Six Reasons to Seek Knowledge From Clarity.Golf

Written By Wilson Bales

Reason #1: Planning Your Layout

A customer came to us ready to install his home simulator. After looking at the blueprints for the basement buildout he had just completed, we pointed out the deficiencies of his room.

  • The ceiling was too low for a good sim installation

  • There was no space to place golf bags

  • There was no room for friends to sit or stand

  • The backswing would come within inches of the back wall

The customer took the time to redesign the room, with plans to demolish and extend the back wall and lower the floor. This resulted in a 16 month process of resubmitting permits and construction. He made the right decision. In the end we delivered his perfect simulator space, with plenty of room for all the necessities.

Another customer called us soon after we completed installation of his simulator. Because his room was only 11’8” wide, we designed and delivered a simulator with offset tee locations and a tracker that moved to accommodate them. He complimented our ability to adapt to his space, but concluded by saying that he wished he has spoken with us before framing out the room.

Over 4,000 customers have come to our simulator companies over the last 20 years. The number of customers who had planned their space without noteworthy errors, when quantified as a percentage and rounded to the nearest whole number, was zero.

You do not need to build a room of infinite size, but your sim room dimensions should be carefully considered. There is wisdom in avoiding corner-cutting with the physical setup. Clarity can provide the knowledge to ensure you on a path to success from the very start, for free.

Reason #2: Tracking

Tracking refers to the technology used to measure the ball and club at launch. This technology is most commonly referred to as a launch monitor. In order to enjoy a realistic simulated round of golf, one needs to have fairly accurate "launch data", defined as the kinematics of the ball at launch. More simply put, it tracks and measures what the ball and club do when a shot is hit.

In a golf simulator, ball kinematics break down as follows – There are further pieces of the ball kinematics puzzle but these are the ones that matter most:

  • Velocity

  • Vertical launch angle

  • Horizontal launch angle

  • Spin rate (typically in RPMs)

  • Spin axis (typically simplified to backspin and side spin)


Golf launch monitors often also report various club data points which is generally referred to as club presentation data. Club presentation data is defined by what the club is doing in the area just before, during, and after the club and ball interact. There are numerous measurements and calculations that can be made, and the different launch monitors provide various metrics.

All meaningful launch monitors use either doppler radar, imaging (cameras), or a combination of both. In some cases the doppler radar is utilized in a phased multi-sensor array. This is the most robust approach to radar. Phased array radar was developed for tracking moving objects over a long distance. On their own, phased array radar devices cannot directly measure spin. Spin data is calculated through algorithms that analyze the ball’s path and velocity. Some systems have gotten very good at accurately calculating ball spin. Building metal bands or chips into golf balls makes this method increasingly accurate. Phased array radar systems also are affected by the dynamics of room length. Radar trackers need to sit a specific distance behind the tee, and ensuring there is adequate distance between the tee location and the screen is crucial for accurate ball data measurement.

Imaging (camera) based trackers are capable of getting 3D positional, time-stamped photos of shots at launch. When properly implemented, there is no better way to get launch data. Assuming they have quality images that are accurately time-stamped in 3D (stereo), image based trackers must then do a robust job of extracting the shot kinematics from these images.

For both types of systems the same holds true with respect to clubheads. Regardless of whether data is modeled from positional radar information or measured from images, the extraction and analysis is critical to the end results.

You then need to consider latency, occlusion, electromagnetic interference, illumination, fiducials, and numerous other things that can affect the data. There are – grading on a bell curve – very good radar systems and very good imaging systems. All have advantages. All have disadvantages.

Certain trackers have the support of the pros, but this is often similar to how pros endorse clubs. The brilliant club guru Tom Wishon once was credited with saying something to the effect that "the clubs the pros use relative to what the consumers buy are no more the same than the cars raced by NASCAR and the models on the showroom floor."

There are currently zero definitive studies or intelligent published analyses of the actual performance of simulator trackers that are readily available to the public. We assert that Clarity can provide you with agnostic knowledge about these devices you cannot easily acquire anywhere else.

Reason #3: Software

Assuming you prioritize your sim decisions with what launch tracker you purchase, the software decision becomes fairly simple. Clarity believes that prioritizing launch tracking is the absolute correct approach.

The simulator industry today, outside of the pure DIY market, is dominated by vertical brands. Choosing a vertical brand is like choosing among a Ford, a Honda, or a Chevrolet. If you choose a Ford you get a Ford body, a Ford drivetrain, and a Ford Engine. You might get Michelin or Goodyear tires, or Champion or Autolite spark plugs, but the major components will be Ford.

If you buy a sim from GolfZon, HD, or AboutGolf, you will get that brand's tracker, software, and enclosure/screen. You might get a Panasonic projector and a Dell computer. With only one or two exceptions, the vertical brands do not allow software choices. You get a "Ford" drivetrain to go with the Ford engine and the Ford body.

