A golf simulator enclosure is the frame, the black surround and the impact screen your shots hit and the picture lands on. Its width and height set the size of the picture, and the surround catches the shots that miss. Here are the 5 enclosure ranges we sell, what comes in each box and what it costs, then the room each one needs with space left to swing. Quick summary For most UK garages and spare rooms our pick is the SimBox, an aluminium frame in 7 sizes from 2.6m to 4m wide with a choice of 3 impact screens, at £1,161 to £1,709. The EasySim is £999 with its Lite screen and stands only 1m deep, and the 24/7 enclosure starts at £599 while its limited stock lasts. The Lux comes in 4 sizes at £2,295 to £3,695, and the retractable Vanish winds up to the ceiling for £3,359 to £5,279 in a room at least 5.18m deep. In a SimBox, the PRO+ screen adds £159 to £180 over the LITE and scores 10 for durability on our grades, against the LITE's 6. Whatever the frame, the room needs 2.8m of height for a full driver swing, 3m of width, and 4.5m of depth with a camera launch monitor beside the ball or 5m with radar behind it. Keep 30cm clear behind the screen, and in a 2.5m-high SimBox hit from about 2.5m off the screen so wedges stay out of the surround. What is the best golf simulator enclosure? The SimBox, for most UK garages and spare rooms. It comes in 7 sizes with 3 screens to choose from, at £1,161 to £1,709. The EasySim at £999 suits a first bay on a budget. The Lux is for a room that stays a golf room, and the Vanish for a garage where the car has to come back in. Our golf simulator enclosures come in 20 sizes and models across 5 ranges, from £599 to £5,279. Enclosure Sizes Frame depth Screen Best for Price SimBox 7, from 2.6m to 4m wide 1.5m or 3m LITE, Close-Knit Baffle or PRO+ Most garages and spare rooms £1,161–£1,709 EasySim 1, 3.3m wide and 2.5m high 1m Lite A first bay on a budget £999 Lux 4, from 2.8m to 4.5m wide 1.5m to 2.3m Ask us A room that stays a golf room £2,295–£3,695 Vanish 4 models Hung from the ceiling, with 1.5m side screens Front screen 3.1m to 4.7m wide A garage that keeps the car £3,359–£5,279 24/7 Golf Simulator Enclosure 4, from 3m to 4m wide 1.6m or 3m Ask us The lowest price, in limited stock £599–£899 Whichever one you like the look of, the tape measure gets the final vote. 1. SimBox: best for most rooms Shop now → The SimBox is our pick for most rooms, because with 7 sizes there's usually one that fits. Its aluminium frame clicks together without tools in under an hour, and nothing gets drilled or fixed into the walls or the ceiling. That's more than most garage shelving can say. In the box are the frame, a black velvet surround, your choice of impact screen and step-by-step instructions. The surround keeps light off the edges, so the projected picture looks crisp. Hitting mats, lighting and projector mounts are sold separately. Of the 7 sizes, 4 stand 2.5m tall and 1.5m deep, at 2.6m, 3m, 3.6m and 4m wide. The 3.8m-wide size stands 2.8m tall, and the 2 walk-in sizes are 3m tall and 3m deep, at 3m and 4m wide. Custom builds are available on request. On the 1.5m-deep sizes you hit from behind the frame, at least 2.5m from the screen. The 2.6m and 3m widths fit a room 3m wide, and the 3.6m to 4m widths need a room at least as wide as they are. The walk-in sizes need a room at least 3m high. The picture is a little smaller than the frame. The 3m x 2.5m size gives a visible screen 2.7m wide and 2.2m high, and the 4m sizes give a picture 3.7m wide. It takes launch monitors from "SkyTrak, FlightScope, Garmin, Uneekor, TrackMan and Foresight Sports", so the frame stays when you upgrade the launch monitor. The SimBox enclosure costs £1,161 to £1,709, and £1,214 at 3m wide with the LITE screen. Shop now →The SimBox is also the frame in 20 of our packages, from £1,910 to £19,715. The SkyTrak ST+ SimBox package is £2,540 at 3m, with the SkyTrak+, a PRO+ screen, a Standard hitting mat and a year of SkyTrak Core. It's our pick of the packages for most garages and spare rooms. The catch: the LITE screen in the starting price is the lowest graded of the 3 SimBox screens, with 6 for durability and 5 for noise and bounce back. Price the PRO+ version before you compare the SimBox with anything else. 2. EasySim: best for a first bay on a budget Shop now → The EasySim is the simplest way into a projected bay, and it was the first enclosure we brought out for DIY home simulator golfers. It comes in a single size, 3.3m wide, 2.5m high and 1m deep, with all the poles, an integrated black fabric surround and our Lite impact screen in the box. The frame is aluminium clicker tubing, and the screen is 4:3, a shape that makes the projector easier to choose. The Lite screen's impact sound is quiet enough for a garage. On our own screen grades it scores 5 out of 10 for noise and bounce back, so next door may hold a different view. At 1m deep, it's the shallowest enclosure we sell. The less room you have, the closer to the screen you hit, and the 1m depth allows for that. The saving is in floor space around the screen. Your swing and the launch monitor still need 4.5m of room depth with a camera unit beside the ball, or 5m with radar behind you. Across the room it needs at least 3.3m of width, and 2.8m of height for a full driver swing. The EasySim enclosure is £999. It's also the enclosure in 5 EasySim packages, from £1,657 with a Garmin R10 to £2,559 with a SkyTrak+. At £1,657, the R10 version is the cheapest complete package we sell. The catch: it comes in a single size, 3.3m wide, so a garage 3m wide can't take it. The 2.6m and 3m SimBox sizes both fit that garage. 3. Lux: best for a room that stays a golf room Shop now → The Lux is our enclosure for a room that's going to stay a golf room, and it now comes in 4 sizes. The smallest 2 share a 2.65m height and a 1.5m depth, and the bigger 2 grow taller and deeper as they get wider. Lux size (W x H x D) In feet Price 2.8m x 2.65m x 1.5m 9ft 2in x 8ft 8in x 4ft 11in £2,295 3.3m x 2.65m x 1.5m 10ft 10in x 8ft 8in x 4ft 11in £2,495 3.8m x 2.85m x 1.8m 12ft 6in x 9ft 4in x 5ft 11in £2,795 4.5m x 2.95m x 2.3m 14ft 9in x 9ft 8in x 7ft 7in £3,695 The 4.5m size is the widest free-standing enclosure we sell. The 2.8m Lux fits a room 3m wide, and the 4.5m Lux needs a room at least 4.5m wide and 2.95m high. The Lux enclosure costs £2,295 to £3,695. It's the enclosure in our Full Swing KIT, ProTee VX and Trackman iO Lux packages, from £10,840 to £23,860. The ProTee VX and Trackman iO packages put the launch monitor on the ceiling, so they belong in a room that's staying put. Ask us which screen and surround come with your size before you order. The catch: the 2 bigger sizes stand 2.85m and 2.95m tall, so they need a room taller than our 2.8m minimum just to go up. Order one taller than the ceiling and it stays in its boxes. 4. Vanish: best retractable enclosure for a garage Shop now → The Vanish is the enclosure for a garage that still has to take the car at night. It hangs from universal ceiling brackets and retracts by hand crank or remote control, so the whole bay goes up to the ceiling when the session's over. It arrives as a ready-to-use enclosure and bracket system, with a front screen, 1.5m side screens, and ceiling and corner protection. It comes in 4 models: the Vanish 11, Vanish 13H, Vanish 16 and Vanish 16H. Each model suits a range of room widths and heights. Model Picture Front screen Room width Room height Hand crank Remote Vanish 11 4:3 3.12m 3.43m to 3.73m 2.74m to 3.2m £3,359 £4,319 Vanish 13H 4:3 3.73m 3.96m to 4.34m 3.19m to 3.65m £3,839 £4,799 Vanish 16 16:9 4.72m 5.03m to 5.33m 2.74m to 3.2m £4,319 £5,279 Vanish 16H 16:9 4.72m 5.03m to 5.33m 3.05m to 3.51m £4,319 £5,279 The 13H and 16H suit taller rooms than the 11 and the 16. The picture area runs from 3.05m x 2.29m on the Vanish 11 to 4.65m x 2.59m on the 16H. Every model needs a room at least 5.18m deep. The screen hangs 20cm to 30cm off the back wall, with 15cm to 20cm clear at each side. Remote control adds £960 to the price of every model. The catch: the price buys the enclosure only, and the room has to be 5.18m deep, more than the 4.5m we'd plan for a camera unit. It's an answer for a deep garage, so measure with the bikes in. 5. 24/7 Golf Simulator Enclosure: lowest price, in limited stock Shop now →The 24/7 Golf Simulator Enclosure is the lowest-priced enclosure we sell, from £599, and it's in limited stock in every size. It comes in 4 sizes: 3m x 2.6m x 1.6m at £599, 3.6m x 2.6m x 1.6m at £699, 4m x 3m x 1.6m at £799, and 4m x 3m x 3m at £899. The last one is 3m deep, like the SimBox walk-in sizes. The projector arm in the photos is there "for illustration purposes only", so budget for a mount of your own. Ask us what comes in the box at your size before you order. The catch: stock is limited in every size. The size you want may not be there when you come back for it. Which impact screen should go in a SimBox? The PRO+, if the budget stretches. We grade it 10 for durability, 9 for picture and 10 for noise and bounce back, and it adds £159 to £180 to the SimBox, depending on the size. The Close-Knit Baffle trades picture for toughness, with 9 for durability, 5 for picture and 8 for noise. It costs £45 more than the LITE, or £90 more on the 4m x 2.5m, and it isn't offered on the 3.8m size. The LITE is graded for light home use, with 6 for durability, 6 for picture and 5 for noise. We grade 6 of our impact screens out of 10 in 3 areas: durability, picture, and noise and bounce back, with 10 the top score. Noise counts for more than it sounds when the garage shares a wall with next door. Screen Our label Durability Picture Noise and bounce back Replacement for SimBox LITE Light home use 6 6 5 £329–£379 Close-Knit Baffle Heavy home or commercial use 9 5 8 £379–£429 PRO+ Heavy home or commercial use, HD and 4K picture 10 9 10 £399–£469 Here's every SimBox size with each screen, cheapest first. SimBox size (W x H x D) LITE Close-Knit Baffle PRO+ 2.6m x 2.5m x 1.5m £1,161 £1,206 £1,320 3m x 2.5m x 1.5m £1,214 £1,259 £1,376 3.6m x 2.5m x 1.5m £1,259 £1,304 £1,424 4m x 2.5m x 1.5m £1,304 £1,394 £1,471 3.8m x 2.8m x 1.5m £1,358 Not offered £1,528 3m x 3m x 3m £1,439 £1,484 £1,614 4m x 3m x 3m £1,529 £1,574 £1,709 Shop now →You can replace a worn screen on its own and keep the frame. A PRO+ screen for the SimBox is £399 to £469, or £419 at 3m. A SimBox screen can't be rotated, so clean balls and strikes on the centre of the screen make it last longer. Not sure which enclosure fits your room? Send us the room's height, width and depth, and we'll tell you which sizes fit, where the mat goes and where the projector hangs. It's free. Book a free consultation How big should a golf sim enclosure be? As wide as the room allows with space to build it, and short enough to stand under the ceiling, with 30cm clear behind the screen. Your swing needs more room than the frame does, so plan on a room 3m wide, 2.8m high and 4.5m deep with a camera unit beside the ball, or 5m deep with radar behind you. Enclosure width and room width For the SimBox we recommend a room at least 3m wide, which takes the 2.6m and 3m frames. A wider frame wants a room at least its own width, plus a little space to build it in, and the Vanish hangs with 15cm to 20cm clear at each side. Plan on 4m of width if left and right-handers share the bay. A left-hander stands on the other side of the mat, and their swing needs the same room as yours. GolfBays tip If the room takes the 3m SimBox, buy it over the 2.6m. The 2.6m saves £53 with the LITE screen, but its picture is 2.3m wide against the 3m's 2.7m. The picture is the part you look at all winter. Enclosure height and ceiling height Our free-standing frames run from 2.5m to 3m tall: 2.5m: the EasySim and the 2.6m, 3m, 3.6m and 4m-wide SimBox sizes 2.6m: the 3m and 3.6m sizes of the 24/7 enclosure 2.65m to 2.95m: the Lux, depending on the size 2.8m: the 3.8m-wide SimBox 3m: the 2 SimBox walk-in sizes, and the 24/7 in both its 4m-wide sizes The frame only has to stand under the ceiling. Your swing is the bigger ask, because the room needs 2.8m for a full driver swing whatever frame stands in it. Under a 2.44m (8ft) ceiling, none of our free-standing enclosures fits, because the shortest stand 2.5m tall. In a garage, measure with the door open. An up-and-over door hangs below the ceiling when it's up, and it's often the lowest point in the room. Enclosure depth and room depth Keep 30cm clear behind the screen. Hit from about 2.5m off the screen in a 2.5m-high SimBox, and from up to 3m in a 3m-high one. Watch out: standing too far back Stand further back than 2.5m in a 2.5m-high SimBox, and a wedge can climb over the screen into the black surround, which is there to catch the odd stray shot and protect the room. Shots into it time after time can make the enclosure fail, and that isn't covered by the 6-month screen warranty. Add the 30cm, the 2.5m to the ball and about 1.7m to stand and swing, and that's why a camera unit beside the ball needs about 4.5m of room. Radar behind the ball needs more. Garmin's manual puts the tee at least 2.4m from the net and the Garmin R10 1.8m to 2.4m behind the tee (Garmin). Rapsodo asks for "a little more than 14 total feet", about 4.3m, for the MLM2PRO (Rapsodo). So we plan on 5m with radar. Every Vanish model needs 5.18m, whatever the launch monitor. Which enclosure fits which room? The table gives the smallest room for each frame we stock. Width is 3m or the frame's own width, whichever is bigger, plus a little to build it in. Height is 2.8m or the frame's own height, whichever is bigger. Depth is set by the launch monitor, because the room runs from the wall to behind the golfer and every free-standing frame here is 3m deep or less. Enclosure Frame (W x H x D) Room width Room height Room depth SimBox 2.6m 2.6m x 2.5m x 1.5m 3m 2.8m 4.5m camera, 5m radar SimBox 3m 3m x 2.5m x 1.5m 3m 2.8m 4.5m camera, 5m radar SimBox 3.6m 3.6m x 2.5m x 1.5m 3.6m 2.8m 4.5m camera, 5m radar SimBox 4m 4m x 2.5m x 1.5m 4m 2.8m 4.5m camera, 5m radar SimBox 3.8m 3.8m x 2.8m x 1.5m 3.8m 2.8m 4.5m camera, 5m radar SimBox 3m walk-in 3m x 3m x 3m 3m 3m 4.5m camera, 5m radar SimBox 4m walk-in 4m x 3m x 3m 4m 3m 4.5m camera, 5m radar EasySim 3.3m x 2.5m x 1m 3.3m 2.8m 4.5m camera, 5m radar Lux 2.8m 2.8m x 2.65m x 1.5m 3m 2.8m 4.5m camera, 5m radar Lux 3.3m 3.3m x 2.65m x 1.5m 3.3m 2.8m 4.5m camera, 5m radar Lux 3.8m 3.8m x 2.85m x 1.8m 3.8m 2.85m 4.5m camera, 5m radar Lux 4.5m 4.5m x 2.95m x 2.3m 4.5m 2.95m 4.5m camera, 5m radar 24/7 3m 3m x 2.6m x 1.6m 3m 2.8m 4.5m camera, 5m radar 24/7 3.6m 3.6m x 2.6m x 1.6m 3.6m 2.8m 4.5m camera, 5m radar 24/7 4m 4m x 3m x 1.6m 4m 3m 4.5m camera, 5m radar 24/7 4m walk-in 4m x 3m x 3m 4m 3m 4.5m camera, 5m radar Vanish, 4 models Hung from the ceiling 3.43m to 5.33m 2.74m to 3.65m 5.18m Matching an enclosure to 3 example rooms A single garage: say yours is 3m wide, 2.6m to the lowest point and 5.5m deep. The 3m x 2.5m SimBox fits, the 3.3m EasySim doesn't, and the depth takes a radar unit behind you. At 2.6m it's an irons room, with the driver allowed in after a slow test swing. A double garage the car comes back into: say it's 5.3m wide, 2.8m high and 5.6m deep. A Vanish 16 suits a room 5.03m to 5.33m wide, 2.74m to 3.2m high and at least 5.18m deep, so it fits. It winds up out of the way after a session, for £4,319 with a hand crank. A ground-floor games room staying a golf room: say it's 4.2m wide, 3.1m high and 6m deep. The 3.8m Lux stands 2.85m tall and leaves 25cm under the ceiling, for £2,795. With 6m of depth, the room takes any launch monitor on the floor. Shop now →If you'd rather see the bay drawn into your own room, our virtual CAD design service draws floor plans for £400, or floor plans and 3D renders for £900, normally within 48 hours. Do you need an enclosure for a golf simulator? No. A launch monitor works with a practice net, or with an impact screen hung from a frame of your own. An enclosure holds the screen with the right amount of slack, and its dark border makes the projected picture look crisp. The surround is there to catch errant shots and protect your room. Hanging an impact screen without an enclosure Shop now →Our LITE impact screen is a single layer of tight-knit polyester blend with eyelets every 8in, about 20cm, on all 4 sides. It comes in 10 sizes at £199.99 to £279.99. Shop now →The DIY pelmet kit puts a black foam edge border around the screen. It's made to fit your screen size, so allow 10 working days. It costs £340 to £670. For a home-made frame, bungee the top and sides, leave the bottom loose, and keep a 5cm to 7.5cm gap left and right of the screen. The frame itself is the hard part, because a home-made frame has to hold the screen with enough slack to take the strike and stay square to the projector. Shop now →Side protection is on you as well. Our heavy-duty curtains start at £239.20 for a 2.3m drop and 1.3m width, made to order in 5 to 7 days. A 3m x 3m screen without an enclosure LITE impact screen, 3m x 3m £209.99 DIY pelmet kit for a 3m x 3m screen £400 Total £609.99 Add a frame or batten to hang it from, bungees, and side protection, from £239.20 a curtain. The 3m SimBox with its LITE screen, frame and surround is £1,214. A practice net and a launch monitor A practice net and a launch monitor give you real yardages in a room too low or too short for a projected bay. There's no big picture, so the shots go on a phone or tablet. Shop now →The TrueStrike TS-5 net is 1.7m x 1.7m x 1.7m with a ball return, for £229. You lose the picture and keep the numbers, and the numbers are the part that tells you the truth about your 7-iron. How long does it take to put up a golf simulator enclosure? Under an hour for a SimBox, without tools. Its click-tube design lets you "set it up, take it down, or move it whenever you like", with no damage to walls or ceilings. Because nothing is fixed to the house, a SimBox comes down without tools and moves house with you. The EasySim goes together the same way, on click-together aluminium poles. Each SimBox kit comes with a step-by-step video guide. The fiddly part is the screen, which wants the right slack before the first ball hits it. The Vanish goes up once, on its ceiling brackets, and after that it winds up and down by hand crank or remote. If you're after a portable golf enclosure, that makes the SimBox and the EasySim the 2 to look at, and the Vanish the one that clears the floor. ✓ Do this Keep about 30cm clear behind the screen with nothing stored there, and leave enough slack that the centre gives about 25cm when you push it. ✕ Not this Lean the spare mat and the boxes behind the screen, and pull every strap tight so it sits as flat as a drum. A tight screen sends the ball back faster, so make sure yours isn't tensioned too tightly. What else do you need with a golf simulator enclosure? A launch monitor, a hitting mat, a short throw projector with a mount, and a phone, tablet or PC to run the software. A short throw projector sits close to the screen and out of your shadow: at 0.5:1 it fills a 3m-wide picture from about 1.5m. It can hang from the ceiling or from the enclosure itself. Shop now →Our enclosure mounted projector arm is £249 in its 1.5m length, for 1.5m-deep enclosures, and it takes Optoma and BenQ projectors with a 0.5 throw ratio. Shop now →A blackout screen fixes behind the impact screen and stops the projector's light coming through the back. It comes in 7 sizes that match the SimBox, at £199 to £319. The room lights matter too: lights over the mat pointing down at the ball and away from the screen keep the ball lit for the launch monitor and the glare off the picture. A 1.5m x 1.5m hitting mat sits in front of a 1.5m-deep frame with room for both feet and the ball. A 3m SimBox bay for a launch monitor you already own SimBox enclosure, 3m x 2.5m, PRO+ screen £1,376 Optoma GT2200HDR short throw projector £899 Universal projector mount £39.99 10m HDMI 2.1 cable £29.99 Standard hitting mat, 1.5m x 1.5m £199 Total £2,543.98 Add the launch monitor and something to run the software on. Nobody forgets the launch monitor, and plenty forget the 10m cable. If you're buying the launch monitor too, price the package first. The SkyTrak ST+ SimBox package at 3m costs £330 less than the same parts bought one at a time. Golf simulator enclosure FAQs Is a 12x12 room big enough for a golf simulator? It's wide enough for an enclosure, but short of the depth a projected bay needs. 12ft is 3.66m, so a SimBox up to 3.6m wide, the EasySim or the 3.3m Lux fits across it, while the bay wants 4.5m of depth with a camera unit beside the ball. A practice net fits easily, because the TrueStrike TS-5 is 1.7m deep. Is 10 ft wide enough for a golf simulator? For a single golfer, yes. 10ft is 3.05m, which takes the 2.6m or 3m SimBox, the 2.8m Lux or the 3m 24/7 enclosure, though the 3.3m EasySim is too wide for it. If left and right-handers share the bay, plan on 4m. What size of room do I need for a golf simulator? 2.8m high, 3m wide and 4.5m deep with a camera launch monitor beside the ball, or 5m deep with a radar unit behind you. Make it 4m wide if left and right-handers share the bay, and allow at least 5.18m of depth for any Vanish model. Is a 9 foot ceiling enough for a golf simulator? For the enclosure, yes, and for the driver it depends on your swing. 9ft is 2.74m, so our free-standing frames up to 2.65m tall fit under it. It's 6cm short of the 2.8m we plan on for a driver, so try a slow swing in the room first. Is an 8-foot ceiling enough for a golf simulator? For irons and wedges with a net, yes, but it's too low for any enclosure we sell. 8ft is 2.44m and our frames start at 2.5m tall, so the bay becomes a practice net with a camera launch monitor beside the ball and the numbers on a tablet. Is there a portable golf simulator enclosure? Yes. The SimBox and the EasySim both click together without tools, so they come apart again and move house with you. The Vanish retracts to the ceiling after every session, but its brackets stay where they're mounted. Is there a retractable golf simulator enclosure? Yes, the Vanish, in 4 models at £3,359 to £4,319 with a hand crank or £4,319 to £5,279 with a remote. It hangs from ceiling brackets and winds up out of the way, and every model needs a room at least 5.18m deep. How far should you stand from a golf simulator screen? About 2.5m in a 2.5m-high SimBox, and up to 3m in a 3m-high one. Stand further back and wedges can go over the screen into the black surround, which is there to catch the odd stray and protect the room. How long does a golf simulator enclosure screen last? We don't put a number of years on it. Every screen we sell carries a minimum 6-month warranty, and clean balls and centred strikes make it last longer. A SimBox screen can't be rotated, and a replacement costs £329 to £469 depending on the screen and size. What is the cheapest golf simulator enclosure? The 24/7 Golf Simulator Enclosure, from £599 while its limited stock lasts. A LITE impact screen with a pelmet kit comes to £609.99 at 3m x 3m if you build your own frame. At £999, the EasySim comes with its frame, surround and screen in the box. Want the launch monitor in the same box? Our packages put a launch monitor in a SimBox, EasySim or Lux, from £1,657 for the Garmin R10 EasySim. See golf simulator packages

