Golf Simulators - Indoor -- Virtual Realistic --Professional and on the PC !!!

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*Satisfy your tummies with our home style cookin'

*All of this while playing golf in the Comfort of A.C.

*Low round of day gets a free bucket of beer

*Earn points by shooting low scores and redeem for food and beverages or golf supplies

GOLF LIKE HAPPY GILMORE!!!

STOP LAUGHING AT ME CLOWN!!!

Golf simulators' history has been entirely devoted to golf technology. We have fifteen software developers working full time on the continual advancement of our simulation software. Our code base for golf simulation is the most advanced in the industry.

Our ball tracking sensor technology applies advanced applications of phased array microwave ballistic tracking technology. Our technology partner EDH has over 30 dedicated scientists making continual breakthroughs in this field. The Flightscope Sim Sensor, exclusively used in the AboutGolf Simulator, is unparalleled with respect to indoor golf ball launch detection and club analysis.

AboutGolf formally commenced deployment of its simulators in August, 2003, and expects to be the world #1 simulator provider by the end of 2005. Through a fortuitous combining of Friendly Software's golf simulation software technology with EDH's ballistic golf ball and golf club tracking technology, AboutGolf has sent shockwaves through the indoor golf simulator industry with the introduction and continual advancement of its radically advanced simulator product.

AboutGolf is 100% committed to significant ongoing investment in research and development to continually advance its simulator technology and widen its industry lead. We consider our product to represent not only the present state of the art, but also the future of indoor golf.

Our software development team has a definitive focused plan for future improvements in all facets of the product, including graphics, physics, game improvement technology, unique entertainment features, and courses. Our ball tracking technology is powerful today, but the capabilities of this technology are just beginning to be fully exploited. Noteworthy improvements are occurring monthly. This will not stop.

AboutGolf's proprietary software has the best graphics, physics, and overall functionality. Ours is the only product that provides fully 3D rendered environments, including all trees and objects (other products apply flat frame graphics that are far less realistic in performance). With Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, Teeth of the Dog, and a rapidly growing list of other great courses, we have by far the largest team of course developers that not only will ensure we soon will have the most courses in the industry, but the most meticulously replicated and most graphically stunning.

Our ball and club tracking system is solid state with no consumable parts, very easy to calibrate, and maintenance free. Once it's calibrated, if the installation is stable there is no future re-calibration. You should expect virtually no down time from the sensor or software. Starting with early beta units, our ball tracking sensors in the field have been in use 7 days per week in very rigorous environments for over two years. We've not had a failure.

The sensor provides more accurate and more overall data, including ball speed, vertical launch angle, horizontal launch angle, sidespin, and back spin. It also directly measures the club, providing club head speed, horizontal strike angle, vertical strike angle, and club face angle.

Course play is at the most realistic level achieved in indoor golf, from normal full shots, to shanks and topped shots, to every type of chip or pitch, and for putting from 100+ footers down to tap-ins. At the range, our extensive shot analysis capabilities offer not only very accurate data, but also extremely consistent data. If you make a change to your swing that adds 3 yards, you'll get the feedback. If you change your swing to add or subtract back-spin, you'll see the result.

We offer an online event facility, WorldPlay. We've spent over 3 years perfecting and testing it with our PC users, with over 10 million competitive rounds logged to date. We offer a community web site that is being expanded regularly where users can enter events, collect virtual cash, and purchase prizes.

Just released, DataTrac enables users to track all their practice and club-fitting data for analysis via a personal web page. AdKit enables commercial owners to optimize advertising revenues.

Our mantra is "exquisite service at any cost". This includes 24/7 phone support and a team that will pay close attention to any needs you have. All maintenance upgrades are free, and easily installed. This includes easily installed firmware upgrades for our sensor, and continual advancements in the simulator software.

We respectfully submit that we feel that any buyer seriously intending to acquire a high-end indoor golf simulator should diligently assess the AboutGolf's Simulator.

ANOTHER NEWS REVIEW

Play golf in winter, in the comfort of your home. There's a new golf simulator you can install in your living room.
Does it Work?

Vince Vitrano visits a Mequon home with this golfer's dream built right in. No tee times, no rain delays, no limits on how much you can golf.
Techteriors designed this room in a new lifestyle home. The whole package here isn't cheap, about $2,500.
But people love it, especially golfers who miss practicing in winter.
You can golf a famous course, or work on the practice range.
Sensors fit on to your golf clubs.
The computer measures, and even grades your swing.
It accurately reflected Vince's length... and weaknesses.
You can even putt. I promised to stay till we made one. That took a while.
Fortunately my photographer proved sometimes it's easier than it looks.

