How to Play Indoor Golf

Swinging a club indoors for the first time can feel a little different, but it’s one of the most effective ways to sharpen your skills, regardless of the weather outside. An indoor golf simulator gives you incredible feedback that's an absolute game-changer for understanding your swing. This complete guide will walk you through setting up at a simulator bay, striking the ball properly off a mat, and understanding the numbers so you can make noticeable improvements to your game.

Before You Swing: Understanding Indoor Golf Simulators

Before stepping into the bay, it helps to know what you’re looking at. An indoor golf simulator is a high-tech setup designed to replicate the a round of golf. Typically, it includes a few core components:

• The Hitting Mat: A section of artificial turf where you'll place your ball. Some have different textures to simulate the fairway, rough, and even sand.
• The Impact Screen: This is the large, durable screen you hit the ball into. A projector displays the virtual golf hole or driving range right onto it.
• The Launch Monitor: This is the technology that captures everything. Using high-speed cameras or Doppler radar, it tracks your club and the ball at the moment of impact to measure dozens of data points.
• The Computer/Software: The brains of the operation. It takes the data from the launch monitor and instantly projects your shot’s flight onto the screen, showing you exactly where the ball would have gone on a real course.

The real value of indoor golf isn't just about escaping a rainy day. It’s about thedata. Every single swing you make is analyzed, giving you precise feedback you just can't get from watching your ball fly at a traditional range. This allows you to practice with purpose and make real, measurable progress.

Your First Time at the Simulator: Getting Set Up Right

Walking into a simulator bay for the first time can seem like you’re boarding a spaceship, but the process is quite simple. A little preparation helps you hit the ground running and focus on your swing.

Booking Your Bay and What to Bring

Most indoor golf centers operate on an hourly basis, so it's a good idea to book your time in advance, especially during peak hours. When you pack your bag, here’s what to bring and what to leave at home:

• Your Clubs: You’ll get the most out of your session by using your own equipment. Make sure your club faces are clean to get the most accurate readings. If you don't have clubs, most facilities offer rentals.
• Shoes: You don’t need spiked golf shoes. Comfortable sneakers or spikeless golf shoes are perfect. The main thing is to wear what you'd typically wear on the course for a similar feel.
• Golf Balls: Leave yours in the bag. Simulators require you to use their specially marked balls (or at least clean, unmarked ones) for the launch monitor to track them correctly. The facility will provide them.
• A Glove: If you normally wear one, bring it along to maintain that familiar feel.

Navigating the Simulator Bay

Safety is the number one priority. The hitting area is designed for one person at a time. If you’re playing with friends, make sure everyone else stays in the designated seating area, well behind the person swinging. Familiarize yourself with the "tee box" - the marked area on the hitting mat where the launch monitor expects you to place the ball. Standing outside this area can lead to inaccurate readings.

Selecting Your Game Mode

Simulators have a menu of options, but they generally fall into three categories:

• Driving Range Mode: This is the perfect place to start. You can hit shot after shot with any club, get immediate feedback, and get a feel for how the system works without the pressure of a full round.
• Course Play Mode: This is what you came for! You can play rounds at world-famous courses like Pebble Beach or St. Andrews. It's a fantastic way to apply your practice to a "real" situation.
• Skills Challenges: These are fun mini-games like closest-to-the-pin contests or target practice that can help hone specific parts of your game.

For your first session, I strongly recommend spending at least 20-30 minutes on the driving range mode. Get comfortable hitting off the mat and looking at the feedback before you jump onto the first tee at Augusta National.

Striking the Ball: The Indoor Golf Swing

Swinging a golf club indoors is fundamentally the same as swinging outdoors. Your mechanics don't need to change. However, there are a few small adjustments to be mindful of, especially when it comes to hitting off an artificial surface.

Addressing the Ball on an Artificial Mat

The biggest difference between grass and a mat is forgiveness. On a real fairway, if you hit the shot a little "fat" (hitting the ground before the ball), your club can dig into the turf, absorbing a lot of energy and resulting in a chunked shot that goes nowhere.

On a mat, you don't get that "dig." If you hit it fat, your club will often bounce off the hard surface and into the back of a ball. This can trick you into thinking you’ve hit a good shot, when in reality, it would have been a disaster on the course. This is sometimes called the "rescue" effect of mats.

To build good habits, focus on the same swing thought you would on grass: Hit the ball first, then the mat. Your goal is to make a descending blow into the back of the ball. You'll know you've done it right when you hear a crisp "click" of the ball, followed by a soft "thump" of the club on the mat. This approach prevents you from developing a "scooping" motion and makes sure your indoor practice translates to the real course.

