Houston
How to practice golf indoors when Houston hits the mid-90s
From June through September the useful practice window outside is early or miserable. The bay is for the mechanics. The course is still for wind, lies, and nerves.
· Chase Toomey
What the mat is good for
Contact, face, and path. Those three survive the drive from Piping Rock to Bear Creek or Sharpstown. If your lesson made the 7-iron start on line with a smash you can repeat, that shows up on the first par 3, heat or not.
An air-conditioned hour also keeps the lesson honest. A golfer who is cooked after nine holes will agree with any tip just to sit down. Indoors you can hit the twentieth ball of the new move and see if it held.
What the mat will lie about
Fluffy lies, hardpan, and wind. A simulator ball flight has no gust off the Energy Corridor. Do not "learn" a 15-yard fade indoors and expect the same number when a south wind is up at Memorial Park.
Putting on a screen is a different game from a green. Eagle Quest is a full-swing bay: simulator, Swing Catalyst mat, one hitting station. If your score is leaking from three-footers, book the hour for strike and then go practice those putts on a real green the same week.
A 45-minute block that transfers
Ten balls of the drill, slow enough that smash stays up. Ten balls at a target on the screen with the same face number you earned in the lesson. Ten balls where you change clubs and see if the fault returns. Stop while the pattern is still the new one. Beating a bucket until you are tired puts the old path back, and the monitor will rat you out.