Why You Need This: You'll learn "What Equipment Do I Need to Get Better Indoors?"

All the information you need when training indoors...

...from a rolled up piece of carpet to an $18,000 simulator...

...what equipment is necessary to improve from home?

 

Golf Pros Featured:

Instructors Featured: Clay Ballard    

Video Duration: 13:01

Video Transcription:

Clay Ballard: Hey, it’s great to have you here, and in this video I’m going to talk about really what you need to practice indoors.

What if I told you, you could have a $25,000, $50,000, $100,000 golf simulator that’s a state of the art, top of the line simulator and it won’t help you to get better than having a rolled-up piece of carpet, a wadded up piece of paper for a golf ball, and a junky iron that you got out of your garage?

Well, that’s the truth. It really comes down to the way that you practice is going to determine how much you get better, and not necessarily the equipment that you have.

One of the reasons for this is even though those fancy launch monitors won’t tell you precisely where you’re hitting the golf ball on the club face.

That’s something you can develop a fantastic feel for, and really have an awareness of the club face that you could hit it solid.

A launch monitor won’t necessarily get you that, but your own senses and your own practicing the right way and doing the right things can help you to develop that feel to where you can play great golf whenever you want to.

Also, things like hitting the ground in the same spot every time. Being able to make that ball-first contact.

Launch monitors, even the really, really fancy ones don’t give you nearly as precise of feedback of what a rolled-up piece of carpet is, me just swinging, and hitting, and looking down at the piece of carpet or this mat, and seeing exactly where my club entered the ground.

Even a $20,000 launch monitor doesn’t get quite as precise as just looking at a rolled-up piece of carpet will.

So those are the things that I’m going to talk about later on in this series. In this video, I’m going to talk about all the gear, what I would recommend, if you’re going to buy a launch monitor, all the way down to a rolled-up piece of carpet and everything in between.

So if you already have what you want to practice with, no need to watch this video. This isn’t required at all to get the most out of your indoor practice. So skip right to the next video if you already have what you need to practice indoors.

If you’re curious, or you’re looking to upgrade your equipment, I’d recommend watching this first because it can get really expensive buying launch monitors, and indoor simulators, and things like that.

So a couple things to remember, we’ll start with the high-end stuff. When you’re buying a launch monitor, there’s a couple different versions and I’m not going to get into the details here at all, because this could be hours.

But, there’s a couple versions. There’s one called a GCQuad, which is an $18,000 launch monitor. You don’t really need any space. Fantastic for indoors, it just looks at what’s happening right at contact.

Then there’s a couple other launch monitors. You’ve heard of TrackMan, you’ve heard of FlightScope, the X3. FlightScope is $18,000, Trackman, a brand new one’s $24,000.

They’re virtually identical. A little bit different software, but they measure the same stuff. They’re just about the same accuracy that I’ve seen. I’ve used both of them, they’re both great.

I’m a FlightScope guy, that’s what I’d recommend because why spend an extra six grand if you don’t have to.

But even those, they’re going to require 10 feet from where the unit’s set up to where the ball is, and they will work in a shorter period, a shorter distance, but you really need another 20 feet past that for the ball to fly in the air, in my opinion -- this is just my opinion -- to get the top level reading on that.

So if you’re expecting to get real feedback just like if you hit a golf ball on the course and get that really, really precise, you want the ball to perform exactly on your simulator like it would be outside, those are really the only options.

You can get a GCQuad which is fantastic, works indoors. You can get a FlightScope, or you can get a TrackMan.

You may be able to find some used ones, but once you get software, you’re really looking at that $18,000 mark without the simulator screen, without the projector, without the mat, without any of that stuff.

That’s really what you have to get if you want it to be exactly like real golf, or even then, it’s not exactly like real golf, but it’s close enough to where you’re like I can really get some hard work and practice in on this.

As you go into less expensive launch monitors, you really, there’s not much in the range between that $18,000 and less unless you’re looking for older models of FlightScope, but again, you need a lot of space to make that happen.

If you go down to the FlightScope Mevo Plus, it’s $2,000, really good unit, gives you a lot of good data, but it’s again, it comes with a simulator software, you still need to get the simulator, the projector, the mat, so it’s going to run probably on the bare minimum $4,000.