Does it work? You bet. We really struggled coming up with a grade for this. It's a great product, but it's really expensive, relative to the choppers and mops we usually feature in this segment. Cause it's costly... we can't give it an A, so we give the Techteriors golf simulator package a B+

Simulator packages start in the $1,300 range and can go all the way up to $20,000.

WHAT A DEAL MAN!!
 

WHO WANTS TO JUST SIT AT HOME AND DO NOTHING?

WHO WANTS TO LOSE THEIR SWING DUE TO LONG COLD WEATHER LAYOFFS?

WHO WANTS TO PLAY GOLF ALL YEAR LONG IN A CLIMATE CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT?

COMPUTERIZED swing simulators, once available only to golf pros at exorbitant prices, now allow players to wield their drivers and irons at home for under $300. Far from the social crowd on the green, players can concentrate on the essentials: consistency of their shots and tweaking their tempo so their down swing is much faster than their backswing. The setup is simple. Users strike an actual ball (ideally into a net) while watching a course on screen.

For those who prefer to spend time on the links while improving their game, golf watches make it possible to track statistics, if a player is willing to patiently enter them after each shot. Some even include heart rate monitors to alert a stressed player when his or her heart rate spikes. Others have internal sensors that can compare the ratio of backswing to downswing.

John Webster, the director of instruction at the Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md., tested the watches while playing 18 holes and tried the simulators in his living room using his clubs and computer. STEFANI JACKENTHAL

Golf Launchpad U.S.B. Golf Simulator $249, www.electricspin.com. Compatible with a PC or a Mac, this computer-linked simulator -- with a hard plastic golf ball tethered to a rotating plastic arm -- felt ''more realistic'' than John Webster expected. He was able to have his swing, chip and putt analyzed, and to use all of his clubs. A net also meant he did not have to shag balls. But the sensors did not always record shots.; Suunto G6 Pro $499, www.suuntowatches.com. This watch, which comes with a leather band, has three internal sensors that analyze the speed of the club head upon impact and total swing time. ''It's a great tool for players to develop a consistent fast tempo by seeing and feeling stroke speed,'' Mr. Webster said. The accompanying software program allows data to be downloaded to a computer for analysis.; MIO Golf XE $169.99, www.miowatch.com. This heart rate monitor also allows for analysis after a round, recording up to 20 rounds' worth of data, such as slope rating and average putts per hole. Still, Mr. Webster found entering data between shots to be annoying. Noticing how much a bad shot increased his heart rate, he made an effort to compose himself before the next hole.; Dancin' Dogg Shot Making Simulator $449.95, www.dancindogg.com. Solely for irons, this Windows XP-compatible simulator has infrared sensors. The practice mode, which tracks swing path, club face angle, speed and distance, was most helpful, he said. Repeating the same shot with different irons was particularly instructive. However, John Webster disliked retrieving the two foam balls and suggested swinging into drapes.

NEW GENERATION 

With a new generation of golf simulators delivering an experience approaching the real, there has been a boom in what might be called virtual golf. At Full Swing Golf in San Diego, a leading maker of golf simulators, the number of $55,000 set-ups sold last year was up 15 percent from the year before, to 230 systems, according to Scott Werbelow, a vice president for sales. Roughly 70 percent of Full Swing's business, Mr. Werbelow said, is from the sale of simulators to golf facilities, fitness clubs, cruise ships and sports bars. Par T Golf and DeadSolid Golf, two other simulators that are roughly half to two-thirds the price of the Full Swing system, are among the other machines on the market.

Each Full Swing simulator comes with a library of 38 courses worldwide, each hole on each course videorecorded from a helicopter and photographed from the ground at multiple angles and loaded into the computer system. The images are augmented with appropriate ambient sound, like the snap of a flag in the breeze, the overhead call of a flock of geese or, at St. Andrews, the skirl of the pipes counterpoised with the periodic roar of fighter jets from the Royal Air Force base nearby. There are also apt visual sweeteners, like the elk that roam the Banff Springs course in the Canadian Rockies or the rattlesnakes among the rocks at Bighorn in the California desert. The older DeadSolid simulators have a feature that enables players to order up their own animation-style courses, making manifest the existential possibility of, say, a New Yorker virtually playing the Van Cortlandt course in the Bronx, then hopping the uptown No. 1 train to play it for real.

Copyright New York Times Company Jan 16, 2004

KEVIN CONNORS, a scratch golfer from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., pulled his 3 wood from his bag and gazed up the bunker-strewn 17th fairway, the immemorial Road Hole at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews. Here he was at the game's spiritual Scottish home, and as he stepped up to the ball, from somewhere far away the skirl of bagpipes drifted over the moor. He swung, and the ball took flight in a long, beautiful arc -- and landed squarely in the sandy abyss of a pot bunker.

