Best Affordable Golf Simulators For Your Home In 2023 – Ultimate Guide

Are Home Golf Simulators Worth It

Home golf simulators come with a ton of benefits and are definitely worth buying if you have space in your house and the benefits include:

Saves Money On Playing Golf

Playing a lot of golf can cost a lot of money in green fees and a membership can all get quite expensive.

Playing full rounds at home can be a great way to save money and play as much as you want on the worlds best courses

Great For Winter

With winter setting in, it can also be a lot harder to get a good round in.

If you have to deal with wind and rain, it’s going to be a lot tougher and a lot less enjoyable.

A simulator allows you to have a realistic round, indoors.

More Practice Means Better Scores

It takes 10,000 hours to master any craft and golf is no different.

While a simulator is not the real thing, it can be close enough to keep people playing and improving for the long term.

Social Aspect

Home Golf Simulators are great for socializing with your friends on a Friday night. It’s cheaper and better entertainment that going to a bar.

Man caves are becoming all the rage and having a full golf simulator setup in your house can move you ahead of the pack.

Better Than The Driving Range

The type of simulator experience you want will determine the best simulator for you to get and also whether you want to bring the launch monitor to the range with you as well.

If you want to use it just for a bit of fun and perfecting your swing, you can get a cheaper unit but if you want a more realistic experience or you want to compete with your friends, a more expensive unit and set up will be more suitable.

Different Types Of Simulators

There are two ways that simulators judge the vital statistics of each shot and ball speed is among the most important factor in determining how far your shot will go.

Photometric

This type of launch monitor takes a series of pictures of the ball, just after you struck it and the movement between pictures divided by the time, gives the shot stats like Ball Speed, Spin, Angle Etc.

Dopplar Radar

The radar model of launch monitor bounces a series of lasers off the golf ball and also judges the differences over time between the position of the ball to give the stats.

Both methods are effective but it can help to put some reflective tape on the ball to help the systems get more accurate readings.

Putting On A Simulator

Another thing to keep in mind is that these systems don’t measure putting well and most softwares will have a large give me distance on each hole.

With all that being said, Home Golf Simulators are definitely worth it, Here are the Best:

The Optishot 2

Starting off our review with the lower cost home golf simulators and there is nothing wrong with the Optishot 2 in terms of performance and value:

What’s Included	Mat, Foam Balls, USB Connection For Laptop, Software
What Else Do I Need	Hitting Net, Laptop, Projector (Optional)
Software Quality	Good But Not Great
Courses Included	15
Accuracy	Very Good
Fun Factor	Excellent
Improvement Factor	Very Good
Price	$500
Overall Score	88/100

What’s Included

The Optishot comes in a simple package with foam balls, although you can use real ones and a hitting mat that connects directly to your laptop via USB.

When using with real golf balls, you will clearly need to get a hitting mat but once you do, the dopplar radar can measure your shots with surprising accuracy for the price of the device.

The mat is also great quality, durable and feels like you are hitting of a driving range mat.

Software

Another advantage over the more expensive options is that, the software is a lot less heavy on your laptop so it wont cause it to slow down or overheat and you don’t need the top of line laptop specs to use it.

It comes with 15 of the leading courses worldwide but you can buy more if you want a bit more variation after some time.

You can also shorten the courses to par 3’s if you don’t have enough space to swing your driver.

Accuracy

The mat has 15 sensors and the accuracy is surprisingly good for the price of the machine. It is almost as accurate as the SkyTrak.

Pros

• Great Value

• Highly Accurate’15 Leading Courses World Wide

• Supports A Minimal Set Or Large Scale Operation

Cons

• Software Is Not As Realistic And More Expensive Options
• Can’t Take It To The Driving Range
• Only Suitable For Indoors

Check Out More Reviews Here:

SkyTrak Home Simulator System

Skytrak broke down a ton of barriers when it was released as a premium grade home golf simulator similar to a trackman but cost about 1/10^th of the price.

What’s Included	The SkyTrak Unit
What Else Do I Need	Hitting Net, Hitting Mat, Laptop, Safety Case, Projector (Optional)
Software Quality	Excellent – E6 – WGT Golf
Courses Included	27+
Online Multiplayer	Yes
Accuracy	Excellent
Fun Factor	Excellent
Improvement Factor	Excellent
Price	$2,000
Overall Score	92/100

What’s Included

You only get the unit with the Skytrak so you will need to buy your own Hitting Mat, Hitting Net, Laptop and possible a Projector.

There is also the safety case for an extra $50 which we recommend as it allows you to match the ball height to your tee as well.

The Game Improvement plan is $99 per year and it comes with the golf software and additional stats that are excellent for improving your game.

