Best Courses on GOLFZON Wave: What to Play

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GOLFZON is the largest golf simulator company in the world by revenue, and most American golfers have never heard of them.

That is changing fast. The company announced six major US partnerships in the last 12 months — the USGA, Troon (600+ courses), the NGCOA (4,000+ course owners), Pebble Beach Company, the Miami Dolphins, and a Forbes-reported indoor venue set for US debut. Their WAVE portable launch monitor just entered the sub-$1,000 consumer market, competing directly with the Garmin R10 and Rapsodo MLM2Pro.

But here is what nobody else in the budget LM space can claim: GOLFZON has 20 years of proprietary simulation software with a library of officially licensed courses that rivals GSPro and E6 Connect. Not user-created approximations. Not community recreations. Officially licensed venues that paid GOLFZON to be in their software.

If you buy a WAVE, you are not just buying a launch monitor. You are buying into a two-decade-old ecosystem with hundreds of courses, venue network integration, and partnerships that span the entire golf industry.

How GOLFZON Course Access Works

The WAVE is GOLFZON’s first consumer portable launch monitor. It connects to the GOLFZON software platform, which includes two tiers:

GOLFZON Go (free with WAVE): Access to a curated selection of driving ranges, practice modes, and a rotating set of free courses. Enough to decide if you like the platform.

GOLFZON Plus / Premium (paid tiers): Full access to the entire course library, tournament play, online multiplayer, and venue network integration. Pricing is still being finalized at launch, but expect it to compete with GSPro’s $299/year or E6’s tiered model.

The GOLFZON software runs on Windows and is connecting to iOS through the WAVE app. The physics engine is proprietary — developed over 20 years and refined through 500+ commercial installations in Korea.

Tier 1: The Famous Courses

Pebble Beach Golf Links — GOLFZON has an official Pebble Beach partnership that goes beyond simple course licensing. This is a strategic relationship that includes co-branded experiences and venue-level integration. The GOLFZON version of Pebble Beach is officially licensed, professionally built, and updated directly by GOLFZON’s development team. The cliffs on 8, the ocean carry on 17, the tiny green on 7 — all rendered with proper elevation data and pin positions that match the real course. If you own a WAVE, this is the first course you play. For the different experience on other platforms, see our Pebble Beach on GSPro guide.

St Andrews Old Course — The Old Course in GOLFZON’s library benefits from the company’s 20-year head start on sim development. The double greens, the Valley of Sin, the Road Hole bunker — these are all modeled from licensed course data, not approximations. GOLFZON’s physics engine handles the links ground game well: bump-and-run shots release instead of stopping dead. Compare with the GSPro version in our St Andrews guide.

Pinehurst No. 2 — GOLFZON has the post-restoration routing of Pinehurst No. 2, including the waste areas, the crowned turtleback greens, and the native sandscapes that make the course so distinctive. This is a top-3 Pinehurst sim experience alongside the GSPro and TrackMan versions.

TPC Sawgrass (Stadium Course) — The 17th hole at Sawgrass is the most famous par-3 in sim golf for a reason. GOLFZON’s version has accurate green slope data that makes the island green play correctly — the left-to-right tilt means a shot that lands center-left still feeds toward the pin on a front-right Sunday placement. Most sim versions flatten this and ruin the hole.

Bethpage Black — The GOLFZON version of Bethpage Black is punishing in the way Bethpage Black is supposed to be punishing. The rough is thick, the fairways are narrow, and the greens are firm. If you want to test whether the WAVE’s camera-based tracking handles side spin correctly, play Bethpage Black and hit a fade into a left pin. The ball flight model will tell you everything.

Bandon Dunes — GOLFZON licensed Bandon Dunes through their commercial sim program years before the USGA partnership. The course plays with the fescue rough, the ocean views, and the firm conditions that make Bandon special. The wind modeling is particularly good — GOLFZON’s commercial sims are used in venues that charge by the hour, so the software needs to create compelling conditions that keep players engaged.

Tier 2: The Asian Gems (Courses You Cannot Play Anywhere Else)

This is where GOLFZON separates itself from every US-centric platform. GOLFZON has licensing deals with courses across Korea, Japan, China, and Southeast Asia that no other sim software offers. If you are tired of playing the same 20 famous US courses on every platform, GOLFZON’s library is a breath of fresh air.

Nine Bridges (Jeju Island, Korea) — The most famous course in Korea, and GOLFZON has the exclusive sim license. Nine Bridges is a David Dale design that winds through pine forests on Jeju Island. Every hole is framed by trees, the fairways are pristine, and the greens are some of the most undulating in Asia. It is the closest thing Korea has to Augusta National and you can only play it on GOLFZON.

