Keeping Local First

It’s simulator season at Durango’s Hillcrest Golf Course. You’re watching the Local News Network, brought to you by Service Master Restore and Tafoya Barrett and Associates. I’m Connor Shreve. New simulator technology is keeping golfers on course through the snowy months and Hillcrest Golf Course’s upcoming indoor simulator Golf League is helping local golfers stay competitive.

We do have about a three month league. It starts middle of December where you kind of show up with another partner and play different formats for golf. And it’s a season long points race so you will kind of accumulate points the more you do it where we preset the format, preset the course, so on and so forth to where you rent the simulator for two hours. It includes your entry fee, includes everything like that. So it’s kind of self-sustaining and you play and then you record your score and then we send out results via email about a week after we get it going.

Head golf professional Brett Wolf says the interactive setup allows golfers to play dozens of real courses from around the world. Laser sensors read things like ball speed, club angle and spin and provide real-time feedback and the ability to play 18 without taking more than just a few steps. Making it useful in many ways.

You can set the wind, you can set the conditions where it could be raining sideways on you. You can change the elevation on it, so if say you go play at a course in California, you can play at sea level versus a different level here at Durango where the ball flight might be different when your experience might be different. So, it’s kind of awesome tool to use. If you are traveling over to a sea level golf course, you can kind of learn your yardages and learn what kind of differences might arise when you travel.

And while many amateur golfers take a break during the winter months Hillcrest does offer lessons on the simulator. Wolf says many golfers can make their biggest improvements during those winter months.

This is a good asset to almost disconnect from leisure golf and almost focus on data driven golf to where you can almost incorporate it into your next year’s talent level and skill level. Because you can kind of fine tune and look at data, you know, hit one ball and say, okay, I need to change this a little bit, change it and see how that feels and how it reacts based on numbers and outcomes. A neutral grip is the way you would walk, so you would walk thumbs on top. It’s not like you’re walking with the back of your hands facing. So it’s strengthening.

Okay.

To where it’s going to allow your body wants to go back to what’s natural. So, with long story short, when you go to a stronger grip, it’s going to let you naturally rotate your hands without you having to actually think about it.

Okay.

So it should naturally rotate that club to where you don’t hit that slice or you don’t hit that fade anymore.

Feedback on Hillcrest Simulator has been positive so far and Wolf says this winter the course is opening the space for larger parties, business events, and team building exercises. You can book that space and schedule lessons by calling the Hillcrest Pro Shop. Pricing and discount punch card details are online at GolfHillcrest.com. Thanks for watching this edition of the Local News Network. I’m Connor Shreve.

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