Golfcourse simulator device

A golfcource simulator device comprising a series of holes into which a player must direct a ball in corresponding successive stages in each of which one hole constitutes a stage of objective to which the ball advances from a start area, the player playing all his strokes from the same point and the progress of the ball along the course being simulated by displacement of the objective hole according to parameters of the preceding stroke, said device comprising a driving area, a first ball sensor in said driving area, an elongated track extending from said driving area, a plurality of selectively openable and closable holes on said track, a plurality of second ball sensors each associated with a respective hole, a plurality of third ball sensors disposed along the length of said track to determine the farthest position reached by a ball on said track after a stroke, a target closing said track sat the end opposite said driving area and separating a real space between it and said driving area and a virtual space on the side of said target opposite said driving area, a plurality of impact sensors on said target and control means including a programmed computer comprising means;

• defining the series of stages each corresponding to a field extending from a start area to an objective hole and subdivided into an ordered plurality of contiguous cells memorized in said computer in the form of a file comprising plurality of blocks of information each associated with a respective one of said cells of said field and each containing data for identifying the associated cell relative to the start area and the objective hole for the stage in question;
• determining stroke parameters either from conditions of impact on said target or from the position of the ball on said track after the stroke according to whether the objective hole for the cell in which the origin of the stroke is simulated is in said virtual space or in said real space, respectively;
• determining the cell of said field in which the ball is located after a stroke from the stroke parameters and the cell reached after the preceding stroke;
• retrieving from said file objective parameters associated with the cell reached after the preceding stroke, which parameters condition the opening of a particular hole on said track if said cell is in said real space;
• and
• registering the end of a stage in response to activation of one of said second ball sensors corresponding to entry of the ball into the opened hole.