 Such is golf in all its beautiful glory and unspeakable frustration, but here with a difference: the club, the swing and the ball all were real, but the fairway at St. Andrews was merely a projection on a screen 10 feet tall and 12 feet wide. In the milliseconds from the moment the ball was struck until the moment it smashed into the screen, its speed, spin and trajectory were read by two sets of infrared sensors, which then created a virtual ball that soared and rolled through the projected scene just like a real one would have. So while Mr. Connors's shot landed in the sand at No. 17 at St. Andrews, he was actually standing in Dave & Buster's sports bar in Irvine, Calif.

 ''I had played the real St. Andrews, so my expectations were pretty low,'' he said. ''But then when I stepped up to the simulator and saw the heather and heard the pipes and the wind, I was just amazed.''

REALITY

Each Full Swing simulator comes with a library of 38 courses worldwide, each hole on each course videorecorded from a helicopter and photographed from the ground at multiple angles and loaded into the computer system. The images are augmented with appropriate ambient sound, like the snap of a flag in the breeze, the overhead call of a flock of geese or, at St. Andrews, the skirl of the pipes counterpoised with the periodic roar of fighter jets from the Royal Air Force base nearby. There are also apt visual sweeteners, like the elk that roam the Banff Springs course in the Canadian Rockies or the rattlesnakes among the rocks at Bighorn in the California desert. The older DeadSolid simulators have a feature that enables players to order up their own animation-style courses, making manifest the existential possibility of, say, a New Yorker virtually playing the Van Cortlandt course in the Bronx, then hopping the uptown No. 1 train to play it for real.

Immersed in any of these simulated environments, the golfer hits a shot from plastic grass on the simulator floor and watches the projected ball, along with enhancements like aerial views of the hole, yardage figures to the various hazards and inevitably, mulligans on demand.

''Once you get over your initial reaction of how real it looks, like 'wow, I'm at St. Andrews,' you get into 'how am I going to beat St. Andrews?' '' said Chris Farmer of Portage, Mich., who plays the virtual game at Year Round Golf in Schoolcraft, Mich. ''You really start to get a feel for why the pros use certain clubs and do certain things to manage their game according to the course they're playing.''

 The experience is close enough to the real thing to make simulators an increasingly common way for golf instructors to teach students. But the biggest area of sales growth, according to Mr. Werbelow of Full Swing, comes from wealthy golf lovers who buy simulators for their homes and create a golf room for their virtual courses. The company says it has installed systems for top businessmen like Arthur Blank, a founder of Home Depot; Richard Marriott, chairman of Host Marriott; Walter Uilhein, chief executive of Acushnet, which makes Titleist golf equipment; and Donald Trump, whose simulator, which was recently installed on the 68th floor of Trump Tower, holds the distinction of being the highest such machine in existence.

 But for every millionaire who plays virtual golf in the comfort of his own mansion, there are hundreds of average golfers who play at public facilities, renting simulators by the hour. (Machines generally rent for $25 to $35 an hour for anywhere from one to five golfers.) The majority are in the Midwest and Northeast, where winter weather makes the idea of simulated golf played indoors especially appealing. ''It's the opposite of a regular golf course,'' said Scott Nugent, who owns Golf Nutz, in Kearney, Neb., which has six simulators. ''It's 6 below zero right now, and our business definitely gets better when it gets colder.''  

Year Round Golf has had simulators for six years, making it one of the older virtual-golf establishments. ''It's like a night-and-day experience,'' the owner, Mike Valk, said of the difference in simulators then from now. ''The old ones were like looking at a cartoon. With the new ones, when you look at the water in a pond, you actually see a reflection of the clouds moving overhead.''

FANTASY GOLF

Indeed, the realism of the new generation of simulators can be so convincing that you can find yourself gazing at the view of the Pacific from one of the many seaside holes at Pebble Beach while suffused with a sense of Zen-like tranquillity, as was recently the case at the Chelsea Piers Golf Academy in Manhattan. ''It's very easy to lose yourself in there and get caught up in the game,'' said Gil Boggs, director of academy, which has two machines. ''Once you mentally accept the concept that you're playing simulated golf, it does become very real.'' The holodeck calm was disturbed only by the anguish of two guests' hitting their balls over the cliff and onto the beach below, a predicament that took each of them an all too realistic seven shots to correct.

 And while an actual round of golf might take four to five hours to play, a twosome on a simulator can complete 18 holes in about two and a half hours. That appeals to some, but not to others. Jay Vlosich, a golfer visiting from Baltimore, was at Chelsea Piers playing a simulator for the first time. ''It's not better than real golf, not even close,'' he said. ''I'd come back and try it again, but it is what it is.''

