Winged Foot’s West Course is famous for one thing: making the best golfers in the world look like they’ve never held a club before.
The 2020 US Open at Winged Foot was an absolute bloodbath. Bryson DeChambeau won at 6-under par — the only player under par all week. Everyone else got destroyed. Fairways missed. Greens missed. Bogeys, doubles, and the kind of golf that makes you question whether you should keep playing.
The course does this with a simple formula: narrow fairways, thick rough, elevated greens, and a finishing stretch (holes 15 through 18) that is arguably the hardest four-hole closing sequence in American golf.
On GSPro, BigFudge’s version captures all of it. If you want to know what a real US Open test feels like, Winged Foot will tell you.
Why Winged Foot Works on Sim
The Winged Foot West course is not long by modern standards — about 7,200 yards from the tips. But the course doesn’t need length to defend itself. The fairways are tree-lined and narrow. The rough is thick and penal. The greens are elevated and surrounded by bunkers that are genuinely scary.
On GSPro, the most important feature is the green complexes. Winged Foot’s greens are raised above the surrounding fairways. A ball that lands on the wrong part of the green runs off the sides into collection areas that are almost impossible to get up and down from. The GSPro version captures this elevation change accurately. You’ll hit approaches that look good and watch them slide off the green like the course is mocking you.
The second most important feature is the rough. BigFudge’s version has rough that’s penal enough to change your club selection. Hit it in the fairway or punch out. There’s no third option.
Finding the Right Version
BigFudge is the designer you want. Search “Winged Foot West” in Course Manager.
There are also versions that combine both the West and East courses into a single download. These are fine if you want to play both, but for the championship layout — the one that hosted the 2020 and 1974 US Opens — you want the West Course standalone build.
The BigFudge version with the most downloads is the one you want. If there’s an update from 2025 or later, grab that one. The newer builds have better green textures and more accurate bunker rendering.
Search term: “Winged Foot West”
What It Actually Looks Like
Winged Foot is a classic A.W. Tillinghast design — the same architect who built Bethpage Black and Baltusrol. It looks like a parkland course from the golden age of architecture. Tree-lined. Bunkered. No gimmicks. Just good, hard golf.
The GSPro version renders this aesthetic perfectly. The trees frame the fairways. The bunkers look deep. The greens sit above the fairway like platforms, which is exactly how Tillinghast designed them.
The visual highlight is the 18th hole — a 450-yard par 4 that has ruined more US Open dreams than almost any other single hole. The fairway is tight. The green is elevated and surrounded by bunkers. On GSPro, you’ll stand on the tee and know that a par here is a genuine achievement. A bogey is acceptable. A double is deserved.
Playing Winged Foot the Right Way
Conditions: Firm and fast. Winged Foot without firm conditions is playable. Winged Foot with firm conditions is a US Open. The greens need to be fast enough that approaches run through. The fairways need to be firm enough that drives roll into the rough.
Tees: Championship tees. The course is not long, but it doesn’t need to be. The test is accuracy, not distance.
Wind: 5-10 mph. Just enough to make the approach shots interesting. The course is already hard enough without adding 20 mph gusts.
The finishing stretch: Holes 15-18 are the hardest closing run in American golf. On GSPro, play them as a separate four-hole challenge. See what you shoot. If it’s better than 4-over, you’re playing better than Bryson DeChambeau shot the back nine on Sunday of the 2020 US Open. (He shot 3-over on the back. The winning round was 71.)
The Holes That Shine on Sim
Hole 6 — The par 5: 540 yards with a creek that crosses the fairway on the second shot. The green is elevated and protected by bunkers. On GSPro, you have a real decision: go for it in two and risk the creek, or lay up and leave yourself a wedge to a green that’s hard to hold. Most of us lay up. Better to lay up than to reload.
Hole 10 — The start of the back nine: A 215-yard par 3 from the tips. Yes, 215 yards. Into a green surrounded by bunkers. On GSPro, you’ll hit a hybrid, watch it soar, and hope it finds the putting surface. It’s the hardest par 3 on the course and it sets the tone for the entire back nine.
Hole 18 — The finisher: 450 yards. Tree-lined. Bunkers everywhere. A green that sits above you like a fortress. On GSPro, this is the hole that makes you appreciate how architecture can destroy scorecards without cheating. Every shot matters. Every miss is punished. Par feels like a birdie.
What I’d Change
The rough in BigFudge’s version is penal but visually could be thicker. In real Winged Foot, the rough is so dense that you can’t see your shoes when you stand in it. On GSPro, it’s punishing in terms of shot outcome but doesn’t look as menacing. Minor complaint. The course plays correctly.
Why This Matters
Winged Foot is one of the toughest courses in the world and a regular US Open venue. Having it on GSPro — free, with your subscription — means you can test yourself against the same course that made DeChambeau, Wolff, and the entire 2020 US Open field look ordinary.
It won’t be fun. It will be educational. Go download it, play the finishing stretch, and accept whatever score it gives you.
For a full breakdown of how GSPro compares to the competition, read the GSPro Software Review. Want more course recommendations? See the full list in The Best Courses on GSPro.