My New Favorite Golf Video Game Has Been There All Along

July 6, 2026 - 23:26

For years, I thought I had tried every worthwhile golf video game on the market. I cycled through the hyper-realistic simulators, the arcade-style slugfests, and the mobile time-wasters. Nothing stuck. Then I realized the best one had been sitting in my library the whole time, quietly updated and ignored. It is not flashy. It does not have a big publisher pushing it. But it nails the feeling of a Saturday morning round better than anything else.

And even better-Dan Rapaport and I just got to design our own course on it. Presenting: The DOG Track.

The game in question is a sandbox for golf fans who care more about creativity than pixel-perfect grass textures. You can shape every hole, adjust the wind, and set the pin placements. Dan and I spent an afternoon building a nine-hole layout that is part joke, part genuine challenge. We called it The DOG Track because it plays like a stubborn animal. One hole is a short par-three with a massive bunker shaped like a paw print. Another is a long dogleg that forces you to decide between a risky carry over water or a safe layup into a narrow fairway.

What makes this game special is the freedom. You are not stuck playing Augusta National or St. Andrews for the thousandth time. You can build something ugly, beautiful, or completely unfair. The DOG Track is all three. We threw in a blind tee shot over a hill, a green that slopes toward a pond, and a finishing hole that requires a perfect approach to a tiny elevated surface.

If you have been sleeping on this game, wake up. It has been there all along, waiting for you to grab a friend and build something stupid. The DOG Track is proof that the best golf experiences are the ones you make yourself.