 But Darbel Alcide, who works at Chelsea Piers and shoots in the modest mid-90's at his local course, Marine Park in Brooklyn, said he preferred the virtual variety of the game. ''You're playing golf, but after you hit your shot you can sit down on the couch, eat a burger, drink a beer,'' he said. ''I'd much rather play this.''

 PLAYINGNo Cart Needed On These Courses

 A GROWING number of places around the country let golfers play virtually. Here are some spots where you can play a round without going outdoors:

 CALIFORNIA -- Dave & Buster's, 71 Fortune Drive, Irvine; (949) 727-0555.

 There are 12 virtual courses, including ones based on Bay Hill in Orlando, Fla., and on Pebble Beach in California. Play is $20 an hour before 5 p.m. and $25 after.

 MASSACHUSETTS -- City Golf Boston, 38 Bromfield Street, Boston; (617) 357-4653.

More than 30 courses, including ones based on the Belfry, in North Warwickshire, England, and Kapalua, on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Play is $40 an hour and lessons are available on virtual courses for $90 an hour.MICHIGAN -- Year Round Golf, 12733 North Highway 131, Schoolcraft. (269) 679-2090.

 The 40 courses available are based on places like Bay Hill; True North, in Phoenix; and Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif. $28 an hour.NEBRASKA -- Golf Nutz, 224 West 42nd Street, Kearney; (308) 237-6889. Of the 38 virtual courses, the most popular are based on St. Andrews in Scotland and on Pebble Beach. Eighteen holes are $10 to $20 on weekdays; $25 on weekends. NEW YORK -- Chelsea Piers Golf Club, Pier 59, West 18th Street, Manhattan; (212) 336-6400.

 There are 36 courses; again, the most popular are Pebble Beach and St. Andrews. Charges are by the hour: $35 for one hour and up to four golfers, $315 for a 10-hour package. Pros also offer lessons on virtual courses at the club's Golf Academy.  

In what may have been the first round of golf ever played--sometime in the fifteenth century--a Scotsman swung at a leather ball stuffed with feathers, wielding a club carved from a wood sapling. The golf course was whatever land happened to be available. But as the popularity of the game increased, golfers sought new technologies to enhance their skill and enjoyment of the game. For example, the original feather-stuffed ball was eventually replaced by a ball made of gutta-percha, a resinous rubber compound that was immersed in hot water and then shaped into a ball by hand. Later came the "balata" ball, a liquid-filled rubber ball surrounded by strands of rubber bands and encased in a cover made of balata rubber. The 1970s brought the "surlyn" ball, with a solid or liquid center and a plastic compound cover.

GOLF'S COMPUTER REVOLUTION

The 1970s also saw the beginning of the "dimple wars," as ball manufacturers claimed that specific dimple patterns on a ball improved the distance and accuracy of its flight. Ball makers conducted a great deal of research to determine the optimal dimple configuration. Today, computers are being used to simulate the flight of a golf ball and to record data in ball-flight experiments. Computers have also revolutionized club design, allowing manufacturers to enlarge or move the hitting area of the club face, or "sweet spot."Computers are also playing a growing role in the generation and distribution of statistics related to the game. Many golf organizations offer computerized handicapping services for their members, as well as ratings for other courses in the area. The professional golf tours use statistics to measure players' performances. Statistics are kept and calculated for a wide variety of measurements, including stroke average per round, putts per round, and driving distance.

MAINTAINING TRADITION AMID NEW STANDARDS

The explosion in computer-aided golf technologies in the 1970s aroused the concern of the game's traditionalists. Equipment manufacturers claimed that new high-tech equipment could lower the score of any golfer. New clubs and balls appeared to enable players at all levels to hit shots farther and more accurately. It was feared that courses developed before 1970 would become obsolete, since "old" courses were designed for the "old" equipment and required greater skill to master. Today, traditionalists are concerned that the difference between two golfers is becoming a question of who has the better equipment--not who has the better skills.

Into this arena stepped the United States Golf Association (USGA). The USGA has established guidelines defining what is legal equipment for the game of golf. The USGA maintains the Research and Test Center, located at its headquarters in Far Hill, New Jersey. The center supports the USGA's role of establishing equipment standards for the rules of golf. Included as part of its testing equipment is a machine that mimics the golf swing of Byron Nelson, a leading professional golfer from the 1930s and 1940s. The machine, named "Iron Byron," is used to test clubs and balls and was designed to make the same swing (including swing speed, angle of impact, and other factors) time after time.

Working with the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in Scotland, the USGA is using advanced technology to set equipment standards for golf. These standards help assure that old, classic courses are not made obsolete by high-tech approaches to the game, and that skill--not technology--is the final arbiter in all golf matches.

AREAS OF POTENTIAL CHANGE

The following areas show a great potential for change as computers and related technologies are increasingly integrated with the sport of golf.

