Golf ball types used with simulators

Four families of ball turn up around home simulators: ordinary course balls, range balls, marked balls and limited-flight balls. They're not rivals. Each answers a different question. Your screen and monitor makers get a say too, and their wording can narrow the field fast, so read it before you buy a bucket of anything.

Course balls

A course ball is the kind you'd play a round with. Its cover is where most of the difference between models sits. One reference notes that high-spin covers are typically softer and less durable, which shortens the ball's useful life.¹

Indoors, that matters twice over. The ball wears faster. And a screen maker may have a view on soft covers, which can differ from the ball maker's pitch. The page on range balls and course balls goes through that argument.

Range balls

A range ball is built to be cheap and tough. Reference works describe practice balls as typically harder-cored than even recreational balls, with a firmer, more durable cover.¹

Look for the printed word or bars. Those are the marks that can raise a question with a screen maker, so it's worth reading the next section.

Marked balls

Some camera and radar monitors read spin better when the ball carries a mark. SkyTrak, for example, asks for a ball that is white and clean, carrying a logo or a line.²

Others don't ask for this at all. Uneekor lists the ball type for its EYE XO as "Any".³ So the answer depends on your monitor, not on a general rule. The page on marked balls and camera monitors covers that in detail.

Limited-flight balls

These are balls made to fly a short way. The maker almostGOLF puts its ball's flight at approximately one-third of a regulation golf ball's distance.⁴

That's a different job from feeding a screen and a monitor. See foam and limited-flight balls for what's known and what isn't.

How the families compare

One rule that cuts across all four

Screen maker Elite Screens gives the same tip for every ball. Skip scuffed or marked ones to help the screen last, and pick new ones if you can.⁵

That's advice about condition, not family. A tired course ball and a tired range ball both fall under it. Check each ball in your hand before it goes on the mat. Turn it slowly and look for a scuff, a cut or a dull patch.

Before you hit anything

Take a real club and swing it in the space first. Do that before you buy a frame or a screen. Anyone not swinging should stand well outside the hitting area. Ceiling and room figures belong in your enclosure maker's guide, not here.