It’s not going to be exactly like real golf. It is amazing how good it is for the price it is. It tracks ball speed, swing speed, it gets the spin rate, the launch, it’s pretty dag-gone close but when you’re hitting those shots that maybe it doesn’t know how to read those, little pitches, and chips, and putts, and things like that. It’s not always going to read exactly right which can lead to a lot of frustration when people are wanting it to be exactly like real golf. Not really going to happen for that kind of price range.

Then you get into the SkyTraks and things like that. They’re not quite as accurate as -- again, I’m not an expert, this is just my opinion from the small amount I’ve used these – the SkyTrak is not going to be as accurate

Some of these other cheaper ones that are less than $2,000 are not going to be as accurate as say like a Mevo or one of the other units.

Now again, you still need a little bit of space to make that happen, you have to put stickers on the balls, all those things. But in a nutshell, here’s the point that I’m trying to make.

If you want it to be real golf, you’re going to spend at least 20 grand, all in. If you want it to be fun and entertaining, and use the drills that I’m going to talk about to improve your golf, you can do that for a few grand.

Now if you’re just looking to improve, you don’t necessarily want the launch monitor, you don’t want the big simulator, you’d like to have it but you don’t want to drop a bunch of money on it, if you’re just looking to improve a really good quality option would be a really nice mat like this one.

This is called a Real Feel mat, that’s Real Feel. If you put in the promo code TOPSPEEDGOLF you get maybe 10 percent off, I think it is, on these, and we get a few bucks too. It’s great for everybody, but it’s a small amount, it’s really not a big deal.

This is the best mat that I’ve tried, I’ve had this one for years. I just started promoting these on the website because I like them so much.

They’re soft, they’re thick, and they’re heavy enough to where this one isn’t going to slide around. Like if I try to kick this and move it, it’s not going to move around.

If you get a smaller mat, they’re going to start moving on you. You’re not going to like those. Go top of the line. If you want a nice mat, you’re going to have to spend about the $500 that this one is.

If you get one that’s real small, it’s going to spin on you, you’re not going to like it. I’ve done this, I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on mats in the past, that are junk.

I get the thin ones, because like well, its’ $200 cheaper, I’ll just buy that one, it looks as good. They’re lighter weight, this probably weighs somewhere between 50 and 70 pounds, pretty heavy.

It’s thicker, this one is, you get those lighter-weight, thinner ones, they’re harder, you can’t really hit down into them. They’re not as good, they’re not as durable. You’re just really not going to like it.

So if you’re going to spend on something, don’t have to take my word for it, but this is the best mat that I’ve ever tried. Get the five by five-foot one. Again, it’s about $500.

You’re looking at spending a decent amount of money. A nice net, right around $1,000. Make sure you get the shank side curtains.

If you break your window and have to spend a thousand bucks replacing a big giant window or something like that, it’s going to run you a lot more than that net.

That’s kind of the next level of I want a really good quality mat, I want a really good quality net. You work on the drills that I’m going to work through later on in this series of videos, you’re going to have fantastic improvement. You don’t need any kind of simulator to make that happen.

Along with that, which would be handy, it’s not really a simulator, but it does show your swing speed and ball speed.

You’ve heard me talk about this PRGR, pretty dag-gone affordable considering it’s within one or two miles an hour of swing speed, one or two miles an hour of ball speed, and pretty accurate when it’s telling you your estimated carry.

Now this is an estimated carry, it’s not saying it’s carrying exactly that distance, but most of the time I find it’s within 5 or 10 yards.

To be honest? If I have a player hit 10 shots, their dispersion is going to be a lot more than 5 or 10 yards on those shots. It’s pretty dag-gone accurate, it’s really all you need to get a good feel for how far you hit it, how fast you’re swinging, what your ball speed is.

But to be honest, when you go through my training, we’re really only looking at one number, and that’s the swing speed is the most important thing.

We do that in the 20-Minute Distance Fix, you do that in a lot of drills that I talk about. Swing speed is the number that you need to have, you need to be accurate, and this is right up there with my $18,000 launch monitor when we’re talking about accuracy of swing speed.

