What is GOLF+? GOLF+ is a VR golf game on Meta Quest headsets (Quest 2/3/Pro) where you swing motion controllers like clubs on real golf courses. 150K+ monthly players, 40+ real courses including Royal Birkdale (July 8), Pebble Beach, and St Andrews. GOLF+ is the official PGA TOUR VR game. It’s not a TrackMan replacement — no ball data — but it’s the closest thing to playing 18 holes from your living room, for the price of a headset ($330).
If you haven’t tried GOLF+ on a Meta Quest headset, you’re missing something that’s about to get a lot bigger.
Royal Birkdale launches July 8 — right as the actual Open Championship plays there. A Steam release is coming this summer, which means PC VR headsets get in on the action. And they’re building a mixed reality training mode that’s genuinely interesting.
This isn’t going to replace your garage sim. But it’s going to change what “golf simulator” means for a lot of people.
Let me explain.
What GOLF+ Actually Is
GOLF+ is a VR golf game on the Meta Quest platform. You put on a Quest 2, Quest 3, or Quest Pro headset, pick up the motion controllers, and you’re standing on a real golf course.
You swing the controller like a club. The game tracks your tempo, swing path, and face angle through the controller’s motion sensors. It’s not as accurate as a launch monitor — not close — but it’s way more immersive than hitting into a net with a screen.
The course library is solid. They’ve got real courses modeled in full 3D. You walk the fairways (or teleport, if your space is small). You putt on real greens. You hear birds and wind and the sound of your ball landing.
It’s not TrackMan data. But it’s the closest thing to playing a round of golf from your living room that exists right now.
Royal Birkdale: The Open Timing Is Perfect
July 8 is the Royal Birkdale launch. That’s two days from now. The Open Championship is going to be all over Birkdale — the dunes, the tricky par-3s, the 18th hole that’s ruined more scorecards than I can count.
Getting to play it in VR while the tournament is happening is a genuinely cool experience. It’s the same reason people play the video game version of Augusta during the Masters. The connection between watching and playing makes both better.
GOLF+ has done this before — they launched courses timed to real tournaments. But Birkdale is their biggest get yet. It’s a championship course with real Open history. Walking those fairways in VR while watching pros play them on TV is going to be a Tuesday night well spent.
The Steam Release Changes Everything
Here’s the part that matters more long-term: GOLF+ is coming to Steam this summer.
Right now it’s Quest-only. That’s a Meta walled garden. If you don’t own a Quest headset (and most people don’t), you can’t play.
Steam opens it up to every PC VR headset on the market. Valve Index, HTC Vive, Pimax, Bigscreen Beyond — all of them. Plus, Steam has the audience. PC gamers with VR headsets have been hungry for a good golf game. The existing options are thin. GOLF+ on Steam fills a real gap.
This matters for our corner of the world because the Venn diagram of “guy who owns a VR headset” and “guy who wants a home golf simulator” has a lot of overlap. They’re both early-adopter hobbies for people with garages and disposable income.
The Mixed Reality Training Mode
The most interesting thing GOLF+ is building isn’t the VR part. It’s the mixed reality part.
Mixed reality (MR) means you see your real environment through the headset’s passthrough cameras, with virtual objects overlaid on top. Instead of standing in a VR golf course with a controller, you’re standing in your actual garage or living room with a virtual driving range projected into it.
The training mode is early. But the idea is compelling: use the Quest 3’s depth sensors to map your room, then give you a virtual driving range with swing metrics, shot shapes, and target games — all in your actual space.
It won’t replace a real launch monitor. The data from a motion controller is nowhere near as accurate as photometric or Doppler tracking. But for $300 (Quest 3S) plus $100/year (GOLF+, if they stay at that price), it’s a fraction of the cost of even the cheapest simulator setup.
The use case that makes sense: you use GOLF+ for course play and casual range time, and you use your real sim for serious practice with accurate data. They complement each other.
The “Better Than Nothing” Argument
Here’s the honest take.
If you already have a home simulator with a launch monitor and GSPro, GOLF+ is a fun addition. You’ll play Birkdale during Open week. You’ll show your buddies. You’ll hit a few VR drives and laugh at how weird the controller swing feels.
If you DON’T have a home simulator and you’re on the fence about VR, GOLF+ is the best way to experience virtual golf without spending $2,000+. A Quest 3S costs $300. GOLF+ is $100/year. You get real courses, real swing tracking (of a sort), and the closest thing to walking a fairway without leaving your house.
It’s not going to lower your handicap the way a real launch monitor will. But it’s going to scratch the itch in a way that sitting on your couch watching Golf Channel never will.
What GOLF+ Means for Home Golfers
Three things.
One: The barrier to virtual golf just dropped. $300 for a headset and you’re playing real courses. That’s not a simulator — but it’s way closer to one than any phone app or TV game.
Two: The VR+Sim combo is going to be a real thing. The guy with a SkyTrak+ in his garage and a Quest 3 in his closet can practice with data on his sim, then play a round on GOLF+ for fun. Different tools for different jobs.
Three: The Steam release means this isn’t staying niche. PC VR has been waiting for a good golf game. GOLF+ on Steam fills that gap. The community will grow fast once it launches there.
The Honest Limitations
I’m not going to pretend GOLF+ is a launch monitor replacement. It’s not.
The motion controller swing feels different from a real club. The shaft is short and light. You’re not compressing a ball. The swing data is directionally useful but not accurate enough for serious practice.
Putting in VR is weird. It works — you can make putts — but it doesn’t translate well to real putting. The depth perception in VR is different from real life.
You need space. VR golf requires room to swing. If your Quest guardian boundaries are too tight, you’ll punch a wall (ask me how I know).
And the subscription keeps adding up. $100/year for GOLF+ on top of everything else. It’s not expensive, but it’s another line item.
The Bottom Line (I Mean It This Time)
GOLF+ is cool. Real cool. Walking Royal Birkdale in VR during Open week is going to be a genuinely great experience. The Steam release is going to grow the community. The mixed reality training mode is an interesting product that could evolve into something more.
But it’s not a replacement for a real home simulator. It’s a complement. A fun one. A cheap way to play real courses from your living room. And for the guy who doesn’t own a sim yet, it might be the thing that convinces him the dream is real.
Buy the Quest 3S. Download GOLF+. Play Birkdale during the Open. And then — when you’re ready for actual swing data, actual accuracy, actual improvement — come back here and read our best launch monitors guide. For the full breakdown of GOLF+’s real-sim integration, see our GOLF+ Sim announcement and GOLF+ VR review.
The VR course is fun. The real sim is where you get better.
You need both.
Want to know which launch monitor pairs best with your VR setup? Read our launch monitor reviews →