Golf Simulators

A golf simulator can give you real-time information about your golf game without you ever having to leave the doors of your home. With a golf simulator, you can get through a rough winter season or even practice when you wake up at 3 am.

Golf simulators can be a significant investment, but those that love the game will quickly see the value in owning a simulator.

Since golf simulators have varying levels of technology, they are going to be offered for less than $5000 and more than $20,000. Determining where you stand from a budget perspective is essential before heading down this road.

Here are some of our favorite golf simulator packages for 2022. Getting something that is a complete package helps make setup and functionality quite a bit easier.

Best Golf Simulators

SkyTrak Perfect Bay

As you have seen by now the SkyTrak is our favorite golf simulator system for the home. These packages have the perfect combination of accuracy and affordability, and they make a smart choice for anyone looking to add this type of feature to the home.

The Perfect Bay is a great choice if you want an all-in-one solution. Sometimes setting up a perfect at-home hitting solution can take time and quite a bit of involvement. You will be stuck trying to find solutions and making products work.

The SkyTrak Perfect Bay will easily work without you having to do much to it.

This package comes with the launch monitor, the net return, the practice turf, and even the side nets to help track the wayward shot. Overall you will have a hard time finding a more complete solution for the price.

Pros

• Simple setup
• It Will come with everything necessary to set up a perfect hitting solution in your home
• Comes with a range of software

Cons

• Priced a bit higher than some of the other SkyTrak basic models

True Golf Vista 12 Pro

Many of the golf simulator packages on the market are sold for the average golfer looking to try and make it through a winter session while still taking some swings. However, the True Golf Vista 12 Pro is for someone much more serious.

If you are going to take your golf game to the next level and you want a full-on at home putting, chipping, fairway shot studio, and practice center, the True Golf Vista 12 Pro is your best choice.

This model comes with everything you need to set up your professional level golf simulator. The E6 camera is one of the best on the market and able to track very high speeds. Professional athletes from a variety of sports are using this technology.

In addition, you get a premium turf fairway, an HD 1080P projector, and even a computer.

With the True Golf Vista 12 Pro, you also have access to 27 excellent courses. This is one of the most realistic and lifelike golf simulators that you will ever find.

Pros

• Comes with all the technology necessary
• Very large screen with 16:10 aspect ration
• Accurate camera and statistics
• complete at home practice solution

Cons

• It needs a large 12 x 15 x 8 hitting space
• Requires a large initial investment

SkyTrak Golf

Best Overall

We chose the SkyTrak as the best overall golf simulator. This model has several options and lots of high-quality features. We love that you can figure out a way to make the SkyTrak system work for you, regardless of your budget.

With golf simulators coming down in price, some have lost quality as well. This is not the case with SkyTrak Golf.

The SkyTrak golf simulator comes as a complete package set. You can choose several different setups, but each one will have the basic needs to get you started with the ultimate golf experience. The best thing about the SkyTrak simulator package is that the pricing starts as low as just a few thousand dollars.

If you choose the basic system, you are going to get a SkyTrak Launch Monitor, the basic practice range plan, the pro turf mat, and the net as well. With this setup, you will have to have a computer or a television set nearby to see what you are doing as you practice or play on the 3D driving range.

Moving a step up from the base model in the SkyTrak system, you will get the projector screen as well. This screen sits behind the net and allows you to feel as though you are on the golf course playing.

Of course, as you get your golf simulator system to feel more and more like the golf course, the pricing will increase.

The more expensive SkyTrak systems are going to come with a complete bay that has side barrier netting. These are a larger investment, but they have some really great benefits as well.

One of the things that will make a golf simulator package better than another is the included launch monitor. If the launch monitor does not have high-speed cameras and quick connections, it will not be as accurate.

We were very impressed with the abilities of the SkyTrak launch monitor as well. Overall, you will find that this system is a great way to track ball speed, launch angle, and your progress, all within the comfort of your own home.

TrueGolf Vista

Best Premium

Considering golf simulators will be a lot of money, some people decide to go all in. If you are one of these people and you want something that is high definition, durable, and able to give you a golf course experience in your home, then the TrueGolf Vista is a great indoor golf simulator option to choose.

The first thing we should warn you about with the TrueGolf Vista is that once you start considering this unit, you will have a hard time forgetting about it. The TrueGolf Vista graphics are all 4l, and this simulator setup sometimes looks more realistic than a golf course does.

Just like with the SkyTrak, you will get several buying options with the TrueGolf Vista. The lowest price starts at about double the price of the premium SkyTrak simulators. If you go for the base package on the TrueGolf, you will end up with a projector, the TruTrack2 Tracking system, e6 connect subscription and a warranty. Although this is still a great start, you will need some additional equipment to get the perfect indoor golf simulator setup.

However, when you look at the premium Trugolf Vista package, you will see that you get everything in the basic plus a computer, a 21″ touch screen monitor, and premium fairway turf. The screen is also 165 inches as compared to the 114 inches with the basic package.

The screen that comes with the TrueGolf Vista package is an impact screen that will hold up to many shots. If you have the money to spend, you will not be disappointed by what you can do with these golf simulators for home use. The True Golf Vista will feel more like a commercial model because of its qualities and durability.