Spornia makes pop-up golf practice nets in 3 sizes, and we sell all 3: the SPG-5 at £249, the SPG-7 at £359.99 and the SPG-8 XL at £559.99, plus 6 bundles built on the SPG-7. Each one goes up faster than it goes back in the bag. Here's each size in metres against a British ceiling, set-up and folding, garden or garage, what each bundle saves, and the known problems. Quick summary The Spornia SPG-7 is a pop-up practice net about 2.1m (7ft) wide, deep and high, 2.4m with its roof on, and it costs £359.99, with the SPG-5 at £249 and the SPG-8 XL at £559.99. Spornia says all 3 take a driver and roll the ball back to you, and each comes with a target sheet that takes some of the noise. Under a standard 2.39m British ceiling the SPG-7 stands up with its roof off, the SPG-5 with its roof on, and the 2.45m SPG-8 not at all. Spornia puts set-up at about 2 minutes, Plugged In Golf took about 3 with a helper the first time, and Golf Monthly found the SPG-8 needs 2 people to fold away. Spornia's own warranty terms leave out wind and rain damage, so in a British garden the net comes down after each session. Our 6 SPG-7 bundles save up to £64.99 on the parts, and the Garmin R10 bundle at £905 comes to £1,174.97 over 3 years with Garmin Golf. Is the Spornia SPG-7 worth it? Yes, if you want to hit full shots, driver included, in a garage or the garden. It pops up in a couple of minutes, rolls the ball back and folds away after. It's a weaker buy if the net has to stay up outside all season. Spornia gives all 3 sizes a pop-up frame, a ball return and a target sheet. Shop now → The Spornia SPG-7 is £359.99. A noise reduction target sheet, a roof attachment and a chipping basket come in the box. It's a good buy for: A garage with a standard ceiling: it stands about 2.1m high with the roof off, under the 2.39m of a typical British room. The garden, between showers: it goes up for a session and folds down after. A launch monitor, now or later: every Spornia bundle we sell is built on the SPG-7. Wedges and chips: the roof keeps the high ones in, and the chipping basket gives chips a target. It's the wrong buy for: A net that lives on the lawn: weather damage sits outside Spornia's warranty terms. A golf course on a big screen: that takes an enclosure with a full-width impact screen and a projector. The catch: the roof takes it to 2.44m, taller than a standard 2.39m room, so under a standard ceiling it goes up without the part that's there for short irons and wedges. What is the difference between the Spornia SPG-5, SPG-7 and SPG-8? Size, weight and price. Spornia says all 3 pop up, take any club including a driver, and send the ball back to you. Spornia's spec for the SPG-7 is a 7ft (2.13m) cube with a 1ft roof on top, 2.44m in all. Spec SPG-5 SPG-7 SPG-8 XL Price £249 £359.99 £559.99 Footprint About 1.67m (5.5ft) square 2.13m (7ft) square 2.45m (8ft) square Weight 7kg 11kg 15kg Target sheet (Spornia's sizes) 1.27m (50in) square 1.63m (64in) square 1.91m (75in) square In the box Chipping basket, poles, ground stakes, carry bag; no hitting mat Target sheet, roof attachment, chipping basket Black bulls-eye target sheet, chipping basket, poles, ground stakes, carry bag Ball return (Spornia) Yes Yes Yes The SPG-7 costs £110.99 more than the SPG-5 and is 46cm bigger in every direction, with 36cm more target sheet. The SPG-8 XL costs £200 more again for another 32cm each way and 28cm more sheet. Spornia SPG-5: the compact net Shop now → The Spornia SPG-5 is £249. Spornia sells it as the Compact Edition, about 1.67m (5.5ft) square, and it weighs 7kg. Plugged In Golf's 2021 review was of a compact Spornia the same size. It's the only one of the 3 whose roof fits under a standard British ceiling, at under 2.2m with it on. The catch: its target sheet is 1.27m across against the SPG-7's 1.63m, so a wayward driver has less to land on. Spornia SPG-8 XL: the simulator-sized net Shop now → The Spornia SPG-8 XL is £559.99. It's made for a launch monitor, a simulator and a projector, with a black bulls-eye target sheet about 1.9m square in the box. In a 2023 test of 3 nets, Golf Monthly found the SPG-8 the sturdiest and the quickest to go up. MyGolfSpy named the SPG-8 XL its best golf hitting net of the same year. The catch: at 2.45m it's taller than a standard British room before the roof goes on, so indoors it needs a high-ceilinged golf room, and the roof takes it up to 3.2m. Is a Spornia net difficult to set up and take down? It's quick to put up and slower to put away. Spornia puts set-up at about 2 minutes, and the set-up video on its Net Instructions page shows how to do it in under a minute. The first time, Plugged In Golf put the compact net up in about 3 minutes, with a helper and in a stout breeze, and got quicker after. In Golf Monthly's SPG-8 review, the net "literally self assembles" from a disc, and then 2 fibreglass side poles and a roof pole go in. How do you fold a Spornia net back into its bag? Follow Spornia's pack-away video for the SPG-7, which calls the fold the "taco". Spornia lists a carry bag for that net. Golf Monthly's one reason to avoid the SPG-8 was that it needs 2 people to take down, though it folds up small. An owner commenting under Plugged In Golf's review said it wasn't easy to fold up and put away, though nothing too difficult. Folding it is closer to an OS map than an umbrella. Watch out: it springs open The frame is folded under tension, and Golf Monthly warns it comes out of the bag with enough force to catch you on the shin. Open it in a clear space, away from children and pets. How does the Spornia ball return work? The floor of the net slopes back towards you, so a ball that hits the target sheet drops and rolls down to the front. Spornia says the return catches the ball's impact and lets it roll down without bouncing on the floor. Plugged In Golf found every ball came back near his feet on the compact net, where a small lip stops it. Golf Monthly's SPG-8 sent the balls back much closer to the tester too. No more walks to the back of the net, which used to be most of the exercise. The return and the chipping basket are both removable, and Spornia's Net Instructions page has a video on fitting each. How much space do you need for a Spornia golf net? You need the net's footprint, room to swing in front of it, and enough ceiling for the swing. Spornia asks for at least 10ft (3.05m) of hitting space for the SPG-7. A launch monitor behind the ball sits 3.8m to 4.8m from the target sheet. How tall is a Spornia net with the roof on? Net Roof off Roof on Under a standard 2.39m ceiling SPG-5 About 1.67m Under 2.2m Fits with the roof on SPG-7 2.13m 2.44m Fits with the roof off SPG-8 XL 2.45m Up to 3.2m Doesn't fit Whatever net is in front of you, a full driver swing needs 2.8m (9ft 2in) of ceiling, and 2.4m (8ft) does for irons and wedges. A standard British room is about 2.39m, so under a standard ceiling the swing runs out of room before the net does. GolfBays tip Swing first, then buy. Stand where the mat will go and take a slow, full swing with your driver. If it clips the ceiling or the light, plan the net for irons and wedges and keep the driver for the range. How much room do you need for a Spornia net with a launch monitor? Measure back from the target sheet, where the ball stops. Launch monitor Where it sits Ball to the target sheet Target sheet to launch monitor Garmin R10 1.8m to 2.4m behind the ball At least 2.4m 4.2m to 4.8m Rapsodo MLM2PRO 2.29m (7.5ft) behind the ball At least 2.44m (8ft) About 4.7m Shot Scope LM1 1.4m behind the ball No minimum from Shot Scope; allow 2.4m About 3.8m The distances are Garmin's, Rapsodo's and Shot Scope's own. The SPG-7's sheet hangs in the upright frame at the back of its 2.13m depth, so for the R10 and the MLM2PRO the ball sits about 30cm in front of the net's mouth. Add room beside the line to stand and swing. We plan 5m of room depth for a launch monitor behind the ball, and the R10 at its furthest back uses 4.8m of it. Not sure a net fits your garage? Send us the room's height, width and depth, and we'll tell you which net, mat and launch monitor fit and where each one goes. It's free. Book a free consultation Is a Spornia net better in the garden or the garage? The garden gives it the roof and the room, and the garage keeps it dry. If you have both, use the garden on dry days and the garage, roof off, on wet ones. Can you leave a Spornia net up outside? For a session, yes. Left up for days or weeks, it's at the weather's mercy, and Spornia's warranty terms exclude damage from wind, rain, sun and snow. Spornia sells a weather cover for the SPG-7 and SPG-8 to keep the net covered between sessions. It describes the cover as water-resistant and tells owners to move the net in heavy rain. We don't stock the cover, or Spornia's sandbags, which hold up to 15lb (about 6.8kg) of sand each for windy gardens. The SPG-5 and SPG-8 come with ground stakes. Of the launch monitors in our bundles, the R10 is rated IPX7 and the LM1 IPX3 for light rain. Add a Garmin R10 and a hitting strip, and a pack-away garden setup on the SPG-7 comes to £820.98. ✓ Do this Put it up for the session, weight the base if it's windy, then fold it and bag it dry. ✕ Not this Leave it standing on the lawn all week, where the wind and rain do the damage Spornia's warranty terms leave out, and the grass under it turns yellow. Will a Spornia net fit in a garage? Yes, if the ceiling clears 2.13m for the SPG-7 with its roof off, or 2.2m for the SPG-5 with its roof on. Measure with the door open, because up-and-over and sectional doors lie under the ceiling when they're up, and an electric opener adds a rail. The net folds down and the mat stands against a wall, so the car goes back in. Spornia says the target sheet helps cut the noise, and the neighbours through the party wall will still hear the driver. Which Spornia bundle should you buy? The one with the launch monitor you'd buy anyway. Every bundle is the SPG-7 kit, with its target sheet, roof and chipping basket, plus a mat, a strip, or a launch monitor with a mat. The Garmin R10 bundle saves the most on the parts, £64.99. Bundle What's in it Price Bought separately Saving SPG-7 + Golf Hitting Strip SPG-7 kit, a GolfBays hitting strip £398.99 £359.99 for the net alone The strip adds £39 SPG-7 + Golf Mat SPG-7 kit, Basic 1.5m mat £529 £548.99 At least £19.99 SPG-7 + Teaching Mat SPG-7 kit, Teaching 1.5m mat £579 £598.99 £19.99 Shot Scope LM1 + SPG-7 LM1, SPG-7 kit, 1.5m mat £699 From £743.98 At least £44.98 SPG-7 + Garmin R10 R10, SPG-7 kit, Basic 1.5m mat £905 £969.99 £64.99 SPG-7 + Rapsodo MLM2PRO MLM2PRO, SPG-7 kit, Basic 1.5m mat £1,080 £1,097.99 £17.99 Bought on their own, the R10 is £421, the MLM2PRO £549, the LM1 £194.99, the Basic mat £189 and the Teaching mat £239. The R10 and MLM2PRO bundles carry the same net and mat, so the R10 bundle costs £385 less over 3 years once each membership is paid. 3 years of a Spornia launch monitor bundle Shot Scope LM1 bundle, nothing to pay after the box £699 Garmin R10 bundle, £905 + 3 years of Garmin Golf at £89.99 £1,174.97 Rapsodo MLM2PRO bundle, £1,080 + 3 years of Rapsodo Core at £159.99 £1,559.97 Cheapest to dearest, over 3 years £860.97 With no membership the R10 shows all its shot numbers and the MLM2PRO 11 of its 15. The yearly fee buys courses, plus spin and club path on the MLM2PRO. Spornia SPG-7 and Garmin R10 bundle Shop now →The Spornia SPG-7 Garmin R10 bundle is £905, for the R10, the SPG-7 kit and a Basic 1.5m hitting mat. From 1.8m to 2.4m behind the ball, the R10 shows spin rate, club path, attack angle and face-to-path in the Garmin Golf app on your phone or tablet. Those numbers are free. Home Tee Hero's 43,000+ courses need Garmin Golf, at £89.99 a year. The catch: it wants 4.2m to 4.8m from the target sheet to the R10, so measure the garage before you order. Spornia SPG-7 and Rapsodo MLM2PRO bundle Shop now →The Spornia SPG-7 Rapsodo MLM2PRO bundle is £1,080, with the same net kit and a Basic mat, and it saves £17.99 on the parts. The MLM2PRO films each impact with its camera, and with Rapsodo's RPT balls and a Core membership it reads spin into a net. Rapsodo Core is £159.99 a year after a 21-day trial. Watch out: the MLM2PRO is a dry-day launch monitor Rapsodo says it isn't water-resistant and shouldn't be used in rain, and it works from 5°C. In a garden net it comes indoors when the weather turns, and an unheated garage can drop below 5°C in a January cold snap. Shot Scope LM1 and Spornia SPG-7 bundle Shop now →The Shot Scope LM1 Spornia SPG-7 bundle is £699, with a 1.5m hitting mat, and it saves at least £44.98 on the parts. Set on the floor 1.4m behind the ball, the LM1 shows 5 numbers on its own screen with no subscription: club speed, ball speed, smash factor, carry and total. The catch: it shows no spin and plays no courses, so this bundle is for learning how far your 7-iron really goes. Spornia SPG-7 golf mat and hitting strip bundles Shop now →The Spornia SPG-7 and golf mat bundle is £529, with the GolfBays Basic 1.5m hitting mat. Shop now →The Spornia SPG-7 and teaching mat bundle is £579, with our Teaching 1.5m mat. Shop now →The Spornia SPG-7 and hitting strip bundle is £398.99 with a GolfBays hitting strip. Both mats are 1.5m square. The Basic mat is 27mm of turf on a rubber bottom, while the Teaching mat has nylon sport turf on a foam base, 29mm deep, with a tee hole on each of its 4 edges. What accessories can you add to a Spornia net? Wider side nets, a replacement target sheet and a white sheet for a projector. Shop now →Spornia Side Net Extensions for the SPG-7 are £59, as are the SPG-5 and SPG-8 versions. Spornia's own FAQ answers "What if I shank the ball?" with these nets, which widen the hitting area. Shop now →The black Spornia Bulls-Eye Target Sheet is £54 for the SPG-5 and SPG-7 and £59 for the SPG-8. Spornia says every new net already has one, and sells replacements for when the original wears out. Shop now →The white Spornia Golf Simulator Target Sheet is £59 for the SPG-7 and £69 for the SPG-8. Can you use a Spornia net as a golf simulator? Yes, with a launch monitor, the white sheet and a projector, as a small screen inside the net. The projector and its mount cost extra, and the picture has to fit the SPG-7's 1.63m sheet. An enclosure gives the projector a full-width impact screen, and our cheapest complete simulator package is £1,657. What are the Spornia net's known problems? It leans, it's a job to fold, it moves in the wind, the target sheet wears, and shanks miss it. Problem Who reported it What helps It leans Spornia, which publishes a fix video for the SPG-7 and SPG-8 Spornia's fix, which it says takes under a minute The big one takes 2 people to fold Golf Monthly, on the SPG-8; an owner under Plugged In Golf's review Learn the fold from Spornia's pack-away video before you need it It moves in the wind Spornia, which makes sandbags for windy gardens Ground stakes, weight on the base, or take it down The target sheet wears Spornia, which sells replacement sheets A new sheet, £54 or £59 Shanks miss the sheet Spornia's own FAQ Side net extensions, £59 The lean and the fold come down to a video and a second pair of hands. How does the Spornia compare with other golf practice nets? Spornia's case is the ball return, roof and chipping basket in one pop-up net, and our TrueStrike nets cost less. Shop now →The TrueStrike TS-5 is £229, £130.99 less than the SPG-7. It stands about 2m tall with its roof and 1.7m deep, and it returns the ball too. Shop now →The TrueStrike TS-8 is £359, £200.99 less than the SPG-8 XL. It's the same 2.45m cube and weighs 10kg, and it comes with a target sheet, ground stakes and a carry bag. The net that suits a garden, a garage or a spare room depends on the ceiling over it and how often it has to come down. Spornia golf net FAQs How much does a Spornia golf net cost in the UK? £249 for the SPG-5, £359.99 for the SPG-7 and £559.99 for the SPG-8 XL. The SPG-7 bundles run from £398.99 to £1,080, and the side nets and target sheets from £54 to £69. Can you hit a driver into a Spornia net? Yes. Spornia says all 3 sizes take any club, driver included, and Plugged In Golf hit full drivers into the compact net indoors with no extra weight on it. Indoors, the ceiling decides: a driver swing needs about 2.8m. Does a Spornia net catch shanks? The side netting catches some. Spornia's answer for the rest is its side net extensions, £59 for each size here, and Golf Monthly found the SPG-8's standard side netting enough on its own. Is the Spornia SPG-7 big enough for full swings with a Garmin R10? The net is, at about 2.1m wide and high. The room is the limit: the R10 sits 4.2m to 4.8m from the target sheet, and a driver wants 2.8m of ceiling. Does a Spornia net come with a hitting mat? No. None of the 3 nets comes with a mat. Our SPG-7 bundles add a GolfBays 1.5m mat or a hitting strip, and we don't sell Spornia's own mats. Can you use a Spornia net indoors? Yes. The SPG-7 is made for inside or outside, and under a standard 2.39m ceiling it goes up with its roof off. See every practice net we sell Pop-up nets in 3 sizes, a steel-framed garden net and nets with a launch monitor in the box. See golf practice nets

The Garmin Approach R50 is a launch monitor with the simulator built in. It reads the ball with 3 high-speed cameras from beside the tee and plays Home Tee Hero's courses on its own 10-inch touchscreen, so there's no PC or tablet in the chain. It's £4,299 from us. Here's what it measures, what independent tests found, the room and membership it needs, and what a full R50 bay costs in the UK. Quick summary The R50 is worth it if you want real courses on a big screen without a PC, and at £4,299 it costs more than 10 times a £421 Garmin R10. It's £4,299 on its own and £5,499 to £5,908 in our SimBox package, and a 3m SimBox bay with a full HD projector, mount and cable comes to £6,526.98. It tracks more than 15 ball and club metrics with 3 high-speed cameras from about 0.5m beside the tee, and the club numbers need a sticker on the clubface. Plugged In Golf's indoor test found the ball data close to a Foresight GCQuad and the club data hit and miss. Home Tee Hero's 43,000+ courses need a Garmin Golf membership at £89.99 a year or £8.99 a month, and the driving range and shot data work without one. A bay for it wants 3m of width, 2.8m of height and 4.5m of depth, and since it sends out 1080p at most, a full HD projector shows everything it draws. Is the Garmin R50 worth it? Yes, if you want to play real courses on a big screen with nothing in the chain but a projector and a membership. If you mainly want your numbers, a Garmin R10 at £421 gives you ball speed, carry and spin for about a tenth of the price. Shop now → The Garmin Approach R50 is £4,299. The box holds the unit, a carrying case, 250 club tracking stickers, and the mains adapter and power cable. The screen is built in, which saves a fight over the family iPad. What it does well Where it falls short Plays 43,000+ courses on its own screen, no PC needed The courses need Garmin Golf, £89.99 a year Ball data close to a GCQuad in Plugged In Golf's test Club data less consistent, and it needs a sticker Sits about 0.5m beside the ball, with nothing behind you A left-hander moves it to the other side of the mat Up to 4 hours on the battery, for the range too £4,299, more than 10 times the price of the R10 What does the Garmin R50 measure? Ball, club and result numbers, more than 15 metrics in all, from 3 high-speed cameras beside the ball. After each shot it also plays back a high-speed video of impact. Garmin's launch release says it measures spin rate and spin axis. Group What it measures What it needs Ball Ball speed, launch angle, launch direction, spin rate, spin axis Nothing extra Club Club head speed, face angle, club path, face to path, angle of attack, smash factor A sticker on the clubface, with club data switched on Result Carry, total distance, apex height, deviation The ball data For club data, Garmin's owner's manual has you stick one of the included stickers on the face of each club you want numbers from, and replace it when it's worn or dirty. The putter needs none, because club data isn't recorded for putts. With 250 in the box, you'll run out of clubs long before you run out of stickers. Golf Monthly's tester found club data switched off out of the box. The catch: once you switch club data on, the area the ball has to sit in gets smaller, so on a worn mat there's less room to find a fresh spot. How accurate is the Garmin Approach R50? Both independent tests below found the ball data accurate, and the one run beside a Foresight GCQuad found the club numbers less reliable. Matt Saternus tested the R50 indoors beside a GCQuad for Plugged In Golf's review (2 January 2025). The ball numbers almost matched the GCQuad's, while the club data was "hit and miss", with angle of attack the weakest. In the comments, a reader's 7-iron angle of attack read 2 to 4 degrees steeper than on a Trackman 4, and Saternus agreed. Golf Monthly's Joel Tadman tested it at the indoor studio at Peterborough Milton Golf Club (6 February 2025). He found the data accurate and the simulator close to faultless. He couldn't run it beside a GCQuad, because