The Best Golf Courses to Play Indoors

One of the strange pleasures of simulator golf is geography becoming irrelevant.

A group can finish work in Atlanta and spend the evening playing somewhere that would ordinarily require a plane ticket, a hotel and perhaps a very difficult tee time.

So what makes a great course indoors?

The bucket-list course

There is something irresistible about playing a layout you've watched professionals navigate for years.

You recognize the holes.

You recognize the danger.

And suddenly you're the one deciding whether to attack the pin.

Links golf

Wide landscapes, enormous bunkers and unpredictable routing translate beautifully to a large simulator screen.

Links courses also force strategic decisions that keep a group engaged beyond simply hitting driver as far as possible.

Dramatic destination golf

Ocean carries.

Mountain backdrops.

Cliffside greens.

If you're playing indoors, there is nothing wrong with choosing somewhere visually spectacular.

The brutally difficult course

Every group eventually does this.

Someone selects the course everyone knows will be a disaster.

Scores climb.

Trash talk follows.

Nobody changes the course.

Those rounds are often the ones everyone remembers.

The course you've actually played

This may be the most interesting experience of all.

Returning virtually to a course you know creates an unusual test of memory.

You remember the bunker.

You remember what happened last time.

Now you get another chance.

Course libraries vary by simulator platform and can change over time, so availability should always be confirmed before arriving with one specific course in mind.

But the larger point remains:

Indoor golf doesn't just make golf more accessible.

It makes the golf world smaller.