Pinx Golf Club (Jeju Island, Korea) — A Kyle Phillips design on the cliffs of Jeju Island. Ocean views on every hole. The 16th is a drivable par-4 with a carry over volcanic rock that rivals anything in the Bandon rotation. GOLFZON’s only competitor with the Pinx sim license is themselves.

Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea (Songdo, Incheon) — A Nicklaus signature design that hosted the 2015 Presidents Cup. It is long, demanding, and exactly what you would expect from a Nicklaus design in Asia. The GOLFZON version includes the lake that comes into play on six holes.

Lotte Skyhill Jeju — A mountain course on Jeju that plays through volcanic terrain with elevation changes that will mess with your club selection more than any flat US course. The signature 17th hole drops 80 feet from tee to fairway. GOLFZON’s elevation modeling handles this better than most platforms.

Thousand Oaks Golf Club (Korea) — A public-access course that Korean sim golfers play more than any other. Think of it as the Torrey Pines of Korean municipal golf — not the most famous course, but the one every local has played a hundred times.

Kasumigaseki Country Club (Japan) — Host of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics men’s golf competition (played in 2021). GOLFZON has the official sim license. The course is a tree-lined brute with some of the most demanding approach shots in Asian golf.

Kawana Hotel Fuji Course (Japan) — The iconic Japanese cliffside course with views of Mount Fuji on the horizon. The 6th hole — a par-3 that plays along the Pacific coast with Fuji in the distance — is one of the most beautiful holes in any sim software on any platform.

Tier 3: Worth Playing, Worth Skipping

Sheshan International (Shanghai, China) — Host of the WGC-HSBC Champions. The GOLFZON version is solid, but the course plays similarly to many US parkland courses. If you have limited time, play the Korean or Japanese courses first — they offer something you genuinely cannot get elsewhere.

Mission Hills Shenzhen (China) — The world’s largest golf complex with 12 courses. GOLFZON has several of them licensed. The World Cup Course (Olazabal design) is the best of the bunch. The others range from good to forgettable.

Various US public courses — GOLFZON’s library includes dozens of US courses that are fine but not destination-worthy. A good municipal course in GOLFZON plays exactly like you expect a good municipal course to play. No reason to seek them out when Pebble Beach and St Andrews are a click away.

What GOLFZON Does Not Have

No Augusta National. No Cypress Point. No Pine Valley. No Oakmont (wait — actually, check the library, it might be licensed through their USGA partnership). No Shinnecock Hills. No Royal County Down. No Royal Portrush.

The European and Irish links library is thin. GOLFZON’s licensing strength is Asia and the US. If you want to play Lahinch or Ballybunion, you need GSPro or TGC 2019.

GOLFZON Go vs. GSPro: Which Way to Go?

If you own a WAVE, the obvious question is: do I need GSPro too?

GSPro has more courses (1,500+), a massive community, and works with almost every launch monitor. It is the Swiss Army knife of sim software. For $299/year, you get the largest course library in premium sim golf.

GOLFZON’s software has fewer courses but they are all officially licensed. The Asian course library is exclusive to GOLFZON. The Pebble Beach version is official. The venue network integration — walking into a GOLFZON-powered venue and having your data follow you — does not exist anywhere else.

The answer depends on what you want to play. If you want the widest variety of famous US and European courses, get GSPro. If you want exclusive Asian courses, officially licensed versions of Pebble Beach and Pinehurst, and venue network integration, GOLFZON’s software makes sense.

Or get both. The WAVE works with GSPro too through a connector, and GSPro’s physics engine complements GOLFZON’s proprietary system.

The Bottom Line

GOLFZON is the sleeping giant of sim golf. Twenty years of software development, 500+ commercial venues, official licensing for Pebble Beach and a dozen exclusive Asian courses, and now a consumer launch monitor that costs less than a driver. The WAVE is the first product that makes GOLFZON’s course library accessible to the home market.

For the course explorer who has already played the big names on GSPro and wants something different, GOLFZON’s Asian course library is a genuine reason to buy the WAVE. Nine Bridges, Pinx, and Kasumigaseki are courses you simply cannot play anywhere else.

For the first-time sim buyer deciding between a WAVE and a Garmin R10: the WAVE gives you access to a 20-year-old ecosystem with more licensed courses than any other budget LM can claim. The hardware is unproven at launch, but the software is anything but.

Check our full GOLFZON WAVE review for the launch monitor specs, our Pebble Beach x GOLFZON partnership deep dive for the course licensing story, and our GOLFZON commercial dominance article for why this company matters. For the full platform landscape, the best golf simulator software guide has everything ranked.