interference stopped both units tracking. Garmin's manual lists what throws the readings off: Ball flight conditions that don't match where you play. Low sun on the unit or the clubface. The ball's logo turned away from the unit, which matters most on a matte ball. A sticker on or near white decoration on the clubface. Anything reflective in the cameras' view. Indoors, that means you light the ball from above and keep anything glossy out of the cameras' sight. The full-length mirror you check your posture in goes on another wall. How much space do you need for a Garmin R50? A room 3m wide, 2.8m high and 4.5m deep takes a full R50 SimBox bay. Garmin's manual puts the R50 about 0.5m to the side of the tee, facing it, at about the same height as the tee, with no levelling needed. Height: 2.8m lets a full driver swing clear the ceiling, 3m is comfortable, and at 2.4m you're down to irons and wedges. Width and handedness: the R50 sits across the mat from the golfer, so a left-hander moves it to the other side. A room shared by a left- and a right-hander wants 4m of width, and 4 of our 7 SimBox sizes are 3.6m wide or more. Depth: nothing goes behind you, which is why 4.5m is enough where a radar unit wants 5m. Aim: you can adjust target alignment up to 10 degrees left or right by placing 2 balls in the areas shown on screen. If the tee isn't in the middle of the screen, an external display setting shifts the picture sideways. Power: on the mains it runs without the battery, and it can't charge from a USB-C cable, so plan a socket within reach of where it stands. ✓ Do this Stand the R50 about 0.5m to the side of the tee, facing it, level with the hitting surface, with the ball's logo towards it and nothing shiny in front of its cameras. ✕ Not this On the floor below a raised mat, angled at the screen, with a glossy floor, a mirror or low sun in the cameras' view. The R50 crosses the mat every time the left-handed mate steps up. Do you need a projector for the Garmin R50? No. It plays on its own 10-inch screen, which is plenty for your numbers and a squint for a par 5. A projector or TV on its HDMI port adds the big picture, and it can mirror the R50 or show a different view. The R50's maximum output is 1080p, according to Garmin's manual, so a full HD short throw projector shows everything Home Tee Hero sends. Shop now → The Optoma GT2200HDR is £899, a full HD short throw with 3,300 lumens and a 4LED light source rated for 30,000 hours. Full HD is plenty on most home screens, and 4K pays off when a PC runs the software in 4K. Shop now →Garmin doesn't put an HDMI cable in the box. Our 10m HDMI 2.1 cable is £29.99, long enough to reach a projector on the ceiling. In-game sound needs a Bluetooth speaker or the speakers in your TV or projector. Watch out: a 4K projector on a 1080p launch monitor A 4K laser short throw at £2,374 costs £1,475 more than the GT2200HDR, and on Home Tee Hero the R50 sends out 1080p at most. The extra pixels only show when a PC runs third-party software in 4K, so price the PC first, then decide on 4K. Does the Garmin R50 require a subscription? For Home Tee Hero's courses, yes. Garmin's manual asks for a Garmin Golf membership to play or practise on a virtual course and to enter the weekly tournament. The driving range and your shot data need none. Garmin's golf simulator, Home Tee Hero, runs on the R50 itself, and the manual has you download the courses you want over Wi-Fi. Up to 4 players can share a round, according to Garmin's launch release. What you want to do Garmin Golf membership? What it costs Driving range, shot data and impact video No Nothing A Home Tee Hero round on 43,000+ courses, up to 4 players Yes £89.99 a year or £8.99 a month Practice on a virtual course, or the weekly tournament Yes The same membership GSPro on a PC No, GSPro has its own £250 a year, plus a Windows PC How much does a Garmin R50 subscription cost? Garmin Golf costs £89.99 a year or £8.99 a month on Garmin's UK site, and both plans renew automatically. Paying monthly for a year comes to £107.88, £17.89 more than the annual plan. The catch: Home Tee Hero is on the R50 from day one, and without the membership you can't play a round on it. Do you need a PC for the Garmin R50? Only for some third-party software, GSPro among them. The R50 sends every shot over Wi-Fi to compatible simulator software, and you can drive that software with a Bluetooth keyboard paired to the R50. GSPro is £250 a year on a Windows PC, and it lists the R50 among its supported launch monitors. Awesome Golf also works with the R50, and it runs on a Mac or an iPad. Shop now →If you go the GSPro route, our HD Spec gaming PC is £1,790, with an NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti graphics card. 3 years of courses on an R50, 2 ways Home Tee Hero, Garmin Golf annual plan, 3 years £269.97 Home Tee Hero, Garmin Golf monthly plan, 36 months £323.64 GSPro, 3 years £750 Gaming PC HD Spec for GSPro £1,790 The GSPro route over 3 years £2,540 The R50 itself isn't counted. For the price of the GSPro route over 3 years, Garmin Golf would run for 28 years. How much does the Garmin R50 cost in the UK? £4,299 on its own, £4,649 with an EazyNet practice net, £5,499 to £5,908 in a SimBox package, and £6,526.98 for a 3m SimBox bay with the projector kit. The Garmin R50 SimBox package Shop now → The Garmin Approach R50 SimBox package puts the R50 in our SimBox enclosure, which clicks together without tools in under an hour. At 2.6m wide it's £1,200 more than the R50 on its own. Size (W x H x D) Price 2.6m x 2.5m x 1.5m £5,499 3m x 2.5m x 1.5m £5,558 3.6m x 2.5m x 1.5m £5,608 4m x 2.5m x 1.5m £5,658 3.8m x 2.8m x 1.5m £5,708 3m x 3m x 3m £5,808 4m x 3m x 3m £5,908 The jump from the smallest frame to the biggest is £409, which is nearly an R10. The Garmin R50 EazyNet practice net package Shop now →The EazyNet Golf Practice Net Package with the R50 is £4,649. The R50 plays its courses on its own screen, so you can still play Home Tee Hero in a net bay. The catch: the picture is 10 inches across, and the ball stops in the net before you see it fly. How much does a complete Garmin R50 bay cost? £6,526.98 at 3m wide with the projector kit, or £6,796.95 with 3 years of Garmin Golf. A 3m Garmin R50 SimBox bay, priced Garmin Approach R50 SimBox package, 3m wide £5,558 Optoma GT2200HDR short throw projector £899 Universal projector mount £39.99 10m HDMI 2.1 cable £29.99 To buy £6,526.98 Garmin Golf, 3 years £269.97 Over 3 years £6,796.95 The GSPro route adds £2,040 in year 1: £1,790 for the HD Spec PC and £250 for a year of GSPro. That £6,526.98 is the top of the mid-range band for a UK golf simulator, which starts at £3,508.98 with the same projector kit. Not sure your room fits an R50 bay? Send us the room's height, width and depth, and tell us if a left-hander will use it too. We'll suggest the SimBox size and the projector that fit. It's free. Book a free consultation What problems do Garmin R50 owners report? Owners on Garmin's forum raise the pace of firmware updates and a few reading quirks, on top of the club data above. Firmware: in an autumn 2026 thread on Garmin's Approach R50 forum, one owner complained that months had passed without an update, and another said an update in January brought a putting bug. Ball type: one owner's list of gripes on the same forum says spin seemed wrong with yellow balls, and range balls read nowhere near the right spin off a wedge. False shots and mulligans: the same owner had white socks or white shoes read as a shot, and could only take a mulligan within 5 seconds. Battery and settings: Plugged In Golf found only a short gap between the low-battery warning and shut-off, and Golf Monthly's tester had to bend or kneel to change settings. GolfBays tip Once the R50 reads every shot, mark the tee spot and the unit's spot on the mat with a strip of tape, so it goes back to the same place after a left-hander's turn or a trip to the range. Dark socks are cheaper than a firmware update. Is the Garmin R50 better than the R10? Yes, if you want cameras reading the ball at impact and courses on the unit's own screen. If you only want the numbers on a budget, the R10 does the job for about a tenth of the price. Shop now →The Garmin Approach R10 is £421, and its radar sits 1.8m to 2.4m behind the ball, with the numbers on your phone or tablet.   Garmin Approach R50 Garmin Approach R10 Reads the ball with 3 high-speed cameras Radar Where it sits About 0.5m beside the tee 1.8m to 2.4m behind the ball Room depth 4.5m 5m Screen 10-inch touchscreen on the unit Your phone or tablet Putting in Home Tee Hero Live putting, or switch it off Putts added automatically Battery Up to 4 hours Up to 10 hours Price £4,299 £421 SimBox package at 3m £5,558 £1,969 The gap between them is £3,878, enough for 9 more R10s with £89 left over. Garmin R50 alternatives Where a launch monitor sits decides the room: camera units beside the ball need 4.5m of depth, radar units behind the ball 5m to 6.1m, and a ceiling unit leaves the floor clear. Which is better for golf, the Garmin Approach R50 or the Full Swing KIT? The KIT if club data comes first and the room is at least 5.5m deep, and the R50 if you want courses on its own screen in a 4.5m room. Shop now →The Full Swing KIT is £5,999, £1,700 more than the R50. It's a radar unit that sits about 3m behind the ball, so indoors the room wants 5.5m to 6.1m of depth. Its app runs on iPhone and iPad, and it plays E6 Connect and GSPro for simulator golf. Plugged In Golf rates the KIT the better buy at the price if club data is your priority. A cheaper camera unit: the SkyTrak ST MAX Shop now →The SkyTrak ST MAX is £1,695 with a year of SkyTrak Core. It pairs a camera with radar and sits beside the ball, so 4.5m of depth is enough. Its app runs on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. The catch: it has no screen of its own, and Core is £249.99 a year from year 2. Who should buy the Garmin R50? Golfers who want courses without a PC: Home Tee Hero runs on the unit, and a projector adds the big picture. A garage or spare room 4.5m deep: nothing goes behind you, so you don't need the 5m a radar unit wants. The range and the garden too: up to 4 hours on the battery, with a carrying case in the box. Households taking turns: up to 4 players in a Home Tee Hero round, and a profile each that keeps its own handedness. Who should skip the Garmin R50? Numbers on a budget: the R10 at £421 gives you the shot numbers. Club data first: the Full Swing KIT, if the room is 5.5m deep or more. A narrow bay shared by a left- and a right-hander: a ceiling unit built for right and left-handers never has to move. Garmin R50 FAQs When did the Garmin R50 come out? Garmin launched the Approach R50 on 12 November 2024, so it turns 2 this month. Will the Garmin R50 go on sale? It has been on sale with us. The R50 was £3,879 in our October sale and is back to £4,299. We can't promise when the next R50 sale comes. Can you putt with the Garmin R50? Yes, Home Tee Hero rounds have live putting, and you can switch it off to have 0 to 3 strokes added by how close your approach finished. Putting is off in the weekly tournament. A camera unit beside the ball reads the putt at impact, and the putter needs no sticker. One owner on Garmin's forum found putts ran slow in Home Tee Hero. Does the Garmin R50 work outdoors? Yes. Garmin rates it IPX3, which means it withstands spraying water. It works from -10°C to 55°C on up to 4 hours of battery. Keep low sun off the unit, and in a garden net setup the launch monitor is the first thing indoors when it rains. How long does the Garmin R50 battery last? Up to 4 hours, according to Garmin. On the mains it runs without the battery. It only charges between 3°C and 47°C, so in a cold garage in winter you charge it indoors. Does the Garmin R50 come with a case? Yes, a carrying case with a shoulder strap, and the 250 club stickers come in it. Golf Monthly puts the unit at just over 4kg, so it goes to the range in one hand. Can left-handed golfers use the Garmin R50? Yes. Set left-handed in your profile and move the unit to the other side of the mat. A bay shared with a right-hander wants 4m of width, so the R50 has room on both sides. Can you use the Garmin R50 with GSPro? Yes, GSPro lists the R50 among its supported launch monitors. It costs £250 a year and runs on a Windows PC, which a Home Tee Hero bay doesn't need. Build your bay around the R50 The R50 on its own, with an EazyNet net, or in a SimBox package in 7 sizes, alongside the rest of our Garmin range. See our Garmin range

The Shot Scope LM1 is a £194.99 radar launch monitor that sits behind the ball and puts 5 numbers on its own screen, with no subscription to pay. It costs less than a new driver and tells you how far your old one really goes. Here's what it misses, what 5 published tests found, how to set it up at home, and when a Garmin R10 is worth the extra. Quick summary The Shot Scope LM1 costs £194.99 and shows club speed, ball speed, smash factor, carry and total on its own 3.5in screen, with no subscription to pay. It doesn't show spin, launch angle or direction, and it doesn't run simulator software or play courses. In 5 published tests against far dearer launch monitors, ball speed mostly came within 1mph and carry within a few yards on good strikes, while mishits often read long, by 24 yards on one heel-struck driver. It goes on the ground 1.4m behind the ball (2.1m behind you for Speed Training), works indoors into a net or outdoors, and is rated IPX3 for light rain. With our garden net and Tri-Turf mat it comes to £303.99, and the LM1 and Spornia SPG-7 bundle is £699. The Garmin R10 costs £226.01 more and adds spin, club path and courses, and with 3 years of Garmin Golf it comes to £690.97 against the LM1's £194.99. Is the Shot Scope LM1 worth it? Yes, if you want your speed and carry numbers at the range or into a net at home, for £194.99 and nothing to pay after. If you want spin, shot shape or courses on a screen, it's the wrong launch monitor for you. Shop now → The Shot Scope LM1 is £194.99. At that price it's the cheapest of the 13 launch monitors in our UK ranking, by more than £200. Only one of the launch monitors we sell under £1,000 costs less, and that one has no app. It's a good buy for: Learning your real yardages: carry and total for every club, saved by club in the free Shot Scope app. A first launch monitor: 5 numbers on one screen, no phone needed while you hit, and nothing to pay after the box. A net in the garage or garden: it stands on the floor 1.4m behind the ball, so it needs no tripod or shelf. Speed training: its Speed Training mode reads a club or a speed stick with no ball to hit. A present under £200: it's £194.99 and comes with its own zipped carry case. It's the wrong buy for: Fixing a slice or a hook: that takes direction and club path, and the LM1 shows neither. Courses on a screen: it runs no simulator software. The catch: mishits read long and there's no spin. It tells you how far a good one went and how fast you swung, and it can't tell you why a bad one went wrong. What does the Shot Scope LM1 measure? 5 numbers, all on its own screen: club speed, ball speed, smash factor, carry and total distance. The unit is a K-band Doppler radar that works from behind the ball (Shot Scope). The screen shows all 5 at once in its Advanced layout, or one big number at a time in Large Digit. You can have mph and yards, or km/h and metres. There are 3 session types: Practice Range, On Course and Speed Training. Up to 1,920 shots stay on the unit, and after a session they go to the free Shot Scope app over Bluetooth. Plugged In Golf found the app shows the minimum, maximum and average of all 5 numbers for each club. That's your yardage chart, built for you. Spec Shot Scope LM1 Price £194.99 Radar K-band 24GHz Doppler Where it sits 1.4m behind the ball, on the ground On its screen Club speed, ball speed, smash factor, carry, total Screen 3.5in colour Battery About 5 hours; about 2 hours to charge (USB-C) Shot history Up to 1,920 shots on the unit Weight and size 300g; 146.5mm × 103.5mm × 25mm Water rating IPX3 (light rain) Works in -10°C to 50°C Subscription None At 300g, it weighs less than the umbrella you'll carry it under. Does the Shot Scope LM1 measure spin? No. Shot Scope says spin isn't displayed on the LM1, and launch angle, direction, curve, club path and face angle aren't on it either. It still gives you a carry number. According to Golf Insider UK, the radar reads ball speed and club speed, and the LM1 estimates launch and spin from the club you've selected, then models a normal flight for that club. The Hackers Paradise also says the carry has to be estimated, since the LM1 doesn't measure spin or launch angle. It knows how hard you hit it, and it takes your word for the rest. Can the Shot Scope LM1 run a golf simulator? No. There's no simulator mode, and the numbers go to its own screen and the Shot Scope app. Plugged In Golf's review says it doesn't power simulation software. Shop now →If you want a simulator, the cheapest complete package we sell is the Garmin R10 EasySim at £1,657. It puts Garmin's R10 radar in our EasySim enclosure, which is 3.3m wide, 2.5m high and 1m deep, with a Lite impact screen. With a hitting mat and a short throw projector, a complete budget simulator comes to about £2,800 at our prices. The catch: courses on a screen need a different launch monitor and a budget with an extra digit in it. How accurate is the Shot Scope LM1? Close on ball speed, close on carry when you strike it well, and long on mishits. Here's what 5 published tests found. Test Up against What it found Golf Insider UK, June 2026 Foresight GC Hawk, indoors, with 2.9m of ball flight to the screen Ball speed within 1mph on every wedge and 7-iron, 5 of the 6 within 0.5mph, and about 3mph high on driver; 2 of 3 drivers carried within a yard of the GC Hawk Plugged In Golf, March 2026 Foresight GCQuad and Full Swing KIT outdoors, GCQuad indoors About 8 of 10 iron shots within a yard; ball and club speed rarely more than 1mph off; driver mishits 5 to 7 yards out Golf Monthly, March 2026 GCQuad outdoors, Foresight GC3 indoors, and 3 shots with a 9-iron checked with a rangefinder Carry on the 3 rangefinder-checked 9-irons never more than 3 to 4 yards out; more variance indoors, with trouble on shots that curved a lot Today's Golfer, March 2026 GCQuad, on and off the course, with several testers Carry and ball speed within a yard or 1mph when the strike was good; club speed often a few mph out; 3.5 out of 5 overall The Hackers Paradise, March 2026 On the course, then SkyTrak Max indoors Ball speed closely matched the SkyTrak Max; an 8-iron read 168 yards of carry and finished just short of a 173-yard flag Ball speed is the number to trust. Golf Insider UK had every wedge and 7-iron within 1mph of the GC Hawk, and 5 of the 6 within 0.5mph. Its driver read about 3mph high on all 3 shots, by much the same amount each time. Indoors is harder for it. Golf Monthly saw more variance against a GC3 indoors than against the GCQuad outdoors, and the LM1 struggled with shots that curved a lot. Golf Monthly scored it 4.75 out of 5 overall, and Today's Golfer 3.5. Why does the LM1 read mishits long? Because it can't see a bad launch. Golf Insider UK's low heel strike with a driver launched at 7 degrees with low spin and carried 228 yards on the GC Hawk. The LM1 assumed a normal driver flight and showed 252, which is 24 yards long. Not every miss fools it. A thinned 7-iron that Golf Insider UK hit after the main test was only a couple of yards out. Today's Golfer saw the same with longer clubs. Blocked 5-irons that should have been 10 yards short read full distance, and cut fairway woods that landed at 220 yards read 240. Low, slow shots went the other way: some 50-yard pitches showed about half the distance. Today's Golfer's gap wedges read short too, at 103 to 108 yards of carry against the GCQuad's 110 to 115. So it's honest about a good strike and generous about a bad one, like most of the people you play with. ✓ Do this Trust the ball speed on every shot, and the carry on the ones you felt come off the middle of the face. ✕ Not this Write a heeled driver's 252 yards into your yardages because the screen said so. How do you set up the Shot Scope LM1? Stand it on the ground 1.4m behind the ball, in line with the target and with its screen facing it, then pick your club. There's nothing to calibrate. Plugged In Golf was usually ready to hit about 10 seconds after switching it on, against the 25 that Shot Scope quotes. That's quicker than finding a tee at the bottom of the bag. How far behind the ball should the Shot Scope LM1 go? 1.4m (4ft 7in) behind where you strike the ball, and level with it, according to Shot Scope's User Guide. Plugged In Golf still got good driver readings with it anywhere from 1.1m to 2.3m (44in to 90in) behind the ball, so a few centimetres either way won't spoil a session. GolfBays tip Mark the spot once. A strip of tape on the floor 1.4m behind the tee, on the target line, puts the LM1 back in the same place every session, so this week's numbers compare with last week's. How do you choose the club on the LM1? Scroll through the club list on the screen with the up and down buttons on the side. A chart in the box shows which clubs are on the list, and if yours isn't, the User Guide says to pick the one with the closest loft. Change it every time you change club. By Golf Insider UK's account the carry is worked out from it, and Plugged In Golf points out that the app files each shot under that club. Does the Shot Scope LM1 measure swing speed? Yes. It shows club speed on every shot, and its Speed Training mode reads your swing speed with no ball at all. For that, the User Guide puts the LM1 2.1m behind you (6ft to 8ft, depending on how fast you swing). Shot Scope says the mode works with clubs and speed sticks, and a speed stick needs no ball, net or mat, so the garden on a dry evening will do. Shop now →The Rawspeed Golf Trainer Standard 45in is £129, a shaft with 100g, 150g and 200g weights and a training guide. It also comes in 41in, 43in and 48in versions at the same price. With the LM1, it makes a speed kit for £323.99. Warn the neighbours through the party wall first. A speed stick