* Equipment. The use of computers to aid in the design of golf equipment will increase in the decades to come. Manufacturers will use computer-aided drafting (CAD) software to design golf clubs. Improved simulation software will be used for designing and testing clubs, balls, shoes, and other equipment.

Computers will allow manufacturers of golf equipment to make clubs and club sets on demand as orders are received. Computer-integrated, "just-in-time" manufacturing will allow producers to minimize production and inventory costs. And those who sell golf equipment would be able to give more-personalized service to their customers.

CAD programs such as the Mannequin software package by HumanCAD Corporation use human models so the manufacturer can tailor equipment to each individual. Currently, most golf club sets vary only by weight, by club head and shaft material, and by stiffness of the shaft, forcing people to adapt to the set. Companies such as Ping already offer individualized sets, but in the future the level of individual tailoring will increase: Tomorrow's golfer will be able to buy a set of clubs that has been designed according to his or her needs and abilities.

* Course design. Designing and building golf courses is still mostly an outdoor job. The architect builds a course with a vision in mind. Topographic maps and aerial photographs aid the architect in the design of the course. Once the design is finalized, the moving of earth starts, and the course begins to take shape.

Software for designing courses has been developed for personal computers. One such program, Jack Nicklaus's Unlimited Golf and Course Design, by Accolade, provides us with a glimpse of a possible future relationship between computers and golf. Using a point-and-click technique with a mouse, a user of the program can quickly build a golf course that can then be played. This method of designing a course "online" may prove very useful for future golf architects.

In the future, technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS) and virtual reality will allow an architect to design, build, and even play a golf course without moving a single ounce of earth. GIS goes beyond computer mapping by integrating diverse data such as topographic data, water tables, water flow, geologic formations, property lines, and so on. The architect could choose to move trees or earth, change the flow of a stream, or move a few hills around, watching on a computer simulation.

How will the new course look at sunset? Which way will the wind blow, and how will that affect a drive off the tee? Will bad weather change how a hole should be played? How will this tree affect the play of this hole today, five years from now, and 20 years from now? The architect will know the answers before the course is built.

VIRTUAL GOLF

* Training. Just as the equipment will be tailored to the individual, so will training. Golfers will continue to use videotape to record and analyze their swing, using improved software that provides more-detailed analysis. Wire-frame diagrams will trace the swing, highlighting strengths and weaknesses of the individual swing.

In addition, computer programs incorporating extensive biomedical research will help individuals develop an optimal golf swing that takes advantage of their physical strengths and compensates for their weaknesses. Individualized fitness programs will help golfers reach their peak performance. Golfers will know what and when to eat in order to optimize performance on the course. And advanced computer-based simulators will re-create all kinds of conditions and situations, better preparing the golfer for tournament competition.

This concentration on precision physical, mental, and nutritional training will enable golfers at all levels to play at their very best and professionals to break performance records.

Golf-simulation games are available for all of the popular home video games, including the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega, and others. Golf-simulation software for home entertainment systems and personal computers rarely provides a way to accurately measure the golf skills of those playing. A relatively new product, the Par T Golf simulator by Optronics, Ltd., attempts to solve this problem by providing a realistic simulation of golf. The simulator uses a computer, film projector, infrared light beams, and a special enclosure to provide the feel of the game.

At the start of each hole, the film projector presents the hole as it would look from the tee. A player places the ball on the tee and hits away. The infrared lamps are used to measure club-head speed, angle of impact, and other information, which is used by the computer to calculate a flight path for the shot. Varying ball paths, such as curves to the left or right, or low or high, can be simulated. The flight path is projected on the screen as if the ball were flying away.

Once the flight of the ball has ended, the projector shows a new scene, showing the lie of the ball in relation to the green. This process continues until the player reaches the putting surface. Once a player has holed out, the score is recorded, and play at the next hole can begin. Currently, recordings of several different courses are available.

Simulation techniques are the basis for another product being developed for golf. Supervision, by SportSight, uses two television cameras, three computers, and special-effects hardware to capture a series of images that can then be replayed and analyzed on the computer workstations. Used in broadcasting, the simulation could show TV viewers how a putt is going to break on a green before the golfer hits the ball. The system could also be used for swing analysis.

The following scenario describes how the game of golf may evolve in the coming years. The scenario takes place in the year 2014.

It's raining outside, but we'll be teeing off at 9:00 a.m. anyway. Luckily, I reserved the virtual golf room at the club earlier this week. Today, I'll be playing with a few old friends. One of them, Dan, is in town for the day; one is in Boston, and the other is in San Jose. They'll be playing from virtual golf rooms at those locations and linking up to ours in Houston so that all of us can play a round of golf together. Computers at these remote locations will communicate by sending information and images via phone lines and satellites. The use of telepresence, a concept of virtual reality research of the 1990s, will allow the four of us to play as if we were all together on the same course.

