Swing into lunch

The Weekender

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The perfect City lunchtime break must be nine holes around the Old Course at St Andrews, then nine round Valderrama in Spain, then back at your desk in time for Wall Street opening.

Impossible? A hi-tech golf centre opening in Moorgate today is offering just that - and all without having to leave the Square Mile. The simulator allows amateurs who would normally hack their way round their local course to experience the challenges faced by players such as Tiger Woods and Colin Montgomerie.

Using real clubs and balls, players at Golf Central in Ropemaker Street stand in front of a giant canvas screen portraying holes from 47 of the world's best courses.

They strike the ball at the screen as if playing a normal shot. Sensors calculate the speed, direction and spin on the ball, and the screen shows the ball heading towards (or away from) the hole. The image moves to the ball's new position and the player continues until he or she has "holed out".

Golf Central co-director Richard McHardy, 24, said it was the first place in the country where golfers could play on the £39,000 simulators. Membership costs from £100 a year plus £25 per 30-minute session.

"You can play 18 holes in less than an hour. It cuts out the walking and looking for lost balls," he said. His codirector Stuart McHardy, 27, added: "Stressed-out City workers can get half an hour's golf in and escape the daily grind." Player Matt Gildersleeves of BMP Paribas bank said he found the experience less pressurised than a typical 18-hole course. "I thought it would be like a driving range but it's quite true to life," he said. And like any good golf club it has its 19th hole - the bar.

The ball flew off the tee and would have split the imaginary fairway. Or so I thought. In fact, the computer calculated I had failed to clear a tree 50 feet away. Two whacks later I was in a bunker. In total I shot a double bogey six (that's two more shots than allowed). A session followed with Astar, a computer Tiger Woods uses to perfect his swing. Mine was analysised against that of Colin Montgomerie.

The simulator is a great teaching aid - and considerably more fun than hitting countless balls on a driving range...

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