So I got an Oculus Quest 2 a few weeks back. Along with games like Beat Saber or Super Hot, I have been intrigued with its ability to play golf. Ideally, I would set up a launch monitor and golf sim in my garage, but until that is a realistic idea, I wanted to see if VR could fill that gap.
There are 3 respectable golf games for the oculus: Golf+, Golf5 eClub, and exVRience.
Each seem to have their own pros and cons. Golf5 eClub went on sale this week so that sort of made the decision for me. Going in, I read that the general pros are that it has more realistic physics and sponsorship with Callaway so there's some money behind it. General cons are that the putting system is a little tough (very fast greens) and the courses aren't actual real-world courses.
To further the experience, I was able to build a little club adapter using an old iron I picked up at a thrift store, and a 3d printed part - there are a few plans available for free on thingiverse. It turned out really well. I added an iron spike inside the shaft to bring the weight to around 400g, and it makes the game much more fun.
I've only been playing it for a couple days now, but here's my early review.
First, it is a clear step below an indoor simulator because it can't replicate the feel of actually hitting a ball. The biggest difference I found is, even with the weighted club, you don't have the same sense of where the clubhead is at the top of the backswing. It can make it difficult to hit the positions you are used to when swinging a real club.
Next, it's a bit difficult to get a feel for where the ground is. In eClub, the controller will vibrate when your club hits the ground, so you are informed of where it is. But in real golf, for example, I like to rest the club on the ground slightly at address, which helps my arms and shoulders to relax. Here, you are holding the club in place since it isn't actually touching the ground. By the same token, it can be very easy to accidentally nudge the ball at address.
Finally, for eClub, you need to go through all of your clubs and calibrate them for your distances. Hit a few balls for each club and adjust the club length and power meter so that it feels right for you. There is also a club x/y angle which I think is loft/lie. I haven't been touching those.
But once that is all done, it has been a lot of fun to play. The fact that the Oculus Quest system is wireless, you have a fully portable golf sim that doesn't require a lot of room.
The system tracks fades/slices and draws/hooks as I've hit all four while playing. I'm not the greatest at working the ball in real life, but my irons generally have a natural draw. In the sim, I seem to hit more slight fades and pushes.
There is a system where you can upgrade your clubs, based on how you progress in the game, so I'm curious if some of the mis-hits are built-in based on my handicap (you start at a handicap of 48 and work your way up from there) or the set of clubs you use, or both. Time will tell.
Hitting out of the rough will affect your distances. Sand shots are tricky. I tried hitting a blast shot with a 3/4 swing, and the ball launched out of the sand like I clipped it, though not quite as far. I tried to really gouge the sand and hit way below the ball, and the ball only went maybe 2 feet. I tried clipping a ball clean, and it did a good job - almost full distance. So it does take sand and club depth into consideration, but not sure yet how.
When putting, you can press a button to see the contours, and the greens are quick but not stupid quick. Hardest part is your field of view is much less with oculus, so you have to be relatively near the pin to see the pin in your peripheral vision when putting. I found I was always looking up to see the pin. There is no way to align your ball so the direction line/pointer is on your putting path. That would really help.
They do a good job with feedback. When you swing, you hear the woosh of the club, and the vibrations simulate the feel of the ball making contact. I do wish it could change the vibrations depending on a clean hit vs a hit off the toe or heel for example.
Another quirk I'm trying to figure out is hitting off an upslope or downslope. In real life, you can align your shoulders with the slope and hit. Here, the ball is on the slope, but your feet are actually on level ground. I've found it difficult to hit clean shots in these scenarios.
Some of the course design is a little wonky too. One green was sloped back to front, with the fairway sloped as well. I hit an approach that bounced about pin high, rolled past 10 yards, then gravity got it to roll back, down the slope, off the front of the green, and to bottom of the slope on the fairway, a good 130 yds away. That feels excessively unfair.
That said, the immersion in the world is the biggest win. You can look all around you to view your surroundings. On the unfair hole I mentioned above, my next shot didn't quite make it up the slope to the green and the ball rolled back down again. Watching the ball fall short, and then roll back down towards you and past your feet is one of those aha vr moments.
Another example is in my shot routine. My routine is not that complex, but I can replicate it perfectly in vr. I'll address the ball a foot away, take a practice swing, then walk behind the ball, pick a target, find a spot on the grass in front of the ball as my shot path, come back to the side of the ball, align my club to the target line defined by the spot on the grass, align my body with the club, then hit. Being able to do this flawlessly really helps the immersion.
eGolf also has a high precision mode which is supposed to be even more accurate physics wise. Without it, I found it easy to hit shots with good trajectory and decent distance. With it on, it's a lot harder to hit clean shots, and you can't flight shots quite as high, even on pure contact. Also, the path of the ball seems more realistic. The way it lands/bounces/rolls out looks much more true to life.
All in all, it's a lot of fun. I can easily spend a couple hours playing golf (a round typically only takes around 20-30 minutes to play) as the time flies. There's a little concern that it will ruin my swing if, for example, I play it all winter. Again, time will tell.
I may pick up one or both of the other golf games to compare. I've heard Golf+ is a little more arcade like but has PGA Tour and Top Golf backing which allows them to have real courses and the Top Golf layout too. exVRience is supposed to be more realistic, not as great visually, but is developed by a small independent team that gets/provides lots of feedback on their discord server.