There is a particular thrill to standing on the tee of a hole you have only ever seen on television. We have rebuilt a lot of those holes inside our bays — you can play them tonight — and doing so is the best possible homework for the day you get to play the real one. But a screen can only carry a famous hole so far. Here are some of the game's most legendary holes, what makes them great, and the parts of the experience the sim simply cannot hand you.
A note on the numbers below: the yardages come from our course-research pass and carry a medium-confidence label. Real courses move their tees for tournaments, members play different decks, and a hole you see at one number in a bay build might play several yards longer on the real card. Treat every yardage here as the neighborhood, not the gospel.
The 17th at TPC Sawgrass — the island green
The most famous tee shot in golf is a wedge. TPC Sawgrass's 17th plays around 137 yards to a green ringed entirely by water — a hole born by accident when the surrounding land was mined for sand to build the rest of the swamp, leaving a crater Alice Dye suggested filling with water. In the bay it is a pure test of a stock wedge, and a great one. What the sim cannot give you is the swirling breeze that makes tour pros re-club three times, or the way your hands shake when there is no bailout and a real splash waiting. The distance is easy; the setting is the entire hole.
The 7th at Pebble Beach — the shortest test with the biggest teeth
Pebble Beach's 7th is a downhill par 3 of roughly 106 yards — a pitching wedge on a calm day — perched above Stillwater Cove with the Pacific on three sides. The bay renders the drop and the tiny green faithfully. It cannot render the ocean crosswind that turns a flip wedge into a punched 8-iron, which is the whole reason this is one of the most nerve-wracking short shots in the world. The yardage is a suggestion; the wind writes the real number.
The Postage Stamp — Royal Troon's 8th
Links golf is where the gap between screen and reality yawns widest. Royal Troon's 8th, the "Postage Stamp," is the shortest hole in Open Championship rota golf at about 123 yards — the hole where a 71-year-old Gene Sarazen made an ace in the 1973 Open, still the oldest in Open history. On the same course the 6th, "Turnberry," was stretched to roughly 623 yards for the 2024 Open, the longest hole in Open history. Play them back to back in the bay for the contrast. Just know the sim gives you clean air over a wild, firm, running links — outdoors the ground bounces, the wind never quits, and a pot bunker is a genuine one-shot penalty, not a modeled inconvenience.
The Ocean Course's 17th — Pete Dye's favorite
Kiawah Island's Ocean Course 17th is an all-carry par 3 of about 221 yards over an eight-acre lake Dye dug specifically to punish players who could otherwise handle a bunker. It stands where 1991 Ryder Cup nerves frayed in the "War by the Shore." The bay gives you the carry problem cleanly. It cannot give you the coastal wind off the Atlantic that makes 221 yards feel like anything the day demands.
The Lighthouse Hole — Harbour Town's 18th
Harbour Town's closing 18th, roughly 478 yards, runs along Calibogue Sound with the candy-striped lighthouse behind the green as your aim line. The sound guards the entire left side. In the bay you get the postcard sightline and the lighthouse target. Outdoors you get the sea breeze pushing everything toward the water and the low-country pressure of a real closing hole — the reason a 40-something Arnold Palmer once had to will his way home here.
The scariest second shot in golf — Bay Hill's 18th
Closer to home, Bay Hill's 18th plays about 441 yards to a banana-shaped green with a lake guarding the whole right side — the stage for Robert Gamez's holed 7-iron walk-off eagle in 1990. It is an Orlando drive from Wesley Chapel, and yes, it is in our bays. Scout the angle tonight; the real version adds Florida wind and a green that has decided tour titles.
Dyeabolical and the blind approach — Whistling Straits and Tobacco Road
Whistling Straits's 17th, "Pinched Nerve," is a par 3 of about 223 yards with a 20-foot drop to Lake Michigan left — a one-shotter ranked among the hardest holes on a course that has decided three PGA Championships. And for pure quirk, Tobacco Road's 9th plays uphill to a green completely blind behind a hillside, marked only by a 15-foot flagstick. The sim can show you the blindness; it cannot give you the disorienting walk over the crest to see where your ball actually finished.
One legend you won't find in our bays
Honesty matters here: the Old Course at St Andrews was pulled from GSPro over a licensing dispute, so we do not offer it and we will not pretend a look-alike is the real thing. Some legends you have to travel for. That is part of what makes them legends.
The lesson across all of them is the same. A sim is a superb scouting tool — it teaches you the shape, the sightline, the carry, and the decision. The wind, the firm ground, the ocean pressure, and the nerve are the real course's to keep, and the only way to collect them is to go. Play them here first. Then go play them for real.
From the glossary
Related reading: From the Bay to the First Tee: What Changes When You Play Outdoors · Book the Real Thing: Florida Courses You've Already Played in the Bay · Your Sim Scores vs Your Real Handicap: Why They Differ and What Transfers · Playing the Great Courses in GSPro (Tonight)