While this is just a friendly match, I am taking it seriously. I'm sure the others are, too. Last night, I reviewed my fundamentals and some key swing thoughts--mental images that help me focus on how I will hit the ball. I used my palmtop computer attached to my video camera to perform a final swing analysis. The "Golf Instructor" software I recently purchased analyzed my swing, reviewed previous lessons, and suggested two swing thoughts to use during the match to improve my concentration. This morning I consulted my palmtop computer for a breakfast and snack menu. The menu consists of food that will maintain my energy level throughout the match.

It's now a few minutes before 9:00. I'm at the club in the virtual golf room, waiting for the link up to start. I look over the clubs I've chosen for today's match. We'll be playing a conglomeration of holes from courses we've all played before. Dan and I "built" the course over the last couple of weeks in our spare time, using the library of recorded and virtual courses available to us. Last night, I selected the clubs that I thought would serve me best for the holes we'll be playing. In the old days, before the turn of the century, most players had just one set of clubs. Today, many of us have a "set and a half," around 20 clubs. Some are fairly standard, while others are utility clubs we've picked to help us on certain courses and conditions.

As Dan walks in the door, the link up activates and I begin to see the images of Drew and Alec on the wall display. We banter for a few minutes before we start playing. The first hole is from a course I played as a youth. We tee off in turn, the video cameras and computers capture our swings and information relative to ball flight, and the results of our swings are quickly simulated and shown on the five wall displays (all four walls, plus one on the ceiling).

Three of us are on the fairway. I've managed to find the left rough. My lie is not too good, and with 175 yards to the green and a pond to cross, I have no choice but to bail out and try to get back to the fairway. My bail-out shot works, I'm in the fairway, 125 yards from the hole. As I watch the others play their shots, I muse on the times I've played virtual golf. I'm still amazed at the variety of conditions that can be simulated by the virtual golf room. While the system is still not perfect, the simulation proves to be amazingly realistic.

Outside, in the real world, the rain falls, and I occasionally hear the crack of thunder. In the virtual golf room, all is quiet as Dan studies his birdie putt.

TOURNAMENT TIME 

The Indio, La Quinta and Indian Wells chambers of commerce are teeing it up today in the inaugural "Battle of the Chambers" golf tournament at Club Achilles indoor golf center in La Quinta.
About 24 golfers, playing in two-somes in air conditioned comfort, are competing for bragging rights - and a cool trophy, of course - in the chamber championship of indoor golf.
Club Achilles, opened in March, is a golf club, fitness club, retail shop, business center , lounge and teaching facility all rolled into one. On the golf side, there is a long wall full of virtual golf courses projected up on a screen. Golfers can choose their courses, from Bighorn, Kapalua tand even St. Andrews.
How it works: The golfer stands on a driving range-type matt and hits into the soft wall with the projection of the vantage point from which the golfer is hitting. Once off the tee, the on-screen computer tracks the flight of the ball, gives yardage readings and analyzes the angle of the shot.
Today, the tournament - a nine-hole scramble affair (meaning the best ball is played after each player has taken a shot) - is being 'played' at Pebble Beach, said Club Achilles owner Craig Geraci.

"We're hoping to have this as an annual event with the chambers every year," he said.
It's not too late to join the gallery. More golf rounds will be played at 2 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Indio chamber member Greg Aratin, general sales manager for RR Radio, sat in a brown leather chair in front of the course and talked about the day's round.
Mark Reulman, the other half of Aratin's golf team, showed up late so Aratin had to play in his place.

"It's a two-man scramble, but I played my own ball twice," he said. In other words, when Gregg played as "Mark, he had a better game.
"The story on that is that I get to yell at myself," all by myself, he smiled.
A couple of "courses" over, Ruth Finholt, La Quinta Chamber of Commerce CEO and golf partner Nancy Bianchi, of PMAC Lending, were finding their groove. Sort of.

"It's fun. We may not be too good at it, but it's fun," said Finholt.
Rafael Tinoco, events coordinator for the La Quinta Chamber of Commerce, said a little rivalry is a good thing.
"Competition between the chambers will kind of spice things up," he said.
At least, he continued, "It gets us out of the heat during the summer."

Club Achilles is located at 79-450 Highway 111, La Quinta - across the street from Wal-Mart.

For information, call: 760 564-9112

SELLING SPONSERSHIPS

As the Illinois wind whips down the fairways, DeKalb area golfers can keep their putting skills from getting frosty at the 2nd Annual 2006 DeKalb Golf Thaw Indoor Outing sponsored by Mike Mooney Chevrolet Cadillac, Saturday, April 1, 2006, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

So grab your putter and your best foursome and join in the fun! Please fill out the Golfer's Registration Form and return with your registration fee to the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce by March 17. Golfers are asked to bring their own putters, golf balls will be provided. Walk-ins are welcome, but are not guaranteed tee times. If you register to golf 2 courses, preference the time you would like to start the first course. 

