How To Get Better With An Indoor Simulator

On August 24 2023, I figured out the answer to getting better with an indoor golf simulator.

If you are lucky enough to have access to one, you’ll understand it can be a great asset but can equally be detrimental if used incorrectly. There is a fine line between getting better and getting worse. I rode this line for awhile. But recently figured out a few things that have made a tangible impact. Here are my thoughts on practicing with a golf simulator.

This post will cover the following:

• The importance of the right plan
• Working on the right things
• The best practice drills/routines with a golf simulator
• Other helpful tips to rapidly improve
• A clear example of how to apply this information

This is going to be a long post, so I would advise you start at the bottom “Follow Along Example”

But first lets talk about an underconsidered topic…

**If you are looking for specific winter golf tips, check out this post

Are you trying to have fun or get better?

A golf simulator can be great fun. The ability to play courses from all over the world in a short time can be super addicting and messing around with all the numbers and data can also be enjoyable. But these things won’t make you better.

Before heading to the simulator, ask yourself “Do I want to have fun, or do I want to get better?”

This is an important distinction to make as either of these require a different plan. What works to get better may not be the most fun and what is fun may not make you better. In the past, I wouldn’t be clear with my goal for the session and end up wasting an hour working on the wrong things.

The rest of the post will focus on how to improve the fastest rather than have the most fun.

The importance of having a plan

If you are reading this, chances are you want to improve.

Having a plan set beforehand can really keep you achieve your golfing goals. (goal setting is a big topic, see my other posts for more)

A plan will guarantee you stay focused and productive.

Read on for ways to construct your plan. This section was meant to tell you: “You must have a plan beforehand“

isolating the right things to work on

In the past, I would spend so many hours on my game. 8-10 hour days were common in the summer time, yet I noticed I wasn’t making huge improvements. This is something that Bryson Dechambeau has also talked about. He would get lapped by his competitors even though he was working much harder than them. The guys on Tour are able to keep their games at such a high level without much practice. This is because they are working on the right things.

They know exactly the swing feels/keys that make them play well and don’t waste time on anything unnecessary.

For your game, you should choose the highest yield items and put all your attention into doing those well. For example, while practicing chipping, driving, or full swing, may make you better, maybe working on your putting only will yield the greatest improvements. Obviously all of these things will make you better but one will probably do it faster. Here’s another example. I was a 120lb, 93 Clubhead Speed kid who was grinding on my putting and chipping for hours. Obviously these things made me better. But I would have gotten much better a lot faster if I spent all this time on improving my club head speed.

The point is, a lot of things will make you better but focus on the obvious few that will yield the best return.

Now, finally lets talk about what to do with all this information.

The best ways to use a golf simulator

By now, you should know what to work on.

For this section, I’ll list different parts of the game along with their accompanying practice:

Swing:

Here, you have to be super clear with what you are trying to accomplish. Know the swing feel you are ingraining and how you can get feedback. Here are some examples. “I am going to get an outside takeaway, and on my slo-mo video, the club should be outside my hands” or “I am going to shorten my backswing, and on my slo-mo video, the club should not go past parallel”.

In these examples, you know exactly what your aiming for aswell as a check to make sure you are going in the right direction. You can clearly tell if you have achieved your goal if you get the right feedback.

Action: do swings, without seeing where the ball goes (disable the shot tracer view) and record every 5 shots to know if you are making progress.

By doing this, you will better ingrain your swing feels without obsessing over ball flight. This practice works best for large swing changes.

Swing Speed:

A simulator is a great way to work on this. This topic is too large to fit in this small section. I would advise you check out this article (Speed Training) for a great starting point. I will also have some posts on speed training in the future.

Quick note: I would say that a speed training system like the Stack System or SuperSpeed sticks is unnecessary if you can track swing speed with your driver.

Another thing: don’t half-ass training for speed, you have to train your neurons to fire faster so ignore where the ball goes. I personally turn off the shot tracer view on the projector/computer so I only see my numbers on my screen. If you try to swing fast and straight, you will get worse at both.

Wedges:

A lot of Tour players have some sort of clock system. Some use different clock positions like 9 o clock, 10 o clock, and 11 o clock, while others use body parts like a hip swing, a shoulder swing, and a head swing.

A golf simulator can help you ingrain a feel for each different “swing” so you can dial in your distances. Here is what I would advise:

1. Figure out a 1/2, 3/4, and full swing with each wedge. Have a guage to match each swing. For example my half swing is when my arms are parallel to the ground.
2. Figure out your yardages for each wedge with your three swings (1/2, 3/4, & full). Basically hit a few shots using different swings and different wedges and develop a wedge matrix (image below)
3. That was the hard part. Now, just take one wedge and hit a few 1/2 swings and see how consistent you can be. Can you hit 5 shots in a row within 5 yards of your intended carry distance?
4. Finally, create combines to measure progress. Some simulators like Trackman allow you to save custom combines but you can also do this without creating a custom combine.

