What to wear to an indoor golf simulator bay.

A simulator bay is a private room with a mat, a screen and your own clubs. That is a different problem from a golf club, and the question of what to wear to an indoor golf simulator has a shorter answer than most people expect.

Dress for the swing, not for a clubhouse. The only thing that really matters is that nothing stops you turning.

What to wear to an indoor golf simulator

• Something you can turn in. A stiff jacket or a tight button-down will shorten your backswing before you notice it. A golf shirt, a T-shirt or an athletic top all work.
• Layers you can shed. You will be warmer twenty minutes in than when you walked through the door, because you are swinging a club for an hour. Bring a layer you can take off rather than one you are stuck inside.
• Trousers or shorts with room. Golf trousers, joggers, leggings and chinos are all fine. Jeans work if they are not the tight pair.
• Nothing loose or hanging. Long scarves, dangling hoodie cords and a phone in a chest pocket all find their way into the swing.

Winter in Calgary complicates this only at the door. Come in whatever gets you across the car park, then change the top layer once you are in the bay.

Shoes, and why spikes are unnecessary

Bring clean indoor shoes and change into them when you arrive. Any flat, non-marking sole is right: trainers, gym shoes, or golf shoes if that is what you own.

You do not need spikes. You are hitting off a mat rather than wet turf, so there is nothing to grip into, and a session in trainers loses you nothing. Soft-spiked golf shoes are perfectly usable if you already have them. Nobody needs to buy a pair for an indoor session.

What matters more is that the sole is dry and clean. Calgary gravel, road salt and slush come in on your shoes otherwise, and they end up on the mat and the carpet.

What to bring to indoor golf

• Your clubs. The one item that is not optional. More on this below.
• A glove, if you wear one. You will hit more balls in an hour indoors than in most full rounds, and a bare hand notices by the end.
• Water. An hour of full swings is more work than it sounds.
• A small towel. For grips and for wiping the mat down before you leave.
• A charged phone. Your door access link arrives by email and you open it at the door, so a flat battery is the one thing that genuinely ruins the plan.

Can you putt on a golf simulator

Yes. There is a putting surface in front of the screen, and putts count as shots when you are playing a round, so a hole finishes the way it would outside. Bring your putter.

Keep your expectations sensible about it. Putting is the part of the game a simulator handles least well, because the stroke is slow, the ball barely spins and the green on screen is a model rather than grass. It is genuinely useful for keeping your stroke and your routine ticking over through a Calgary winter. It is not a replacement for a real green once the courses open.

Do you bring clubs to a golf simulator

At PGM, yes, and you have to. No clubs are provided, so the set that turns up is the set you brought.

If you do not own clubs, borrow a set before you book. A half set covers a first visit comfortably: a driver, a mid iron, a wedge and a putter will fill an hour without anyone feeling short-changed. If you are borrowing, try to get something roughly the right length for you, because clubs that are far too long or short will hand you an hour of numbers you cannot use.

Left-handed golfers should plan the same way. Sort the clubs out before the booking rather than at the door.

Four house rules worth knowing

• Do not mark golf balls with a Sharpie. The ink transfers onto the screens. This is the rule that catches people out, because marking a ball is automatic for most golfers.
• Minors must be with an adult.
• No alcohol on the premises.
• Leave the bay clean. Nobody works on site, so the next booking gets the bay exactly as you left it. The
  simulator etiquette guide
  covers the rest.

Book the first one

None of this needs shopping. Clothes you can move in, shoes with a clean sole, and clubs you already own or can borrow will get you through the door and into a bay. The how it works page walks through booking, the confirmation email and the door access link, and rates start at $18 an hour for the whole bay plus GST. When you are ready, pick a slot on the Calgary booking page and put the clubs by the door the night before.