When you’re looking at buying a golf simulator one of the main components is the tracking device, Commonly now golf launch monitors are used in golf simulators to do the tracking. Traditionally a golf simulator had a fixed tracking device and that meant you couldn’t take the tracking away from your golf simulator.

However that’s now changed and portable golf launch monitors from Skytrak, Foresight sports, Uneekor and Trackman for example can all now be easily used as part of an indoor golf simulator.

Great, so portability offers you flexibility in your golf simulator. I can use the system indoors or I could take my launch monitor to the driving range or practice ground and get data outside. That’s absolutely correct and many customers do this. However before you go running for a portable golf launch monitor there are some pro’s and cons to heavily consider.

Firstly actually consider whether you will use it outside. Whilst its certainly a pro to have portability if you’re never actually going to take it to the practice ground then it’s not really a factor. Secondly consider the data. If you’re taking it to a driving range you’re now likely to be getting ball data based on a range ball. Will that truly relate to on course numbers when using a Pro V1 for example. The simple answer is no, and when we are in a golf simulator demo in our showroom these are the type of questions we’ll be asking and whether these points have been considered. My advice is if you don’t want range ball data and not likely to be on the practice ground then portability simply isn’t needed as a main factor when making your decision.

That leads me on to calibration. Portable devices need to be calibrated and this can cause more accuracy issues than you may think. If you’re using a foresight gc3 or uneekor eye mini for example they will use alignment rod or two golf balls positioned in a line to calibrate the target line. Now we’re a stickler for accuracy and for me this just isn’t good enough using your eye because a couple of degrees out on your eye line will now simply mean the calibration is a couple of degrees off target. This simply equates to you now getting feedback in your golf simulator that can be misleading. lets be clear this isn’t a tracking device issue, its simply user error.

Laser line: When we calibrate a system we like to use laser line devices so we can calibrate the golf launch monitor or fixed Golf simulator tracking device precisely to the target on your golf impact screen. Simply this is the only way to make sure that alignment is done properly. The trackman systems now have a very clever feature that auto targets to your projected image and this takes the guesswork out of alignment. Its a great move from trackman and simply means every time you use your trackman golf simulator is perfectly aligned for every shot.

We fully understand that once we delve more into numerous other features that customers look for when buying a golf simulator we have to keep all options open. It maybe that the portable device you’re looking for has the data you want, has the software integrations you like and falls into a price point you’re happy with. We just like to point out that if you want the best from your golf simulator then you really need to consider the calibration & alignment of the system as this is a procedure that often gets overlooked.

If you’re looking to purchase a golf simulator or golf launch monitor then we always advise booking a demo at our Oxfordshire showroom. All Sales guys in our industry can argue pro and cons to all systems all day long but there’s nothing quite like getting hands on for yourself so you can make an informed choice of what device works best for you.