Virtual Reality

Golf As It Should Be web editor Huw Thomas checks out the future of golf at Cottrell Park.

When I turned up at Cottrell Park on the outskirts of Cardiff a few weeks ago to see the club’s new golf simulators in action, I genuinely didn’t know what to expect. I’d played plenty of Tiger Woods games on my Playstation, so maybe this would be a slightly bigger version of those?

But as I joined a number other guests, including club pros, former Wales rugby captain Ieuan Evans and former Olympic hurdler Matt Elias in the newly refurbished simulator suite, it quickly became clear that my video gaming experience hadn’t really prepared me for what Cottrell Park had in store.

What hit me first was the scale. The two simulators are big, almost rooms in their own right. The player is hemmed in on three sides by massive screens displaying impressively detailed representations of more than 100 international courses. These currently include accurately mapped versions of Pebble Beach, St Andrews Old Course and Carnoustie Links. You can even play a digital version of Cottrell Park itself, just the thing if the weather isn’t so good.

But it isn’t only the ability to take the world’s quickest and most extensive golf tour that makes these machines so impressive. Switched into training mode, they provide some astonishing tools to help improve the game of golfers at any level. You can video your swing and compare it to that of Colin Montgomerie or Paul Casey. Sensors track your movement, showing you the exact speed and angle of the club head and capturing every move you make. It records an incredible amount of data allowing players easily to see what they are doing wrong and how to fix it.

The demonstration ended with a nearest-the-pin competition on a virtual representation of the infamous 17th ‘Island Green’ at Sawgrass. After watching a few of the more experienced golfers lose their balls in the lake, I decided not to participate. I need to book some time on the trainer before I’m ready to graduate from my games console.

 For more information on Cottrell Park, please click here.