In real golf, there are for example screws that can be put in and out of the clubheads, they are made of different materials and allow to alter the weight of the head in the low single-digit gram range. I always thought they are crazy.
No more.
My mom got a new golf adapter, the follow up model to the one I use. This new one, the shortened "mini"-version of the current top model by DeadEye VR, is four finger widths shorter than my own club, and has, with controller attached, a maximum weight of 536 gr. My own club with controller has around 585gr, is heavy. Now, keep in mind that they calculate the weights they add to the head of this stick according to the need to reach the clubhead speeds of a real golf club - but with a shorter stick length. Its not that they are stupid when adding these overload weights, it is heavier than a heavy golf club in real life, but that is for a reason. People who know both VR and reality golf however swear that the swinging and the feel of it in VR feels 90-95% the same like the real thing.
Now, the clue here is, the new stick has nine washers in its head, each weighing ~10 gr, in total they weigh 92gr. If you take these out, you reduce the weight of the total combo from 536 to 438gr. Also added was a separately sold 75gr weight, a ring attached to near the top of the stick, so there is another reduction to 336gr, with controller attached. So, you can tailor the stick's weight in nine 10-gr intervals, and additonally combine that with that 75 gr ring weight on or off, adding even many more degree of weight tailoring. All in a range of maximum 538 and a minimum of 336 gr (controllers already attached).
Now, does it all make a difference?
Hell, it does!! My old club simply was too heavy for me, that simple. I struggled to reach the driving distances I now have with my first strike, by lowering the weight by around 60 gr I gained immediately 30-45m in driving. I also have less stress with my left side muscles (that pull the club when driving the first strike from the Tee).
I experimented with the club the past days, and found that I can feel a perceivable difference in the way any short or long range strike feels, and in the accuracy by which i dose the power when changing the weight by intervals of 20-30gr. I am stunned by this, I had not expected this. Its also a big compliment to the realism and the physics calculations in the simulation. I think they are breathtaking.
The club is with my mom now, she has changed the weights to her liking already - and immediately jumped forward in performance and range, too.
The clamp holding the controller, also has been slightly improved with this model. The line is used for fixing, too. It holds controllers of the Quest 2, 3 and Pro.
The difference between the normal edition and the "mini" version is length, and weight. The normal club is significantly longer, even longer than my old one. In cramped spaces and living rooms, that is a factor you must carefully consider. But I can fullheartly recommend the shortened version, it feels great when swinging it, absolutely believable. The mini stick is available with a stick made of polished stepped steel, with the normal club you have the choice between the stick made of that stepped steel, or carbon fibre. Costs are the same for both matzerials. The 75gr weight must be ordered separately. But i recommend to get it, shipping to Europe is very expensive (they ship only via expensive Express option, and customs get added on delivery, so you can easily almost double the costs for the club), the weight ring itself costs less than 10 coins. You want to experiment with it, I promise you, so get it with any main order of yours, and do not have it shipped it separately: the shipping would cost twice as much than the ring.
Its unbelievable how close to real golf you get with all this gear and stuff!
Price for the normal club length is 85 Euros. Normal is 28"/71cm long, empty weight bare evertyhing 290gr, mini is 21"/53cm long, empty weight 250gr. They explicitly recommend the long stick for large play spaces only. We use the shortened version over here.
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BTW, I have dropped my handicap further to now 13.4
I play at the middle of three settings, usually with medium winds, fast greens, middle tees and medium pins. The handicap gets calculated like this (they orient themselves at the WHS: the World Handicap System, which is a standard in Golf:
Quote:
Adjusted Par
We adjust the course rating to reflect different pin, tee, wind speed, and green speed settings. On a real golf course, scorecards don't assign a different rating based on anything but tee location, since players do not have control over these different conditions. If the course’s greenskeeper cuts a green shorter and then tucks the flag into a tough pin position, a hole might play much harder that day than the next despite still having the same rating. You can get a sense for the difficulty of each combination of settings by looking at the adjusted par value that is displayed when starting a round. Adjusted par is our estimate of the score that we expect a scratch (0 handicap) golfer to shoot if they are playing well on the selected settings.
Handicap Eligible Rounds
A round is only included in handicap calculations if you have the Affects Handicap box checked when starting a round and do not use any mulligans during the round.
Calculating Your Handicap
Values are provided for your handicap at all three difficulties, novice, amateur, and pro. Your handicap is a number representative of what you'd shoot on your best days rather than an average of your rounds. We follow the World Handicap System, considering your last twenty 18-hole rounds and using the best eight to calculate your handicap. Pairs of 9-hole rounds are combined to form 18-hole rounds, and scores are capped at a maximum of a net double bogey per hole. We provide graphs of your handicap history over your last twenty rounds and the breakdown of your current handicap, which you can view on the stats section of the GOLF+ website.
Net Score
Your net score is your score in relation to the adjusted par. For instance, if you shoot a double bogey-free 42 on the front 9, and the adjusted par for your settings is 38, your net score would be +4. You can view the net score and adjusted par for all of your rounds on the rounds section of our website.
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Here you have a general Q&A and so to speak the manual for Golf+:
https://www.golfplusvr.com/frequently-asked-questions
It goes without saying that if an adapter is used, it must be callibrated with utmost care and precision in the options. That can be tricky and time consuming, but one cannot overestimate the importance of doing a super perfect job here. Have the real and the virtual club shaft deviating from each other by just one degree or 1cm, and it makes a signficant difference for your strikes and may turn straight drives into crazy fades and slices. Really, callibrate with utmost care and precision!