GSPro has 4,000 golf courses.
That’s not an exaggeration. That’s the actual number. Four thousand. If you play one new course every single day, it takes you eleven years to see them all.
The problem with 4,000 courses is the same as the problem with Netflix: there’s too much. You spend more time scrolling than watching. You pick something random, it’s a dud, and suddenly you’re back on the menu wondering why you spent $250 on software that can’t even give you a solid course list. If you’re deciding between sim platforms, see our best courses on E6 Connect guide and GSPro vs E6 Connect comparison for the full picture.
Calm down. The courses are there. You just need somebody to tell you which ones are worth your time.
Across thousands of GSPro user reviews, forum discussions, and course download data, a clear picture emerges of which courses are worth your time. Some will make you forget you’re standing in a garage. Some look like they were built in Microsoft Paint during a lunch break. Here are the good ones, the great ones, and the ones you should delete immediately to free up hard drive space.
The Famous Courses: Where to Find Them, How Good They Are
Augusta National
This is the one everyone wants. It’s the first course most people search for when they install GSPro. And yes, Augusta is on GSPro.
The best version is by a designer named Crazy Canuck. Search “Augusta National V2” or “Augusta 2025” in the course manager. This version has the iconic Amen Corner routing, the correct elevation changes on 10 and 18, and the greens are fast enough to make you hate putting — which is exactly how Augusta should feel.
Quality-wise? It’s incredible for a free, community-built course. The azaleas are there. The white bunkers are there. The green complexes are accurate enough that you’ll recognize every hole. No, it’s not a licensed 4K scan. But it’s close enough that you’ll forget you’re hitting into a screen by the back nine.
Play it with the tournament tees and firm conditions. Augusta without firm greens isn’t Augusta. It’s a public park.
Search term: “Augusta National”
Pebble Beach
Pebble Beach on GSPro might actually be the best community course in the entire library. There are multiple versions. The one you want is by DeWiz or Crazy Canuck — check the most recent one based on downloads.
The cliffs on 7 and 8 are rendered well enough that you’ll feel nervous standing over the shot. The ocean holes along the Pacific coast are the whole reason you play Pebble, and the sim version nails the perspective. The greens are small and demanding, which translates perfectly to sim golf because you’re hitting into a screen and already fighting the lack of depth perception. Pebble makes it harder. That’s the whole point.
Search term: “Pebble Beach”
For the officially licensed version of Pebble Beach with the best visual quality, see our Pebble Beach on E6 Connect guide.
St Andrews (The Old Course)
St Andrews is harder to get right in a sim than you think. The double greens, the shared fairways, the wind — it’s a routing that doesn’t translate perfectly to a rectangular screen. For a full platform comparison, see our St Andrews on GSPro vs E6 vs TGC 2019 guide.
The version by Crazy Canuck (are you sensing a theme yet?) is the best one. The Road Hole (17) plays correctly — you can see the hotel, you can see the road, and the green is as diabolical as it is in real life. The Valley of Sin on 18 is there. The Swilcan Bridge is there.
Play it in the wind. That’s the real St Andrews experience. A calm day at the Old Course is like a calm day at Augusta — you’re not getting the real thing.
Search term: “St Andrews Old Course”
For versions of the Old Course on other platforms, see our St Andrews on WGT and St Andrews on E6 Connect guides.
TPC Sawgrass (Stadium Course)
The island green on 17 is the headline, obviously. The question is whether the rest of the course holds up.
Good news: it does. The best version of Sawgrass on GSPro is faithful to the routing, the bunkering, and the relentless pressure of a course that doesn’t give you a break hole after hole. 17 is rendered well enough that you’ll feel the nerves — the water is right there, the green is tiny, and the wind matters.
The designers spent real time on the greens, which is where Sawgrass wins or loses. They’re subtle. They break in ways you don’t expect. The sim version gets that right.
Search term: “TPC Sawgrass”
Bethpage Black
Bethpage Black is a brute. It’s long, it’s demanding, and it doesn’t care about your handicap. For a detailed review, see our Bethpage Black on GSPro guide.
The GSPro version by BigFudge or Crazy Canuck (told you) is excellent. The famous warning sign at the first tee is there. The rough is punishing. If you’ve played Bethpage Black in real life — or watched it on TV during the PGA — you’ll recognize every hole.
The elevation changes are the real test. Bethpage plays uphill, downhill, and sidehill on the same hole. The sim version captures that well. You’ll hit a drive that feels perfect and watch it roll out 20 yards less than you expected because you were hitting uphill and didn’t read the lie correctly.
A course that teaches you something every time you play it. That’s Bethpage.
Search term: “Bethpage Black”
The Hidden Gems: Courses You Haven’t Heard Of
The famous courses are obvious. Everyone knows about Augusta, Pebble, St Andrews. The real value of GSPro — the thing that makes it superior to every other sim software — is the hidden gem courses. The ones nobody talks about that are somehow incredible.
For detailed guides on individual GSPro courses, see our Chambers Bay, Whistling Straits, Royal Lytham, and Royal Birkdale course guides.
Here are the community’s top picks.
