Golf!!!2!

[psyang]

So I got an Oculus Quest 2 a few weeks back. Along with games like Beat Saber or Super Hot, I have been intrigued with its ability to play golf. Ideally, I would set up a launch monitor and golf sim in my garage, but until that is a realistic idea, I wanted to see if VR could fill that gap.

There are 3 respectable golf games for the oculus: Golf+, Golf5 eClub, and exVRience.

Each seem to have their own pros and cons. Golf5 eClub went on sale this week so that sort of made the decision for me. Going in, I read that the general pros are that it has more realistic physics and sponsorship with Callaway so there's some money behind it. General cons are that the putting system is a little tough (very fast greens) and the courses aren't actual real-world courses.

To further the experience, I was able to build a little club adapter using an old iron I picked up at a thrift store, and a 3d printed part - there are a few plans available for free on thingiverse. It turned out really well. I added an iron spike inside the shaft to bring the weight to around 400g, and it makes the game much more fun.

Spoiler!

I've only been playing it for a couple days now, but here's my early review.

First, it is a clear step below an indoor simulator because it can't replicate the feel of actually hitting a ball. The biggest difference I found is, even with the weighted club, you don't have the same sense of where the clubhead is at the top of the backswing. It can make it difficult to hit the positions you are used to when swinging a real club.

Next, it's a bit difficult to get a feel for where the ground is. In eClub, the controller will vibrate when your club hits the ground, so you are informed of where it is. But in real golf, for example, I like to rest the club on the ground slightly at address, which helps my arms and shoulders to relax. Here, you are holding the club in place since it isn't actually touching the ground. By the same token, it can be very easy to accidentally nudge the ball at address.

Finally, for eClub, you need to go through all of your clubs and calibrate them for your distances. Hit a few balls for each club and adjust the club length and power meter so that it feels right for you. There is also a club x/y angle which I think is loft/lie. I haven't been touching those.

But once that is all done, it has been a lot of fun to play. The fact that the Oculus Quest system is wireless, you have a fully portable golf sim that doesn't require a lot of room.

The system tracks fades/slices and draws/hooks as I've hit all four while playing. I'm not the greatest at working the ball in real life, but my irons generally have a natural draw. In the sim, I seem to hit more slight fades and pushes.

There is a system where you can upgrade your clubs, based on how you progress in the game, so I'm curious if some of the mis-hits are built-in based on my handicap (you start at a handicap of 48 and work your way up from there) or the set of clubs you use, or both. Time will tell.

Hitting out of the rough will affect your distances. Sand shots are tricky. I tried hitting a blast shot with a 3/4 swing, and the ball launched out of the sand like I clipped it, though not quite as far. I tried to really gouge the sand and hit way below the ball, and the ball only went maybe 2 feet. I tried clipping a ball clean, and it did a good job - almost full distance. So it does take sand and club depth into consideration, but not sure yet how.

When putting, you can press a button to see the contours, and the greens are quick but not stupid quick. Hardest part is your field of view is much less with oculus, so you have to be relatively near the pin to see the pin in your peripheral vision when putting. I found I was always looking up to see the pin. There is no way to align your ball so the direction line/pointer is on your putting path. That would really help.

They do a good job with feedback. When you swing, you hear the woosh of the club, and the vibrations simulate the feel of the ball making contact. I do wish it could change the vibrations depending on a clean hit vs a hit off the toe or heel for example.

Another quirk I'm trying to figure out is hitting off an upslope or downslope. In real life, you can align your shoulders with the slope and hit. Here, the ball is on the slope, but your feet are actually on level ground. I've found it difficult to hit clean shots in these scenarios.

Some of the course design is a little wonky too. One green was sloped back to front, with the fairway sloped as well. I hit an approach that bounced about pin high, rolled past 10 yards, then gravity got it to roll back, down the slope, off the front of the green, and to bottom of the slope on the fairway, a good 130 yds away. That feels excessively unfair.

That said, the immersion in the world is the biggest win. You can look all around you to view your surroundings. On the unfair hole I mentioned above, my next shot didn't quite make it up the slope to the green and the ball rolled back down again. Watching the ball fall short, and then roll back down towards you and past your feet is one of those aha vr moments.

