Trackman’s NEXT Golf Tour and the simulator shaking up the sport

In Season 2 of the NEXT Golf Tour players will compete for European Tour starts

In golf’s Westworld players prepare to showcase their X-factor in season two of the NEXT Golf Tour and win the right to compete on the game’s biggest stage.

It’s early April 20023, and as golf’s elite arrived in Georgia for Masters week, the world’s 1499^th ranked golfer was signing off on his 7-under par 64 at Florida’s Innisbrook Copperhead Course.

An impressive round of golf… absolutely, but inconceivable for a player of that ranking… not so much.

More remarkable about Sebastian Wiis’ bogey-free round, just 3 strokes short of Padraig Harington’s course record, was that he managed to do so from 4,500 miles away. Oh, and without requiring a putter!

Welcome to a brave new world, where golf’s grinders are fighting virtually for a shot at the big time and chance to prove their game can flourish on the fairways that host golf’s greatest tournaments.

Make no mistake, the 994 golfers swinging on the NEXT Golf Tour (NGT) are not swapping Pro V1 caps for VR headsets. This is not the matrix, and only the most competent players will reach the final levels.

This is real skill, real pressure, real consequences, and real cash.

There is nothing artificial about the physical prowess on show here, only the lighting and projections that reimagine your wildest golfing fantasies (steady on).

The NEXT Golf Tour: At A Glance

NGT Season 1 Recap

Emerging blurry-eyed to his friends and family, another Scandi-swinger – Rasmus Rosin, returned to reality following his latest stint in virtual golf land.

His 1-under par 70 was sufficient to claim the inaugural ‘Order of Merit’, following top-five finishes in the first five NGT events which had already guaranteed him the title and $15,000 bonus check before he stepped foot inside the golf center simulator where he works part-time.

It took his total 2023 NGT winnings to $68,340.

The triumph was a ‘dream come true’ for the 22-year-old, who was further rewarded with an invite to play in one of the DP World Tour’s flagship events, the BMW International Open in Munich.

He missed the cut before you ask. But were it not for three dropped shots in the final three holes, the Swede wouldn’t have been far away.

Strength in the golf’s player pool is deeper than ever before with chances to stake a claim on the top tours few and far between.

That is why golf’s tentative steps into competitive golf simulation can only be positive, providing a financially viable pathway for talented players to chase their dreams.

The NGT is ‘outside the box’ thinking at its innovative best.

Or at least it would, be it for the unmistakable orange box pulling all the strings.

The thinking here is very much ‘inside the box’ – and for the uninitiated, the box goes by the name of Trackman.

We spoke to Trackman’s Vice President of Marketing, Bernd Larsen Linde, to explore the vision driving the NGT and why their virtual venture has been described as ‘just the beginning’.

Danish Doppler Trailblazers

Like most good things in golf at the moment, Trackman hails from Scandinavia.

Denmark to be exact, in the small town of Vedbaek, just north of Copenhagen, and is the creation of founder and golf enthusiasts Klaus (CEO) and Morten Eldrup-Jorgensen, and doppler-radar engineer Fredrik Tuxen (CTO).

Trackman’s purpose is to make golf more fun, more engaging, and more efficient to practice, play, and improve, driven by the desire to get better, and limited only by the laws of physics.

From its humble beginnings as a small Danish technology start-up, Trackman’s rise to prominence in the golf world has been extraordinary, today being integral in the data-driven decisions made by players, coaches, equipment manufacturers, and club fitters.

“There is something special about founder-led companies, says Linde.

“It’s the unwavering commitment to doing the absolute best, not necessarily in the interest of shareholders, but in the interests of the stakeholders we work with.

“We have to not just please our customers but surprise them and delight them.”

This customer-centric commitment, combined with an ethos of over-investing in technology and expertise is what Linde believes has launched Trackman into their enviable position today as the PGA Tour’s launch monitor of choice.

The little orange box is omnipresent across driving ranges, providing the games’ elite with unrivaled insight into the critical determinants underpinning their performance.

And it’s that almost inconceivably large bank of outdoor shot data that has enabled Trackman to reimagine authentic golf experiences indoors.

“The one thing that keeps us awake at night is how we can make it more real and more accurate, explains Linde.

“We are obsessed. It has to feel real.”

And Trackman’s new landmark agreement with the European Tour group is a clear signal that the simulated golf experience is marrying ‘feel’ and ‘real’ like never before.

The Season 2 NGT Order of Merit winner will receive invites to play in DP World Tour and Challenge Tour events in 2024.

Never has golf’s premier tours considered a qualification-based pathway wholly reliant on the accuracy of and integrity of technology. It’s a significant statement.

Trackman now has the responsibility to influence not just performance, but career-changing opportunity.