Foresight, an absolute market leader in every way, started as a launch monitor company. Based on market demand they made their launch monitor compatible with third party software. They produced their own "Ford" software as well.  So with Foresight, you have choices.

Trackman has somewhat followed suit, except after acquiring the core tracking IP they provide, they then acquired external software to sell as their own. Trackman today does not run third party software. So even though Trackman started as a tracking component, as a sim company they're a "Ford".

Uneekor uses the same tracking architecture as AboutGolf. With AboutGolf you can only run AboutGolf's proprietary software, but with Uneekor you can run multiple excellent third party software components. Several other tracking component producers also enable this choice of third party software.

But what is the software? It's the interface to the tracker. It enables practice, data analysis, course play, scoring, multiplayer play, and oftentimes many other features. With the non-vertical brands, you have the option of acquiring multiple software components. Most people use multiple pieces of software on their computer, why not have more than one simulator software program?  

As with each primary simulator consideration, software considerations relate to graphics, number of courses, specific course availability, accuracy of course replication, practice features, data features, scoring features, sounds, latency, resolution – the list goes on. We can help you work through all of these considerations to find what is best for you and your space.

Reason #4: Projection

The average sim buyer thinks of projection as a fairly simple matter. Typical considerations include price, lumens (brightness), and resolution. The reality is that there are many additional things to consider when choosing a projector for your space. Throw distance from lens to screen is often overlooked, resulting in projector purchases that need to be returned as they do not properly fill the image space.

There are upwards of 100 projector manufacturers, and some of these manufacturers offer over 20 different models at any given time. These models change in cycles often of less than twelve months.

It is important to coordinate your screen size with the projector spec. Most simulator projectors these days run at WUXGA resolution, which is defined as a 16:10 native resolution running at 1920 x 1200 pixels. If you're able to have an image size of 9 feet projectable height, your image width will be 14' 5".

What happens if you only can have 12' of image width? You can run at 16:10, using the full 12' of width, but this will reduce your image height to 7' 6". Since in traditional golf you can look to infinite height, reducing your image to 7' 6" when you can go to 9' is less than desirable. You also have the option to run the projector in a non-native 4:3 aspect ratio, but that means you give up 16.7% of the image your WUXGA projector offers. It also means you lose 16.7% of lumens, and 16.7% of resolution. Clarity can help you find the projector most suited for your budget, space, and screen size.

Reason #5: Turf

Calculating your turf needs seems like a simple enough task, but consider the following:

  • The best artificial turf to hit off of is not the best turf to stand on.

  • The best turf to stand on is not the best turf to hit off of.

  • While the turf that's good for stance is good for putting, it's not necessarily the absolute best, and the best hitting turf is not ideal for putting.

We favor hitting turf that is deep. Deep turf means when you hit down into the turf (like when you take a divot) your club doesn't interact with a hard rubber or synthetic surface. This prevents your wrists and forearms from injury over time. It also allows for inserting a real tee into the turf, which is often preferable to the rubber tube tees you see in so many simulator applications.

Some users like the idea of a defined teeing ground, with raised stance and hitting turf. This simulates stepping up onto the tee. Some users prefer the whole surface on the same plane–stance, hitting, putting, and the rest of the room. Some want to decorate their rooms a bit more elegantly–perhaps ceramic tile behind the tee. Some want to optimize function and otherwise manage cost.

There are also considerations related to adding putting cups, tee-up devices, tilting stance areas, sloped putting areas, simulated rough/sand, and even color choices. Clarity can give you a definitive spec that caters to your exact wants and needs.

Reason #6: Add-ons

The list of add-ons is theoretically infinite, but let’s start with some of the basics:

  • Video cameras

  • Body tracking

  • Force plates

  • Pressure plates

  • Enhanced sound systems

  • TV, home theater, gaming functionality

  • Retractable simulator screens

  • Retractable TV, home theater, gaming screens

  • Retractable curtains

  • Lighting

  • Seating

  • Table or bar surfaces

  • External video displays

  • Club racks

  • Storage spaces

  • Exotic curved or faceted screen designs

  • Decorator level enclosure materials

  • Computer cabinetry and/or remote placement

  • Input devices

  • Voice controls

  • Automation solutions

One customer went so far as to build a magnificent room with wooden walls, bookshelves, coffered ceilings, radically expensive leather furniture, and a large glass window in the floor to look down at his exotic car collection. He then worked with us to design his sim so you had absolutely no evidence of its existence until you pressed one button, at which point the entire simulator appeared out of the walls and ceiling, turned on, and took him to the first tee.

Whatever it is you want – however much money you have to spend – we can provide you with the knowledge, the spec, and the plan to do it exactly the right way – for free.

Wilson Bales