Golf simulator keeps players in the swing all winter

Brian Liberty of Rochester watches his drive sail down the fairway while playing on a golf simulator at Rochester Country Club on Thursday. (Lebanon Voice photos)

GONIC - Imagine being able to hit a golf ball at what is perhaps the hardest hole in golf: the par-four, 490-yard 17th at St. Andrews in Scotland.

Well, imagine no more. You can do it today on a computer-driven golf simulator at the Rochester Country Club.

Keep in mind this is no arcade game. It's the real deal, or as close to it as you can get.

You strike the ball off a tee using your favorite wood or from a synthetic-grass carpet for irons and putter and aim at the hole like any golf course.

Only the ball doesn't drive down a long fairway. It strikes a large projection screen about 10 feet in front of you as a battery of cameras above and behind send signals to a computer program that within seconds spits out everything from club head speed to spin and distance and displays it on the screen.

WHOOPSIE: If a ball is stuck and goes out of bounds, the program tells you that, too, plus gives you some options.

The software program is called About Golf and is the only program like it in the world, said Chris Mowers, director of golf for Rochester Country Club and Nippo Lake Golf Course.

"The software measures your swing speed, launch angle, distance driven, spin rate and ball speed," Mowers said on Thursday. "It also measures if you strike the ball high or low and different spins, like from right or left."

Meanwhile, the screen image depicts the lay of the land, indicating slope and possible ball roll tendencies.

"For people who are good ball strikers, this is as accurate as you can get," Mowers added. "You can even do a flyover of the hole before you tee off."

"You don't want to hit the carpet," noted Brian Liberty of Rochester, who was playing with friend Rick Potts, also of Rochester.

Liberty and Potts were cyber playing St. Andrews, the computer generated program coming complete with the sounds of ocean breezes and loons as they struck the ball on the course where Tiger Woods won it all in 2000.

Liberty said they've been playing once a week.

"It keeps us in the game," he said. "We play all summer but it's good in the winter to get out and swing a club."

He said he feels the computer software is pretty accurate at measuring ball striking and distance.

"It's great to get out of the house and have some fun," said Potts, who added playing in the winter will lessen the rust when he starts playing in the spring. He also said it kept golf swing muscles toned and less likely to get sore in the spring if he'd taken the winter off.

A row of cameras feeds logistics to a software program which records the numbers on a projection screen.

Rochester Country Club, a public course and club, purchased the system in June; it is installed in three different rooms, one on the first floor and two on the second.

There are numerous courses to choose from including St. Andrews, Pebble Beach and several from the Carolinas.

On Thursday morning all three room were in use, and Mowers said while this has been a slow winter due to the mild weather, usage of the golf simulators began to really pick up in mid-January.

"We have a lot of repeat business," he said. "You definitely want to call ahead if you want to get a tee time."

Use of the rooms is $30 an hour whether it's by a single player or foursome, Mowers said.

The club also schedules a Saturday afternoon scramble and instructional programs on Wednesday afternoons.

For more information on the golf simulators click here.