Virtual Golf Game Mode

Awesome Golf Simulator includes a set of Virtual Golf Courses, including some licensed real courses. This includes a range of both 9-hole and 18-hole courses for you to choose from.

After you start playing, a label will be shown above the flag which will tell you how far away the target is, the elevation changes, the hole number, and the Par of the hole. Par is the expected number of strokes a skilled golfer should take to complete a hole, including strokes to reach the green and two putts. It varies by hole length - typically 3, 4, or 5 strokes.

When its your turn, a progress bar is displayed under your display name in the top left of the screen. This bar shows a count of shots where completed shots are displayed filled-in and the current shot number is displayed in the right-most segment of the bar.

18-Hole Courses

Awesome Golf's Virtual Golf includes a set of 18-hole courses - these are a collection of world-class championship courses, from around the world, which host professional tour events. Each is available for you to play from 5 different tee positions depending on your ability.

• West Course at Wentworth Golf Club
• Majlis Course at Emirates Golf Club
• The Blue Monster Course at Doral
• Blackstone Course at Mission Hills
• Longleaf

9-Hole Courses

In our Virtual Golf Game Modes, we include a selection of 9-hole courses - in addition to our 18-hole courses - each with different levels of difficulty. In a rough order of difficulty, our 9-Hole Virtual Golf courses are:

• Spring Park Hills
• Island Beach
• Desert Canyon
• Valley Pines

Spring Park Hills is our easiest 9-hole Virtual Golf course, followed by Island Beach, with the most challenging being Desert Canyon and Valley Pines.

Course Options

After selecting a Virtual Golf course you'll be presented with our Course Options to adjust how you want to play your round.

Course Hole Selection

The first row of options on the Course Options screen is Hole Selection. Hole Selection allows you to pick which holes of the selected course you want to play. Selecting a preset will use a random selection of the course's holes, letting you play 1, 3, 6, or 9 random holes from the course.

Alternatively, the Select... option will allow you to choose which holes to play.

Whilst playing Virtual Golf, the holes selected for the session are shown at the top of the screen as circled numbers, alongside your current score for the round. These circled numbers indicate the hole numbers in-play, in order from left-to-right, and completed holes will display filled-in.

Play Style

The second row of options on the Course Options screen is the Play Style options. Play Style lets you choose between different ways to play and score:

• Stroke Play is a scoring format where each player counts their total number of strokes over a round, with the lowest score winning.
• Match Play is a head-to-head where players or teams compete to win individual holes; the player/team winning the most holes wins the match.
• Skins is a betting-style format where each hole is worth a "skin"; the player with the lowest score on a hole wins the skin, and ties carry over until someone wins outright.

Team Format

The third row of options on the Course Options screen is the Team Format options. Team Formats lets you choose how teams are structured for your game:

• Individual is a standard format where each player competes on their own, aiming for the lowest score.
• Scramble is a team format where all players hit a shot, then the team selects the best one and all players hit their next shot from that spot, continuing until the hole is completed.
• Better Ball is a team format (typically two players) where each plays their own ball, and the lowest score on each hole is recorded as the team's score.
• Alternate Shots is a team format where players take turns hitting shots with the same ball, alternating who tees off on each hole.

Options that are incompatible with the number of players added to your game and selected play style will be disabled and greyed out.

Shot Countdown Timer

On the fourth row of options on the Course Options screen, on the left-hand side, is the Shot Countdown Timer option.

The Shot Countdown Timer aims to keep a good pace of play. Each player will have 60 seconds to hit their shot. If they don't hit a shot in 60 seconds then two things can happen. If you're playing on your own, you will have a penalty shot and then take your next shot. If you're playing as a group, you will also have a penalty shot and then it will be the next player's turn to go.

Mulligans / Decision Time

On the fourth row of options on the Course Options screen, on the right-hand side, is the Mulligans / Decision Time option. Enabling the Mulligans / Decision Time option sets a time limit for deciding whether to take a Mulligan - this controls how long the Mulligan button on the post-shot intermediate summary screen will display for.

• Off will disable Mulligans and the option won't display on the post-shot intermediate summary screen
• Selecting 5 Seconds, 10 Seconds, or 20 Seconds will enable Mulligans with the selected time limit restricting your decision time

Team Assignment

When playing Scramble, Better Ball, or Alternate Shots team formats you can assign players to teams, after selecting Next on the Course Options screen in the top right corner of the screen.

Players can be assigned to teams by dragging and dropping the player's name into one of two team slots - depending on the game format selected, you can play 1v1, 1v2, 1v3, 2v2, or everyone on the same team.