So again, you don’t need this big fancy pieces of equipment. That’s kind of what I would say your mid-range product is. Get your fancy net, a thousand bucks. You’ve got your $500 mat, and you’ve got your affordable PRGR.

You’re still spending a decent amount of money, but you’ve got a set-up that could last you basically a lifetime if you take care of it.

If you go with cheaper nets, let’s go one step down from that, if you go with a rolled-up piece of carpet from down the street, it’ll work just as good.

You’re going to get just as good on a rolled-up piece of carpet as you are a $50,000 launch monitor, if you practice the right way, if you practice the way I’m going to show you.

Even a rolled-up piece of carpet is going to tell you where you’re making contact with that carpet. You can feel if it’s nice and smooth and brushed, or you can feel if you chop down into it or miss the carpet all together, you’re going to have that good feedback that you need. Doesn’t cost $500.

The only thing you’re paying the $500 for is the cushion, the ability for it not to spin, and some other, it’s just a little bit nicer of a mat.

The rolled-up piece of carpet is going to be completely fine if your only goal is to get better. If you’ve got bad elbows, bad shoulders, bad wrist, not going to be as good if you’re kind of smacking down into a piece of carpet.

It’s not as going to be as good on the elbows, you maybe could get injured, something like that. Plus, the carpet’s going to get worn out after a while.

You’re going to have to keep on getting new pieces of carpet. But my point there is, no matter if you’re top of the line, middle of the road, or a rolled-up piece of free carpet, you can better. If your goal is to get better, you can become really good on any of those.

Now, some other little pieces of feedback here that are good, having a little foam golf ball. If you can hit a real golf ball that’s the best, so if you have a net to hit it into, that’s great.

One other thing I’ll mention with these nets, the reason you’re paying so much for an expensive net, the frame is more durable, so you can hit and it’s not going to wobble around and mess up.

Also the netting is tighter together and it’s a heavier duty netting. I would be really scared, to be honest, if I put a $50 net in front of a big window, because I’d be afraid that eventually or I would guarantee that eventually, that golf ball’s going to fly through that net, the net’s going to fail, and it’s going to break whatever’s behind it.

So your $50 net may cost you a thousand dollars repairing whatever your golf ball hit. But if that doesn’t matter to you, grab a cheapo net for $50, throw a couple pieces of old blankets over the back of it, zip-tie them on there, and it’s not going to go through there.

You can, with the blankets start to wear out, put some more blankets on it, put some towels on it, whatever it is. You can find a way for no money or virtually no money to get really good at golf right from home.

These little foam balls are good, because it gives you something to aim at, something to hit, so I recommend those are nice. If you don’t have that, you can use a wadded-up piece of paper.

It sounds cheesy, I know that a lot of people are going to think why is Clay talking about this? This sounds kind of cheesy, why wouldn’t you recommend having good golf balls, things like that?

The real point I’m trying to get here is that how good you get is determined by the work that you put in, and if you work on the right drills in the right way, which I’ll go over in this course.

You don’t have to be rich, you don’t have to have a lot of money. You don’t have to have a big fancy setup to make it work.

So no matter what you have, as I go through these videos, it’s going to be perfect for this.

Then finally, this little can of foot spray powder is one thing that I say is kind of a must. You spray this on your golf club, it leaves a white film on there, and then when you hit a golf ball or you hit a foam ball, it leaves a mark showing you where you hit. That’s a real good tool to really get better.

So now let’s talk about in the next video, we’re going to go into OK, I have my equipment, whether it’s a bunch of rolled up towels, or towels in the back of a cheapo net, and a piece of carpet, or maybe I don’t have anything other than a piece of carpet and no golf balls.

Whatever you’re going to use, whatever you have, we’re going to talk about the best way to improve with those.

I’m going to lay down exactly what the motor learning research shows, if you’re going to practice indoors, how you’re going to get really good at that.

Then in later videos, I’m going to talk about what I call the Big Four for my Ball Striking Master Class Series, and I’m also going to do some workalong videos with you.

So as we start to work through this system here, we start to work through these indoor drills, you’re going to get a ton better.

So hopefully that helped to answer a couple of your questions, hopefully helps you get fired up with whatever you have, we’re going to get a lot better here in very short order.

I can’t wait to start sharing those secrets with you, and I’ll see you in the next video.