Another example is in my shot routine. My routine is not that complex, but I can replicate it perfectly in vr. I'll address the ball a foot away, take a practice swing, then walk behind the ball, pick a target, find a spot on the grass in front of the ball as my shot path, come back to the side of the ball, align my club to the target line defined by the spot on the grass, align my body with the club, then hit. Being able to do this flawlessly really helps the immersion.

eGolf also has a high precision mode which is supposed to be even more accurate physics wise. Without it, I found it easy to hit shots with good trajectory and decent distance. With it on, it's a lot harder to hit clean shots, and you can't flight shots quite as high, even on pure contact. Also, the path of the ball seems more realistic. The way it lands/bounces/rolls out looks much more true to life.

All in all, it's a lot of fun. I can easily spend a couple hours playing golf (a round typically only takes around 20-30 minutes to play) as the time flies. There's a little concern that it will ruin my swing if, for example, I play it all winter. Again, time will tell.

I may pick up one or both of the other golf games to compare. I've heard Golf+ is a little more arcade like but has PGA Tour and Top Golf backing which allows them to have real courses and the Top Golf layout too. exVRience is supposed to be more realistic, not as great visually, but is developed by a small independent team that gets/provides lots of feedback on their discord server.

[kcin]

Has anyone gone through and can recommend a high performance coaching/lessons program for experienced golfers? Used to be a decent player as a junior but I'm terrible now and want to get back to where I was and hopefully significantly better.

Thanks in advance

[EverfresH15]

Todd Halpen at Golf Future

[Northendzone]

Woke up this morning and decided I felt like golfing. What a mistake.

Drove out to serenity got a tee time. My tee shot was nice, and then after that it was awful. At one point I lost 6 balls over the course of about 10 swings of a club. All my irons were good for about 90 yards.

Broke my three wood in frustration and for the first time ever, I walked off the course on the the th hole.

I’d imagine I was on pace to shoot 140 or more. I felt like today I was a far worse golfer than the first time I ver played.

I will be taking a long break from this game.

[EverfresH15]

Was frustrated today. Tee time was 630 At D’Arcy. I’m expecting to play in about 3-3.5 hrs. Whose in front of us? The fat family who are the worlds worst golfers. It took 15 mins for them to get far enough down 1 before we could hit. The starter was great and said we will make sure we are on them and then they had a chat with them on 3. Which were a full hole behind already. Way to slow down your entire day.

[DoubleK]

That makes me super excited to play D'Arcy tomorrow.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

Woke up this morning and decided I felt like golfing. What a mistake.

Drove out to serenity got a tee time. My tee shot was nice, and then after that it was awful. At one point I lost 6 balls over the course of about 10 swings of a club. All my irons were good for about 90 yards.

Broke my three wood in frustration and for the first time ever, I walked off the course on the the th hole.

I’d imagine I was on pace to shoot 140 or more. I felt like today I was a far worse golfer than the first time I ver played.

I will be taking a long break from this game.

I’d get back on the course soon. Golf is bizarre. Things are going amazing and the next hole it’s as though you’ve never played the game. Things change quickly!

I’d also just try to simplify things and swing easy. Easier than it sounds, I know, but that cures a lot of problems!

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

Woke up this morning and decided I felt like golfing. What a mistake.

Drove out to serenity got a tee time. My tee shot was nice, and then after that it was awful. At one point I lost 6 balls over the course of about 10 swings of a club. All my irons were good for about 90 yards.

Broke my three wood in frustration and for the first time ever, I walked off the course on the the th hole.

I’d imagine I was on pace to shoot 140 or more. I felt like today I was a far worse golfer than the first time I ver played.

I will be taking a long break from this game.

I took the week before last off from golf. Wasn't happy with my game and was getting frustrated to the point where I wasn't enjoying it. This past week I got back in the saddle with a new frame of mine and like Slava said, focused on the basics and tried to simplify the swing.

It worked and my game is back on track.

Do what I did by taking a short brake and come back with a better frame of mind. Just don't quit.

[malcolmk14]

Played Bell Bay, Cabot Cliffs & Highlands Links the last three days. Cabot Links tomorrow to wrap the trip. Will post a little review when I’m home. What a beautiful part of the world.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

Played Bell Bay, Cabot Cliffs & Highlands Links the last three days. Cabot Links tomorrow to wrap the trip. Will post a little review when I’m home. What a beautiful part of the world.