You can browse various all in one packages at Shine On Golf Here:

The Software

The Skytrak comes with the same software as Trackman in the E6 golf simulator software which is a lot more realistic than optishot’s software making it seem a tad more for improvement than fun.

You can also get WGT which is another leading golf software package in the market.

Both E6 and WGT are excellent golf games for you Skytrak and additional courses can be purchased at an additional cost.

One thing worth noting is that the better software is heavier on your laptop which could slow it down although a good way around this is to use an IPad Air that you could probably pick up relatively cheaply second hand.

Accuracy

While the optishot 2 is tremendously accurate for the price, the Skytrak isn’t going to leave you down either.

I would say that both machines offer similar accuracy but the Skytrak gives you more in the way of additional stats.

Pros

• Highly Accurate

• Excellent Software

• Game Improvement Plan Gives Tons Of Additional Data

• Can Also Be Brought To The Range

Cons

• Game Improvement Plan Is Extra

• Slow To Read Shots

• Maybe Becoming Slightly Outdated

Overall an excellent Home Simulator for a realistic experience.

Check Out More Review Here:

The Mevo + (The Skytrak Killer)

The problem with technology products is that eventually, someone is going to come along and do it better and the Mevo + has made some big waves this year as a potential SkyTrak Killer.

The Mevo Plus builds on the successful Flightscope Mevo and now adds a good few extra stats for each shot and most importantly, it includes simulator functionality now to turn your house into a homemade golf theatre.

What’s Included	The Mevo + Unit
What Else Do I Need	Hitting Net, Hitting Mat, Laptop, Safety Case, Projector (Optional)
Software Quality	Excellent – E6
Courses Included	5 Free Courses – Buy More
Online Multiplayer	Yes
Accuracy	Excellent
Fun Factor	Excellent
Improvement Factor	Excellent
Price	$2,000
Overall Score	96/100

What’s Included

The Mevo Plus comes just with the unit so you will need to buy everything else separately.

The unit now boasts an internal camera to make sure your shots are lined up correctly every time.

It’s a dopplar radar that shows your stats through the free Flightscope app on your phone, Ipad or Laptop.

The biggest inclusion in the unit is the E6 Software with 5 free courses.

There is also no $99 game improvement plan like with the Skytrak, It’s all free.

The Software

The Mevo Plus comes with the E6 golf software included for free which is one of the best around.

With all the extra stats that the Mevo Plus tracks and the fun of the simulator experience, it is hard to overlook the Mevo Plus if you are in the market and have a couple of thousand to spend.

Accuracy

The Mevo Plus is more accurate than it’s predecessor and when ranked compared to the more expensive GC2 system, it was actually more accurate!

The Mevo Plus is one of the most accurate units on the market target for an amazing price.

Pros

• Highly Accurate

• E6 Is Free

• Internal Camera To Line Up Shots

• Can be Brought To The Range

• Tons Of Stats Measured

• Fits In Your Bag

Cons

• No External Display

• Bigger Than The Mevo

• E6 Courses Cost Extra

The Mevo Plus Is Probably The Best Value Simulator On The Market Right Now.

Check Out More Reviews Here:

Other Simulators Worth Considering

Those are the best simulators in our book there are also a couple of others you might consider:

PhiGolf

Phigolf is incredibly fun and does offer much in the way of game improvement as well.

It comes with a realistic training stick with a sensor in the top that measures the stats of your shot and displays where your shot went on your Iphone or Tv.

There is no clubs and balls involved with Phigolf and it is great fun but ultimately we would prefer to be hitting real balls with real clubs, which is the only draw back of the unit.

It hooks up with WGT software as well which is really cool and it is very affordable.

Overall Score 84/100

Check Out More Reviews Here:

Rapsodo MLM

The Rapsodo Mobile Launch Monitor is simple and effective, it comes with a sensor and a clip that you attach to your and get to see a wide range of shot data through your Iphone, Android or Pc.

It’s perfect to use on the course, at the driving range and in your home.

The Rapsodo comes with 15 courses included for free and it also has a driving range mode making it a perfect an inexpensive option for your home simulator.

It is not as accurate as the Optishot or the more expensive simulators in our list but might be worth a purchase if your budget is low.

All you need is a hitting mat and net to set this one up in your home.

Overall Score: 78/100

Check Out More Reviews Here:

Conclusion

Every Simulator on the list is going to be perfect for different budgets and households but the device that really stands out for us this year is the Mevo Plus.

It costs $2,000 but it offers superior accuracy, features and enjoyment than any other simulator on the list.

Check Out The Mevo Plus Here: