PGA TOUR and GOLF+

Background

In January 2023, the PGA TOUR and GOLF+ initiated a significant partnership, designating GOLF+ as the Official Virtual Reality Golf Game of the PGA TOUR. The collaboration aims to create immersive PGA TOUR game experiences in GOLF+, featuring interactive content and features aligned with real PGA TOUR events. The GOLF+ VR experience, designed to complement traditional golf, overcomes common barriers like time, cost, and weather, enabling play anywhere, anytime. It provides an accessible entry for beginners and a realistic, engaging experience for avid golfers, with lifelike simulations of famous courses.

The partnership has tried to answer the question of, “How can we leverage VR to create fan experiences that were never previously possible?” Golf's asynchronous nature, where players individually compete against the course, lends itself well to immersive VR formats, allowing fans to engage in a unique, interactive way.

Since its inception in November 2021, the platform has attracted over 1.2 million players, who have hit over 1.6 billion shots and completed over 13 million rounds.

Beat the Pro

The first skill-based gaming product to incorporate data, video, and a competitive field-of-play (the golf course) into a live professional sporting event. During the WM Phoenix Open, players in GOLF+ could virtually enter the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale and compete shot-for-shot with PGA TOUR pros. GOLF+ Players were “paired up against” a pro using video highlights and graphical shot trails from live ShotLink data feeds.

Using the vast database of shots hit in the platform and the associated Stroke Gained statistics, GOLF+ offered live odds for each in-game shot against the pros, allowing players to wager in-game credits.

This feat was achieved for a second time during THE PLAYERS Championship at the iconic 17th hole and in 2 weeks of competition, more than 20,000 GOLF+ participants hit more than 1,000,000 shots head-to-head against PGA TOUR pros.

FedExCup Playoffs

Following the success of Beat the Pro, the partnership wanted to take it up a notch and recreated the entire FedExCup Playoffs in VR for GOLF+ players. There were 3-weeks of qualifiers and over 35,000 competitors narrowed to 500 for the VR FedEx St. Jude Championship, where the field was cut in half for the BMW Championship, and ultimately the top 100 competed for glory at the TOUR Championship.

Tee positions, pin placements, green speeds and wind conditions in VR matched the actual PGA TOUR layouts. There was a TOUR and ESPN+ collaboration which allowed live streaming of "Featured Holes" during the VR competition, enabling players to play and watch pros on the same holes simultaneously. GOLF+ built in a replay tool that allowed them to capture video replays of all shots in the VR FedExCup Playoffs, creating and sharing highlight videos and round recaps similar to real-world broadcasts.

The PGA TOUR/GOLF+ partnership introduced new players to the PGA TOUR product and converted them into the golf audience. GOLF+'s mission is to make golf more accessible using immersive technology, bridging video game golf and simulator golf through virtual reality, relying on true golf physics for a realistic, skill-based experience. It is also a more affordable option, with VR headsets starting at $249.

The average GOLF+ player is around 35 years old, a decade younger than the typical golfer, and comes from a global pool representing over 200 countries – several of which do not even have a real-life golf course. Around 32% of players, amounting to approximately 400,000 individuals, played golf for the first time in VR over the past two years.

Following the 'Beat The Pro' event at the WM Phoenix Open, a survey found that a third of participants didn't watch PGA TOUR events. However, after engaging in Beat the Pro, two-thirds of these players started following the WMPO, indicating that integrating the TOUR experience into GOLF+ attracted new interest in professional golf events.

Player quotes that highlight how playing the course virtually provides a level of perspective that is impossible to capture on broadcast and creates an emotional bond with the player

“I’ve never watched much golf on TV, but I do now because of GOLF+!”
“Devs are amazing at creating these courses. All the hard shots that I saw… I said yep, been there. The detail is incredible.”
“I watch golf because of this game!”
“GOLF+ has me spoiled! I’m missing not having played the course in VR before watching it on TV. That really gives you a good perspective of how it is.”

The VR FedExCup Playoffs provided statistical insights that were never previously possible. GOLF+ simulates real-life golf, with ball flight based on club path, speed, and face angle. However, due to hardware limitations, it assumes all players have the driving distance of an average PGA TOUR pro and perfect contact on each shot. In theory, this means that top GOLF+ players with over 1,000 virtual rounds could match but not exceed PGA TOUR pros' skills.

In the VR FedexCup Playoffs, GOLF+ best player, "Paper_Shaper" finished 43 under par, just three shots behind the 2023 FedExCup Champion, Viktor Hovland. Despite leading before the final round, Paper_Shaper's 67 couldn't outdo Hovland's 63. Only 13 GOLF+ players broke par during the Playoffs, with the best virtual golfers averaging around 80, highlighting the skill of the top 70 PGA TOUR pros.

In the BMW Championship's second round, a GOLF+ player shot a tournament-low 62, outperforming others in the competition. Simultaneously, Max Homa matched this score on the same layout, setting a course record. Identical tee, pin locations, and wind conditions made low scores achievable in both virtual and real-life play.

During the TOUR Championship, Golf Digest asked how far under par a 5-handicap golfer would need to start the competition to contend. On the first day of the virtual competition, VR golfers with 2.5-7.5 handicaps played under identical conditions as the pros, and their scores ranged from 78 to 103, averaging 90. This indicated that an average 5-handicap was about 53 strokes behind the leader after two rounds, needing around 100 shots over the IRL tournament field to compete, offering a realistic answer to the hypothetical question.