When cold weather settles on Columbus, Ohio, local golfers brace for a long off-season, stashing their clubs in attics and garages in a grim ritual of letting go.

Randy Wilcox takes no part in these proceedings. On a recent winter morning, with snow drifts blanketing his favorite nearby courses, he rolled out of bed to play.

The sky above Pebble Beach was clear, and a gentle ocean breeze rattled the flagsticks; the weather was so pleasant it seemed computer-generated, as did the caw of gulls and the sound of crashing waves. That’s because it was. But when Wilcox, a six handicap, waggled on the first tee, the club and ball were real, as was his satisfaction as he watched his drive bound down the fairway.

“The only downside to having this in my home,” said Wilcox, a 58-year-old entrepreneur and real estate investor, “is that I never get anything else done.”

Like other devotees of the famously addictive game, Wilcox believes that nothing beats the pleasures of an actual golf course. But when time and weather conspire against him in the Midwest, he’s happy to indulge in the next best thing. (See our list of golf-simulator providers.)

Not long ago, for the price of a nice sportscar (about $50,000), Wilcox purchased a golf simulator from Michigan-based AboutGolf, a leading company in this growing industry. Installed in a game room that also houses a home theater and a well-stocked bar, the simulator gives Wilcox access to dozens of the world’s most famous courses, like Spyglass in California, St. Andrews in Scotland, and TPC Sawgrass in Florida. He swings his own clubs. He hits his own ball off artificial turf. In the eye blink it takes for his shot to thud against a 10-and-half-foot high projection screen, finely tuned sensors track its flight.

Wilcox can watch a wedge track toward its target or a wildly errant three-iron kerplunk in a pond. It isn’t quite real golf, but it requires the same skills and triggers the same pendulum swing of emotions. With a few clicks of a button, Wilcox can play god or greenkeeper, summoning wind and clouds, altering the course conditions. He can call in buddies for a friendly fourball or compete in tournaments against other far-flung virtual golfers, whose ranks have been swelling in recent years.

Once found mainly at teaching facilities and driving ranges, sophisticated golf simulators have been making their way into a growing number of high-roller homes. Advances in technology have vastly improved the virtual experience, which helps account for their surge in private residences. But so do the tight schedules of many avid golfers with plenty of money. John Watters, a spokesman for San Diego-based Full Swing Golf, another major player in the industry, says that home installations now account for half of his company’s new sales, up 30 percent from five years ago.

“Some of it is the guy who’s really into golf,” says Bill Bales, C.E.O. of AboutGolf. “But the simulator customer is also the guy who’s done well for himself, and now he’s starting to look at all the cool stuff he can put in his house. Maybe that used to be a swimming pool or a fancy kitchen. Now it’s a home theater or a wine cellar or a golf simulator.”