Would love to know where you stayed and some places to eat in the area. Thinking of doing this next time.

We are headed to the DR for some vacation and golf next week. Great courses down there.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Would love to know where you stayed and some places to eat in the area. Thinking of doing this next time.

We are headed to the DR for some vacation and golf next week. Great courses down there.

I’m curious to hear as well. Most people I know who have done the trip recommend to do resort trips to the USA instead.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Won our company scramble tournament today with a -12, 59.

I do enjoy a good scramble where a well balanced team finds awesome shots when they really need to.
I sunk a 35' putt for eagle on one hole, felt incredible.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Won our company scramble tournament today with a -12, 59.

I do enjoy a good scramble where a well balanced team finds awesome shots when they really need to.
I sunk a 35' putt for eagle on one hole, felt incredible.

I hope you guys had birdie juice for every one of those!

[malcolmk14]

Cape Breton Island was great. Four of us had been planning this for a while and it was pleasantly surprising when everything fell into place and we didn't run into any travel or baggage issues. One of our foursome was coming from Pearson and didn't trust Air Canada not to lose his golf clubs, so he used Shipsticks ($109 USD one way) to our first golf course to make sure they'd get there on time and have that peace of mind.

We stayed just outside Baddeck, about 5 minutes from town in a great 4-bedroom Airbnb. Thought this location was good because it was very central on the island and about an hour to Cabot on the west side, and an hour to Highlands Links up north.

Friday was Bell Bay. This is a Thomas McBroom course in Baddeck & we chose it for our first day because we'd just done 3 1/2 hours of driving the night before from Halifax so we were fairly certain we'd be tired and want a more relaxing round. The only other McBroom courses I've played were Tower Ranch and Country Hills, and this couldn't have been more different.

There is no clubhouse and when you drive onto the property, there is an RV park on the right side. The pro shop is located in a trailer & the staff was really nice. They seemed genuinely happy that we chose to play one of our rounds out there. It felt to us like most of the people playing there on a Friday morning were locals & people who played there every day. Hanging around the practice area, seemed like most people were in the 55+ age range and all knew each other.

Bell Bay is forest golf, with a great view of the lake. It was hot and humid, and the fog over the lake obscured our view for the front 9. Conditions were really good, greens were in great shape and the course was very fair. If I had to compare the course conditions to something we have here I'd say it's pretty close to Redwood in terms of look and quality. It felt like mountain/forest golf. By the end of the round we could see the lake clearly, and the four finishing holes are absolutely excellent. Overall a pretty nice round & definitely somewhere I'd recommend playing. Nothing fancy, no frills or gimmicks, but good golf.

Saturday we made the drive to Cabot Cliffs in Inverness. Cliffs is the newer of the two Cabot courses so all of the bells and whistles of the resort are non-existent here. Cliffs has a very small pro shop, the driving range, and a halfway house. If you want the clubhouse, the restaurant, the locker room, you have to make the 10 minute drive to Cabot Links. More on that later.

We booked these rounds months ago, and when we did we requested caddies for Cliffs. None of us are excellent golfers, we're all mid-handicappers, but we wanted the caddie experience and I'd heard that there are quite a few quirks and blind shots on Cliffs. Somehow, this request didn't make it onto our booking, so we ended up not having caddies available for our round. The staff was apologetic, and unfortunately they were also sold out of yardage books so we got no help there, either. Not a problem, we saved a few hundred bucks and threw our bags on some complimentary push carts.

It was hot. It hit 31 degrees and there was not a cloud in the sky or even a tiny bit of wind to offer any relief. Cliffs is completely out in the open for most of the course, so the 15th tee is the first time we found any shade. As luck would have it, there was a group of 20 college buddy Americans playing in the 5 groups directly ahead of us, for large sums of money, and the pace of play was pretty atrocious. I'm not one to complain, so we just tried to make the best of it and enjoyed our extra 60-90 minutes out on the nicest golf course in Canada, but in 31 degree heat a 5 hour 25 minute walking-only round was pretty tough. We stocked up on beverages after 10 (the halfway house) and finally saw a beverage cart after 14, but other than that, it was pretty dry out there on the course.