is a lot louder than it looks. Can you use the Shot Scope LM1 indoors? Yes, into a net or an impact screen. Shot Scope built it for use at home into a net as well as at the range. Its User Guide asks for enough ceiling height, free space behind the net or screen, a net tall and wide enough to catch high-lofted and off-centre strikes, and padding on the frame. It also warns that radio devices, computers or other launch monitors nearby "could cause interference" and wrong readings. For the swing itself, plan on 2.8m (9ft 2in) of ceiling for a full driver swing, or 2.4m (8ft) for irons and wedges. It works in a garage-length room. Golf Insider UK's indoor test had 2.9m (9ft 6in) of ball flight to the screen, with the LM1 1.4m behind the ball. That put the screen 4.3m from the unit, and ball speed and good-strike carry still held up. Watch out: the shot that misses the net A shanked wedge doesn't care how good the numbers were. Off a net with no margin either side, it finds the car or the kitchen window, and either one costs more than the LM1. Give the net clear space at the sides, and a roof if you hit wedges. Setting up a net in the garage? Send us the room's height, width and depth and what you want from your practice, and we'll suggest a net, a mat and a launch monitor that fit. It's free. Book a free consultation Can the Shot Scope LM1 be used outside? Yes, on the range, in the garden or on the course, where it has its own On Course session. It's rated IPX3 for light rain. That covers a shower, and when the rain sets in it goes back in its case. On a British range, that's a call you'll make most weeks. Shop now →Our garden practice net is about 3m wide and 2.1m high (10ft × 7ft), with a steel frame that goes up without tools. It's £109 with a Tri-Turf mat, or £69 without one. Put the LM1 behind that net and mat, and a garden golf setup comes to £303.99. The catch: the ball on a mat sits higher than the lawn behind it, and Shot Scope wants the LM1 level with the ball. On soft grass, give it a firm, flat base so the kickstand can't sink and tip it back. What does a Shot Scope LM1 setup cost in the UK? £194.99 on its own, with nothing to pay after. Add a garden net and a mat and it's £303.99. Our LM1 and Spornia SPG-7 bundle is £699. Setup What's in it Our price LM1 on its own Launch monitor, carry case, USB-C cable £194.99 Garden practice LM1, garden net with Tri-Turf mat £303.99 Speed training LM1, Rawspeed Golf Trainer 45in £323.99 Garage or garden bay LM1, Spornia SPG-7 net, 1.5m hitting mat £699 Is the LM1 and Spornia SPG-7 bundle worth it? Shop now → Yes, if you'd buy the net and a mat anyway. The Shot Scope LM1 and Spornia SPG-7 bundle is £699, for the LM1, the SPG-7 net and a 1.5m hitting mat. The net is about a 2.1m cube, 2.4m high with its roof on, and weighs 11kg. A target sheet and a chipping basket come in the box. The SPG-7's ball return rolls each shot back to your feet, so a basket of balls never sends you to the back of the net. The LM1 bundle against the parts Shot Scope LM1 £194.99 Spornia SPG-7 net £359.99 1.5m hitting mat From £189 Bought separately From £743.98 The LM1 and SPG-7 bundle £699 Saving with the bundle At least £44.98 £189 is our cheapest 1.5m hitting mat, so £44.98 is the smallest the saving can be. The catch: it's a net bay, so the ball flight ends about 2m away, and the LM1's numbers are the only picture of the shot you get. What are the Shot Scope LM1's known problems? Beyond the mishits, the reported problems are small and most have a fix. Problem Who reported it What helps Speed Training sometimes counted the backswing Golf Monthly; Plugged In Golf saw it only with the unit off to the side Set it straight behind you, 2.1m back Speed Training numbers didn't reach the app An owner, in the comments under Plugged In Golf's review Note them down after each set Extra driver shots appeared in the app and couldn't be deleted Golf Monthly, whose tester was told a fix was coming Check the session in the app before you trust its averages It charged only from the cable in the box The Hackers Paradise Keep the supplied USB-A to USB-C cable with it No readings off a range mat until it was raised An owner, in the same comments Stand it on its carry case Wrong readings near a PC or another launch monitor Shot Scope's User Guide Keep it away from computers, other radio devices and a second launch monitor Most of them are sorted with a pencil or the case it came in. Is the Garmin R10 better than the Shot Scope LM1? Yes, if you want spin, club path or courses on a screen. If speed and carry are the numbers you'll use, the LM1 gives you them for less than half the price. Shop now → The Garmin Approach R10 is £421, which is £226.01 more than the LM1. For that, the R10 reads spin rate, club path, attack angle and face-to-path, and films your swing with the numbers laid over it. Its ball and club numbers are free. Home Tee Hero's 43,000+ courses need a Garmin Golf membership, which is £89.99 a year (Garmin). 3 years of numbers Shot Scope LM1, nothing to pay after the box £194.99 Garmin R10 without a membership £421 Garmin R10 with Garmin Golf for courses, £421 + 3 years at £89.99 £690.97 The R10 with courses, over the LM1 £495.98 Garmin Golf is also £8.99 a month, so 4 winter months of courses cost £35.96. Shop now →The Spornia SPG-7 and Garmin R10 bundle is £905, with the same net and a Basic hitting mat. That's £206 more than the LM1 bundle. The catch: the R10 sits about 1.8m behind the ball, 40cm further back than the LM1, and a short garage has to find that 40cm behind the mat. Is the Shot Scope LM1 a good Christmas present? Yes, for a golfer who goes to the range or has room for a net at home. At £194.99 it's the cheapest launch monitor in our Christmas gift guide, and it's about the size of a paperback, so it wraps like one. Check first that they want numbers to practise with. A golfer who wants to play courses on a screen through the winter needs a bigger present. UK returns are free within 30 days for anything unused and in its original packaging. Watch out: launch monitors come back unopened Our returns policy takes a launch monitor back only unopened and unused, even inside the 30 days. Keep it sealed until Christmas morning and give them the receipt with it. Shot Scope LM1 FAQs Does the Shot Scope LM1 need a subscription? No. Shot Scope says the LM1 is subscription free for life, and the Shot Scope app and your shot history in it are free too. The £194.99 is the whole bill. Do you need your phone to use the Shot Scope LM1? No. The 5 numbers show on its own screen, and up to 1,920 shots stay on the unit until you upload them. The phone comes out after the session, when the shots go to the Shot Scope app over Bluetooth. How long does the Shot Scope LM1 battery last? About 5 hours, and a full charge takes about 2 hours over USB-C. It works down to -10°C, so a January garage is fine to hit in, but charge it between 5°C and 40°C. Bring it into the house before you plug it in. Why isn't my Shot Scope LM1 reading shots? Check the setup first: 1.4m back, level with the ball, in line with the target and facing it, with the right club selected. Move it away from a PC or a second launch monitor. If it still reads nothing, contact Shot Scope support. Can you use the Shot Scope LM1 on the golf course? Yes. It has an On Course session, a carry case and an IPX3 rating for light rain, and the shots save on the unit for the app. Mind the group behind while you read the screen. What comes in the box with the Shot Scope LM1? The LM1 with its kickstand, a USB-C charging cable, a protective carry case, a cleaning cloth and the user manual, according to Shot Scope. A chart of the clubs on its list comes in the packaging too. See every launch monitor we sell Portable radars, camera units that sit beside the ball and ceiling-mounted monitors. See golf launch monitors

A launch monitor under £1,000 tells you how far each club really goes, and the better ones add spin, club path and courses on a screen. The price on the box is only part of the bill, because you need something to hit into, and some charge every year for courses. Here are the 11 we sell under £1,000, with what each reads, the room it needs and its running cost. Quick summary We sell 11 launch monitors under £1,000, from the £179 PRGR Portable to the £799 Rapsodo MLM2XPRO, and the £421 Garmin R10 suits most golfers, with spin and club path free in its app. Under £500, the £194.99 Shot Scope LM1 shows speed and carry on its own screen with nothing to pay after, and the £495 original SkyTrak reads the ball from beside it and comes with a year of courses. Between £500 and £1,000, the £549 Rapsodo MLM2PRO measures spin with its RPT balls and a £159.99-a-year Core membership, and the £689 Square Golf sits beside the ball for a shorter room. Add our TrueStrike TS-5 net and Basic mat and 8 of the 11 still come in under £1,000, including the R10 at £839 and the original SkyTrak at £913. Over 3 years with courses, the R10 costs £690.97, the original SkyTrak £994.98 and the MLM2PRO £1,028.97, while the LM1 stays at £194.99. In a cold garage the R10 and the LM1 work down to -10°C, the MLM2PRO needs 5°C and the Square Golf 0°C, and Square Golf makes its unit for indoor use only. What is the best launch monitor under £1,000? The Garmin Approach R10 at £421, for most golfers. It works out spin, club path and attack angle from its radar, it copes with a garden or a cold garage, and it plays courses for £89.99 a year. 4 others suit a narrower job: Speed and carry with nothing to pay after: the Shot Scope LM1, £194.99. Measured spin: the Rapsodo MLM2PRO, £549, with an RPT ball and a Core membership. A shorter room: the Square Golf, £689, which sits beside the ball. Courses in a bay under £500: the original SkyTrak, £495, with a year of SkyTrak Core in the box. # Launch monitor Our price Reads the ball with Spin Numbers on Best for 1 Garmin Approach R10 £421 Radar Worked out from the radar Phone or tablet Most golfers 2 Shot Scope LM1 £194.99 Radar No Its own screen Speed and carry, no subscription 3 Original SkyTrak £495 2 high-speed cameras Back spin and side spin Phone or tablet A simulator bay under £500 4 Garmin Approach G80 £399 Radar in a handheld GPS No Its own 3.5in screen GPS on the course, speed on the range 5 Garmin Approach G82 £499 Radar in a handheld GPS No Its own 5in screen GPS with putting stats 6 PRGR Portable £179 Dual Doppler radar No Its own screen The lowest price, no app 7 Rapsodo MLM2PRO £549 2 cameras and radar Measured, with an RPT ball and Core Phone, tablet or Windows PC Measured spin 8 Square Golf £689 High-speed cameras Measured, with its marked balls Phone, tablet or PC A shorter room 9 Rapsodo MLM2XPRO £799 Radar and 2 cameras Measured, with an RPT ball and Core Phone, tablet or Windows PC Putting in simulator rounds 10 Voice Caddie SC4 £569.99 Doppler radar From the radar Its own screen, read out loud The range with no phone 11 Blue Tees Rainmaker £599 Doppler radar From the radar Its own colour screen Spin on its own screen What is the best launch monitor under £500? The Garmin R10 at £421, or the Shot Scope LM1 at £194.99 if speed and carry are all you'll use. 6 of the 11 cost under £500. 1. Garmin Approach R10: best for most golfers Shop now → The Garmin Approach R10 is £421, the cheapest unit here with club path and attack angle as well as speed and spin. It measures ball speed, launch angle, launch direction, club head speed and tempo. Spin rate, spin axis, club path, face angle, face-to-path and attack angle are worked out from the radar, and carry and total are modelled. All of those numbers are free in the Garmin Golf app. The 43,000+ courses in Home Tee Hero need a Garmin Golf membership, which Garmin UK prices at £89.99 a year or £8.99 a month. It sits on its tripod 1.8m to 2.4m behind the ball, with at least 2.4m of ball flight to the net. It's rated IPX7 and runs up to 10 hours a charge. With a garden net and mat it comes to £530, and indoors it's £839. The catch: indoors it works spin out from a few metres of flight, so wedge spin off range balls is a guide. 2. Shot Scope LM1: best for speed and carry with no subscription Shop now →The Shot Scope LM1 is £194.99 and shows 5 numbers on its own 3.5in colour screen: club speed, ball speed, smash factor, carry and total. The free Shot Scope app keeps your shot history, and Shot Scope says it's subscription-free for life. It stands on the floor 1.4m behind the ball (Shot Scope User Guide), runs about 5 hours a charge and is rated IPX3 for light rain. With a garden net and mat it comes to £303.99, and indoors it's £612.99. Golf Insider UK and Plugged In Golf both found its ball speed mostly within about 1mph of far dearer launch monitors, and in Golf Insider UK's and Today's Golfer's tests mishits read long. The catch: it shows no spin, launch angle or direction. It tells you how far and how fast. For why the ball went left, you need a different unit. 3. Original SkyTrak: best for a simulator bay under £500 Shop now →The original SkyTrak is £495 with a year of SkyTrak Core, which plays more than 50 courses. SkyTrak's technical specifications list 2 high-speed cameras that read ball speed, launch angle, back spin and side spin from beside the ball, so nothing goes behind you. Shots go to a phone or tablet over Wi-Fi, and SkyTrak rates the battery at about 5 hours. From year 2, SkyTrak Core costs £249.99 a year. SkyTrak's own minimum room is 3.66m (12ft) long, and we plan a full bay at 4.5m. With a net and a mat it makes a £913 practice bay, the cheapest indoor setup here with a year of courses in the box. The catch: SkyTrak doesn't currently support GSPro, so it stays on SkyTrak's own app and memberships. The unit also has to sit level with the hitting surface. 4. Garmin Approach G80: best for GPS on the course and speed on the range Shop now →The Garmin Approach G80 is £399, a handheld golf GPS with a launch monitor built in. It shows club head speed, ball speed, smash factor, tempo and an estimated distance on a 3.5in touchscreen, carries 41,000+ courses and runs up to 15 hours a charge. There's nothing to pay after the box, and it puts the GPS and the practice gadget in one pocket of the bag. The catch: the distance is an estimate worked out from speed, there's no spin, and it doesn't run a simulator. For spin and launch angle, the R10 costs £22 more. 5. Garmin Approach G82: best for GPS with putting stats Shop now →The Garmin Approach G82 is £499. Its radar measures ball speed, club speed, smash factor and tempo, and it records your putting stroke tempo and length. Bag mapping feeds its virtual caddie, and the 5in screen carries 43,000+ CourseView maps. Green contours and aerial imagery need a Garmin Golf membership at £89.99 a year. The catch: there's no spin or launch angle on its list of numbers, so it's a course device first. A golfer who mostly hits balls at the range gets more from the R10, which costs £78 less. 6. PRGR Portable: the lowest price, with no app Shop now →The PRGR Portable is £179. Its dual Doppler radar reads swing speed, ball speed and smash factor, estimates carry and total, and reads club speed on practice swings too. It keeps your last 500 shots, runs on 4 AAA batteries and weighs 125g. It shows metres or yards, works for right and left-handers and has a tripod screw. It goes on the ground behind the ball, and Golf Monthly found its accuracy "impressive for price point". With a garden net and mat it comes to £288, and indoors it's £597. The catch: there's no app, so the last 500 shots on the unit are your whole history, and Golf Monthly found the display very basic. What is the best launch monitor between £500 and £1,000? The Rapsodo MLM2PRO at £549 if you want measured spin indoors, and the Square Golf at £689 if the room is short. 7. Rapsodo MLM2PRO: best for measured spin on a budget Shop now → The Rapsodo MLM2PRO is £549, in Callaway or Titleist versions. It reads the ball with 2 cameras and Doppler radar. The free tier gives 11 numbers, including carry, ball speed, launch angle and club speed. Core at £159.99 a year adds measured spin, club path, attack angle, Rapsodo Courses and third-party software such as GSPro (Rapsodo UK). The box holds a 3-ball sleeve of RPT balls and a 21-day Core trial, says Rapsodo UK's FAQ. Measured spin needs all 3 together: an RPT ball, the Net environment in the app and a Core membership. It sits 2.3m behind the ball with 2.4m of flight to the net, about 4.7m in all. With a net and a mat it comes to £967. The catch: Rapsodo's user manual rates it from 5°C and says it isn't water-resistant, so it's a warm-room and dry-day unit. 8. Square Golf: best for a shorter room Shop now →The Square Golf is £689. It reads the ball from beside it with high-speed cameras and machine vision, so a room 4.5m deep is enough, with nothing behind you. It gives ball speed, launch, backspin, sidespin, apex, carry, run and total, plus club path, face angle, dynamic loft and attack angle. Square Golf measures spin with its own marked balls and club path with a marker on the shaft, and there's putting practice with adjustable green speeds. Practice needs no subscription, and course play runs on credits, with 1,000 in the box that don't expire (Square Golf's FAQ). It works for left-handers, though the unit may need repositioning when right and left-handers swap. With a net and a mat it comes to £1,107. The catch: Square Golf says the Home Edition is for indoor use only and rates it from 0°C to 40°C. Square Golf also lists no club speed or smash factor for it. 9. Rapsodo MLM2XPRO: best for putting in simulator rounds Shop now → The Rapsodo MLM2XPRO is £799, in Callaway or Titleist versions. It pairs Doppler radar with 2 cameras, gives the same numbers as the MLM2PRO (Rapsodo UK) and has 240fps Impact Vision and Swing Replay. The extra £250 buys tracked putts in simulator rounds with Core or Studios, where the MLM2PRO uses Auto Putt. The box holds a 12-ball sleeve of RPT balls, and Rapsodo lists a small status screen, a faster connection and play while it charges. It goes 2.3m behind the ball like the MLM2PRO, and with a net and a mat it comes to £1,217. The catch: the courses and the putting need Core at £159.99 a year, so 3 years comes to £1,278.97. 10. Voice Caddie SC4: best for the range with no phone Shop now →The Voice Caddie SC4 is a £569.99 Doppler radar unit. In Golf Monthly's test it showed carry and total, swing speed, launch direction and spin on its own display and read them out loud, with no phone needed. Golf Monthly lists it at 589g and 10 hours a charge, and set it about 1.5m (5ft) behind the ball, indoors and out. Its MySwingCaddie app adds video synced to your numbers. With a net and a mat it comes to £987.99, the dearest of the 8 setups that stay under £1,000. The catch: Golf Monthly said its spin rates "seem high", so trust the carry and the speed first. 11. Blue Tees Rainmaker: best for spin on its own screen Shop now →The Blue Tees Rainmaker is £599. Doppler radar feeds a colour screen showing ball speed, spin rate and club speed, and it works on its own at the range or with the Blue Tees LAUNCH app for simulation and session history. The design is portable and waterproof. With a net and a mat it comes to £1,017. The catch: MyGolfSpy found spin the most variable number indoors among the cheapest models in its test, so treat the Rainmaker's indoor spin as a guide. Not sure which one suits your room? Send us the room's height, width and depth and how you want to practise, and we'll tell you which launch monitor and net fit. It's free. Book a free consultation What do you give up with a cheap launch monitor? Mostly spin you can trust indoors, plus measured club data and putting. Ball speed holds up at every price. MyGolfSpy's test of 12 launch monitors in January 2026 found the cheapest models kept ball speed within about 1 to 2% of its reference system, indoors and out. Indoors, spin rate and launch angle on some were 20 to 30% out. Across the test, carry varied more than ball speed, especially outdoors, and several models came close to 4 to 5% out. Spin was the biggest difference between price tiers, and RCT or RPT balls helped indoor spin on some models. Here's how the 11 handle spin: No spin at all: the LM1, the PRGR, the G80 and the G82. Spin from the radar alone: the R10, the SC4 and the Rainmaker. Titleist RCT balls indoors give the R10 much more precise spin capture. Back spin and side spin from cameras beside the ball: the original SkyTrak. Measured spin with the right ball: the MLM2PRO and the MLM2XPRO with an RPT ball and Core, and the Square Golf with its marked balls. Putting splits them too. The MLM2XPRO tracks putts in simulator rounds where the MLM2PRO uses Auto Putt, the Square Golf measures putts, and the G82 records your putting stroke tempo and length. ✓ Do this Take ball speed and carry from any of these, and spin only from a unit that measures it: the original SkyTrak's cameras, an RPT ball on the Rapsodos, a marked ball on the Square Golf. ✕ Not this Set your wedge yardages from a radar unit's indoor spin reading, off whatever balls are rattling round the bottom of the bag. How much room does a cheap launch monitor need? About 4.5m of depth for a camera unit beside the ball and 5m for a radar unit behind it, plus 3m of width and 2.8m of height for a full driver swing. Garmin's R10 manual puts it 1.8m to 2.4m behind the ball, with the ball at least 2.4m from the net, so 4.2m at the tightest. Rapsodo's UK FAQ puts both MLM2 units 2.3m (7.5ft) behind with 2.4m (8ft) of flight, about 4.7m in all. The LM1 sits 1.4m behind, says Shot Scope, and Golf Monthly set the SC4 about 1.5m behind. The Square Golf and the original SkyTrak sit beside the ball. GolfBays tip Measure before you choose. Run a tape from the net or screen back to the wall behind where you'd stand. Under about 4.7m a Rapsodo has nowhere to go, under 4.2m an R10 doesn't either, and a camera unit beside the ball fits in 4.5m with nothing behind you. Can you use a launch monitor in a cold garage? The R10 and the LM1 can. The MLM2PRO and the Square Golf want a heated room. Here are the makers' working ranges: Launch monitor Works from Rain Indoors or out Garmin Approach R10 -10°C to 55°C IPX7 Both Shot Scope LM1 -10°C to 50°C IPX3, light rain