Is VR Golf Realistic?

TL;DR – incredibly! (watch the video at the bottom to see how it helped Europe win the Ryder Cup) 

Virtual Reality is said to have been invented in 1956, and whilst it didn’t enter the mainstream for another half a century, early versions of games were clunky and often caused motion sickness. The Nintendo Wii – whilst not strictly VR given the lack of headset and immersive experience – brought the concept of virtual indoor sports to the masses. But whilst many found enlightenment on the benefits of indoor sporting competition and exercise... the Wii is also perhaps largely responsible for forging the widespread impression of virtual sports being ‘fun’, rather than a credible alternative to the real thing. 

Here’s the science bit: Advancements in VR technology have provided the platform to change all that. Since the early Oculus or Playstation VRs that you may once have dabbled with, VR headsets like Meta Quest (a $2bn acquisition of Oculus by Facebook’s owners in 2014) are now untethered, with significantly greater processing power and much crisper graphics... you can even install prescription lenses! What’s more, the controllers’ sensors are much more sophisticated, combining accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometer (no, we didn’t know it was a word, either). All this is correlated to the headset’s cameras, to track the ‘6DoF’, or 6 Degrees of Freedom that describes how a human body moves in 3D. 

In 2020, the makers of ‘Pro Putt’, a mobile golf app created by a team of obsessive golfers, launched a new VR golf game focused on putting and mini golf. A rebrand to GOLF+ followed in 2021, before their big breakthrough in 2022, when they secured a partnership with the PGA Tour. That spawned the introduction of fully endorsed, ultra-realistic re-creations of the world’s most iconic golf courses, including St Andrews, Bethpage Black, TPC Sawgrass and over 30 more. Not only are the course’s incredibly realistic, offering a chance to play bucket list courses that most can only dream of, the ‘physics engine’ that dictates the accuracy of the swing in the game to that taken with the club attachment, has been refined over literally millions of shots. 

So, to the elephant in the room. Is VR golf identical to real golf? No. There’s no feel of impact... the club – whilst usually weighted and with quality grips – won't weigh the same as all 14 clubs in a bag... and strike accuracy tends to be somewhat more ‘forgiving’.  

But what about when real golf isn’t an option? In bad weather? After dark? At a conference, exhibition or staff event? Or any time when finding 5+ hours isn’t feasible. Even better, after a Nearest the Pin contest at Pebble Beach (either in person or online), you can review swing analysis as well as keeping loose... ready to hit the ground running in the countryside in the spring. 

Still not convinced? Well what if we told you that Rory McIlroy and Jordan Speith were among GOLF+’s investors? Furthermore, it’s now just been revealed that Team Europe utilised GOLF+ to prepare for what transpired to be the first away win for a Ryder Cup team in 13 years.

So, is VR golf realistic? Well, with the right setup (the one utilised by Tee Shot Golf), the best golfers on the planet seem to think so! Check out this 3 minute video to see how Luke Donald prepared his team for Bethpage Black... 

Want to arrange a demo so you can see how credible GOLF+ is for yourself? Email hello@teeshotgolf.uk