And when asked if a future Major champion could one day emerge from NGT origins, Linde’s response was not uncertain.

“Absolutely, it might already be happening.”

As a new pro, Oregon University graduate Sofie Kibsgaard was facing all the challenges that most new pros are faced with – how do I finance my new life and where do I find sponsors to fund it?

Sofie ended up teeing it up on the NGT during the winter, winning round three at the Medinah Country Club, and with it close to $22,533 in Season 1.

Since her win in the sim, Kibsgaard has gone on to win twice on the Ladies European Tour (LET) Access Series, currently leading the Order of Merit, and has already secured a LET Tour card.

Without the financial burdens associated with grinding it out on lower-tier tours, players can swing away freely, motivated by opportunity alone.

These are the success stories that Trackman will hope to tell as their journey toward creating the biggest professional tournament series in golf progresses.

Formula One Esports Series and cycling’s Zwift Esports World Championship have already made headway in this arena, providing platforms for amateur athletes to test their metal against the best in the business.

Turkish racer Cem Bolukbasi became the first virtual racer from F1’s Esports series to make the real-world step up by competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

Opportunities need to be exploited when they present themselves, and Trackman has done just that with the NGT, demonstrating shrewd business acumen to ensure their class-leading product can thrive in a fast-evolving technological landscape.

The simulation bandwagon will be further loaded in 2024 with the considerable weight of Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, and their virtual TGL Golf League.

The TGL will see the duo joined by fellow PGA Tour pros to compete in front of a live Monday night studio audience on a tech-infused virtual course, giving fans a fun and interactive insight into how the best play the game.

Golf as we currently know it is starting to cut new shapes, and if the two loudest voices in the game decide that embracing technology is a solution to generating a new fan base, who can stand in their way?

Democratizing golf

A final reason why the endeavors of Trackman should be encouraged is the potential to help golf break down long-standing participation barriers.

A ‘Golf for All’ research project, commissioned by the UK’s Professional Golfers Association (PGA) recently highlighted how participation in non-traditional formats of the game accounts for over twice that of on-course golfers.

This previously undiscovered wave of hungry adventure golfers includes those who use driving ranges, pitch, and putt courses, and two million already swinging in golf simulators.

This potential for golf to be more inclusive of different forms of the game and the people who play them has not gone unnoticed by Trackman.

“We think indoor golf has the potential to democratize the game, says Linde.

“It’s super exciting. We can gamify the golf experience, making it more interesting and less intimidating for people to access the sport.”

The golf simulator is the perfect hybrid to bridge this gap, rescuing golf from its wider accessibility challenges, and filling the bottom of the participation pyramid with a new mixed-gender, socio-economic, and ethnically diverse player pool ready to swing like no-ones watching.

After all, concerns of not being good enough don’t exist in golf’s simulated world.

A positive experience for casual golfers today can be a positive influence on competitive golfers tomorrow.

And this is why extending golf’s eco-system is at the heart of Trackman’s long-term vision.

The future of the NGT is about more than the experience, it’s about building a community that unites golfers around the world, irrespective of ability, enabling them to share every shot of their virtual journey via social media.

Even technophobes will find it hard to contain their excitement at the prospect of hitting some of the most iconic shots in golf, made possible through meticulous drone mapping with painstaking precision that captures every contour in photo-realistic detail.

It again comes back to accuracy and the pursuit of authenticity.

The NGT is spearheading golf’s voyage into the ‘great indoors’, and its future is looking bright, with a distinctly orange tone.

More information on the Trackman-powered NEXT Golf Tour can be found here.

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About the author

Ross Tugwood
Golf Equipment Writer

Ross Tugwood is a golf equipment writer for todays-golfer.com, specializing in data, analytics, science, and innovation. He’s also an expert in golf apparel and has a keen interest in sustainability.

Ross is passionate about optimizing sports performance and has a decade of experience working with professional athletes and coaches for British Athletics, the UK Sports Institute, and Team GB.

He has post-graduate degrees in Performance Analysis and Sports Journalism, enabling him to critically analyze and review the latest golf equipment and technology to help you make better-informed buying decisions.

Ross lives in Snowdonia National Park with his wife and 40 kg Bernese Mountain dog! He is a member of Porthmadog Golf Club with a handicap index of 13.8.

Away from golf, Ross enjoys hiking, trail running, and supporting the mighty Bristol Bears.

Ross uses a Cobra King SZ Speedzone driver, Titleist TSi2 3-Wood, TaylorMade Sim2 Rescue, Callaway Apex Pro irons (4-PW), Cleveland 588 RTX wedges (52°, 58°), TaylorMade Spider Ex putter, and a TaylorMade Tour Response golf ball.