Golfing has been practised on or rather off superyachts for decades. The ability to tee off from the deck has developed from a quirk of individuals to an obligatory feature on charter yachts. One that, unlike a waterslide, is easy to set up: off on the helipad, door open in the bulwark or a few dismantled railing metres and you have unlimited freedom of launching. For the 63-metre Oceanco "Lady Lola", which was launched in 2002, the owner demanded a recess for the golf mat in the teak aft of the sun deck. Many small islands of colourful floating rings with a flagpole in them and an undulating fairway in between served as greens. Either players with a minus handicap or a very large supply of balls will have fun.
The end of the "after me, the deluge" discounts
For a long time, the driving range at sea was characterised by: out of sight, out of mind. It wasn't until the end of the 2000s that the invention of a Spaniard brought maritime tee shots with a clear conscience: "bio golf balls". Their shell with classic hexagonal dimples dissolves in the water to reveal an interior made of fish food. The availability of biodegradable "ammunition" led to specialisation and a move away from the artificial turf mat that was quickly thundered onto the deck as a tee when a charter guest spontaneously wanted to work on his swing. Designers chose dedicated teeing grounds and introduced them early on.
Tim Heywood has given the 102 metre long Feadship "Symphony" a sheer upper deck that extends towards the stern, from which the tee automatically rises. However, custom solutions that take up valuable space on a permanent basis are only suitable for charter yachts to a limited extent.
Golf simulators offer maximum flexibility in terms of location and a virtual extension of the playground. All devices on the market can be used to analyse swings below deck, protected from the weather. The British start-up Off the Deck has now optimised a simulator for al-fresco use on a yacht for the first time. Co-founder Ashley Hare has worked on deck and on the bridge of large formats up to 135 metres and played a key role in the development of SeaDriveCX as CTO. It was clear to him that the housing had to be corrosion-resistant and therefore made of carbon, laminated by a Formula 1 manufacturer in Silverstone, UK.
This technology for a golf simulator is used on board
It was not so clear-cut for the Off the Deck team to decide on a technology. Ashley Hare's brother Alex, who was CFO of an indoor golf club in London, contributed his expertise. There are three main types of golf simulators: camera-based and infrared or radar-based devices. Good systems capture data on spin rates, launch angles and club head speeds, which are essential for swing analyses. Trackers that are attached to the club head work with infrared light signals. This is cheap, but not very accurate. Radar-based simulators track the ball using Doppler radar technology and are best suited for outdoor use, as the ball has to travel a longer distance to be detected. Accordingly, driving ranges also rely on radar tracking.
Ashley Hare and his colleagues opted for a flexible, camera-based system that can be used both indoors and outdoors: "Traditionally, radar-based tee monitors are the first choice for outdoor golf, as they can accurately track the flight of the ball through the air. However, when it comes to the unique environment of a moving yacht, camera-based systems prove to be the better choice." For them, recording and monitoring the tee shot is the most important feature of any golf simulator. The SeaDriveCX cameras take numerous high-speed images of the golf ball: during and after the impact of the club as well as of the position of the club head during the swing. Software processes the images and measurements are taken of the spin, speed, direction and swing of the ball.
Set up quickly and hit balls into the net
Another advantage of the optical system is that it works precisely and reliably even when the ship is moving. It also eliminates the lengthy calibration and alignment procedures required by radar systems. SeaDriveCX is one metre wide, 1.30 metres high and 0.40 metres deep. To be able to play from the stern platform, it should have an area of more than four by three metres. Yacht golfers then have up to 245 different golf courses at their disposal, over which the launch monitor from GCQuad with a screen diagonal of 81 centimetres guides them.
Off the Deck found its first customers in the charter formats "Loon" and the 60 metre Amels "Come Together" by US-American Mark Pincus. If you don't want to hit bio-based balls - which Off the Deck also has on offer - you can set up a safety net at the rear. The inflatable specialists from FunAir offer two models. With GeoDome, air hoses filled by an air compressor stretch a geodesic dome construction similar to that of tents. The gate-like Cube solution is more compact and quicker to set up, also with a fine-mesh net floor. The tubes are made from the same materials as kite tubes and can withstand wind and swell.
Oversized screens onto which the hole being played is projected and against which the golf ball shoots would also be suitable for gigantic formats. This is how many simulators work on land. However, with circulating winds at sea, the yacht would always have to be turned using dynamic positioning so that the airflow hits the projection surface sideways. Otherwise, it would be a short life for the screen, which is loosely stretched like a sail and would have to withstand very high forces.