Cape Kidnappers (New Zealand)
You’ve probably never heard of this course. Real course in New Zealand, perched on cliffs overlooking the Pacific. On GSPro, it’s a masterpiece.
The holes along the cliff edge are some of the most dramatic sim golf the community has ever seen. You’re hitting tee shots with the ocean 300 feet below on your right. The wind is howling. The fairway is narrow. It’s terrifying and beautiful in equal measure.
The designer understood the assignment. The elevation changes, the fescue, the way the course routes out along the peninsula and back — it’s all there. This is the course the GSPro community plays when they want to be reminded why sim golf is cool.
Search term: “Cape Kidnappers”
Royal County Down
For a full deep dive into this course, see our dedicated Royal County Down on GSPro guide.
Royal County Down is the best course in Ireland that isn’t Ballybunion. The GSPro version is stunning.
The gorse is the star. If you’ve never played a course with gorse lining the fairways, imagine heather that hates you personally. The ball goes in and you’re done. The GSPro version renders it correctly — which means you learn very quickly to keep the ball in the fairway.
The blind shots are the other highlight. County Down has more blind shots than any course in the GSPro library. You’re hitting to a fairway you can’t see, over a dune you’ve never seen before, praying it’s playable. That’s the real County Down experience and the sim nails it.
Search term: “Royal County Down”
Sand Hills (Nebraska)
Sand Hills is a course that most golfers will never play. It’s remote. It’s private. It’s a pilgrimage. For a dedicated review, see our Sand Hills on GSPro guide.
On GSPro, it’s available and it rules.
The Coore-Crenshaw design is all about the ground game. Wide fairways, massive greens, no rough to speak of. Bounces and rolls that look wrong until you realize the course was built on sand — everything runs. The sim version captures that beautifully.
Play it on a day when you want to practice shot shape and creativity. Sand Hills doesn’t punish a bad swing as much as it rewards a smart one. That’s a refreshing change from Bethpage.
Search term: “Sand Hills”
Lahinch (Ireland)
Another Irish course. Another banger. For a full review, see our Lahinch on GSPro guide.
Lahinch on GSPro is one of the most fun rounds of sim golf you’ll play. The famous “Dell” hole (4) — a par 3 completely blind over a massive dune — translates perfectly to sim because you genuinely can’t see the green. You’re hitting purely on feel and a caddie’s advice you can’t hear. It’s absurd. It’s wonderful.
The rest of the course is classic links golf. Wind. Firm conditions. Bounces that go sideways. A pint at the turn that costs four dollars. (Okay, the pint isn’t included. But you can pour your own.)
Search term: “Lahinch”
Course Quality Variance: How to Spot a Good Course vs. a Bad One
GSPro course quality varies wildly.
Some of the 4,000 courses look like they were built by someone who got bored on a Sunday afternoon. The trees are floating. The greens are flat pancakes. The bunkers are just brown circles on the ground with no depth. Download data shows courses where the 18th hole is literally a straight line with no hazards.
Then you play something like Cape Kidnappers or Crazy Canuck’s Augusta and it looks like it could be on a console game.
Here’s how you tell the difference before you waste 45 minutes downloading and loading a stinker.
Check the downloads. Sort by most downloaded in the course manager. That’s your first filter. If a course has been downloaded 10,000+ times, it’s probably good. If it’s been downloaded 47 times, someone’s nephew made it.
Look at the screenshots. The course manager shows preview images. If the screenshots look bad — flat textures, missing trees, weird lighting — the actual course will be worse. Screenshots don’t lie.
Check the designer’s name. You’ll learn the good ones fast. Crazy Canuck, BigFudge, DeWiz, FR|Designs, and a few others are the designers who consistently ship quality. If you see a name you don’t recognize on a famous course, check the download count before you commit.
The course type matters. Courses built from LIDAR data (real elevation scans) are dramatically better than courses built by hand. Most of the top-tier courses use LIDAR data. If a course description says “LIDAR” or “elevation data,” that’s a good sign. If it says “hand-built from Google Earth,” quality could go either way.
Avoid the early versions. For famous courses, people build multiple versions over time. “Augusta V1 from 2022” is probably bad. “Augusta V4 from 2025” is probably excellent. Designers get better. Use the latest version.
How to Install Courses on GSPro
This is the part that trips up new GSPro owners. The course installation process isn’t hard, but it’s not obvious. Here’s exactly how it works. (If you haven’t set up your sim PC yet, our golf simulator computer requirements guide covers the specs you need.)
GSPro has a built-in course manager called Course Manager (creative name, I know). It’s inside the GSPro launcher — the same window you use to launch the game itself.
Step 1: Open the GSPro launcher. You’ll see a tab or button labeled “Course Manager” near the top. Click it.
Step 2: You’ll see a search bar and a list of courses. Type the course you want — “Augusta National,” “Pebble Beach,” whatever. The list filters as you type.
Step 3: Click the course. You’ll see a “Download” button. Most courses are 50-200 MB. Click download and wait. The progress bar is honest — it shows real download speed and estimated time.
Step 4: Once downloaded, the course appears in your local library. Close Course Manager. Launch GSPro. Your new course is in the course selection screen.