Hosted by the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, DeKalb Area Convention & Visitors Bureau and the NIU Convocation Center, this fun community event is winter’s perfect way to mix a day of zany fun and serious skills as golfers putt their way through the Convo Center, transformed into Illinois’ best 36-hole indoor miniature golf course.

Prizes will be given for the best individual golfers, the best foursome and hole-in-one shots!

And be sure to stop by the 19th Hole where golfers can limber up before or after their tee time, enjoying food and refreshments!

Sponsorship 

As a Hole Sponsor, your organization or company will have the unique opportunity to promote your business by designing and building a one-of-a-kind golf hole.The fee to sponsor a hole starts at $175, with other sponsorship opportunities available.Sponsors are invited to set up their hole on Friday, March 31, from 3-7 p.m., at the Convocation Center.

The 1st ever DeKalb Golf Thaw last year was a wild winter success, and your participation in this year’s DeKalb Golf Thaw Indoor Tournament will give you a unique way to reach consumers, promote your business and most importantly, HAVE FUN! 

All hole sponsors receive the following: 

Recognition and company description in the DeKalb Golf Thaw website.Hole sign with your company name and logo.Recognition in pre-event advertising and promotions.In addition, sponsors agree to the following:Minimum of 25 prizes to be awarded to hole-in-one golfers.  Value approximately $5.

1-2 representatives from your organization stationed at your hole from 9 a.m. -3 p.m., to greet golfers and pass out hole-in-one prizes.  Sponsors can hand out company info, so long as it is not food/drink and does not interfere with or slow down play. 

Set up your hole Friday, March 31, 3-7 p.m. Color copy of your organization’s logo and a 1 paragraph description of your organization to be used on the website.

To become a Hole Sponsor, please download the Sponsor Registration Form and return with your sponsorship fee to the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce by March 17.

KING COBRA

OUTSIDE VIEWS OF THE SCREEN       

What's New:

NEW FOR 2007. SWINGS GOLF PERFORMANCE PROGRAM.
Early morning sessions geared towards specific game improvement. From stretching to game improvement, this program will guarantee a better score in the spring!!! AN INVESTMENT TOWARDS YOUR SWING AND NOT YOUR BAG.

Evergreens PORTABLE GOLF
Now you can experience the same great simulators at your own home or business. RENT THE ALL NEW INFLATABLE GOLF SIMULATOR. Great for corporate functions, private parties, business promotions, trade shows and more. Call Ken for more details.

Evergreen DISCOUNT GOLF OUTLET
Wholesale products from Cleveland, Adams Golf, Mizuno and much more!!! More inventory rolling in daily!!!!!

COMING THIS WINTER
Integrated Video Swing Analysis - Humbling yet very helpful!! Have Jack Madej help your swing all winter!!!

NEW COURSES ARE HERE!!!
Come play the new Texas Tour, our Chinese courses as well as Harbour Town, Pine Rivers, Waterlefe, Sheshan, and more....

2007 GOLF LEAGUES ARE FORMING
Come play all winter in one of our leagues. League player discounts such as, food and beverage, golf outlet specials, and lesson discounts. A GREAT WAY TO KEEP SWINGING IN THE WINTER!

OLD SCHOOL INDOOR GOLF

From 1924 through 1930, the Chicago Public High School League sponsored a wintertime sport called "indoor golf." The sport engaged the best high school golfers in the city, both boys and girls, and one could find the same players in the late spring in league competition. Because the sport is virtually unknown today, a little historical background is in order, from the 1920s decade and backwards to the 1890s.

The exuberance of the 1920s was at its most manifest in the many nationwide crazes that seemed to seize the public. One of the biggest fads of the decade was indoor golf, an essentially putting game conducted on courses of up to 18 holes. The sport should not be confused with miniature golf, which emerged as a craze in the late 1920s. Miniature golf was a novelty game involving putting the ball through an elaborate course made up of windmills, bridges, tunnels, and alleys. Indoor golf was a serious game that provided putting courses for a wintertime golf contests. The facilities also included driving areas to allow golfers to practice their swing form by hitting balls into a net. Indoor golf goes back to the late 1890s, when it emerged as a wintertime instructional activity for women and athletic clubs. By the turn of the century there was a number of private instructional indoor golf schools opened in the major cities. Chicago was considered one of the "cradles" of the sport. In the next two decades, the city along with New York City saw a steady growth of indoor courses in downtown areas-at private indoor golf schools, sporting goods stores, department stores, hotels, and apartment complexes. At these facilities women shoppers and businessmen on a lunch break could get instruction on grip, stance, and execution of shots from well-known golf pros. Most of the private schools were established by well-known pros, both instructional and touring.

