jpxpro
Assistant Pro
I have been a long time admirer of golf simulators and have had a lot of fun visiting lounges and paying £20+ an hour for the fun of playing with one, now clearly foresight and GC2 or trackman is out of my price range however at just £299 the Optishot seemed a bargain almost too good to be true, after reading numerous other reviews i decided it was worth the money, best case i can practise with accurate stats to consider worst case its a pretty cool computer game.
Well I'm pleased to report it is both, i have played around with it for just over a week and have to say I'm hugely impressed, the setup was really easy you just install software hook up usb lead and start hitting balls into a net using the supplied mat, the device works but having to rows of infra red lights at either side of the tee area so as you swing back and thorough the computer calculates swing speed, path tempo, face angle and ball speed, the result is pretty impressive you get a great tracer image which follows your ball just like you see on tv, the feedback tells you if you were open/closed whether you swing straight or in/out - out/in and crucially how far you hit the ball. Now initially i thought this was a bit ambitious as it didn't follow the ball but i compared results using a 3bayssga and also a cobra launch monitor all 3 gave similar results with my 6 iron travelling at 78mph and going approx 155 yards which was about right for my average shot.
there are a choice of courses available all of which have slightly different names to the originals, you also have the option to purchase platinum courses for $30 or £19ish i have bought gleniglis old scot and firth of forth, better known as gleneagles st andrews and muirfield
i have setup in my garage using a projector and custom build cage and screen etc the only issue i encountered was lighting, if you have down lighters then they confuse the hardware and give funny results its recommended to use florescent lighting but i have found a basic lamp with an energy saving bulb in it works great when positioned on the wall adjacent to hitting area.
i will link a few photos and videos of my setup for you to have a look at.
to sum up this is a great piece of kit for practicing your game etc, it is also a lot of fun as a social computer game with friends
[video=youtube;UW6F0g0VUxs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW6F0g0VUxs[/video]
Well I'm pleased to report it is both, i have played around with it for just over a week and have to say I'm hugely impressed, the setup was really easy you just install software hook up usb lead and start hitting balls into a net using the supplied mat, the device works but having to rows of infra red lights at either side of the tee area so as you swing back and thorough the computer calculates swing speed, path tempo, face angle and ball speed, the result is pretty impressive you get a great tracer image which follows your ball just like you see on tv, the feedback tells you if you were open/closed whether you swing straight or in/out - out/in and crucially how far you hit the ball. Now initially i thought this was a bit ambitious as it didn't follow the ball but i compared results using a 3bayssga and also a cobra launch monitor all 3 gave similar results with my 6 iron travelling at 78mph and going approx 155 yards which was about right for my average shot.
there are a choice of courses available all of which have slightly different names to the originals, you also have the option to purchase platinum courses for $30 or £19ish i have bought gleniglis old scot and firth of forth, better known as gleneagles st andrews and muirfield
i have setup in my garage using a projector and custom build cage and screen etc the only issue i encountered was lighting, if you have down lighters then they confuse the hardware and give funny results its recommended to use florescent lighting but i have found a basic lamp with an energy saving bulb in it works great when positioned on the wall adjacent to hitting area.
i will link a few photos and videos of my setup for you to have a look at.
to sum up this is a great piece of kit for practicing your game etc, it is also a lot of fun as a social computer game with friends
[video=youtube;UW6F0g0VUxs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW6F0g0VUxs[/video]