The course is absolutely incredible, I don't know what can even be said about it. Incredible conditions, the greens are insane, the bunkering is insane, the location is insane, and for 5 hours 25 minutes all we could talk about was how they decided to put a golf course *here*. There is no way to tell where the tee boxes turn into fairways and where the fairways turn into greens. It's all the same. The elevation change on the back 9 nearly killed us, the 11th tee box to the 15th tee box is all uphill, but then it was all downhill from there. We met a staff member on the 14th green who is a hockey coach in Lethbridge for most of the year, and then he goes to Cape Breton with his wife in the summers and works at Cabot. Nice life.

Highlights of the round were hitting the drive of my life and making birdie on the par 5 15th where your approach plays downhill overlooking the Bay of St. Lawrence with Margaree Island in the background. A friend chipped in for birdie out of the bunker on the outrageous par 3 16th which is the hole you see on all the ads, commercials, and if you google Cabot Cliffs. And then on the 17th, one of our guys putted from 140 yards out to 10 feet down the hill, and another drove the green over the cliffs and missed the 8-foot eagle putt.

Talking with some of the staff, it sounds like every day is the same out there. 160 golfers 12 minutes apart rain or shine. Never any different. Americans are where they make bank and the last two years they've had basically none. This year, it's mostly Americans. I asked one staff member if he actually gets a chance to golf the course and he said he's played 55 rounds so far this year... Incredible.

After the round at Cliffs we had a round booked at The Nest, which is Cabot's 10-hole par 3 course up the hill. Holes ranged from 85 to 140 yards (except for the 10th which was 220 downhill facing the bay), and we didn't see anyone else on the course until we were crossing over from the 9th to the 10th. We took about a half hour break and stocked up on some water and Gatorades. This is pretty much against all golf etiquette but we were so exhausted after the 5 1/2 hour beatdown on Cliffs that two of our four just took their shoes off on the first hole and walked the Par 3 course in bare feet. We played 5 bucks a hole without gloves (or shoes in some cases) and had an absolute blast. Conditions were just as good as the main course and the guys who walked it barefoot said it was like walking around your living room on carpet, except for stepping on the broken wooden tees on some of the tee boxes. Haha.

This is getting long so I'll post the rest later. We played Highlands Links on the Sunday and Cabot Links (the worse golf course but better overall experience) on Monday.

[malcolmk14]

Been meaning to post this for a couple of days but haven't gotten around to it.

Sunday the 24th we played Highlands Links, an old Stanley Thompson design on the Northeast coast of Cape Breton Island. This is an old design, hardly changed since 1941 when the course was completed.

My expectations were tempered when I heard from two different people within the last month that it was in poor condition. One of the guys called it "one of the worst courses he's ever played". I wouldn't go that far.

The fairways are absolutely wild, with extreme undulations, and the routing of the course is genius. The greens are huge and inviting, and the forest surrounding the course is unforgiving if you hit errant tee shots. There are some insane narrow tee shots which makes for some interesting decision making. The view from some of the holes was awesome.

Unfortunately, the conditions of the course were not great. There were a few poor quality greens, especially on the front 9. Quite a few areas where there was significant damage to grass, beside the 6th fairway it was all chewed up and muddy with no indication of ground under repair or anything. The signage and directions on the course were lacking - we heard there were some very long distances between holes, so we followed the cart path twice quite a long way before realizing we must be going the wrong way. I'd say this added about 15 minutes total to our round. In one case, the only way we knew which way to go was looking at the satellite view of Google Maps on my phone.

This is an 80 year old golf course in the middle of a national park in the middle of nowhere, so I didn't expect Cabot conditions. That being said, it's ranked in the top 10 in Canada and top 100 in the world by GolfDigest... I'd say there is no way it should be. Overall I'd give the course itself 3 out of 5 stars.

Unfortunately, this course failed us hard in terms of service. It was 31 degrees. We asked the starter before we began if there were water stations on the course and he told us they had two beverage carts going around and the halfway house was open. I don't know what happened after he told us that, but the first time we saw the beverage cart was on the 18th tee box after we called the clubhouse after 14 to please send it out to us, and the halfway house was closed and locked up when we got there after 9. Not a pleasant experience. Glad I played the course but I wouldn't return - if we did this golf trip again we'd just play Bell Bay again, or make our way back to the mainland and play Truro.