Both Rapsodo MLM2PRO 5°C to 50°C Not water-resistant Both, on a dry day Square Golf 0°C to 40°C Indoor use only Indoors Charging is fussier: Garmin says charge the R10 between 0°C and 45°C, and Shot Scope the LM1 between 5°C and 40°C. In January an unheated garage can be colder than the fridge, and a heater switched on before the session warms the air long before it warms the kit. Watch out: leaving it in the garage overnight A launch monitor kept in the garage starts every session as cold as the garage. Square Golf's 0°C floor and Rapsodo's 5°C both sit above a frosty January night, so keep the unit in the house between sessions. Which cheap launch monitors can you use in the garden? All 7 radar units can: the R10 (IPX7), the LM1 (IPX3), the PRGR, the G80 and G82 handhelds, the SC4, which Golf Monthly used indoors and out, and the Rainmaker, which is waterproof. The 2 Rapsodos work outdoors on a dry day. SkyTrak says its original unit can go out on a mat and out of direct sun, and the Square Golf stays indoors. Shop now →Our outdoor golf practice net is about 3m wide and 2.1m high (10ft × 7ft), with a steel frame that goes up without tools. It's £69 without a mat or £109 with a Tri-Turf mat. The £109 version makes a garden practice setup for £303.99 with the LM1, or £530 with the R10. Face the net away from the greenhouse. A shank goes where it likes, whatever the screen says. What does a launch monitor practice setup cost? From £288 for the PRGR in the garden to £1,217 for the MLM2XPRO indoors, and 8 of the 11 stay under £1,000 with a net and a mat. A launch monitor with nothing to hit into is a very accurate paperweight. Our practice nets start at £69 for the garden net. Indoors, the table below adds this net and mat to each launch monitor. Shop now →The TrueStrike TS-5 is £229. It's a ¾-size net with an automatic ball return, 1.7m × 1.7m × 1.7m plus a 0.3m roof. Shop now →The GolfBays Basic hitting mat is 1.5m square and £189, so the net and the mat add £418 to any launch monitor. Launch monitor On its own With a TS-5 net and Basic mat Ready-made bundle PRGR Portable £179 £597 None Shot Scope LM1 £194.99 £612.99 LM1 + SPG-7, £699 Garmin Approach G80 £399 £817 None Garmin Approach R10 £421 £839 R10 + SPG-7, £905 Original SkyTrak £495 £913 None Garmin Approach G82 £499 £917 None Rapsodo MLM2PRO £549 £967 MLM2PRO + SPG-7, £1,080 Voice Caddie SC4 £569.99 £987.99 None Blue Tees Rainmaker £599 £1,017 None Square Golf £689 £1,107 None Rapsodo MLM2XPRO £799 £1,217 None Are launch monitor and net bundles cheaper? A little. Our 3 Spornia launch monitor bundles cost £17.99 to £64.99 less than the same parts bought one at a time. Shop now → The Garmin R10 and Spornia SPG-7 bundle is £905, for the R10, the SPG-7 net with its target sheet, roof and chipping basket, and a Basic mat. The SPG-7 is about a 2.1m cube, 2.4m high with the roof, and its ball return rolls each shot back to you. Shop now →The Shot Scope LM1 Spornia SPG7 Bundle is £699, with the same net kit and a 1.5m hitting mat. The Spornia bundles against the parts Garmin R10, SPG-7 net and Basic mat, bought separately £969.99 Garmin R10 Spornia bundle £905 Shot Scope LM1, SPG-7 net and a 1.5m mat, bought separately From £743.98 Shot Scope LM1 Spornia bundle £699 Rapsodo MLM2PRO, SPG-7 net and Basic mat, bought separately £1,097.99 Rapsodo MLM2PRO Spornia bundle £1,080 Biggest saving, on the R10 bundle £64.99 The LM1 bundle saves at least £44.98 and the MLM2PRO bundle £17.99. The catch: the bundles use the bigger SPG-7 net, so the R10 bundle costs £66 more than the R10 with the TS-5 net and Basic mat. Buying a launch monitor as a present At £194.99, the LM1 is the cheapest launch monitor in our Christmas gift picks. It suits a golfer who wants numbers on a screen, since it plays no courses. UK returns are free within 30 days of purchase. Watch out: launch monitors come back unopened Our returns policy takes a launch monitor back only unopened and unused, and that holds inside the 30 days too. Leave the box sealed until Christmas morning, and give them the receipt with it. What does a cheap launch monitor cost over 3 years? From £179 for the PRGR to £1,278.97 for the MLM2XPRO with courses, and the courses decide the order. Launch monitor Our price What you pay after the box 3 years PRGR Portable £179 Nothing, no app £179 Shot Scope LM1 £194.99 Nothing £194.99 Garmin Approach G80 £399 Nothing £399 Garmin Approach G82 £499 Garmin Golf for green maps, £89.99 a year, optional £499, or £768.97 with Garmin Golf Garmin Approach R10 £421 Garmin Golf for courses, £89.99 a year £690.97, or £421 for the numbers only Square Golf £689 Nothing; courses on credits, 1,000 included £689, before any extra credits Original SkyTrak £495 SkyTrak Core from year 2, £249.99 a year £994.98, or £754.98 with SkyTrak Essential, no courses Rapsodo MLM2PRO £549 Core after a 21-day trial, £159.99 a year £1,028.97, or £549 on the free tier Rapsodo MLM2XPRO £799 Core after a 21-day trial, £159.99 a year £1,278.97, or £799 on the free tier The R10 and the MLM2PRO sit £128 apart on the box and £70 a year apart on courses, so the gap is £338 over 3 years. The membership comes round every year like the MOT. Shop now →A year of SkyTrak Core is £249.99 once the year in the box runs out. Partner software adds its own bill, and on the Rapsodos it needs Core as well, Rapsodo UK's FAQ says. Shop now →Awesome Golf is £349.99 once for a lifetime membership, in a version for the Rapsodo MLM2. Shop now →A year of GSPro is £250, and it runs on a Windows PC. ✓ Do this Add 3 years of the courses you'll play before you compare: £690.97 for the R10 with Garmin Golf against £994.98 for the original SkyTrak with Core. ✕ Not this Compare £421 with £495, call the gap £74, then pay £249.99 in each of the next 2 years. Which launch monitors are just over £1,000? 4, from £1,050 to £1,295. The extra buys courses you keep or a unit built for a full simulator. Launch monitor Price What the extra buys FlightScope Mevo+ £1,050 12 E6 Connect courses to keep, no yearly fee FlightScope Mevo Gen 2 £1,199 Radar and camera, 8 E6 Connect courses to keep Uneekor EYE MINI Core £1,249 2 cameras and infrared, no marked balls, needs a PC SkyTrak+ £1,295 Camera and radar, a year of SkyTrak Core Shop now →The FlightScope Mevo+ is the closest to the line at £1,050, over it by about the price of a dozen decent balls. Above £1,000 the right launch monitor depends more on the room than the budget, from a camera unit beside the ball to a radar on the ceiling. The catch: both Mevos sit behind the ball and want 5m of depth, and the EYE MINI Core needs a PC on top. Can you turn a cheap launch monitor into a golf simulator? Yes. Our EasySim packages start at £1,657 with the R10, and a complete bay with a hitting mat and a short throw projector starts at £2,817.98 on the Square Golf EasySim. Shop now →The Garmin R10 EasySim package is £1,657. Its EasySim enclosure is 3.3m wide, 2.5m high and only 1m deep, with an impact screen where the net would be. Add a projector kit at £968.98 and the R10 package makes a projected simulator for £2,625.98, before £89.99 a year of Garmin Golf for the courses. The catch: the enclosure is 1m deep, and the R10 behind the ball still wants a room 5m deep. Cheap launch monitor FAQs What is the best portable launch monitor for golf? Under £1,000, the Shot Scope LM1 for numbers on its own screen, or the Garmin R10 for spin and courses on your phone. Both work on the range and in a garden. What is the best mobile golf launch monitor? The Garmin R10, on the Garmin Golf app. The 2 Rapsodos, the original SkyTrak and the Square Golf also run from a phone or tablet, and the LM1, PRGR, G80, G82, SC4 and Rainmaker need no phone at all. Which golf monitor is better, Rapsodo MLM2PRO or Square Golf? The room decides. The MLM2PRO sits 2.3m behind the ball and works outdoors on a dry day. The Square Golf sits beside the ball, stays indoors, needs no subscription and plays courses on credits. Both need their own balls for measured spin. Launch monitors for every budget Launch monitors from the £179 PRGR to a ceiling-mounted Trackman. See golf launch monitors

Between now and March a lot of golfers play less and practise more, on the lounge carpet, in the garage or into a net at the bottom of the garden. If you're buying for one of them, every present here gets used this winter, from £14.99 stocking fillers to a complete home simulator. Quick summary Golf stocking fillers start at £14.99 for the Longridge Tour Putting Mirror and top out at £29.99 for the PuttOUT Pressure Putt Trainer, which sends a made putt back to you. The PuttOut Medium Putting Mat (£69.99) and the Swing Plate (£59.99) both work on a lounge carpet or a garage mat all winter. For a first launch monitor, the Shot Scope LM1 is £194.99 with no subscription, and the Garmin R10 is £421 with 43,000+ courses on a £89.99-a-year Garmin Golf membership. The cheapest complete simulator we sell is the Garmin R10 EasySim package at £1,657, and it wants a room about 2.8m high, 3.3m wide and 5m deep. Returns are free within the UK for 30 days from purchase, and a launch monitor can only come back unopened, so keep it sealed until Christmas Day. Which golf gift suits which golfer? The one that fits where they'll practise this winter. Find your golfer in the first column. The numbers match the picks further down. Golfer What they'll use this winter Picks The beginner Aim, grip and putting basics on a carpet 4. Alignment sticks, £19.49; 8. Grip It Rite, £29.99; 11. Slim putting mat, £49.99 The home putting fan A putting surface and something to aim at 6. Devil Ball, £24.99; 7. Pressure Putt Trainer, £29.99; 17. Medium putting mat, £69.99; 33. Modular putting green, £399 The garage or garden practiser Full swings into a net, with feedback on every one 12. Strike mat, £54.99; 16. Garden net, £69; 26. Shot Scope LM1, £194.99; 28. TrueStrike TS-5 net, £229 The simulator owner Upgrades for the bay they already have 3. Metallic dots, £16.99; 19. Acoustic wall tiles, £74.99; 30. GSPro, £250 The golfer who plays all winter Dry grips and distances on a wet course 5. Bag towel, £19.99; 23. PRO L2 rangefinder, £149; 25. Shot Scope G6 watch, £179 The golfer who has everything Storage for the house, a 2-in-1 gadget or a whole simulator 14. Wall club rack, £59.99; 27. Oak club organiser, £199; 32. Garmin Approach G80, £399; 36. Garmin R10 EasySim, £1,657 Some of these picks cost less in our Black November sale. Golf stocking fillers under £30 All 8 fit in a stocking, and the first 5 cost under £20, which also suits a golf Secret Santa. 1. Longridge Tour Putting Mirror: for checking eyes and shoulders over the ball Shop now →The Longridge Tour Putting Mirror lies under the ball and shows whether the head and shoulders are lined up, with straight and arcing path lines for the stroke. It works as well in the lounge as on a practice green, and it's £14.99. 2. GolfBays Shallow Putting Cup: for putting practice on any flat surface Shop now →The GolfBays Shallow Putting Cup is shallower than a real hole, so it rewards a putt hit at the pace that would drop into a regulation cup on the course. It sits on a mat, a carpet or grass, and a hallway plus this cup makes a practice green for £14.99. 3. Metallic golf ball dots: for the golfer with a radar launch monitor Shop now →Our metallic golf ball dots stick on the ball so a radar launch monitor gets more accurate spin readings indoors, where the ball only flies a few metres into the screen. The 400-dot pack is £16.99. The catch: a camera unit beside the ball has no use for them. Find out which kind they own first. 4. Longridge Portable Tour Rod alignment sticks: for aim and alignment drills Shop now →The Longridge Portable Tour Rod alignment sticks come as a pair, and they fold into 4 parts, down to a 33cm (13in) tube that lives in the golf bag. Laid on the floor or a range mat they show whether the feet and shoulders aim at the target, and pushed upright into the turf they help with posture. They're £19.49. 5. GolfBays Golf Bag Towel: for wet grips and muddy clubs Shop now →The GolfBays Golf Bag Towel is absorbent black cotton with an embroidered logo and a metal clip that hangs it on the bag. December rounds mean wet grips and muddy clubs. At £19.99 it's also the one golf present that's never the wrong size. 6. PuttOut Devil Ball: for the golfer who misses short putts Shop now →The PuttOut Devil Ball has a flat-edged band where the putter strikes it, so a closed face sends it spinning off left and an open face sends it right. It's the size and weight of a golf ball, with 3 difficulty levels, for £24.99. Short putts get harder with it, which is the idea. 7. PuttOUT Premium Pressure Putt Trainer: for pace on the lounge carpet Shop now →The PuttOUT Premium Pressure Putt Trainer has a 10.8cm (4 1/4in) base, the size of a hole, and a curved ramp that sends a made putt back the distance it would have rolled past. A pop-down micro-target only holds a putt struck at the perfect pace, and the spiked base keeps it still on a mat. It's £29.99 and folds small enough for a bag pocket. The catch: the black one in the photo has sold out. This Christmas it comes in coral, the only colour in stock. 8. Grip It Rite: for learning where the hands go Shop now →Grip It Rite fits onto the club, and a fin, finger pads and a thumb hole put the hands in the right place on the grip. A meter shows whether the grip is too strong or too weak, so a beginner can sort the grip out in the lounge before the first lesson. It's £29.99. Golf gifts under £50 All 3 work indoors, and all 3 go back in a cupboard when the in-laws arrive. 9. Longridge Deluxe T-Bar Compact Alignment Aid: for alignment that folds into the bag Shop now →The Longridge Deluxe T-Bar Compact Alignment Aid is 3 rods that unfold into a T and adjust to the club in hand. It gives the same reference points for every club and shot shape, then folds back into the bag. It's £34.99. 10. Visio Start Line Trainer: for starting putts on line Shop now →The Visio Start Line Trainer is a gate the putt has to roll through. Clip the left side and the putter face was probably closed at impact; clip the right and it was open. It's £35.99. 11. PuttOut Slim Putting Mat: for a hallway or a narrow room Shop now →The PuttOut Slim Putting Mat is 240cm × 25cm, with distance markings to 6ft, alignment lines and pace targets, and it reads 10 on the Stimpmeter. The thick rubber backing rolls flat out of the box, and it comes with a carry bag, for £49.99. A beginner's winter practice kit Longridge Portable Tour Rod alignment sticks £19.49 PuttOut Slim Putting Mat £49.99 Grip It Rite training grip £29.99 Total £99.47 Aim, putting and the grip for under £100, and all of it works indoors. Golf gifts under £100 9 picks between £50 and £100, from a strike mat for the garage to a travel cover for the spring. 12. Longridge Strike Training Mat: for seeing where the club meets the ground Shop now →The Longridge Strike Training Mat is velvet that leaves a dark mark where the club touched it, which shows whether it hit the ground before the ball or after. Wipe it the other way and it's clean again, and straps hold it down in the garage or at the range. It's £54.99. 13. The Swing Plate: for alignment stick drills indoors Shop now →The Swing Plate is a steel base that holds an alignment stick at whatever angle you twist it to, and it's heavy enough to stay put on a mat or a carpet. So the drills that need a stick in the turf work in the garage. It's £59.99 for the plate, or £69.99 with alignment sticks. 14. GolfBays Wall Mounted Club Rack: for getting the clubs off the garage floor Shop now →The GolfBays Wall Mounted Club Rack is solid wood in matte black, and each club hangs by its head in its own slot, with room for a full set. On the wall it frees up floor space in a garage golf simulator that still has to take the car. It's £59.99. 15. Divot Board Mini: for swing path and low point on any surface Shop now →The Divot Board Mini shows where the club met the ground, which tells you the swing path and the low point. Suction cups hold it on a hard floor, tee anchors on turf and grip spikes on a mat, and it's £65.99. 16. Outdoor golf practice net: for full shots in the garden Shop now →Our outdoor golf practice net is about 3m wide and 2.1m high (10ft × 7ft), with a steel frame that goes up without tools. It's £69 without a mat or £109 with a Tri-Turf mat. Put a Shot Scope LM1 behind the ball and the £109 version makes a garden golf setup for £303.99. The catch: the £69 version has no mat, and a lawn won't thank anyone for a winter of divots. 17. PuttOut Medium Putting Mat: for a putting green on the lounge floor Shop now →The PuttOut Medium Putting Mat is 240cm × 50cm, twice the width of the Slim, with markings to 6ft and the same 10 on the Stimpmeter. It rolls out flat in the lounge and back into its carry bag when the sofa needs the space, for £69.99. Among our putting mats and training aids it sits between the £49.99 Slim and the £129.99 Large, with the same surface and backing. The catch: only the green one is in stock; the grey has sold out. 18. Garmin R10 Protective Case: for the golfer who already owns an R10 Shop now →The Garmin R10 Protective Case is steel and plexiglass, built to take a mishit club or a stray ball indoors. It's £69.99. It fits the R10 and nothing else, so buy it only if that's the launch monitor they own. 19. Diamond acoustic wall tiles, pack of 10: for a quieter simulator or garage Shop now →Our diamond acoustic wall tiles are 50cm squares of black acoustic foam, 10 to a pack for £74.99. On the wall behind the golfer they take the edge off the echo of every strike, which the neighbours tend to notice before you do. 20. GolfBays Rolling Travel Cover: for a golf trip in the spring Shop now →The GolfBays Rolling Travel Cover is 1680D ballistic polyester, 132 × 35 × 39cm and 5.5kg, with a free storage case and padlock. It's £83.99, for the golfer who is already looking at flights somewhere warmer for March. Golf gifts under £250 9 picks from £129.99 to £239, including a launch monitor at £194.99. 21. GolfBays Single Bag Display Storage Organiser: for a bag and its kit in one place Shop now →The GolfBays Single Bag Display Storage Organiser holds 1 bag, with 5 shelves for the rest of the kit, and measures 75cm wide, 90cm high and 38cm deep. Like most of our golf bag and club storage, it's built for a garage or a sim room. It's £129.99. 22. PuttOut Large Putting Mat: for 3m (10ft) putts at home Shop now →The PuttOut Large Putting Mat is 367cm × 67cm, with markings to 10ft, 5 separate targets and the same 10 on the Stimpmeter as the smaller mats. It's £129.99, and it's the longest of the 3 flat PuttOut mats. The catch: it wants 3.7m of clear floor, which rules out most hallways. 23. Shot Scope PRO L2 rangefinder: for distances on the course Shop now →The Shot Scope PRO L2 rangefinder magnifies 6 times and reads to 700 yards, accurate to within a yard, and its slope mode adjusts the number for uphill and downhill shots. A built-in magnet holds it on a buggy or a trolley, and it's £149. The catch: the Rules of Golf allow a distance-measuring device but ban measuring elevation changes (R&A, Rule 4.3a), so slope goes off for any round played under the Rules. The L2 has a switch for it. 24. ButterBlade Golf Strike Trainer: for path and face feedback on the range Shop now →The ButterBlade Golf Strike Trainer is a weighted training club, and its weighting gives feedback on the swing path and the clubface angle with every swing. It suits a winter range session in a hat and gloves, for £149.99. The catch: it comes left or right-handed with a Regular, Stiff or X Stiff shaft, so check the hand and the flex they play. 25. Shot Scope G6 GPS watch: for distances on the wrist Shop now →A golf GPS watch keeps the yardages on the wrist, and the Shot Scope G6 needs no setup. It carries 36,000 courses, with distances to the front, middle and back of every green and to the hazards, for £179. 26. Shot Scope LM1 launch monitor: for numbers with no subscription Shop now → The Shot Scope LM1 shows club speed, ball speed, smash factor, carry and total distance on its own 3.5in colour screen, so the numbers are there at the range without a phone. Every number is free in the Shot Scope app with no subscription, and the battery lasts up to 5 hours (Shot Scope). It's rain-ready to IPX3, comes with a carry case and costs £194.99, the cheapest launch monitor here. 27. GolfBays Real Oak Golf Club Organiser: for a golf room or a study Shop now →The GolfBays Real Oak Golf Club Organiser is genuine oak with 15 slots, enough for a full set plus a pair of alignment sticks. It suits a golf room where the clubs are on show, or a study where they'd otherwise lean on the radiator, for £199. 28. TrueStrike TS-5 practice net: for full swings in the garage Shop now →The TrueStrike TS-5 is a 1.7m cube with a 0.3m roof extension and an automatic ball return, and it takes every club in the bag. At 7.3kg it moves out of the way when the car comes back in. It's £229, and with a launch monitor and a 1.5m mat it makes an indoor practice bay for £913. 