The indoor evolution threatening to outstrip outdoor golf

ByPeter Scrivener

BBC Sport senior journalist

Whisper it quietly, but by the end of 2028 it has been predicted that there will be more rounds of virtual golf played in the UK than outdoors ones.

It's a bold claim made by one of indoor golf's leading technology firms, who also suggest that globally 80% of all rounds will be virtual in two years.

But it perhaps shouldn't surprise anyone. In golf-loving South Korea, the tipping point was reached almost a decade ago as 'screen golf' overtook 'field golf'.

And these virtual rounds are providing opportunities to play in professional tournaments, such as when Scottish-born Gavin Macpherson won a simulator event to qualify for the NSW Open in Australia.

The rise of golf gaming started a little over 40 years ago with handheld dot-matrix computer games emerging out of Japan. These simple to play devices allowed you to get your golf fix virtually, wherever you were, by pressing buttons to hit the ball.

Video game consoles naturally followed with Tiger Woods-endorsed offerings later dominating the market.

Companies like Toptracer, Trackman and Golfzon are now further evolving the sport with their technology-driven developments intriguing established golfers, while also attracting new players.

Recent data from the R&A - which runs golf globally outside the United States and Mexico - and the US, revealed more people globally are playing golf off-course than on-course.

Even the PGA Tour pros are on board. Woods and Rory McIlroy's TGL venture has been taking the indoor game to the next level, with teams smashing balls at a screen that measures 64 feet by 53 feet - around 24 times bigger than your average sim.

But before the purists among you spit out your pre-round bacon sandwich, it is worth noting that virtual golf can make it possible to play the sport at times when players would otherwise be denied their fix.

"Golf is really good for five months of the year in the UK, OK for four, and rubbish for the rest," says Chris Ingham, co-founder of indoor venue Pitch Golf. And while he's clearly got a product to promote, he has a valid point.

The weather has been bleak for a good number of us globally since 2026 dawned.

There will always be those hardiest of Caddyshack souls prepared to battle 40mph winds and driving rain, bunting their ball down muddy fairways and putting across soaked greens.

I'm among them. I suspect many of you reading this are too.

But for each one of us, there are plenty, in T-shirts and jeans, and possibly sipping a pint, who have spent winter lining up a drive on St Andrews' famed Old Course on an indoor golf simulator.

In an adjacent space, four players will be recreating the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. Next door, there will be one person immersed in a virtual tournament, competing against players across the globe. In others, there will be tuition.

So is the game about to move indoors for good?

Perhaps not yet.

Sporting Insight (SI) statistics supplied by the R&A show that 2025 had the highest number of on-course rounds over the past five years in Great Britain, with an estimated 90 million full rounds played.

The data also suggests that the majority of golfers visit simulators to analyse their swings, have golf lessons, or play certain trophy holes in a social environment rather than to play a full round. And because of that, the number of simulator rounds are not anywhere near the number of actual on-course rounds.

Many golfers, of course, are embracing all formats.

In Britain and Ireland alone, 82% of traditional on-course golfers have played an alternative format, such as simulators, pitch and putt and adventure golf.

However, the R&A stats also indicate 60% of the world's 108 million global golfers outside the US and Mexico are playing anything but nine or 18-hole on-course golf. That figure rises to 80% among teenagers.

Simulated golf can be a route into heading out on the course, though - data reveals that in England 36% played these other forms of golf before experiencing a course.

"The growth in non-traditional formats is helping drive participation among adults and juniors on a global scale, with such formats providing an important route into the sport," says R&A chief executive Mark Darbon.

Within the US, which is governed by the United States Golf Association, the country's National Golf Foundation revealed there were more off-course (32.9 million) than on-course (26.6 million) players for the first time in 2023.

It is in South Korea, where outdoor space is limited, that golfers are most comfortable playing virtual golf, with 87% of players preferring the off-course experience offered by around 6,000 indoor simulator venues.

A professional indoor league, powered by Golfzon technology, has been running for more than a decade. The total prize fund for last year's GTour was 1.9bn South Korean won (£1m) and it has spawned a global spin-off that has seen players from across Asia, Europe and the US compete virtually for a $300,000 (£224,609) prize fund.

Golfzon data says more than 100 million rounds were played globally using its technology during 2024.

"Indoor golf is playing a huge role in driving more people to the game," says Matt Draper, development and membership director at England Golf, whose stats from last year highlight there are as many visits to driving ranges and simulators as there are to play nine or 18 holes on a course.

"There's a key role to be played in cities where there might not be so many spaces for people to enjoy golf outdoors," he adds.

"More and more venues are popping up where friends and families can play in the warmth using simulators, and also enjoy a drink, food and music alongside it."

Pitch Golf is one such brand. What started out as two mates taking advantage of emerging technology in 2012 to teach those "stepping out of work on a lunch hour" in the heart of London, has evolved into a "best of both worlds" operation with further locations recently opened in Manchester and Dublin.

"Trackman don't see growth in the outdoor market, they think 80% of all rounds will be played indoors by 2028, which is mind-blowing," Ingham tells BBC Sport.

"The innovation is getting the social side right. We combined golf, sport, music and social for the first time in our opening site in London."

The money, Ingham says, is in the bar and corporate clients - attracting the work parties and away days. With them come non-golfers, though.

The solution in conjunction with their technology provider Trackman has been to create London Gardens. It is a short course designed for non-players that weaves virtually around the capital city's landmarks.

"People always want to play iconic courses like Pebble Beach, but when you see them on the first hole for half an hour, you encourage them to play London Gardens," says Ingham.

Advances in technology will enable further improvements to virtual golf.

You can, of course, go and dial into your yardages, but Toptracer, which revolutionised watching the game on television with its ability to track the ball's flight using optical sensors and providing on-screen graphics, has also harnessed popular mobile phone games such as Angry Birds.

The company's latest stats showed that more than 5.2 billion shots were hit across its 1,350 range sites globally - 500 million of those in the UK - and that the introduction of games has seen the average length of a range session increase by 12.3% to 54 minutes.

"In Japan and Korea, almost everything is data-driven - how far you're hitting the ball," says Toptracer's head of product Oskar Asgard.

"In the UK, 20% is virtual golf, choosing between famous courses to playing games. The younger you skew the more you'll engage in something more competitive.

"You can go and whack virtual pigs while playing golf, it just makes it fun. You're not trying to tell kids how to grip the club, it's just instant gratification."

Toptracer has also developed technology to transform your phone into a launch monitor.

"We want every driving range to be tech-enabled," says Asgard. "The younger generation expect it. You scan a QR code and get instant data transmitted to your phone, or pop your headphones into your ear and get the data spoken to you."

But the holy grail is squeezing a game, which can take up to five hours outdoors, into an hour's play for the recreational golfer. And that means ditching a key element of the 'field game' - putting.

Around 40% of all shots on average are hit on the greens as you try to get the ball into the hole. And while the Korean pros will putt out on artificial greens, for those going to their local facility, putting is off the menu.

"It's the least realistic part of simulator golf," accepts Asgard. "In an indoor setting we don't give you the opportunity because it slows the game down."

Ingham agrees. "Putting would kill it," he says. "Most people book for an hour, have a quick warm-up, then take 45 minutes for nine holes.

"You can predetermine the hole-out distances. The rough guide is zero to six feet is one putt, 30-35 feet is two putts.

"It keeps up the pace of play. People just love smashing driver at that screen."