On the Virtual Golf Menus, you can add a new player at the bottom of the screen by pressing Add Player. You must do this before you start playing as you can't add a new player after you begin.

Post-Shot Intermediate Summary

After each shot, we show a few data metrics to give more insight on the shot's result - these include Club Speed, Ball Speed, Carry Distance, Total Distance, Launch Angle, Backspin, Side Spin, Club Path, and Horizontal Launch Angle. From this summary screen, you can see an instant replay of the shot, or take a Mulligan if the option is enabled.

The game will automatically continue after 5 seconds unless the pause (⏸️) button is selected.

Hole Scorecards

After all players have finished a hole, a scorecard or scoreboard will be shown before starting the next hole. This scorecard shows a table of the holes selected for the Virtual Golf session, the Par for the hole, and your score for the hole. Your starting tee position is also noted next to your display name in the scorecard table.

The Scorecard screen will also show a preview of the next, upcoming, hole to be played with a top-down view of the hole map, summary of each starting tee position's distance to the flag, and the hole's Par.

The game will automatically continue after 5 seconds unless the pause (⏸️) button is selected.

Hole Map

On the right-hand side of the screen, a top-down view of the hole is displayed.

The Hole Map indicates your direction in relation to the flag and the distances to landmarks in the direction you're aiming. Swiping horizontally on the screen will allow you to change the direction you're aiming. Each tee's starting position is also marked on the map with its corresponding shape: Circle, Triangle, Square, Pentagon, and Hexagon.

Selecting the (i) button in the bottom-left corner of the screen will show more information about the hole, with a hole description and strategy, and your leaderboard placement as you play.

Shot Lie

In the bottom-right corner of the screen, a box shows the lie/tee for your shot. The surface on which the ball lies will affect the result of a shot by reducing the ball speed - the following adjustments are approximate ball speed reductions according to the ball's lie:

• Semi-Rough: -10%
• Rough: -20%
• Fairway Bunker: -25%
• Pine Straw: -30%
• Greenside Bunker: -50%

The lie will also reduce spin, where the biggest spin reductions are from the Rough and Pine Straw.

Wind Speed

The wind sock, on the left-hand side of the screen, shows the characteristics of the in-game wind with its speed/strength and the wind's direction, according to the direction you're facing. A strong wind from either side can push your ball around in the air and can require you to a hit a club with more distance, whereas a wind behind you may require a lighter touch or a lesser lofted club.

Add Players

Additional players can be added at any time before you start playing - to add a new player, once already playing Virtual Golf, you'll need to return to the Main Menu or Virtual Golf Menu. To add a new player, select Add Player at the bottom of the screen. For more information on adding players and guests, see our Adding Players Guide

Each player can set their preferred tee based on their ability - a player's tee preference can be set per-session or default to the player's preferred tee.

Player Sequence

Awesome Golf Simulator is played in a sequence so that everyone gets a go when they expect to - this means that the furthest player from the hole won't be the next player.

In a simulator environment, we believe its better to play in sequence so everyone knows their turn and can see who will be next. In real golf, the furthest player must play next for safety but in a simulator setting we don't have that concern.

Play order is especially relevant when playing with others using shorter tees, such as the Circle or Triangle tees, as they would otherwise have to wait a while before their turn - and then have all of their shots at once with everyone else waiting on them.

Leaderboard Entries

When you play full rounds of individual strokeplay in Virtual Golf as a registered user (not a guest player) your score will be entered into our in-game global leaderboards and your leaderboard placement will be displayed in-game. Your scores and display name will be displayed publicly on the leaderboard if you've accepted our GDPR terms.

Your score for a course will only be entered into our in-game global leaderboards if you play the Stroke Play Play Style with the Individual Team format, without Mulligans, and select all holes for the course - 9-hole rounds on the 9-hole courses, or 18-hole rounds on the 18-hole courses.

Selecting the (i) button in the bottom-left corner of the screen will show more leaderboard entries and information about the hole, including a hole description and strategy.

After you've finished your Virtual Golf session, you'll be able to see your leaderboard placement in-game, or review your placement at any point using Awesome Golf Insights, online, or the Awesome Golf Community app.

Note: A solid Internet it needed for your scores to upload to our global leaderboards.

History

• In our v3.5 release, in April 2024, we continued to add more real, licensed, courses - Mission Hills (Blackstone) and Longleaf.
• In our v3.2 release, in December 2024, we also added Doral (Blue Monster) to our set of licensed 18-hole Virtual Golf Courses.
• With our v3.0 release, in September 2024, we introduced our first licensed 18-hole courses into Awesome Golf Simulator: West Course at Wentworth Club and the Majlis Course at Emirates Golf Club.