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This week, all eyes are on Los Angeles as the 2023 US Open descends on the City of Angels. All the big guns will be there and this will be the first cross-tour event since the news broke about the PGA Tour and LIV/PIF announcing the merger between the two. While there will undoubtedly be discussion around those dynamics over the next few days, what’s far more interesting is to look at the course and wonder just how the players will handle the unique layout of the Los Angeles Country Club with it’s now-wildly-deep rough and undulating fairways.
For nearly all of us watching, we’ll likely never have the opportunity to play the courses we see our favorite pros play, especially at the same time as them. But with the magic of golf simulators, launch monitors, and simulator software, there are now actually multiple ways for amateurs to join in the fun on big weekends as both big tournaments and majors happen. If you have a simulator setup or are planning on putting one together, here are a couple ways you can try out the LA Country Club this week along with the pros.
TGC 2019
TGC 2019 is on the expensive side of the golf simulator software, but that initial, one-time cost comes with a crazy amount of courses to play. While many of them are poorly made by those who don’t know what they are doing, there are plenty of great versions of fantastic courses that you can play. For the best of the best, there are LiDAR-based builds that add to the realism of the layout and help you feel the real ups and downs of the course.
If you have or are planning to purchase TGC 2019, you can search Los Angeles C.C. – North (LiDAR) to find the most-accurate build of the course for the 2023 US Open. TGC 2019’s graphics engine has its limits when it comes to realism, but this build looks quite good to my eye. Again, with LiDAR data, we can feel confident about all the wild undulations of this golf course, and it makes me truly appreciate the pros when I play this one.
GS Pro
My preferred way to play the 2023 US Open is by far GS Pro. Again, this software always relies on LiDAR data for all of its courses and the realism is turned up quite a bit with GS Pro versus TGC 2019. While this particular build isn’t the best-looking, most breathtaking course on GS Pro by a long shot, it does feel a bit more like being there for real than what I see on TGC 2019.
As a nice addition, GS Pro is far less expensive up front compared with TGC 2019. For $250, you can get your one-year license and be up and running right away. And transferring to new hardware or a new laptop is super simple, too, making GS Pro the best simulator software you can buy in my opinion. And the onslaught of new courses is mind-boggling, with new, curated courses coming online almost daily. As it works well with many launch monitors – both in an official and unofficial capacity – GS Pro is the option I’d recommend without doubt.
You can check out our golf simulator setup in the video above or by checking out this link, but you don’t have to go all-out like we’ve done to enjoy this course and get playing it alongside the pros this week. If you have a launch monitor, computer, and a net, you can get in on the action right away. But either way you go with it, have fun, enjoy the game, and see how you can fare against the pros this week with a few rounds of screen golf!