By the 1920s, Chicago's premier indoor golf facility was Bob MacDonald's Indoor School of Golf, located on the sixth floor of the Leiter Building, at State and Van Buren in Chicago's downtown. The facility, opened around 1920, provided an 18-home putting course and the usual driving nets. Bob MacDonald was a prominent touring professional, and his school was naturally established in the downtown to provide instruction to white collar workers in the vicinity. The rage for indoor golf in Chicago was such that one course was established in a north side nightclub, the Rainbo Room (Clark and Lawrence), where "elaborate links, with carpeted fairways, sand hazards, and undulating greens, has been installed in a bower of artificial palms alongside the dance floor."

Meanwhile, instructional indoor golf had also developed into a competitive sport. Back in 1910, in Chicago, not long after the opening of a major golf instructional school, O'Neil & Fovargue Indoor Golf School (185 Wabash Ave), the facility hosted the first Western Open in indoor golf, won by H. Chandler Egan. In the East such competition also developed, as in 1915, when the first intercity match between New York and Philadelphia was staged. Indoor golf competition, which was a putting contest normally over 18 holes, was popular with both men and women, junior and senior golfers, amateurs and professionals. In 1923, Chicago hosted the inaugural "national indoor golf tourney." Indoor golf competition was clearly on the rise at this time, setting the stage for its adoption by the Chicago Public High School League the following year.

The Chicago Public High School League jumped on the craze by introducing the sport of indoor golf for boys in the winter of 1924. The competition was usually held at Bob MacDonald's. Throughout the winter, the high school boys would usually venture to the facility about twice weekly to practice. For such far north schools as Senn, Schurz, and Lake View, and such far south schools as Hyde Park and Lindblom, this entailed a considerable trip to this centrally-located facility. The impetus for the adoption of the sport came from Board of Control member Sam Gilbert, an avid golf fan who was a member of the Illinois Senior Golf Association, and the father of a top schoolboy golfer at Lake View High, Sam Gilbert Jr. Although the schools sometimes engaged in dual meet competition, the league championship was determined by one big tournament in the third week of February. The elder Gilbert donated all the prizes for the event, which included shields for first three teams in the team competition and medals for the first three individual competitors.

The first year's meet attracted ten school teams, of four golfers each. The Lake View team, captained by Sam Gilbert Jr., took the team title, and Francis Clary of Lake View the individual title. Taking second was the Tilden Tech team. The Chicago Tribune obliquely commented on the blue collar origins of the team, by saying, "Tilden Tech showed that golf is progressing in the stockyards district." In June, the Lake View team captured the league's outdoor title, showing that the putters on the team were good drivers as well.

Sam Gilbert Sr. continued is promotion of youth golf by forming the Illinois Junior Golf Association in the summer of 1924. Players were classed by age-Class C, from 15 to 16; Class B, from 16 to 18; and Class A, from 18 to 21. Gilbert promoted the group as a wholesome organization. At the association's first annual dinner in early December 1924, the forty initial members made a pledge not to gamble on their games. A few weeks later, the first indoor golf tournament was conducted by the new association. And coming out on top was Sam Gilbert Jr.

At the second annual public high school indoor tournament in 1925, nine schools participated. The Lake View team again took the team title, and Mr. Gilbert's favorite son, Sam Jr., won the individual title. A few days later, two high school girls' teams competed at MacDonald's, Schurz and Lake View, which inaugurated competition for girls. An indoor championship was held for girls in this year, won by Schurz under the leadership of the great Florence Beebe, but it does not appear there were any other city meets for girls. In May, Francis Clary, Sam Gilbert Jr., and Robert Stewart took fourth, fifth, and sixth place respectively in the state meet at University of Illinois, and in June the Lake View team went on to win the league outdoor title in June. The Lake View golfers showed they could do a lot more than merely putt. Lake View's achievements in golf were hardly accidental. The school was particularly vigorous in encouraging and training its students in golf. It golf club with more than seventy members was the largest in the league, and the school brought in a notable golf pro, Scottish-born Amber Andrews to give weekly instruction on Fridays to a special gym class of the golf club members. The class, in which students received regular physical education grades, got national attention.

In 1926, the high school boys had two indoor tournaments to compete in--the annual Chicago Public League tourney and the National Golf and Country Club Exposition schoolboy contest. In the city meet, Senn won the team title with three juniors, the school's Vernon Marklund copped individual honors, earning the title as the "city's best prep putter." The Senn team followed that win in February by capturing the National Golf Exposition prep held at the Furniture Mart (666 Lake Shore Drive) in early April. Senn's league title was the first of three consecutive.