29. GolfBays Teaching Hitting Mat: for practice off a proper mat at home Shop now →The GolfBays Teaching Hitting Mat is 1.5m × 1.5m with teaching markings, and it's made for use in winter and summer. A proper hitting mat is kinder to the wrists than a thin one over a concrete garage floor, and this one is £239. Thinking about a launch monitor or a simulator? Send us the room's measurements and the budget, and we'll tell you what fits before you buy. It's free. Book a free consultation Big golf gifts from £250: launch monitors, putting greens and simulators 4 of the 7 big gifts here have a launch monitor in them, and where they'll use it decides which launch monitor to buy. A camera unit sits beside the ball and suits a short garage. A radar unit sits behind the ball and needs the depth. Here are the 3 dedicated launch monitor picks side by side. Launch monitor Where it sits Where you see the numbers What you pay after the box Price Shot Scope LM1 Behind the ball Its own 3.5in screen and the free app Nothing £194.99 Garmin Approach R10 About 1.8m behind the ball A phone or tablet £89.99 a year for Home Tee Hero courses; the numbers are free £421 Original SkyTrak Beside the ball A phone or tablet over Wi-Fi SkyTrak Core, £249.99 a year from year 2 £495 ✓ Do this In a garage under 5m deep, give them a camera unit that sits beside the ball, so nothing has to fit behind the golfer. ✕ Not this Put a radar unit that wants about 1.8m behind the ball in the same garage, with the golfer's back against the up-and-over door. 30. GSPro, 1 year: for the simulator owner with a compatible launch monitor Shop now →GSPro is simulator software with real courses, sold as a year's membership for £250. Which golf simulator software suits a bay depends on the launch monitor in it, and you pick GSPro's version to match their launch monitor when you order. The catch: SkyTrak isn't supported, it needs a Windows PC with a proper graphics card, and a digital purchase can't be refunded. Check their launch monitor and their PC before you wrap it. 31. Exputt RG putting simulator: for putting practice on a TV Shop now →The Exputt RG pairs a putting mat with a high-speed camera that tracks the stroke and the roll of the ball, and it plugs into a screen to put a course green in the living room. It's £389. The catch: it shows the green on a TV, or on a phone through the app, so it lives near the telly unless they're happy putting at a phone screen. 32. Garmin Approach G80: for GPS and a launch monitor in one Shop now →The Garmin Approach G80 is a handheld GPS with a launch monitor built in, showing club speed, ball speed, smash factor, tempo and an estimated distance on a 3.5in touchscreen. It carries more than 41,000 courses and runs up to 15 hours on a charge, for £399. The catch: the distance is worked out from speed, so treat it as a guide. 33. GolfBays Modular Putting Green: for a 3m green indoors or out Shop now → The GolfBays Modular Putting Green is 3.05m × 1.03m of pre-cut turf on a base that clicks together, with regulation cups and a speed of about 10 on the Stimpmeter. It works indoors or out and ships in 2 boxes, for £399. Laid in front of a screen, it gives putting on a golf simulator a real surface at green speed. The catch: it comes in one size, so the room needs 3.05m of clear floor for it. 34. Garmin Approach R10: for the garden, the range or a deep garage Shop now → The Garmin Approach R10 is a radar unit that sits about 1.8m behind the ball and tracks club path, attack angle, spin rate and face-to-path, with a swing video for every shot. The core numbers need no subscription, and the battery runs up to 10 hours. It's £421. The catch: the 43,000+ courses in Home Tee Hero need an active Garmin Golf membership (Garmin), which costs £89.99 a year. A Garmin R10 with a year of courses Garmin Approach R10 £421 Garmin R10 protective case £69.99 Garmin Golf membership, 1 year £89.99 Total £580.98 The membership is bought from Garmin, and the ball and club numbers work without it. 35. Original SkyTrak: for a garage or a spare room Shop now →The original SkyTrak sits beside the ball and reads it with cameras, so nothing stands behind the golfer. Every shot goes to a phone or tablet over Wi-Fi. A protective case and a year of SkyTrak Core come with it, for £495. The catch: SkyTrak Core is £249.99 a year from year 2, and that part isn't a present. 36. Garmin R10 EasySim package: for a complete simulator under £1,700 Shop now → The Garmin R10 EasySim package pairs the R10 with our EasySim enclosure, 3.3m wide, 2.5m high and 1m deep, with all the poles, a black fabric surround and the Lite impact screen. The 4:3 screen makes choosing a projector simpler, and the Lite screen keeps the impact quiet in a garage. At £1,657 it's the cheapest of our complete home golf simulators. Our pick for most garages, the SkyTrak ST+ SimBox, starts at £2,490. The catch: the projector is extra, and so is the room. What should you check before buying someone a golf simulator? The room, because a simulator is the one present here that has to fit inside one. Height comes first: we plan on 2.8m (9ft 2in) for a full driver swing, and 3m is comfortable. The ceiling is also the one part of the present you can't send back. Then the floor. The EasySim enclosure is 3.3m wide, and with the R10 about 1.8m behind the ball we plan on 5m of room depth. A camera unit beside the ball manages in 4.5m. Then the picture. The package has no projector, so add a short throw projector, a mount that holds it square to the screen and a 10m HDMI cable. Those 3 add £968.98, so a complete home golf simulator costs about £970 more than the box under the tree. A complete Garmin R10 EasySim bay Garmin R10 EasySim package £1,657 Optoma GT2200HDR short throw projector £899 GolfBays universal projector mount £39.99 10m HDMI 2.1 cable £29.99 Total £2,625.98 Add a laptop or tablet to run it if they don't already have one. How do you buy a golf gift if you don't play golf? Find out where they practise and what they already own, then buy for that. 5 checks before you pay: Where they practise. A lounge carpet suits a putting mat, a garage suits a net and a strike mat, and a garden suits a net and a radar launch monitor. What they already own. Metallic dots only help a radar unit, the protective case fits only the Garmin R10, and GSPro doesn't run with a SkyTrak. The hand and the flex. A swing trainer such as the ButterBlade comes left or right-handed in 3 flexes, and the label on the shaft of their own irons gives the flex. Who they play with. A playing partner knows what's in the bag and what they've been moaning about since the summer. When you're stuck. Buy putting kit. Every golfer putts, and a putting mat or trainer works in any house. GolfBays tip Measure the floor before you buy a putting mat. The Slim is 25cm wide, the Medium 50cm, and the Large is 67cm wide and 3.67m long. Measure from the skirting board to wherever a door swings, because that's where the mat has to stop. Christmas delivery and returns on golf gifts When should you order golf gifts for Christmas? Early, because our shipping policy allows up to 7 working days door to door: 1 to 2 to process an order and 3 to 5 to deliver it. Delivery is free on UK orders over £75, and delays occasionally happen. For an enclosure or a simulator package, ring us on 0800 288 8805 before you order and ask for a delivery date. A 3.3m enclosure doesn't travel like a towel. Can you return a golf gift after Christmas? Yes, if it's within 30 days of the day you bought it. Our returns policy takes back anything unused, in its original packaging and with proof of purchase, and UK returns are free. Activated software can't come back. A present bought on 14 November is outside the window by 14 December. Only an order placed after 25 November is still inside it on Christmas Day. Watch out: launch monitors A launch monitor can only come back unopened and unused, even inside the 30 days. Keep the box sealed until Christmas morning and give them the receipt with it, because once the box is open, it's theirs. Christmas gifts for golfers FAQs What do you buy a golfer who has everything? Kit for the house, because the golf bag is usually full already. A wall rack at £59.99 or the oak organiser at £199 gives the clubs somewhere better than the garage floor, and a putting green gets used on the dark evenings. If they don't own a launch monitor yet, that's the big one. What are some good Christmas presents for golfers? One for each budget: the PuttOut Devil Ball at £24.99, the PuttOut Medium Putting Mat at £69.99, the Shot Scope LM1 at £194.99 and the Garmin R10 at £421. All 4 get used in winter, indoors or in the garden, and none of them needs a tee time. What is a good small gift for someone who loves golf? Something for putting, or a towel. The Longridge putting mirror is £14.99, the GolfBays bag towel £19.99 and the Pressure Putt Trainer £29.99, and each one fits in a stocking. What is a good gift for a man who plays golf? Whatever suits where he practises. A garage golfer gets more use from a strike mat or the TS-5 net, a golfer who putts in the lounge from a putting mat, and one who's out every weekend from a rangefinder or a GPS watch. What do you get a woman who loves golf? The same kit, matched to her game. The Shot Scope G6 puts the distances on her wrist, the Pressure Putt Trainer works at home, and the ButterBlade comes in Regular, Stiff and X Stiff, so buy it in her flex. What is a good golf gift for a beginner? Something for grip and aim, the 2 things a beginner sets up before every shot. Grip It Rite puts the hands in place on the club, and a pair of alignment sticks shows where the feet and shoulders point. Both cost under £30 and work indoors. What are some clever golf gifts? Training aids with a trick in them. The Pressure Putt Trainer's ramp returns a holed putt as far as it would have run past, the Swing Plate stands an alignment stick up on a carpet, and the Strike mat records each contact in its velvet until you wipe it. What is something every golfer needs? Golf balls, a glove and tees, because all 3 get used up. Look at the balls in their bag for the make and model, and at their old glove for the size. Is a golf simulator worth it? Yes, for a golfer who'll use it at least once a week all year, or twice a week through the winter. Whether a golf simulator is worth it comes down to how often they'd hit balls if the bay were 20 steps from the kitchen, and whether the house has a room tall enough for one. How much is a golf simulator for my home? From £1,657 for the Garmin R10 EasySim package. A SkyTrak ST+ SimBox package starts at £2,490, a Garmin R50 SimBox at £5,499 and a Trackman iO SimBox at £14,050. Each of those prices leaves out the projector, and a short throw projector for a simulator such as the Optoma GT2200HDR adds £899. Still picking? Putting aids and swing trainers for the golfer who'll practise more than they play this winter. See golf training aids

Between November and March plenty of golfers practise more than they play. A training aid earns its place in those months only if it works on the miss you actually have. Here are 11, sorted by fault from grip and aim to the putting stroke, each with a 10-minute session, the catch and the room it needs indoors. Quick summary The Divot Board (£97) shows where the club first met the ground, so it's the pick for fat and thin iron shots, with or without a ball. The Swing Plate (£59.99, or £69.99 with sticks) holds an alignment stick at any angle on a mat or carpet, so you can work on an over-the-top swing indoors. Grip and aim are the cheapest fixes: Grip It Rite (£29.99) puts the hands in place on the club, and the £19.99 Longridge magnetic trainer shows where an iron's face aims. A speed stick such as the £129 Rawspeed is swung like a driver and needs about 2.8m of ceiling indoors, and in a 2021 study a speed-stick warm-up added no more clubhead speed than jumps and press-ups. For putting, the £35.99 Visio Start Line Trainer shows whether the face was open or closed at impact, and the £89 Putting Arc MS-3D guides the stroke along an 84cm arc. A winter kit of Divot Board, Swing Plate with sticks and Grip It Rite costs £196.98. Best golf training aids at a glance The right training aid is the one built for your miss: the Divot Board for fat and thin irons, the Swing Plate for an over-the-top swing and the Visio Start Line Trainer for putts that start off line. Find your fault in the middle column, then go to that number below. # Training aid The fault it works on Price 1 Grip It Rite A grip that's too strong or too weak £29.99 2 Longridge Magnetic Club Alignment Trainer A clubface aimed off target £19.99 3 The Swing Plate An over-the-top swing and a slice £59.99 (£69.99 with sticks) 4 Divot Board Fat and thin iron shots £97 5 ButterBlade Golf Strike Trainer Off-centre strikes £149.99 6 Power Shift Board Weight left on the trail foot £119 7 Rawspeed Golf Trainer Swing speed £129 8 Divot Board Mini Chunked and scooped chips £65.99 9 Visio Start Line Trainer Putts that start off line £35.99 10 The Putting Arc MS-3D A putting stroke that wanders £89 11 Live View Pro Seeing your own swing £339 Grip It Rite, the Swing Plate, the ButterBlade, the Divot Board Mini and the Visio Start Line Trainer also make good Christmas gifts for golfers who'll spend the winter practising at home. What makes a golf training aid worth buying? One that gives you feedback on every rep. All but the speed stick here do: a mark on a board, a click under the lead foot, a putt that clips a gate, a stick in the club's way. The speed stick's check is a club speed reading before and after its programme. An aid that only feels nice to swing tells you nothing about the next swing. The picks run in the order of a swing: grip and aim first, then plane, strike, weight shift and speed, then the short game and putting, and the swing camera last. 1. Grip It Rite: best for your grip Shop now →Grip It Rite fits onto the club and puts the hands in place with a guidance fin, pads for the index finger and thumb, and a hole for the thumb. A meter on it shows whether the grip is too strong or too weak, and the dimpled rubber is non-slip, so it can stay on a club for a range session. It's £29.99. A grip that's too strong tends to close the face at impact and one that's too weak tends to leave it open, so a lot of hooks and slices start in the hands before the club has moved. 10 minutes: fit it to an old 7-iron. Take your grip from scratch 10 times and check the fin, the thumb hole and the meter each time. Then make 10 slow half swings with it on. Finish by taking the same grip on your own 7-iron without the aid, and look down to check the hands sit where they did on the trainer. The catch: it sets the hold at address, and the hands still have to keep it through the swing. The old grip has had years of practice, and the new one has had 10 minutes. Who it suits: beginners, and anyone changing their grip on a PGA professional's advice. 2. Longridge Magnetic Club Alignment Trainer: best for clubface aim Shop now →The Longridge Magnetic Club Alignment Trainer is a rod with a magnet that attaches to the face of an iron or wedge and points where the face aims: open, closed or square. It extends from 16cm to 26.5cm, works for right or left-handers and costs £19.99. 10 minutes: put the magnet on a 7-iron and set up to a target 10 times. Each time, read where the rod points against where you meant to aim. Then set up 10 more times without looking at the rod, and check it only once you're settled and ready to swing. The gap between the 2 sets is the aim you've been playing with. The catch: it only fits iron and wedge heads that a magnet will hold. It isn't suitable for non-magnetic clubs, drivers or putters. Who it suits: golfers whose iron shots start left or right of where they aimed. Shop now →A pair of Longridge Portable Tour Rod alignment sticks on the ground shows where the feet aim while the magnet shows the face. They're £19.49 for 2 and fold into 4 parts, down to a 33cm (13in) tube. The same pair covers aim, ball position, swing path and the putting gate with nothing else to buy. Both stay on the practice ground. Rule 4.3 says you can't use a training aid such as an alignment rod during a round in any way that helps with swing plane, grip, alignment, ball position or posture (R&A, Rule 4.3a). Watch out: sticks in a competition round Check your aim with a stick on the practice ground before you tee off, then put it in the bag. Laying it down to aim during the round costs the general penalty the first time: 2 strokes in stroke play, or the hole in match play. A second breach is disqualification. A rod across the shoulders for a stretch is allowed. 3. The Swing Plate: best for an over-the-top swing Shop now → The Swing Plate is a steel base that holds an alignment stick at whatever angle you twist it to, with no tools, and it's heavy enough to stay put on a mat or a carpet. It works on the over-the-top swing, draw and fade paths, start line, chipping and body movement. It's £59.99 for the plate, £69.99 with alignment sticks and £79.99 with an extension pole. It's made in the UK, it adjusts by hand for right or left-handers, and every purchase comes with access to a library of videos from the maker's PGA coaches (The Swing Plate). 10 minutes: set the base on the mat behind the ball, just outside the ball line, and twist the stick to the angle the shaft sits at address. Make 10 slow half swings without a ball and bring the club down under the stick. Then make 10 three-quarter swings and hit 10 balls into a net. A club that clips the stick on the way down has come over the top, and the clatter tells you before the ball does. The catch: the £59.99 plate comes without sticks, so it's the £69.99 version unless you already own a pair. Who it suits: golfers who slice from an over-the-top move, and coaches who want a stick at the same angle every lesson. Shop now →The Swing Plate Dual Pro has a heavier base that holds 2 rods, so a plane rail and a path gate go up together without shifting your stance. It sits on mats, carpet or grass and sets for right or left-handers, and it's aimed at teaching bays and simulators. It's £84.99, or £95.99 with sticks. 4. Divot Board: best for fat and thin shots Shop now → The Divot Board is a strike pad that shows in one mark where the club first met the ground and which way it was travelling. It's 15cm × 53cm (6in × 21in) and costs £97. Pointed nubs underneath hold it on a carpet, a range mat or outdoors, and a carabiner clips it to the bag. The maker's instructions are short: line the ball image up with your normal set-up, swing, read where the mark starts against the ball, wipe it clean and go again. It works with a ball for full swings, or without one for practice swings at home. A fat shot shows as a mark that starts behind the ball, because the low point came too early (Divot Board). 10 minutes: make 10 practice swings with a 7-iron and no ball. Read each mark and wipe it before the next. Then hit 10 balls into a net. You're after a mark that starts at the ball or just after it, every time. The catch: the pad wears. Pads last a year or two or longer, depending on how much the board is used, so a busy winter brings a replacement pad closer. Who it suits: golfers who hit their irons fat or thin. The board tells you about the fat one before your playing partners do. Shop now →The Longridge Strike Training Mat does the low-point half of the job for £54.99. Its velvet leaves a dark mark where the club touched, a wipe the other way resets it, and straps hold it down in the garage or at the range. 5. ButterBlade: best for centred strikes Shop now →The ButterBlade Golf Strike Trainer is a weighted training club with a miniature clubface, and its maker says the small face and the weighting give feedback on the swing path and the clubface angle on every swing. It also encourages a lag feel, with the clubhead trailing the hands into impact. It comes left or right-handed in Regular, Stiff and X Stiff. It's £149.99. The point of that feedback is a square strike from the centre of the face. A strike off the heel or the toe costs distance and sends the ball offline, and in a garage net it's the shot that finds the frame. 10 minutes: make 10 slow swings without a ball and feel where the weight pulls the club. Then hit 10 balls into a net at three-quarter speed. Finish with 5 balls hit with your own 7-iron, to check the feel carries over. The catch: the feedback is a feel, with no mark to read, and with a ball it needs the range or a net. Indoors, a practice net that stops a full iron shot comes before the first swing. Who it suits: improvers who catch it off the heel or the toe. A winter kit for contact, plane and grip Divot Board £97 The Swing Plate with alignment sticks £69.99 Grip It Rite £29.99 Total £196.98 Over £75, so UK delivery is free under our shipping policy. 6. Power Shift Board: best for weight shift Shop now → The Power Shift Board is a board you stand on to feel pressure load onto one leg and unload from it during the swing. It clicks when the lead leg presses down with enough pressure, and spikes underneath hold it steady. It's £119. Hanging back on the trail foot moves the low point behind the ball and takes power out of the strike, and from the inside it feels like a perfectly good swing. The click gives you a second opinion. 10 minutes: stand on the board with a mid-iron and make slow rehearsal swings until the click comes as the lead leg presses down in the downswing. Then make 10 swings at half speed and listen for the click on every one. A swing with no click is a swing where the lead leg never pressed down hard enough. The catch: those spikes need something to grip, so it belongs on a mat, a carpet or the lawn. Who it suits: golfers who hang back on the trail foot through impact. Shop now →The SuperSpeed Force Pedal Bundle is £69.99 for a soft and a firm pedal. A pedal goes under the ball of the lead foot, between the 1st and 4th metatarsals. You push down on it in the downswing, between the lead arm reaching parallel to the ground and the shaft reaching parallel. Practising in the garage this winter? Send us the room's height, width and depth, and we'll tell you what fits, from a net and a mat to a full simulator. It's free. Book a free consultation 7. Rawspeed Golf Trainer: best for swing speed Shop now →The Rawspeed Golf Trainer Standard 45in is a shaft with an interchangeable weight adapter, 3 weights of 100g, 150g and 200g, and a training and instruction guide. It comes in 4 lengths, all £129: Standard 114cm (45in), Long Drive 122cm (48in), Ladies 109cm (43in) and Junior 104cm (41in). The Junior has lighter weights of 50g, 100g and 150g. 10 minutes: follow the programme in the guide and swing the weights in the order it sets. Rawspeed claims 20 yards or more of distance in under 8 weeks, so measure your club speed with a driver before week 1 and again after week 8. A Shot Scope LM1 reads club speed for £194.99, with no subscription. The catch: the independent evidence is thin. In a 2021 study led from St Mary's University, Twickenham, 13 skilled male golfers with an average handicap of 1 hit 10 drives each on a Trackman after 3 different warm-ups, a week apart. A speed-stick warm-up and a warm-up of jumps and plyometric press-ups both raised clubhead speed and carry against a normal warm-up. The speed sticks added nothing over the jumps and press-ups, and ball speed and total distance didn't change (Bliss, Livingstone and Tallent, 2021). The study only measured the effect on the day, so it says nothing either way about 8 weeks of training. Then there's the room. A 114cm (45in) stick is driver length and gets swung like a driver, and we plan on 2.8m (9ft 2in) of ceiling for a full driver swing. Watch out: speed sticks under a low ceiling At full speed nobody stops a swing halfway. In a standard 2.4m room the stick finds the ceiling or the light fitting first, so take it into the garden, or into a room with the headroom. A speed stick and a pendant light only meet once. Who it suits: golfers after distance who'll stick to an 8-week plan. Shop now →The Speed Toad works on speed with your own driver shaft, for £125. It's a 140g trainer head, against the roughly 195g its maker gives for most driver heads, and a training plan comes with it. 8. Divot Board Mini: best for chipping Shop now →The Divot Board Mini has the same patented feedback as the original Divot Board on a smaller board made for the short game and small spaces, and it works with every club that strikes the turf. Suction cups hold it on a hard floor, tee anchors on turf and grip spikes on a mat, and the pad swaps out on Velcro. It's £65.99. A chunked chip travels about as far as its divot, and a scooped one runs through the green. The Mini shows which one you hit before the ball has stopped. 