which will obviously help with club selection. It also seems to fairly accurately predict the ball flight, fade or draw and also height, so it gives some useful stats.

When i used it, the main purpose was going out with friends, so after a few beers, i wasnt that bothered where the ball went!! Good fun though.

A downside of using the ones in the city is that you aren't using your own clubs but i'm guessing you wont have that problem if its a club near you. Also hitting the ball off a mat, has never really appealed to me.

As a guide the ones in the city cost £30-40 per hour depending on the time of day and some have a video camera allowing you to assess your swing.