Best Golf Simulator for a Club or Commercial Venue

TL;DR

For country clubs and commercial venues, Cliff Stevens, founder of ForeFront Simulator Solutions, says TrackMan stands out for its commercially focused software for booking, opening and powering bays. Its software runs around $1,100 to $1,200 a year. Foresight costs a lot less, and Uneekor paired with GSPro costs less still, with 2,800 courses for $250 a year, though those platforms need separate software to manage bookings and membership.

• In club and commercial settings, TrackMan stands out for brand recognition, product quality and back-end software that automatically manages bay booking, opening and power.
• TrackMan software costs around $1,100 to $1,200 a year and usually includes 200 to 300 courses depending on the package. Foresight costs a lot less, and Uneekor with GSPro costs less than that.
• GSPro gives access to 2,800 courses for $250 a year and supports the Simulator Golf Tour online league platform. Foresight courses are bought one off.
• Uneekor requires club stickers for advanced club data, which makes it a better fit for social play and leagues than for pro-led club fitting.
• A $3,500 to $4,000 computer delivers a drastically smoother experience than a $1,500 one, and commercial rooms need brighter projectors than residential rooms.
• Platforms other than TrackMan and Foresight come with nothing on the commercial side, so clubs need separate software for bookings and membership that ideally integrates with the member app.

Which simulator technology suits a country club or commercial room?

Cliff Stevens: There are so many pieces of great technology out there. When we start talking about country clubs, more elevated experiences and commercial settings, TrackMan does start to elevate itself. They have some really nice commercially focused back-end software, where you can automatically manage the booking of the bay, opening the bay, turning the bay on. So TrackMan does elevate itself in this commercial country club setting, both from brand recognition, the quality of the product, and the management of the members using it.

But there’s plenty of other great technology out there. Foresight is a great product. Uneekor has great products that members would love. This is where I would go back to what we are using it for. If you’re trying to use it for advanced club fittings, some of the technology out there, like Uneekor, requires club stickers to get advanced club data. Your club pro may not want to start putting club stickers on people’s clubs to get the data they need.

If it’s just playing and having fun and members playing in different leagues, something like a Uneekor, which is a slightly more residentially focused product, is great for that. You pair Uneekor with GSPro, and it’s 2,800 golf courses all over the world, lots of awesome online leagues. So if members just want to go in there for a social thing and have fun, I might point you in that direction, versus if we’re doing club fittings and lessons. The pro’s going to want some of the more advanced data and not use club stickers. This is where we guide customers through it, but there’s lots of great technology out there.

Why do the projector and computer matter in commercial bays?

Corey Ferger: I’ve heard [Cliff] preach on this quite often: the projector with the computer. All those things are very important when trying to accomplish certain tasks.

Cliff Stevens: You don’t want a slow computer. Everything’s laggy. A $1,500 computer versus a $3,500 or $4,000 computer is going to change the experience drastically as far as the smoothness and graphics you’re going to get.

The brightness of the projector matters a ton, especially in some of these commercial settings. They can be really bright. So we’re going to use a very different projector than we might use in a residential setting, where we can control the light better.

What should clubs ask before choosing TrackMan or Foresight?

Cliff Stevens: Foresight and TrackMan are probably a couple of the more popular options for a commercial setting. There are tons of options out there. But something like a Foresight, great product, may not have as many of the commercially focused features that something like a TrackMan has.

One, you want to understand the analysis of the swing and the ball. How does it support that? Most of these platforms are going to support that really well. Then you want to ask things like, how am I going to give my members or guests experiences to play different golf courses? Foresight has things like FSX Play or other options for playing golf courses, but you might want to consider something like GSPro so that they have more options for courses, online leagues, things like that. GSPro supports the Simulator Golf Tour, which is the online league platform with all sorts of options.

Same question with TrackMan. Does it come with the courses I need when I buy this package? TrackMan’s usually in the 200 to 300 course range that comes with the software, depending on the package you buy. Whereas with Foresight, you’re buying courses one off in an ad hoc fashion. Whereas with GSPro, you pay $250 a year and you get 2,800 courses.

How much is it going to cost me per year? TrackMan has a cost of around $1,100 to $1,200 a year. Foresight’s a lot less. Uneekor and GSPro is less than that. So not only do you need to understand your upfront cost, you need to understand your ongoing cost and your maintenance cost.

Where TrackMan’s going to really win in a lot of categories is that management of the business: management of the bookings, membership, opening the bays, integration with your door locks. And then if you’re not going with Foresight or TrackMan, how are you going to manage those aspects? The other pieces of software don’t come with anything from a commercial perspective. So now you’ve got to look at having a separate piece of software to manage your bookings and your membership. Is it going to integrate with my app for my members to book a bay automatically, in the experience we’re used to?

All those kinds of questions about the details of the technology, and how it’s going to support the experience you’re trying to create, are probably the most important thing.

Corey Ferger: At the end of the day, if you’re deciding between TrackMan and Foresight, you’re probably on the right path. You’re going to get a great product. You’re going to get a great experience. It’s just a matter of getting it dialed into exactly what you need.

Edited for length and clarity from a recorded conversation with Cliff Stevens and Corey Ferger.