10 minutes: hit 10 chips with a wedge and read where each mark starts before you wipe it clean. Then hit 10 half-swing pitches. As on the bigger board, the marks should start at the ball or just after it. The catch: it gives the same feedback as the Divot Board, so if you already own the original, you don't need both. Who it suits: golfers who chunk their chips, and rooms where a full swing won't fit, because the suction cups hold it on a kitchen or hall floor. Shop now →The Striker 3000 is a polycarbonate strike board with a simple brief: hit the ball without hitting the board. Shallow out early and scoop at the ball, and you hit the board. It doubles as a check on set-up and stroke path for putting, and it's £59. 9. Visio Start Line Trainer: best for your putting start line Shop now →The Visio Start Line Trainer is a gate the putt has to roll through. For a right-hander, clipping the left side means the face was most likely closed at impact, and clipping the right means it was most likely open. It's £35.99. On a flat carpet nothing bends a putt back once it starts off line, so the gate gives an honest read of the face at impact. 10 minutes: set the gate on your line just in front of the ball. Hit 10 putts from the same spot and count the clean passes. Move the ball back a putter head's length and hit 10 more. Write the 2 scores down and beat them next time. The catch: it tests start line only, so pace needs a hole or a target past the gate. Who it suits: golfers who miss short putts on both sides of the hole. Shop now →The PuttAIM PLUS is a laser alignment aid in solid aluminium, with a regulation-size cup attached to its base. It's made for indoors, or shade outdoors, and it costs £129.99. Its maker suggests 5 to 10 minutes a day. 10. The Putting Arc MS-3D: best for your putting stroke Shop now → The Putting Arc MS-3D is an 84cm (33in) arc that the heel or the toe of the putter runs against through the stroke, with an adjustable mirror that shows the head and shoulders at address. It weighs 1kg (2.2lb), works right or left-handed, and sits on non-slip pads, with tee holes for staking it down. It's £89. 10 minutes: check your eyes and shoulders in the mirror at address. Rest the putter's heel against the arc and make 10 strokes without a ball, keeping the heel on the arc back and through. Then hit 10 putts along the arc. The catch: it trains an arcing stroke. If you putt straight back and straight through, you'll get more from the putting mirror or the gate. Who it suits: golfers whose stroke wanders off line. Shop now →The Visio Putting Mirror STEEL weighs 790g and shows shoulder alignment, head and eye position and face alignment at address, with slots for tee pegs to set up strike and path drills. It's £49.99. Shop now →The PuttOut Slim Putting Mat gives you a true roll to putt on. It's 240cm × 25cm with markings to 6ft, reads 10 on the Stimpmeter and costs £49.99. At 25cm wide, it's a putting mat that fits a hallway. A putting kit for the hallway Visio Start Line Trainer £35.99 The Putting Arc MS-3D £89 PuttOut Slim Putting Mat £49.99 Total £174.98 The gate checks the start line, the arc checks the stroke and the mat gives the putt a true roll. 11. Live View Pro: best for seeing your swing Shop now →The Live View Pro is a wireless camera its maker calls a digital swing mirror, with 0.3 seconds or less between the swing and the picture on your screen. It weighs under 113g (4oz), runs for up to 2 hours and sends up to 60 frames per second to the device you watch on. A smart swing trigger starts an automatic slow-motion replay. It's optimised for indoor use, and it's £339. 10 minutes: set the camera face-on and make 10 swings. Check one position per replay: the top of the backswing first, then impact. Move it down the line and repeat. The catch: video shows positions and gives no club path or face numbers. For those numbers on every shot, a launch monitor under £1,000 reads club path and face-to-path from £421. A phone on a tripod films a swing for nothing, with a wait before you see it. Who it suits: golfers working on positions with a coach, who want to see each swing before the next one. Which golf training aids can you use indoors? All 11 work indoors. Where each one goes depends on whether it needs a ball, what floor it sits on and how much ceiling the swing needs. Training aid Needs a ball? Works on Height it needs Grip It Rite No Anywhere Any room Magnetic Club Alignment Trainer No Carpet, mat or turf Any room (set-up only) The Swing Plate Optional Mat or carpet (steel base) 2.4m with an iron, 2.8m with a driver Divot Board Optional Carpet, mat or turf (nubs) 2.4m with an iron ButterBlade Yes, into a net Mat Room for an iron swing Power Shift Board No Mat, carpet or turf (spikes) 2.4m with an iron Rawspeed Golf Trainer No Anywhere with the height 2.8m Divot Board Mini Optional Hard floor, mat or turf 2.4m with a wedge Visio Start Line Trainer Yes Carpet, putting mat or green Any room The Putting Arc MS-3D Optional Carpet or mat (non-slip pads), turf (tee holes) Any room Live View Pro No Anywhere Any room The Swing Plate's steel base and the Divot Board's nubs both sit on a 1.5m × 1.5m hitting mat, which costs from £189 and saves the carpet. Add a Divot Board to a £913 practice bay with a launch monitor, a net and a mat, and it comes to £1,010. The board shows the strike, and the launch monitor gives the numbers. GolfBays tip Leave the aid where you practise. Park the Swing Plate's base beside the spot where the ball sits on the mat and keep the Grip It Rite on an old 7-iron by the door, so a 10-minute session needs nothing fetched first. A training aid in the cupboard under the stairs fixes nothing. Do golf swing training aids work? They work when the aid gives feedback on a fault you actually have and you keep using it. Few training aids have been through an independent trial, so the proof worth trusting is the feedback you can check yourself: the mark on the board, the click under the lead foot, the putt through the gate, a club speed reading before and after. The 2021 speed-stick study measured a warm-up effect on the day, and jumps and press-ups matched it. Every other aid here stands on whether its feedback changes your next swing, and that's a test you can run in a month. A PGA professional can name the fault in a lesson, and an aid gives you the reps between lessons. A habit built over years won't shift in a fortnight of evenings. ✓ Do this Pick the one miss that costs you the most shots, buy the aid for it, use it for 10 minutes 3 times a week for a month, then check the miss again. ✕ Not this Buy 3 aids for 3 faults, rotate them every session and judge none of them. Golf training aid FAQs What is the most effective golf swing trainer? The one that gives feedback on your miss. For contact, that's the Divot Board at £97, because the mark shows where the club met the ground. For an over-the-top swing, it's the Swing Plate at £59.99, with a stick at the shaft's angle to swing under. What is the best putting training aid? A start-line gate for most golfers, because a short putt that starts off line has little room to come back. The Visio Start Line Trainer is £35.99. If the stroke itself wanders, the Putting Arc MS-3D at £89 guides it along an 84cm arc. What are some good golf aids for seniors? Aids that need no full-speed swing: the putting aids, the Divot Board Mini, the Swing Plate and Grip It Rite. For speed work, the shortest adult Rawspeed is the Ladies at 109cm (43in), £129 like the other lengths. How can I improve my swing plane at home? Swing under a stick set at the shaft's angle. The Swing Plate holds one on a mat or carpet for £59.99, or £69.99 with sticks, and the Swing Plate Dual Pro holds 2 rods for a plane rail and a path gate at once, from £84.99. How can I practise golf at home without hitting balls? Use an aid that gives feedback on a practice swing. The Divot Board marks every swing, and its maker suggests using it without a ball at home. The Power Shift Board clicks under the lead leg, Grip It Rite needs no swing at all, and a speed stick needs 2.8m of ceiling. How can I measure my swing speed at home? With a launch monitor. The Shot Scope LM1 reads club speed, ball speed and smash factor for £194.99 with no subscription, which is enough to track a speed programme from week 1 to week 8. Do grip trainers work? As a check on where the hands sit before you swing, yes. Grip It Rite's fin and thumb hole put the hands in place, and its meter shows whether the grip is too strong or too weak. Keeping that grip through the swing still takes practice with your own clubs. What training aid stops casting? The Striker 3000 catches the scoop that casting often ends in, and the ButterBlade's weighting encourages a lag feel, according to its maker. Casting is releasing the wrist angle early in the downswing. Scoop at the ball and you hit the £59 Striker board. See every training aid Strike boards, plane trainers, speed sticks and putting aids, with free UK delivery over £75. See golf training aids

You can hit drivers into a screen all winter, but the putter is still the club that decides the card. You can putt on a golf simulator, as long as the launch monitor reads putts and the software knows what to do with them. Here's how simulator putting works, which setups do it well, and the turf, mats and lighting that make it feel like a real green. Quick summary Camera launch monitors beside the ball read a putt at impact, so they handle putts better than radar units, which sit 1.8m to 3m behind the ball and have to track the roll. The Square Golf launch monitor, at £689, has a putting mode with adjustable green speed and short, medium and long putts to practise. When the software has no live putting, it putts for you: Garmin's Home Tee Hero gives the R10 its putts based on how close the approach finished. GSPro sets green speed on the stimp scale, with 10 as its default, and has gimme circles and auto-putt. Our putting turf comes off a 4m-wide roll at £24 a square metre, so a 5m length, enough for a 3m by 4.5m bay, costs £480. A dedicated putting simulator, the ExPutt RG at £389, plugs into your TV and tracks 7 putting measurements without a full simulator. Can you putt on a golf simulator? Yes, as long as your launch monitor can read a putt and your software supports putting. When both are true, you make a real stroke, the ball rolls off towards the screen, and the software plays the rest of the putt out on the virtual green, break and all. When they aren't, the software putts for you. Either way, simulator software gives you 3 ways to finish a hole: Putt it out. You hit every putt and the launch monitor reads each one. The most realistic, and the slowest. Gimmes. Anything inside a set distance of the hole counts as holed, so you only putt the ones that matter. Auto-putt. The software gives you a number of putts based on where your approach finished, and you walk straight to the next tee. You can mix them: putt out when practising, gimmes when 4 of you are playing a round on a school night. How does putting work on a golf simulator? It comes down to how your launch monitor reads the ball. The software only draws what the launch monitor tells it, so a putt the launch monitor can't measure is a putt the software can't show. Camera launch monitors and putting Camera units sit beside the ball, across from you, and photograph it at impact. Ball speed and direction off the face are what the software needs to roll the putt out, and a camera reads both before the ball has rolled anywhere. That's why putting is a strength of the camera launch monitors that sit beside the ball, and why they suit smaller rooms too: they need about 4.5m of depth, against 5m for a radar unit behind you. Radar launch monitors and putting Radar units sit behind you and measure the ball as it travels away from them. For a full shot that's straightforward: the Garmin R10, for example, wants at least 2.4m of ball flight indoors. A putt is slow and stays on the ground, which gives the radar far less to work with. So radar units tend to handle putting less well. If you're on radar, keep the roll flat and clear all the way to the screen, so the unit sees as much of each putt as it can. Type Where it sits How it reads a putt Putting Camera launch monitor Beside the ball, across from you Photographs the ball at impact Reads putts well; the one to choose if putting matters Radar launch monitor 1.8m to 3m behind the ball Tracks the ball as it travels Less reliable on short, slow putts; gimmes and auto-putt fill the gap Dedicated putting simulator On a stand on its own mat A camera tracks the ball and the putter Putting only, in detail Which golf simulators allow putting? Any simulator can finish a hole, but only one built on a launch monitor that reads putts lets you putt it out. The home golf simulators that putt well all start there, so check the launch monitor's listing for a putting mode, not just short game data. Shop now → The Square Golf launch monitor is the clearest example at the budget end. Its high-speed camera sits beside the ball, and its putting practice lets you adjust the green speed and work on short, medium or long putts, with feedback on distance control, ball speed and the putt's trajectory, for £689. The catch: it stays indoors, and a left-hander has to lift it over to their side of the mat before they putt. Shop now → The Garmin Approach R10 is the radar example. In Garmin's own Home Tee Hero there's no live putting: it gives you your putts based on how close your approach finished, and third-party software handles putting its own way. It's £421, down from £499. The catch: you never hit a putt in Home Tee Hero, so if putting every hole matters to you, check how your simulator software handles putting before you buy. Putting settings in golf simulator software Once the launch monitor has read the putt, the software decides how the green behaves and how strict it is with you. GSPro gives you plenty to set, from gimme circles and fixed-distance auto-putt to a stimp setting that defaults to 10, a green heat map and a putting assist (GSPro). Shop now → A year of GSPro is £250 at GolfBays, with a version for each supported launch monitor: Uneekor, FlightScope, Full Swing KIT, ProTee VX, and an open connection for the others. Gimmes A gimme counts a short putt as holed. GSPro draws a gimme circle round the hole, and anything that stops inside it is picked up. Gimmes keep a round moving; putting everything out keeps you honest. ✓ Do this Putt out the short ones when you're practising, even inside the gimme circle, so you hole the 1m ones you'd have to hole on Sunday. ✕ Not this Practise all winter picking up everything inside the gimme circle, then wonder why 1m putts at the club feel like 3m ones. Auto-putt Auto-putt skips the green and gives you a number of putts instead. It's the answer for a launch monitor that doesn't read putts, and for a round where nobody wants to watch a mate line up a 1m putt from 3 angles. In GSPro, the fixed-distance version isn't supported in Simulator Golf Tour events or online play. Green speed Green speed is measured on the stimp scale. A stimp reading is the average distance in feet a ball rolls on a flat part of the green after it's released from a standard ramp, the Stimpmeter, so a green running 10 rolls the ball 10 feet, about 3m (USGA). In the software, a higher number is a faster green. GSPro defaults to 10, with stimp 6 and 7 among its slower settings, and the Square Golf lets you adjust its green speed to suit your stroke. Set it for the greens you actually play, not the ones on the telly in April. Reading greens on screen On a real green you read the slope with your feet as much as your eyes. In a simulator the floor is flat and the slope is drawn, so the software helps: GSPro has a green heat map on the Y key, plus putting auto aim and a putting assist. Use them to learn how the software's greens break, then turn them off. Read the putt first, pick your line, and check the heat map afterwards, or you'll only ever putt to the arrow. Want a bay you can putt in? Tell us about your room and your launch monitor, and we'll plan the turf, where the mat sits and how the putting line runs to the screen. It's free. Book a free consultation How do you make putting on a simulator feel real? A simulator putts best on a surface that rolls like a green, in a room where the launch monitor can see the ball. That comes down to 4 things: turf, a mat or green for serious practice, a dedicated putting simulator if putting is all you're after, and light. Putting turf in front of the screen Start with turf across the bay floor, from the back wall to the screen. You get a surface made for putting, and something softer than concrete to stand on between shots. Set the hitting mat flush with the turf, so a putt rolls off the mat and on towards the screen without a bump. It costs no extra floor space either, because in a simulator room layout the putting area is the turf between the hitting mat and the screen. Shop now → GolfBays Putting Turf has an 11mm pile and comes off a 4m-wide roll, in lengths from 1m to 20m, at £24 a square metre. Shop now → GolfBays Premium Putting Turf has a deeper 16mm pile on the same 4m-wide roll, at £36 a square metre. Length off the 4m roll Area Putting Turf, 11mm Premium Putting Turf, 16mm 1m 4m² £96 £144 2m 8m² £192 £288 3m 12m² £288 £432 4m 16m² £384 £576 5m 20m² £480 £720 Watch out: a seam across the putting line Our turf comes off a 4m-wide roll, so any bay up to 4m wide can be laid in one piece. Order the length to match the room's depth and trim the width, rather than covering the width and joining a strip on the end, or every putt you hit rolls over the seam. Shop now → To hole out on the turf itself, the GolfBays Shallow Putting Cup sits on any flat surface: turf, a mat or carpet. It's shallower than a real hole, so it rewards putts struck at the pace that would drop on the course. It's £14.99. Putting mats and greens If turf across the floor isn't an option, or you want targets and breaks to practise on, a mat or a green does the job and rolls up or packs away afterwards. Shop now → The PuttOut Large Putting Mat is 367cm by 67cm, printed with alignment lines, 5 targets and distance markings up to about 3m (10ft), and it reads 10 on the stimp. It rolls flat out of the box and comes with a carry bag, for £129.99. Shop now → A flat mat teaches pace and start line. For break, the PuttOUT AirBreak has a flexible base you raise and lower with air pumps, for hundreds of slope combinations. It has a 108mm hole for real lip-outs, a battery-powered ball return, a stand-on podium to putt from and a green-reading app that sets up specific breaks, and the rubber-backed mat runs 10 on the stimp. It's £269.99, down from £319.99. The catch: it's a standalone practice mat, so these putts don't play out on the simulator screen. Shop now → For a proper green rather than a mat, the GolfBays Modular Putting Green is 305cm by 103cm, with pre-cut turf and regulation cups on a base that clicks together. It rolls at around 10 on the stimp, ships in 2 boxes and costs £399, down from £499. A dedicated putting simulator If putting is all you want to practise, you don't need a full simulator. A dedicated putting simulator is a camera and a mat that do one job, and they fit in a lounge. Shop now → The ExPutt RG uses a high-speed camera on a small stand on its mat to track the ball and the putter. It plugs into your TV with the HDMI cable in the box, or runs on your phone through the app, and it measures ball speed, putter path, clubface angle, launch direction, impact angle, distance and tempo (ExPutt). You can adjust the slope and length of each putt, putt on real course greens, Pebble Beach among them, and play your mates on the sofa or other ExPutt users online over Wi-Fi. It's £389. The catch: the camera has no speaker of its own, so the TV needs one, and it's putting only: your driver stays in the bag. Lighting the putting area Camera units, and the ExPutt's camera, have to see the ball clearly to read it. Poor light on the ball is one reason putts don't register, and a dim garage in December is poor light. Shop now → The GolfBays Golf Simulator Light is a single LED spot on a 1m powered track, £175 in black or white, and it's there so the launch monitor can see the ball. Point it at the ball, not the screen, or you'll wash out the picture. How much does it cost to add putting to a golf simulator? Adding putting costs anything from £14.99 for a cup to hole out in, to a few hundred pounds for turf or a dedicated putting simulator. These are GolfBays prices on 30 September 2026. What you add What it does Price Shallow Putting Cup A cup to hole out in on turf, a mat or carpet £14.99 PuttOut Large Putting Mat A 367cm practice mat that reads 10 on the stimp £129.99 Golf