Finally Monday the 25th was Cabot Links - an experience I'll never forget. The course is a little older and more mature than Cliffs, and is a far easier walk. There are no huge elevation changes, but unlike Cliffs a couple days earlier, we got the East Coast winds. The wind absolutely beat us down but we all had a really enjoyable day.

Fairways and greens aren't quite in the same condition as Cliffs but they are still miles better than anything else I've played in a very long time. This is true links golf, with very smart bunkering everywhere, long fescue if you're not accurate, and rolling hills and undulations that force you to make creative shots and take some chances. One of our guys was reading each hole description as we approached each tee box and some of the tips from the website ended up being very helpful as far as where to leave your tee shots and where to aim - as well as how far some carries were.

The course is very similar to the front 9 of Cliffs. Highlight of the round was hitting a beautiful drive and approach shot on 12 to set up a par, making birdie after hitting a 150 yard shot out of the bunker on 13 and rolling in a 15 foot putt, rolling about a foot past the hole on the par 3 14th to narrowly miss my first hole in one ever and make birdie, and absolutely creaming my drive on 15 to set up a par there, playing that 4-hole stretch in 2-under. Lowlight was hitting my approach way left on 18 into the windows of the restaurant (shatter-proof windows) and having to walk around there with a bunch of people eating and staring at me while I looked for my ball.

Unlike some of the other days, all of the amenities were open and the course is set up in a way that you visit them frequently. We stayed well hydrated and had no issues with amenities. The fresh baked cookies on the first tee are a nice touch, and after the round we were able to hit the showers and make ourselves a complimentary Nespresso before heading back to Halifax that night.

Here is the part of the trip that I'd highly recommend to anyone doing it. After our round at Links, we went for dinner and live music at the Red Shoe Inn in Mabou. It's owned by Canadian Country Music artists the Rankin Family, and served the best food any of the four of us had on the entire trip. It was absolutely outstanding. The place is in the middle of nowhere, but it is packed. Live music runs from 5-7 pm - we got there at 4:51 and got the last table. People were being turned away after that. The food, service, and music were all incredible.

Overall - if I were to do this trip again, I probably wouldn't bother trying to stay central and playing all over the island. I would stay at Cabot and just do 2 rounds at each of the courses there. Staying central was nice and I'm glad we played the courses we did, but the Cabot courses were definitely the highlights and now that I've done Bell Bay and Highlands, I wouldn't go that far out of my way to play them again.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Is there anywhere on the west side of the city with a practice facility with a bunker that's open to public? Only places in town I can see are Golfuture and Beddington Golf Park and they're... not close to me.

[Cuz]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Is there anywhere on the west side of the city with a practice facility with a bunker that's open to public? Only places in town I can see are Golfuture and Beddington Golf Park and they're... not close to me.

Lynx Ridge has a decent bunker to practice from

[Northendzone]

I golfed at serenity today - specifically sun catcher (what a great day).

They have now paved a lot of the paths, but still no ball washer.

I managed to come home with no broken clubs and completed all 18 holes. Finished with two bogies - so I consider that a positive for me

[Winsor_Pilates]

Anyone have a backyard putting green?
Is it worth it, or one of those ideas that seems cool at first and then never gets used?

I'm looking at putting artificial turf throughout my backyard and debating whether to maximize that area to keep flexibility or fit a putting green into part of it.
This is a Vancouver yard so it's not enormous to begin with.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

I golfed at serenity today - specifically sun catcher (what a great day).

They have now paved a lot of the paths, but still no ball washer.

I managed to come home with no broken clubs and completed all 18 holes. Finished with two bogies - so I consider that a positive for me

Do not put so much pressure on yourself, just and enjoy the day, be mindful of how fortunate you are be able to play the game and enjoy those shots that you know you have in you, that's what gives us hope... and keep moving, don't hold up the course.

Our course held out club championships over the weekend and looking at the some of the scores would make us all feel good. Lots in the triple digits, and as someone else mentioned a while ago, the "Vanity Handicappers" were out in full force. I struggled with putting as in one day they turned our slow greens into asphalt for the week end, also should have taken a cart yesterday, got too tired and too hot. I was a plus 10 net and shot 91/ 95, so ok overall for me.