X-Golf Hits the Mark

Winter Can’t Stop My Swing

Masters Weekend, you can’t help but want to get in on the action, right? Normally I’d be able to get my golf fix for Masters Week on the course; it might be a tad cold in April in Michigan, but it could also be 65 and sunny. This year, since the tournament is in November, I do not have the luxury of hitting the course unless I want to freeze my birdie off. So, in lieu of hitting the course, my fiancé and I hit the screen! That is, the virtual golf screen at X-Golf. The new location in Royal Oak has been open for a few months, but their grand opening was slated for Masters Weekend, so we had to check it out.

Now the only other time I have been to a golf simulator was the Top Golf sim at the MGM Casino in Detroit. At that point I was not a regular golfer and had not swung a club in at least 5 months. I don’t remember exactly how I did, but I am sure it wasn’t great. Going in to X-Golf I was hoping for a vast improvement in performance.

I was surprised how open the space was when we walked in; I expected the bays to be a little more enclosed, but the room has a cool vibe and it’s nice to be able to grab a drink at the bar while you wait for your time slot. Since we had a reservation we only had to wait a few minutes while our bay was cleaned. We didn’t grab a drink before we entered our assigned bay, but the bartender was quick to make sure that we were offered and brought an adult beverage to get us in the swinging mood.

After a quick intro and instructions, we were free to practice at the range or jump right into a round. We opted for the range to get a feel for swinging, using the controls, and the difference in power needed when going from real life to virtual. One area that I did not expect to be as hard as it was? PUTTING. If you think putting is hard on the course, you will be baffled by putting at X-Golf. We were warned in our intro that putting was touchy, and that you need much less power than you think you do, but what I thought I understood and what I actually experienced were completely different. Shane did pretty well on his first putt, but I was given the axe by the game after 4 attempts to sink a 20 foot putt. For the record, I did eventually get the hang of it, but there were multiple holes where my putting was downright shameful. The rest of my shots were for the most part pretty good; though I did have a few of the wacky swings that lead to shots with left or right tails. I also made a few trips to the beach (bunkers) but was able to escape pretty easily. I wish my bunker shots in real life consistently looked more like what I was able to do at X-Golf.

Overall, we really enjoyed our session. With the two of us we were able to get through 12 holes after starting with a range session which was probably about 5 minutes. The list of courses available for play is pretty expansive, and they are organized so that you can see not only the overall course toughness, but also the level of difficulty for the greens. Given my first round of putting, I am not sure the greens difficulty made that much of a difference, but if I came regularly it would. You are also able to set the skill level of each player, which makes playing with a wide variety of people easy and fun for everyone. I didn’t beat Shane this time, but if we go back he knows I am coming from him.

I wouldn’t say that X-Golf is a full substitute for real golf, and it does have its limitations as a practice facility (sand shots are a lot easier when there is no sand), but I do think that it is a great way to swing year round or to get a group of friends together for a fun activity. I will for sure be going back in the future.

Until next time,

Fore!

Katherine

This post originally appeared on The Birds and the Tees