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Golfers get the big picture
By Ken Henry - Staff reporter
Blair Coan fired a 76 at the renowned Pebble Beach Golf Links course on Wednesday.
The next day the 15-year-old Abbotsford golfer tackled Spyglass Hill Golf Course - also located in California - and came away with similar results.
The cool part of this isn't Coan's impressive scores - it's the fact he completed both his rounds right here in Abbotsford.
Coan is a frequent user of Abbotsford's newest golf shop, Total Golf Inc., which opened its doors at 31550 South Fraser Way on Oct. 1. Total Golf is the newest wave of golf technology,
and lets hackers and pros alike hone their game indoors on a simulated 12-foot wide by nine-foot tall projection screen.
Golfers can choose from 20 different courses [ranging from luxurious Pebble Beach to a typical par three], and have the option of choosing the weather conditions - be it rainy with no
wind or sunny with gusts of wind.
Then you just smack the ball into the screen and enjoy the ride.
"People come in the door and it's done. They're sold. Period," said Total Golf owner and golf professional Ryan Friesen. "The technology we have here is head and shoulders above all the
rest of them, and that's why I chose it."
The technology Friesen is referring to is the Flight Scope Monitor, which is the same thing the military uses to track missiles. So when you hit your ball into the projection screen, the
FSM takes over and is accurate to within a centimetre of where your ball would land on the actual course.
The FSM also measures your club speed, ball speed, the height and distance of your shot, and the side and backspin on the ball.
Further, it tracks all shots throughout your round so you can see if there are good or bad patterns emerging with your game.
In other words, it's most golfers' dream.
"It's awesome," said Coan, who won the Rotary Club's hole in one competition over the summer and one day hopes to turn pro. "Simulators are like real golf. In some ways its better -
like you don't lose your ball ever."
Friesen says simulated golf is huge back east, with nine shops set up in Montreal. He's hoping to bring that same enthusiasm to Abbotsford and the rest of the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland.
"Once people know about it they think it's great, particularly in the winter time," said Friesen, 43, noting that outdoor golf is tougher in winter with inclement weather and fewer daylight
hours. "Here you don't have to worry about any of that. You can still set the weather to rainy and windy if you want to practise in those conditions . . . You just don't get wet."
Another benefit is the fact that a full 18-hole round takes about an hour, as opposed to about five on a regular course.
"People should definitely try it out," said Coan.
The only bad thing for hackers like yours truly is the fact that simulated golf is just as tough as real golf.
"That's what [the shop] is here for," laughed Friesen. "It's all about improvement."
published on 10/25/2005
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