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[on:]

So I'm a college student that has just started to play golf. Golf is very expensive a lessons and green fees don't quite fit into the budge right now.

I started to research golf simulators. I mean how much fun would it be to have a bunch of people over, bring beer, and sit in the garage playing golf at 9 pm?

Here is what my research has found:

There are 2 types of golf simulators. IR or HS camera.

1. IR Simulators: There are 2 main ones. Optishot and P3ProSwing. Prices are 399 and 599. The prices are not bad but the quality is very poor. You get what you pay for.

2. HS Camera: There are a bunch of simulators that use HS cameras to analyze the ball. These systems cost around 10k min. This is what I want but the price is out of my league for a good 5 years.


So my question is anyone have any suggestions or comments on making a DIY homemade simulator?

My idea would be that Arduino is used to control the cameras, computer to analyze the ball, and the computer to input the data into a golf game already  made (Tiger Woods).

I know I would like this but I bet if it comes out pretty good quality not only would all the companies offer to buy it but there would be tons of users who would want to do the same.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks everyone!

[Reply #1 on:]

I mean how much fun would it be to have a bunch of people over, bring beer, and sit in the garage playing golf at 9 pm?

Not much, you're right.

How are you going to control the expensive cameras with an Arduino?
What role will the Arduino play?

[Reply #2 on:]

I mean how much fun would it be to have a bunch of people over, bring beer, and sit in the garage playing golf at 9 pm?

Not much, you're right.

Never been to the driving range?

How are you going to control the expensive cameras with an Arduino?
What role will the Arduino play?

Yea I was thinking a few cheap cameras that take a picture on ball flight? But what cameras can directly connect to a pc for live data? On sound impact it triggers the cameras?

Or some time of image sensor in black and white that the Arduino controls and sends the results to the computer?

I was looking into high speed webcams but they don't seem to exist for a reasonable price.


Thanks for the question! I'm a noob still trying to figure out if its possible.

[Reply #3 on:]

Never been to the driving range?

No, I haven't.
I have what the medical profession call "a life". 

[Reply #4 on:]

2. HS Camera: There are a bunch of simulators that use HS cameras to analyze the ball. These systems cost around 10k min. This is what I want but the price is out of my league for a good 5 years.

You've got to suppose there's a reason they're able to charge that much. Low resolution low speed image processing can be complex but can be done without any expensive equipment. But to analyze high speed movement of a golf club head with any accuracy will need something with much higher frame rate and resolution than a web cam. Then, dealing with video streams at those speeds and with the corresponding accuracy needs some pretty clever equipment and software. Are you planning to develop this from scratch for a few hundred or a few thousand bucks? Sounds like a pretty tall order to me. How about starting with something easier, like making your own Kinect? Or, even more realistically, just buy one?