That’s it. Four steps. Two minutes.
One pro tip: Some community courses are hosted outside the official Course Manager — on Discord or Google Drive. These need manual installation. You download a ZIP file, extract it to your GSPro courses folder (usually Documents/GSPro/Courses/), and restart GSPro. It sounds technical. It’s not. Unzip, drag, restart. Done.
If you want the full walkthrough with screenshots, GSPro’s Discord has a dedicated channel for it. But the short version is exactly what I just told you.
Top Course Designers to Follow
GSPro has a community of course designers who are genuinely talented. These are the people building the courses you’ll play most often. Know their names.
Crazy Canuck — The GOAT. If you see a famous course with “Crazy Canuck” as the designer, download it immediately. He builds Augusta, Pebble, St Andrews, and dozens of others. His courses are consistently the highest quality in the library. I’m not sure he sleeps.
BigFudge — Specializes in American courses, especially the tough ones. Bethpage Black, Oakmont, Winged Foot. His courses tend to be brutally difficult and accurate. If you want a course that punishes you like the real thing, BigFudge is your guy.
DeWiz — Elite designer. His Pebble Beach version is one of the best courses on GSPro regardless of designer. He also builds a lot of lesser-known courses that are hidden gems.
FR|Designs — European-focused. His links courses are outstanding. If you want to play Royal Dornoch, Royal Birkdale, or any of the great English/Irish courses, FR|Designs has the best versions.
Goose — Specializes in modern tournament courses. His versions of courses that have hosted recent majors are usually the best available. Not as prolific as Crazy Canuck, but the quality is there.
Blew — A newer designer who’s been releasing bangers. His recent course builds are getting better fast. Watch his work — in another year he might be the top name.
Follow these names in the Course Manager. Subscribe to their courses if the feature is available (it notifies you when they release something new). Every time one of these designers drops a course, it’s a must-play.
For a complete comparison of GSPro courses versus other sim platforms, see our best golf simulator software guide, the GSPro vs E6 Connect comparison, and our best courses on E6 Connect guide for the officially licensed course alternative.
The Courses You Should Delete
Not every download is a keeper. Here are the courses worth skipping or deleting if you accidentally grabbed them:
Any course with “Beta” or “Alpha” in the title — These are unfinished. They’ll have missing holes, placeholder textures, and greens that don’t load. The designers are doing good work, but wait for the full release.
The really old versions of famous courses — “Augusta 2020” is not worth your hard drive space. The technology has improved massively since then. Only download the most recent version.
Courses with fewer than 100 downloads and bad screenshots — This sounds elitist. But the data shows that 19 out of 20 courses with under 100 downloads are not good. Use the download count as a filter. Designers who make good courses get downloaded.
FAQ
What are the best courses on GSPro? Augusta National (Crazy Canuck’s V2), Pebble Beach, St Andrews Old Course, TPC Sawgrass, and Bethpage Black lead the famous-course tier. The hidden gems — Cape Kidnappers, Royal County Down, Sand Hills, Lahinch — are where GSPro’s library really shines.
Does GSPro have Augusta National? Yes, through the community course collection. Search “Augusta National V2” or “Augusta 2025” — Crazy Canuck’s version is the one to get, with accurate greens and elevation changes on 10 and 18.
Are GSPro courses free to download? Yes — all 4,000+ courses in the Course Manager are free with your $250/year subscription. No per-course charges, no premium tier.
Is GSPro better than E6 Connect for courses? For variety, GSPro wins (4,000+ vs ~100). For officially licensed, laser-scanned course quality, E6 wins. Our best courses on E6 Connect guide covers the licensed alternative.
How do you spot a bad GSPro course before downloading? Check the download count (10,000+ is a good sign), look at the screenshots, check the designer’s name, prefer LIDAR-built courses, and always grab the latest version of famous courses — designers get better over time.
What to Play Tonight
If you’re sitting in front of your simulator right now with no idea what to download:
- Want a classic you’ll recognize? Crazy Canuck’s Augusta National
- Want to feel like you’re somewhere incredible? Cape Kidnappers
- Want to be punished? Bethpage Black by BigFudge
- Want to practice creativity? Sand Hills
- Want to drink a Guinness while playing? Lahinch (the Guinness is on you)
Four thousand courses. Eleven years of daily golf. And not a single one costs you extra money on top of that $250/year GSPro subscription. That’s the whole point of GSPro. (Wondering how GSPro’s pricing compares to subscription-heavy alternatives? Our subscription trap guide breaks down the 5-year cost of every major sim platform. And if you want to play before you pay, GSPro’s 14-day free trial is one of the free golf simulator software options worth using.)
Go download something and get swinging.
GSPro costs $250/year. All courses mentioned are free with your subscription. If you’re deciding between sim software platforms, our best golf simulator software guide breaks down GSPro vs E6 Connect vs TGC 2019. We may earn a commission if you purchase through links on this page — but the recommendations are based on actual playtime. No sponsored courses. No paid placements. Just honest opinions.
For the full breakdown of GSPro vs the competition, read the GSPro Software Review or the GSPro vs E6 Connect comparison.