Club Selection and Adjusting for Indoor Quirks

Modern launch monitors are astoundingly accurate for full swings with irons, hybrids, and woods. You can trust the distances they give you. Where things can get a little quirky is in the short game.

Pitching, chipping, and especially putting depend on subtle interactions with the turf and require a more delicate feel that some launch monitors struggle to capture perfectly. Many simulators have an "auto-putt" feature for this reason. You can set it so that any shot landing on the green within, say, 15 feet is considered a two-putt. For beginners, this is a great way to keep the game moving and focus on what simulators do best: full swing feedback.

More Than Just a Game: Understanding the Data

This is where indoor golf truly separates itself. That screen full of numbers after every shot is gold, but it can be overwhelming. You don’t need to analyze every single metric. As a coach, I tell my students to start with just a few.

The Numbers That Matter Most

Focus on these key data points first to understand your swing:

• Carry Distance: This is the most practical stat. It tells you exactly how far the ball flew in the air before it started to roll. Knowing your true carry distance for every club in your bag is one of the fastest ways to lower your scores.
• Ball Speed: This measures how fast the ball is moving right after impact. It’s a direct indicator of how purely you struck the ball. Higher ball speeds (relative to your clubhead speed) mean you're finding the center of the face.
• Launch Angle: This is the vertical angle at which the ball takes off. Hitting the ball at the correct launch angle for each club is important for maximizing distance and control.
• Clubhead Speed: This is horsepower of your swing. It’s a great baseline metric to track over time as you work on generating more power.

Interpreting Ball Flight: Club Path and Face Angle

To understand why your ball is flying straight, slicing, or hooking, you only need to look at two primary numbers:

• Face Angle: This is the direction the clubface is pointed at impact. Face angle is the main a determining factor in the starting direction for the ball. If your shots are starting consistently left of the target, your clubface is likely closed at impact. If they're starting right, it's likely open.
• Club Path: This is the direction your club is moving through impact (e.g., in-to-out or out-to-in). The relationship between club path and face angle creates the curve of the ball. A simple way to think about it:
  • For a right-handed golfer, an "in-to-out" path with a square face will produce a slight draw.
  • An "out-to-in" path with a square face will produce a slight fade or slice.

You don't need a degree in physics to understand this. Just watch the numbers. If your ball slices, look at your path and face. You’ll probably see an out-to-in path number and an open face angle. Now you have a diagnosis and can work on fixing the actual cause, not just the symptom.

How to Practice with a Purpose Indoors

The worst thing you can do at a simulator is mindlessly hit balls at the screen. You have a powerful diagnostic tool at your fingertips, so use it like one. Structure your session to get the most out of it.

A Simple Practice Plan

Try dedicating an hour to a structured plan like this:

1. Warm-up (10 minutes): Start with your wedges and make easy, 50% swings. Gradually work your way up to a mid-iron and then full swings. Don't worry about the results yet, just get your body moving.
2. Gap Testing (20 minutes): This is incredibly valuable. Hit 5-7 full shots with every iron in your bag, from your pitching wedge to your 5-iron. Throw out any obvious mishits and get your average carry distance for each club. Write it down! Now you'll know exactly which club to pull from 140 yards out.
3. Work on a Weakness (20 minutes): What’s the club you fear most on the course? Your driver? A 3-wood? Spend dedicated time hitting that club. Use the data to diagnose the problem. If you’re slicing your driver, watch the club path and face angle numbers to see what’s going on.
4. Simulate Play (10 minutes): For the last part of your session, play 3-4 holes on a virtual course. Go through your pre-shot routine and try to hit real golf shots. This helps transfer your range game to the course.

Final Thoughts

Indoor golf is much more than a replacement for an outdoor round, it's a powerful tool for improvement. By setting yourself up correctly, focusing on a clean "ball-then-mat" strike, and understanding a few key data points like carry distance and face angle, you can make your practice sessions more productive than ever before.

All that data from a simulator is brilliant, but knowing exactly what to do with it is the next step in improving your game. This is exactly why I built Caddie AI - to act as that trusted golf coach who helps you make sense of it all. If you're leaving a simulator session wondering *why* your face angle is always open or how to structure your next practice session to fix your slice, I created our app so you can just ask. You get simple, straightforward answers to bridge the gap between your indoor practice and better scores on the course.