Action: create your own wedge combine using your wedge matrix so you can measure your progress

This is by far the best way to improve your wedge distances. Create a combine test with your golf simulator and run this test a few times and measure your score. You can easily tell if you are making improvements.

I would advise you develop these two tests:

Block Practice

This test should focus around your actual wedge matrix yardages. You shouldn’t have any in-between yardages here.

Notice how all these yardages match my wedge matrix from above.

Random Practice

This test should have random yardages from your lowest wedge distance to your highest. For example, lets say my 1/2 swing with my 58 degree goes 35 yards and my full swing with my PW goes 125. I would create a random test from 35-125.

You can also use a random generator from your phone to spit out 10 random yardages in this range and track the total distance from your target.

Over time, you’ll be able to track your progress and see your improvement.

You can also play a short par 3 course and track your score. MAKE SURE PUTTING IS FIXED (inside 10 ft gimme, outside 65 foot 3 putt)

Full Swing Distance Control

If you haven’t done this before, this must be the first thing you do next time your at a golf simulator. Here, your objective is to have stock yardages for all your clubs (GW-3W).

Here are the steps you should follow for an initial gapping session:

1. Make sure the temperature, altitude, and ball settings are correct on your launch monitor
2. Be warmed up. Best way is to hit a few balls.
3. Take your 9i, 7i, and 5i and alternate hitting shots. So hit a 9i then a 7i then a 5i. Do this until you hit 60 shots total (or 20 shots with each club).
4. Because you hit 3 clubs that should have different distances, you can tell which 20 are the 9 irons, 7 irons, and 5 irons. Looking at the smash factor can help you decipher between clubs.
5. Take out the worst 5 shots with each club and average the rest. This means you hav 15 best shots with each club, which you will average to get your stock yardage.
6. These are your distances for those clubs and you find your distances for 8i and 6i using the differences between these clubs.
7. You can also hit gap wedge, 2i/hybrid, and 3 wood to figure out those yardages following this same process.

This is what it should look like once completed:

If you are an elite or professional golfer, I would advise you do this session every two weeks.

executing a plan + Helpful Tips

Now you know what to work on, and a few ways that you can improve in those areas. Developing some sort of a plan for each of your sessions can help you make continued progress. This could be as simple as: For my next golf simulator session, I am going to go through an initial gapping session. My goal is to have my stock yardages for all of my clubs.

This prevents you from getting distracted and will ensure that you get better in your targeted area.

A word of advice: don’t just hit balls to hit balls. Especially if you cannot see outdoor ball flight, this will not help your game. I found myself hitting balls with different clubs for an hour. I would focus on different numbers while also trying to hit them straight. But afterward, I never felt like I did anything productive. I wasn’t filming my swing, wasn’t gauging distance control, and wasn’t working on anything specific. This was a huge waste of my time. Stay away from this.

Here is an unstructured bulleted list of my helpful tips:

• Film, film, film. Film your swing every 5-10 swings or so.
• Don’t have two goals for each session. Work on one thing only.
• Take your time between shots, don’t rapid-fire through balls.
• Go through full routine on each shot, this is a big one.
• Take breaks every 20 minutes or so.
• Keep sessions shorter (90 min or below) but have a high frequency.
• A short par 3 course is a good way to work on wedges.
• Make sure putting is not randomized when playing.

A follow-along example

I know. That was overwhelming. There was so much information and it can be hard to actually apply this to yourself. In this section, I will go through all the steps and make it as clear as possible. This would be a great time for you to follow along with a piece of paper or another device.

I will use myself for this example but apply it to your game.

1. Are you trying to have fun or get better? If you want to get better then read on: I am trying to get better.
2. Finding the right things to work on. Self-evaluate your game, focus on the few things that will have the greatest return: I know my wedges are a weakness, compared to other parts of my game. Working on wedges will have the highest return.
3. Follow the “best ways to use a golf simulator” section: I don’t have a wedge matrix, so at my next session I will get my stock yardages for all of my wedges. In my next session, I will create two tests: a block test and a random test. In my next session, I will play a short par 3 course. Together this would look like this:

4. Future sessions: For my future sessions, I choose from my drills in step 3 and create a plan. For example, lets say I have an upcoming session tomorrow that is one hour long. I write my plan: block test, random test, and short par 3 course. I would then do these things and TRACK MY RESULTS IN MY TABLE. Here is what that would look like:

5. Rinse and Repeat: By doing this again and again, you will see your drill scores getting better. This progress will translate to the course and your scores will drop!

This process is actually quite simple once you get the basic steps down. You decide what to work on, you choose a few things from the above list, and you turn those into a few drills which you track your progress.