Virtual Golf Hacks

Requests for advice have been landing in my messages lately. Usually when the questions are golf related, I’m happy to offer a detailed response. These questions, however, are about succeeding at virtual golf on the NEXT Tour – a subject I’m unqualified to help with. 

For reasons mostly self-serving, I sought the advice of a few of the best players in the virtual game: Jordan Weber, Emma Thorngren, and Oliver Lilliedahl. 

Jordan Weber was the #1 ranked player in virtual golf on GS Pro software before he began playing on the NEXT Golf Tour. He currently sits 2nd on the NEXT Order of Merit with one event remaining in the regular season. Weber won the forth event of the season, played virtually at PGA West Stadium course, earning $30,000. Weber also tied the low score the following event at Muirfield Village, but lost in a scorecard playoff. My colleague, Ryan French, detailed Weber’s unlikely journey to the top of the simulator golf world recently. 

Emma Thorngren is an LET Access Tour player from Sweden who nearly graduated to the LET Tour last season. Thorngren’s goal is to earn her way to the LET Tour and eventually, the LPGA Tour. In the forth event of the NEXT season at PGA West, Thorngren caught fire and shot 10-under par. She is 10th on NEXT’s OOM headed into the sixth event.

Oliver Lilliedahl won the first NEXT event of the season, shooting 8-under at Marco Simone to jumpstart his year. He has been working at an indoor golf facility in Sweden and practices before and after his shifts. Lilliedahl expected to play the Nordic Golf League this season, but winning shifted his focus to the NEXT Tour.

Question: How have you prepared for NEXT events?

JW: I traveled to a different location to play the first event and I had been playing on the GS Pro software, so there was an adjustment and a bit of a learning curve there. 

One of the things I’ve really fallen in love with with Trackman is their practice modules that they have. They have this target practice range with bunkers and water and you can set up any shot you can think of. And I really love going on there and hitting a lot of wedges.

I love practicing face control. I’ll sit there and work on a zero axis spin shot so it goes dead straight, and I’ll work on my path to get in-to-out one degree. Since everything is measured, you can challenge yourself in so many different ways, which helps you improve.

ET: When we find out where we’re going to play the NEXT Round, first I play the course a couple of times just to get the feel of it. Then I’ll break it down hole by hole. The closer to the tournament I get, I try to see how the greens look like. Even once the tournament starts, you can look at pin positions from players who have already started playing the tournament.  

OL: Leading up to the tournament we knew a month in advance where we would play the first event: Marco Simone. I counted all the practice rounds I had for that and it turned out to be 32 rounds. 

I looked at it as I want to be able to prepare better than anyone else and give myself the best chances. I figured I could play the course, and put myself in on-course practice, and figure out the best shots to hit.

Question: What advice would you have for players trying to overcome the learning curve of simulator golf?

JW: The rough – getting used to the percentages. It takes off a certain percentage and reduces spin by a certain percentage, so, you know, getting used to how the ball is going to come out and stop on the greens based on that. Once you get it, it gets better.

The short game definitely – how it comes out of the bunkers is unique sometimes. They always take off a certain percentage. So getting a feel for, hey, if I have a 15-yard yard bunker shot, and it’s kind of a flat green, how far do I need to fly it for a normal shot so it’ll go the right distance on a sand shot? 

It’s kind of like anything else, you need to practice at it and pay attention to your numbers, and then you can figure it out but it takes time

ET: It’s really tough. It’s very easy to be stupid-aggressive. You just want to get into the gimmie zone. You go for every pin there is. What I’ve found is a good strategy is really take a moment to study the strategy.

It’s very easy to go very fast. You don’t have to walk. You have all the numbers in front of you. You don’t have to use your laser. You see everything in front of you. Take your time and be smart about it.

I realized really fast that I can’t go for every pin because some up-and-downs are impossible. 

OL: You’re hitting into a screen that’s 3 meters or 9 feet in front of you. It’s going to be hard to find any depth to the green like you can see outside. Usually I find a landing spot and know how the ball is going to react all the time, but I couldn’t find a way to do that inside. 

It’s more like finding a swing on the clock system with my wedges. So if I take a wedge to my knee it might carry 15 meters, or 10 meters from the rough. It’s been a whole lot of that.

Question: Have you felt pressure contending for a tournament title in a simulator?

JW: I didn’t think I could win one of these. And it (a late-in-the-round putt to tie the lead) almost went in and I was really disappointed when it didn’t go in. And then the next hole was a par-3 with water all around and I was shaking. My hands were shaking. I was so nervous. It’s been a while since I’ve played for that much money. I’ve never won that much money on any tour event and I somehow put a good swing on it.

ET: I actually had a lot of financial anxiety coming into this year because I barely broke even last year. I was like: I don’t know how I’m going to make it work this year financially. I was really scared going into the year. I couldn’t afford the LET membership. I was set on playing another year on the Access Tour. I was really anxious. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. I didn’t know if I’d be able to play anymore.

During Round 4, I was 5 or 6-under after 9 holes. I have never been that nervous in any event. You see that leaderboard in the right corner and see your name climbing up to the top and you know how much money is at stake and how much it means to you. I had no idea you could feel that.

Finishing 2nd in that event, I got so emotional. I basically secured my entire season. It changed everything. I feel a lot more confident. I feel like I know exactly where my swing is. That gives me a lot of confidence going into the season. 

Question: Any final words of advice for players trying to improve?

JW: I am a simulator nerd so I research what all these builders are doing, and how they’re building these things. 

With the trees on some softwares they call them "colliders." They don’t put colliders on every branch out there. So sometimes you can get through that branch and sometimes you can't, and you have to weigh the risk and reward of trying it. That’s a little bit of a learning curve, but what I’d gone to is just go for it.

ET: Be humble about it. It’s quite different from outdoor golf. It’s like a different sport. I’d say know your numbers. I know how much of a curve I hit with every iron and every wood. Be smart about it, don’t go chasing every pin. It’s harder now; we’re playing with firmer greens. Take it as a fun challenge. Don’t go in with high expectations. Don’t go in and expect you’re going to win every event because there’s a lot of good players playing. Practice a lot of short game and putting.

OL: Something I noticed – especially bunker compared to fairway – the shot comes out lower than I expect so I always try to loft up as much as possible. Once I figured that out I saw my average score drop significantly. 

‍