Golf's Magic Portal

Renowned PGA instructor Cameron McCormick is taping upcoming lesson segments for Golf Channel at the brand-new Lucy Davies Golf Academy near Los Angeles. It's not just the TV exposure that's wowing the man better known as Jordan Spieth's personal coach this recent weekday morning, but rather the technology he's using. The Academy has just installed Full Swing Golf's Pro 2 widescreen simulator and its infrared lightwave technology that makes the entire hitting experience seamless. You swing toward the screen, and as your ball crosses two infrared light wave tracks, the system measures your ball speed, launch angle and direction—at the speed of light. So when the ball hits the screen, it truly appears that it has crossed instantaneously into the virtual world before your eyes, with no lag whatsoever. Players see the entire ball flight, exactly as they would outdoors. No other simulation technology or indoor launch monitor can capture and analyze action more accurately or quickly.

"Full Swing has established itself as the sports simulation leader in accuracy, playability and reliability," says McCormick. "I look forward to incorporating their innovative technology into my instruction and coaching philosophy."

Davies' Academy is also the world's first location to install Full Swing Golf's brand-new Virtual Green, a fascinating physical putting surface that can mimic any green for undulation and speed. It can instantly change slope and contour, so you can mirror real greens on demand for uphill, downhill, or left- and right-breaking putts. There's even an optional overhead projection unit that visually blankets the green with virtual break lines, so you can see the putt break outlined before you ever take a stroke.

Because of her discerning clientele (some of them among the West Coast's most-influential people) Davies insists on using the very best technology available. Although she is the staff instructor at the upscale Sherwood Country Club nearby, her indoor golf studio has transformed into a private lesson mecca. Thanks to Full Swing's setup, it's also a portal to 85 of the world's top courses, as well as a clubfitting workshop armed with deadly accurate swing-measuring technology that can help every golfer immediately improve.

"The Full Swing simulator accurately shows the ball flight as if you were outside," she says. "It gives my students and me valuable feedback in real time, and has helped elevate my teaching skills while providing a unique learning experience. And with Virtual Green, I can create any type of putt, allowing me to teach green-reading skills, start direction and pace. I can't do that outside." She's not alone in upgrading her studio. Five Iron Golf in New York City already has 10 Full Swing simulators. New Orleans-based Loft 18 is also growing and exclusively housing Full Swing simulators.

But it's not only public venues embracing Full Swing's state-of-the-art simulators. Many amateur golfers have installed them in their homes to get an edge, as have tour players such as Tiger Woods, Jason Day, Jim Furyk, Padraig Harrington, Brandt Snedeker and Spieth, who says: "It's the closest thing to being out on the course."