What the Computer Does in a Golf Simulator

The PC is the middle link in a golf simulator. The launch monitor measures the shot. The screen shows it. Between the two, the computer turns raw numbers into a ball flying down a fairway.

The job, step by step

A golf simulator is an indoor electronic system that lets you hit a real ball into a projection screen.¹ It doesn't work on the screen alone. Something has to take the measurements and decide what the ball does next.

That something is the computer. It calculates the expected trajectory of the golf ball from data gathered on the swing.¹ The system displays the flight on the screen.¹

The calculation isn't only about the swing. The same source says the data is combined with the environment, including terrain, wind, rain and other influences or obstacles.¹ So the software has a course to model as well as a ball.

Two parts do most of the work

Two parts of the PC carry most of the load, and it helps to know which is which.

The processor, or CPU, is the chip whose circuitry executes the instructions of a computer program.²

The graphics card holds the graphics processing unit, or GPU. A GPU is a specialized electronic circuit designed for digital image processing and to accelerate computer graphics.³

The other parts, memory and storage, hold the software and its data while it runs. They get their own page, which parts can stay modest.

Why the PC affects how a round feels

The picture is built as a series of still images called frames. Frame rate is the frequency at which consecutive images are captured or displayed.⁴ It's usually counted in frames per second.

A separate page on frame rate and graphics settings goes into more detail.

What the PC doesn't do

The PC doesn't read the ball. That's the launch monitor's task. Some systems use cameras, and one source says those cameras normally run at around 100 to 120 frames per second.¹ That figure belongs to the sensors, not to the picture on your screen.

Some simpler simulators have no built-in software. They measure movement and feed the information to a video game.¹ In that case the game does the course work, but it still runs on a computer or console.

Where the PC sits in the shopping order

Most of the PC choices follow from the software you plan to run. The software maker publishes what it needs, and a page on reading those lists explains them.

After that comes the choice between a desktop and a laptop, covered under which kind of machine. Then the display link, in cables and ports.

Check the launch monitor maker's guide for how it connects to the computer. Methods differ between models, and the guide for your own model is the one that counts.