Simulator Light Light on the ball for the launch monitor £175 PuttOUT AirBreak Adjustable breaks and a ball return £269.99 ExPutt RG A putting simulator on your TV £389 Modular Putting Green A 305cm green that packs away £399 Putting Turf, 5m x 4m 11mm turf for a 3m by 4.5m bay £480 Square Golf launch monitor A camera unit with a putting mode £689 Premium Putting Turf, 5m x 4m 16mm turf for a 3m by 4.5m bay £720 Worked example: putting in a 3m by 4.5m bay GolfBays prices, 30 September 2026 GolfBays Putting Turf, 5m x 4m (20m²), trimmed to 4.5m by 3m £480 Shallow Putting Cup £14.99 Golf Simulator Light £175 Total £669.99 With Premium Putting Turf instead, the total is £909.99. Putting drills for a golf simulator Simulator putting pays off when you practise with a plan, not when you knock a few at the screen between drives. These 4 drills work in any bay. Ladder drill. Hit 5 putts each from 1m, 2m and 3m, then work back down. Note whether the misses finish short, long, left or right, and keep the score from week to week. Breaking putts. If your software lets you place the ball on a green, hit the same breaking putt 10 times rather than playing a hole through to get one go at it. Change one thing at a time: the line or the pace, never both. Lag putting. Set up putts of 10m and more and try to stop every one inside a 1m circle round the hole. Holing them is a bonus; the job is a tap-in next. Pressure putts. Hole 5 in a row from 1m into the shallow cup on the turf. Miss one and start again, which gets tense faster than you'd think. GolfBays tip Match the software to the surface. Our modular green and the PuttOut Large mat both roll at around 10 on the stimp, and 10 is GSPro's default, so when you putt on either in the bay, the roll under your putter and the roll on the screen agree. Change one without the other and you'll spend the session fighting your own feel. Is putting on a golf simulator realistic? For your stroke, your start line and your pace, yes. For reading greens, less so. Good at: start line and pace. With a launch monitor that reads putts, every one is measured, so a miss comes with a reason. Good at: repetition. The same putt as often as you want it on a wet Tuesday, with nobody waiting behind you on the practice green. Can't do: slope underfoot. The floor is flat, so you read break with your eyes alone. The AirBreak is the exception, because its slope is real. Can't do: real grass. Greens change with the weather, the mowing and the season, and the virtual one doesn't. Treat it as the place to groove your stroke and pace, and leave the real reading to the course. Golf simulator putting FAQs What is a putting simulator? A putting simulator is a camera and a putting mat that measure your putt and play it out on a screen. The ExPutt RG is one: a camera on a stand on its own mat, connected to your TV or phone, with real course greens to putt on. A full simulator with a camera launch monitor does the same job alongside every other shot. Can you putt with a radar launch monitor? Sometimes, but less well than with a camera unit. Radar measures the ball as it travels, and a putt is slow and stays on the ground, so radar setups often lean on gimmes and auto-putt. If you're on radar, keep the roll flat and clear to the screen. Does the Garmin R10 read putts? Not in Garmin's own Home Tee Hero, which has no live putting and gives you your putts based on how close your approach finished. Third-party software handles putting its own way. What green speed should a golf simulator be set to? Start at 10 on the stimp, which is GSPro's default and about what the PuttOut mats and our modular green roll at. Then adjust it towards the greens you play most. Why won't my putts register on a golf simulator? There are 3 things to check: that the launch monitor supports putting at all, that there's enough light on the ball, and that the ball sits inside the unit's hitting area. Do you need putting turf for a golf simulator? No, but putting is better with it. You can putt off the hitting mat alone, but a putt that runs off the mat's edge onto a hard floor doesn't roll like one on a green. Our putting turf is £24 a square metre, or £480 for a 5m length that covers a 3m by 4.5m bay. Put a green in your simulator Putting turf by the metre, a modular green that packs away and the cup to go with them. Shop putting turf and greens

A radar launch monitor works out spin by watching the ball fly, and in a garage or spare room it gets only 2.4m to 3m of flight before the ball hits the screen. Titleist RCT balls and metallic dots both fix that, and the Rapsodo MLM2PRO has RPT balls of its own. Here's which one your launch monitor needs, what each costs per ball, and the units that need none of them. Quick summary Radar units read spin from the ball's flight, and indoors they get only 2.4m to 3m of it, so without help spin is the number that suffers. Titleist Pro V1 RCT balls carry a radar-reflective mark under the cover and cost £70 a dozen from Titleist, against £52 for the standard Pro V1. A metallic dot does the same job on a standard ball for about 4p: our 400-dot pack is £16.99, and FlightScope puts 100 in the box with the Mevo+ and Mevo Gen 2. The Rapsodo MLM2PRO needs its own RPT balls, not RCT, to show spin at all, and it comes with them in the box. Camera units such as the Uneekor EYE MINI LITE, Square Golf Omni and ProTee VX read the ball at impact and need no special or dotted ball. Which ball or dot does your launch monitor need? It depends on how the unit reads the ball. Radar units behind the ball want an RCT ball or a dot indoors, the Rapsodo MLM2PRO wants RPT, and camera units beside the ball or on the ceiling read the ball you already play. Find your launch monitor below and read across. Prices are GolfBays prices on 30 September 2026. Launch monitor How it reads the ball What it wants indoors Price Garmin Approach R10 Radar, 1.8m to 2.4m behind the ball Titleist Pro V1 or Pro V1x RCT £421 Rapsodo MLM2PRO 2 cameras and radar, behind the ball RPT balls, which come in the box £549 FlightScope Mevo+ Radar and camera, behind the ball 1 metallic dot, or a Titleist RCT ball £1,050 FlightScope Mevo Gen 2 Radar and camera, behind the ball 1 metallic dot, or a Titleist RCT ball £1,199 Full Swing KIT Radar, 3m behind the ball Titleist RCT £5,999 Trackman 4 2 radars, behind the ball Titleist RCT, or metallic dots £22,434 Uneekor EYE MINI CORE 2 cameras and infrared Any ball, no stickers £1,249 Square Golf Omni 4 cameras, beside the ball No marked balls or reflective stickers £1,599.99 Uneekor EYE MINI LITE 2 cameras, beside the ball Any ball £1,999 ProTee VX 2 cameras, on the ceiling No stickers or marked balls £6,240 Why do radar launch monitors struggle with spin indoors? Because they measure the ball in flight, and indoors there's barely any flight to measure. A radar unit sits behind you and follows the ball towards the target. On the range it has the full flight to work with. In a simulator, the screen stops the ball after 2.4m to 3m. Spin matters more than it sounds. Backspin is what holds the ball up, so the carry, the height and the landing the software draws all lean on it. Get the spin wrong and the carry on screen is wrong with it, even when the ball speed and launch angle are spot on. Without help, some radar units stop measuring spin and start estimating it. In standard indoor use the Garmin R10 calculates its spin rather than measuring it, and that estimate feeds straight into the carry. Camera units don't have the problem. They photograph the ball in the moment around impact, so spin comes from the pictures rather than the flight, and that split in how a golf simulator reads the ball decides whether you need an RCT ball or a dot at all. What does RCT mean on golf balls? RCT stands for Radar Capture Technology. Titleist puts a radar-reflective mark on the casing layer of the ball, under the cover, so a radar unit can measure spin indoors instead of estimating it, and Titleist says it lifts indoor spin capture to over 99% (Titleist RCT). You can't see the mark, because it sits inside the ball. Titleist says RCT models share the standard balls' design and perform identically, and they conform to the rules of the USGA and the R&A. They'll play outdoors, but there's no point paying for the mark there. On the range the radar reads the ball's full flight, and Titleist says the technology isn't needed outdoors. Keep them for the simulator, where they earn their price. Which golf balls have RCT? Titleist makes RCT versions of 4 models: the Pro V1, Pro V1x, Pro V1x Left Dash and AVX. Buy the one that matches the ball you play outside, so the numbers you learn in the garage hold up on the course. Between the Pro V1 and the Pro V1x, the choice is the same as it is outdoors: Titleist says the Pro V1 flies lower than the Pro V1x, spins less and has a softer feel. Ball Price a dozen Price a ball Titleist Pro V1 RCT £70 £5.83 Titleist Pro V1 £52 £4.33 Titleist Pro V1 plus 1 dot from our 400 pack £52.51 £4.38 So the mark costs £18 a dozen, or £1.50 a ball, on Titleist's own UK prices. Titleist has validated RCT indoors on 6 launch monitors, including the Trackman 4, the Garmin R10, the Full Swing KIT and the FlightScope Mevo+ (Titleist Pro V1 RCT). Watch out: old firmware Titleist's validation only holds on a launch monitor running current software and firmware. Update the unit before you judge the balls, or you'll pay £70 a dozen for spin numbers the unit isn't set up to read yet. Do RCT golf balls make a difference? On a radar unit indoors, yes. Spin is the number radar launch monitors find hardest in a short room, and it's the one RCT is built to fix. FlightScope asks for a dot or an RCT ball for accurate spin indoors, and Titleist has validated RCT on the Garmin R10 and the Full Swing KIT. A truer spin reading means a truer carry, because the software works the carry out from ball speed, launch and spin together, and carry is the number you're in the garage to learn. On a camera unit, no. A camera beside the ball or on the ceiling measures spin from pictures at impact, so you'd be paying £18 a dozen extra for a mark Titleist built for radar. RCT balls are worth it if: You hit into a screen with a radar unit behind you, such as a Garmin R10, a Full Swing KIT or a FlightScope. You'd rather not fiddle with stickers before every session, or several people share the bay. You use the numbers to make decisions, like gapping your irons, testing a new driver or learning your wedge distances. You already play a Pro V1 or Pro V1x outside, so the indoor ball is the one you know. Skip them if: Your launch monitor uses cameras, beside the ball or on the ceiling. You own a Rapsodo MLM2PRO, which needs RPT balls for spin. You're happy to stick a dot on a ball you already own, which does the same job on a FlightScope for pennies. What do metallic golf ball dots do? A metallic dot is a small reflective sticker that goes on a standard ball and gives a radar unit a clearer signal to read spin from. It's the fix FlightScope puts in the box: the Mevo+ and Mevo Gen 2 each come with 100 aluminium stickers, and FlightScope says that indoors you need either a sticker or a Titleist RCT ball for accurate spin (FlightScope FAQ). The rule is 1 dot per ball, stuck on the side facing the screen. FlightScope also rules out the shortcut: a metallic marker pen can't stand in for the sticker. Shop now → Our metallic golf ball dots are made for radar units like Trackman and FlightScope's Mevo+, and come in packs of 400 for £16.99 or 1,000 for £29.99. That's about 4p a dot in the smaller pack and 3p in the bigger one, so dotting 100 balls costs less than a single RCT ball. ✓ Do this Stick 1 dot on each clean ball, press it flat, and tee the ball up with the dot facing the screen every time. ✕ Not this Put 2 dots on for luck, tee the ball up any old way, or draw a dot on with a metallic pen. How do you put a metallic dot on a golf ball? Start with a clean, dry ball. A dot won't stay put on a dusty or damp cover, and garage balls pick up both. Press it down properly. Rub the dot with your thumb until the edges sit flat against the cover. A lifted edge is the first bit to catch and peel. Tee it up with the dot facing the screen. That's FlightScope's instruction, and it's the same for every shot, driver or wedge. Check it between shots. A dot that's lifted, creased or gone needs replacing before the ball goes back on the mat. RCT balls vs metallic dots: which is better? Both give a radar unit a better read on spin. The difference is cost, fuss and which launch monitors back them. Titleist RCT balls Metallic dots What it is A radar-reflective mark under the cover A reflective sticker on the cover Cost £70 a dozen for Pro V1 RCT, £5.83 a ball 3p to 4p a dot, on balls you already own Before each shot Nothing to stick on 1 dot on the ball, facing the screen Backed by Titleist, on 6 validated units including the R10, KIT, Mevo+ and Trackman 4 FlightScope for the Mevo+ and Mevo Gen 2, and our dots for Trackman Outdoors Plays like the standard ball Not needed Best for R10 and KIT owners, and anyone who hates fiddling FlightScope owners, and Trackman owners on a budget For a FlightScope, dots are the better buy: there are 100 in the box, FlightScope backs them, and they cost next to nothing. For a Garmin R10 or a Full Swing KIT, buy RCT, because RCT is the ball Titleist has validated on both. For a Trackman 4, either works, and RCT just saves the dotting. Worked example: a dozen Pro V1s with dots Titleist and GolfBays prices, 30 September 2026 12 Titleist Pro V1 balls £52 GolfBays metallic dots, 400 pack £16.99 Total £68.99 A dozen Pro V1 RCT is £70. The 400 dots cover 33 dozen balls at 1 dot each, so every dozen after the first costs £52, and nothing at all if the balls are already in your bag. Not sure which ball your setup needs? Tell us your launch monitor and how deep the room is, and we'll tell you whether you need RCT balls, dots or nothing at all. It's free. Book a free consultation What is the difference between RPT and RCT golf balls? RCT is read by radar units. RPT is made for the Rapsodo MLM2PRO. RPT stands for Rapsodo Precision Technology: a pattern on the ball, which Rapsodo developed with Callaway and Titleist so the MLM2PRO can track spin rate and spin axis in flight. On the MLM2PRO, RPT isn't optional for spin. Rapsodo says you need a Titleist or Callaway RPT ball to see spin numbers at all, while the rest of the numbers work with any real golf ball (Rapsodo FAQ). Foam and plastic practice balls give it nothing to read. Shop now → The Rapsodo MLM2PRO uses 2 cameras alongside Doppler radar to give you 13 metrics, and RPT balls come in the box, for £549. It sits behind the ball and runs from your phone or tablet, which can put the picture on a smart TV or a projector. Watch out: RCT isn't RPT An RCT ball won't give the MLM2PRO its spin numbers, because Rapsodo asks for RPT. Keep the RPT balls from the box for the simulator, and when you need more, buy RPT rather than RCT. Which radar launch monitors need RCT balls or dots? These are the radar units that read spin from the ball's flight, and what each one wants indoors. Garmin Approach R10 The R10 sits 1.8m to 2.4m behind the ball and needs at least 2.4m of flight in front of it. Indoors it calculates spin rather than measuring it, and Titleist Pro V1 or Pro V1x RCT balls give it a far more precise spin reading, which steadies the carry numbers too. Shop now → The Garmin Approach R10 is £421, and a charge lasts up to 10 hours. Add a Garmin Golf membership and Garmin's Home Tee Hero turns it into a simple simulator. The catch: its indoor fix is the dearer one. Budget £70 a dozen for Pro V1 RCT balls on top of the £421. FlightScope Mevo+ and Mevo Gen 2 Both use FlightScope's Fusion Tracking, which combines radar with image processing, and sit 2.1m to 2.7m behind the ball indoors with at least 2.4m of flight to the screen. Each comes with 100 metallic stickers, so it's ready for accurate indoor spin the day it arrives. Shop now → The FlightScope Mevo Gen 2 is £1,199, with 8 E6 Connect courses you keep, Valderrama among them. Shop now → The FlightScope Mevo+ is the older model at £1,050, and its E6 Connect bundle is bigger: 12 courses you keep, Pebble Beach and St Andrews' Old Course among them. The catch: the room. With the unit behind you, plan on 5m or more of depth. Full Swing KIT The KIT sits about 3m behind the ball and wants 2.4m to 3m of ball flight, in a room 5.5m to 6.1m deep. It measures spin with its radar, and it's at its most precise indoors with Titleist RCT balls. Shop now → The Full Swing KIT is £5,999 for 16 ball and club data points, with HD video of your swing from the camera built into the unit. The catch: the depth. Below 5.5m the KIT is the wrong monitor, whatever ball you put down. Trackman 4 Trackman 4 uses 2 radars: one follows the club through impact, and the other tracks the ball's flight for launch angle, spin rate and curvature. Titleist has validated RCT on it, and our metallic dots are made for Trackman too. Shop now → The Trackman 4 is the launch monitor tour pros and top coaches use, indoors or outdoors at the range, for £22,434. The catch: the price. Next to it, a dozen RCT balls or a pack of dots is pocket change. Which launch monitors work with any golf ball? Camera units like these 4. They read the ball as it leaves the club, with cameras beside it or above it, so there's no flight to run short of, and none of them needs a dotted or special ball. Shop now → The Uneekor EYE MINI CORE reads any ball, whatever its dimple pattern, with 2 high-speed cameras and infrared, and needs no stickers or markings. It's £1,249, gives you 15 ball data points and runs from a PC. Shop now → The Square Golf Omni is £1,599.99 and puts 4 cameras on the ball and the club, with no marked balls or reflective stickers, whether it's set up in the garage or out on a grass range. Shop now → The Uneekor EYE MINI LITE works with any ball, reads 19 metrics with 2 high-speed cameras and runs from a Windows PC, for £1,999. Shop now → The ProTee VX watches from the ceiling with 2 high-speed cameras and needs no stickers or marked balls, for £6,240. Nothing sits on the floor, so a left-hander steps in without moving a thing. The catch: the Omni and the MINI LITE sit beside the ball, so they swap sides whenever a left-hander steps in. The MINI LITE also needs the mains and a PC, which keeps it in the bay, so for a unit that goes to the range too, the Omni is the pick. How do you get accurate spin indoors? An RCT ball or a dot only helps if the unit can see enough of the ball's flight, so the setup matters as much as the ball. Give the radar its distance. Put the unit where its maker says: 1.8m to 2.4m behind the ball for a Garmin R10, 2.1m to 2.7m for a FlightScope and about 3m for a Full Swing KIT. That's why a home golf simulator built around radar wants at least 5m of room depth, and 5.5m to 6.1m for a KIT. Give the ball its flight. The R10, both FlightScopes and the KIT all want at least 2.4m between the ball and the screen. Move the ball closer to save space and the unit has even less flight to read. Level it and aim it. Line the unit up on the middle of the screen, not the middle of the wall, and put a spirit level on it. A unit that's aimed off reads every shot off line, whatever ball you hit. Watch the lights. FlightScope says to avoid fluorescent lights around its units: use incandescent or halogen bulbs instead, or shield the tubes. Hit the same ball model every session. Swap between models and you won't know whether a change in the numbers came from your swing or the ball. GolfBays tip Dot a full tray of balls before the session, not between shots, and drop any ball that's lost its dot into a separate pot to re-dot later, so a bare ball never sneaks back onto the mat. Which should you buy: RCT balls or metallic dots? Start from the launch monitor, because it decides for you. Garmin Approach R10: Titleist Pro V1 or Pro V1x RCT. FlightScope Mevo+ or Mevo Gen 2: the 100 dots in the box, then a pack of ours when they run out, or RCT if you'd rather not stick anything on. Full Swing KIT: Titleist RCT. Trackman 4: RCT for no fuss, dots for less money. Rapsodo MLM2PRO: RPT balls, never RCT. A camera unit: nothing special, just a clean ball you play. RCT golf ball FAQs What are Titleist RCT balls used for? Indoor golf on a radar launch monitor. The RCT mark lets radar units like the Garmin R10, Full Swing KIT, FlightScope Mevo+ and Trackman 4 measure spin in a simulator, where the ball flies only 2.4m to 3m before the screen. Can you use RCT golf balls outdoors? Yes. They conform to the rules and play identically to the standard Pro V1, Pro V1x, Pro V1x Left Dash and AVX. Outdoors the radar reads the ball's full flight, so the mark isn't needed there. How much are RCT golf balls? Titleist sells Pro V1 RCT at £70 a dozen, £18 more than a dozen standard Pro V1s at £52. That's £5.83 a ball, against about 4p for a metallic dot on a ball you already own. Are RCT golf balls worth it? If you hit indoors with a radar unit behind you and don't want to stick dots on, yes. If you own a FlightScope, the dots in the box do the same job for less, and on a camera unit RCT adds nothing. Can you use metallic stickers instead of RCT balls? On a FlightScope, yes: FlightScope asks for either 1 sticker facing the screen or an RCT ball for accurate indoor spin, and our dots are made for Trackman too. For the Garmin R10, RCT is the ball Titleist has validated. Do camera launch monitors need RCT balls? No. Camera units read the ball at impact rather than in flight, and units like the Uneekor EYE MINI LITE, Square Golf Omni and ProTee VX need no dotted or special balls. Do RCT balls work with the Rapsodo MLM2PRO? Not for spin. The MLM2PRO needs Titleist or Callaway RPT balls to show spin numbers, and it comes with RPT balls in the box. Its other numbers work with any real golf ball. Does the Garmin R10 need RCT balls indoors? It works without them, but indoors it calculates spin rather than measuring it. RCT balls give it a far more precise spin reading and steadier carry numbers. Pick the launch monitor, then the ball Radar units from the Garmin R10 to Trackman 4, and camera units that read whatever ball you tee up. Shop launch monitors