Optishot 2

Best Value

If you checked out the pricing on the TrueGolf System and thought that we were a bit nuts, then the Optishot may be more your speed. With the Optishot 2, you are going to get quite a bit of value.

We don’t want to call this a cheap golf simulator because it is actually of excellent quality. However, we will say that this is certainly the lowest price simulator package you will find on the market.

The fact that Optishot 2 has been able to put together a system that allows you to play golf courses all over the world and improve your game for less than $1000 is quite impressive. You will notice that with this, Optishot may require you to use some of your own technology to complete the set, but it will be well worth it.

The basic OptiShot 2 is called the Golf in A Box simulator. You will get a hitting mat, a basic golf net (not a full swingbay), OptiShot software, the Infrared Optical Swing Pad, and 15 renowned Golf courses to play on.

The launch monitor on this model is good, but it is certainly not quite like the option on the TureGolf Vista.

However, if you pair your OptiShot2 with a great computer and have all of the connections set up properly, you can get some great information about your launch angle, distance, spin, and more. This will feel like you brought the driving range home.

With the OptiShot 2 simulator premium package, the major difference is going to be that you have a full swingbay with a screen. This will certainly change the feel of the home simulator experience and make it feel more realistic.

If you are going to be playing rounds of golf with your friends on your simulator, it is probably a good choice to go with the upgraded screen and swingbay.

Whichever OptiShot package you choose, you will be impressed with the ability to work on your game and continue to improve both your full swing and your short game. Think of all the money you would spend playing golf during the winter.

If you have a simulator at home, you can work on your game, and it won’t cost you any more than it would during the regular golf season.

Flightscope Simulators

Best For Accuracy

You will soon learn that there will be some differences in accuracy from one simulator to the next. The Flightscope will lead the way when it comes to data. If you are a golfer that wants all the data about your swing, the Flightscope will be a great choice.

The reason the Flighscope proves to be so accurate is because of the Mevo Launch Monitor. The Mevo is going to allow you to track carry distance, smash factor, roll distance, total distance, shot shape, ball speed, and more.

Having all of this data is only going to make your simulator experience all that more accurate. As the tracking system collects this data, it will incorporate it into the simulator software to give you very accurate results.

One of the great things about the Flightscope Simulators is that they offer many different types of home use packages. You can find something built for a lower handicapper or someone looking for a game improvement type model.

The Flightscope X3 Premium is our favorite of the Flightscope Simulator choices. When you look at all this package offers and compare it to other simulator options on the market, you will find that it is a really great value.

With the X3 Premium by Flightscope, you will get the launch monitor, the mat, the projector screen, and the large next with the side barrier netting.

Not only will this X3 premium make you feel as though you can play a round in the comfort of your own home, but it is a safe package as well. This net will certainly catch the ball without doing damage to the walls of your home.

We know you are shopping for a golf simulator, but it is good to know that this X3 premium also doubles as a home movie theater. This may help you close the deal with all the members of the family!

The Best Golf Simulator Is…

Buyers Guide

Purchasing a golf simulator package is a big investment. This is going to be a bit different than purchasing a new putter or a wedge this season. The best golf simulators of 2021 are made to help golfers work on their swing when they can’t be on the course.

For the first time, these packages are being offered at fair and affordable prices. This is the time to add a simulator to your at-home practice setup.

Are Golf Simulators Accurate?

Golf simulators are accurate to within 2-3 yards, as long as the data collection devices are of high quality. If your launch monitor is lower quality and not all that accurate, the golf simulator can’t give you exact results.

Always ensure that your camera and launch monitor is appropriately set, and then you should get accuracy to within a few yards. Set up and test the equipment and compare it to your traditional statistics on the course; if things are set up correctly, you will see the simulator is entirely accurate.

Be sure to check out our recent post, Garmin Approach R10 review. 

How Important Is A Launch Monitor?

A golf launch monitor is very important because it is our only way to see how small changes in the swing will impact you as a golfer. Golfers can hit shots at a pin all day long and not be entirely sure what the spin, launch angle, or overall carry was.

The launch monitor can give you all this data and let you know which changes in your swing are the ones worth making. Launch monitors are necessary to set up a golf simulator.

The more accurate of a launch monitor your purchase, the better your chances of your simulator being accurate.

Can I Play Actual Golf Courses On My Golf Simulator?

When you purchase a golf simulator package, you will also need to get a software package. The software will have either a driving range, golf courses, or both. The golf courses you play as part of your golf simulator software packages are the same as the real golf courses you can play.

For instance, if your simulator package has Kiawah Island course, then you will feel as though you are playing the actual course on your simulator.

If you are still a little unclear about which piece of technology would be best for you, check out our recent post Golf simulator vs Golf launch monitor.

Do I Need A Projector With My Golf Simulator?

You will need a short-throw projector with your golf simulator. Without the projector, you will not be able to see the golf course or the shots that you are hitting.

A projector for a golf simulator should allow a very large image of the golf course to show up on the screen in front of you and have you feeling as though you are on the course. Pay attention to the throw ratio on the simulator and choose something between .05-1.0.