A Career in Virtual Golf Course Design: Tekbud Talks Tech, Design & What’s Next for Indoor Golf
Sometimes a hobby becomes a full-time gig. Every once in a while, that hobby is golf. Just ask Brent Wells, the Alabama-based virtual golf course builder behind TekBud Designs. He’s one of the most notorious designers in the space, having constructed hundreds of tracks. These designs include courses inspired by everything from the world’s most infamous links to local munis commissioned by businesses, major software and golf tech companies, and passionate golfers set on playing their favorite layouts at home. So, how exactly does a person become a virtual golf course designer?
From On-Course Golf to Sim Software
“I was in the golf business early on,” says Wells. He’s an easy-going guy with quick wit and deep technical knowledge that he’s intentional about simplifying in casual conversation. Wells grew up in Maryland; he remembers sketching outlines of bunkers and greens into graph paper as early as grade school. After completing a PGM management program in college, he moved to Florida, then Alabama, in pursuit of a career in golf and landed at a club in Birmingham.
“I didn’t love it, to be honest,” he says. He’s good-humored about his time as a PGA professional. “I love golf, but I didn’t love selling shirts.” So, he changed directions, built a career in IT, and started a family.
Around that time, indoor golf had started to pick up steam, especially in consumer markets. “I remember watching a video 10 or 12 years ago of a guy in his basement with a huge, beautiful Trackman setup. Screen, projector–you name it,” says Wells. He currently plays to about a four handicap, but admits that between career and family obligations, finding time for golf can be a challenge. “I thought: It would be unbelievable to have something that convenient.”
“I started wondering if there was anything cheaper I could get started with,” says Wells, who got a setup going with a net and a portable launch monitor. “That got me into indoor golf. Then,” he laughs, “I got a really bad case of upgrade-itis.”
After eventually making his way to a Skytrak setup, he ended up in touch with the group behind a game called Perfect Golf as one of its first beta testers. He talks about the experience with the anticipation of a kid on Christmas. “I was so excited to get the beta downloaded–get it all installed, configured, and set up. Then, when I hit the first shot… it went backwards in the game. I took 10 or 12 more shots and none of them read—not ideal. That was my first experience with beta testing.”
Suffice to say, indoor golf has come a long way since.
An Industry Gets an Upgrade
While golf simulator concepts have been around since the earliest video games and PCs, the technology has become increasingly accurate and (substantially more accessible) over the last decade. Home systems have advanced thanks to rising market demand, which has also influenced investments, acquisitions, and serious research and development from a now-established stable of golf simulator hardware and software brands.
Among them, Perfect Golf became Jack Nicklaus Perfect Golf in the spring of 2016, releasing its Course Forward platform and touting it “the most realistic golf computer game the market [had] ever seen.” The game drew inspiration from Jack Nicklaus’s renowned Nicklaus Design and, perhaps most significant to Wells, included an innovative new way to incorporate real-life terrain data into virtual course builds.
“I could basically replicate the terrain elements of a course or build my own from scratch,” says Wells, who immediately set out to build a local favorite, Pursell Farms.
An example of a hole designed for a virtual course created by Brent Wells. Photo courtesy of Tekbud Designs.
“The YouTubers have been all over Pursell the last few years,” says Wells. “It’s so hilly. One of the par threes has like a 240-foot drop between the tee and the green. It’s insane. So, I figured if I could build that and make it good and accurate, then the world is kind of my oyster.”
And, so, he built a virtual version of the course. And then another, and another.
The Art & Science of Building a Golf Course
Used in conjunction with sim hardware (launch monitors, sensors, cameras), today’s golf simulation software tracks the movement and behavior of golf shots with astounding accuracy–especially compared to the models of the early 2000s and 2010s. The software processes data points like ball speed, launch angle, spin rate, and club path to recreate the trajectory and landing of the ball in its corresponding digital, 3D-rendered environment. The process of building out that environment is a unique combination of art and science.
Designers start with LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data, which provides detailed topographical information reflecting the precise terrain of land parcels, including golf courses. LiDAR technology uses laser pulses to measure distances from the scanner to the ground (accounting for slopes and inclines, but also obstructions like cliffs, sand bars, and water bodies) to generate a map of the landscape. This data is publicly available through various state and federal organizations, including university archives, research institutions, and the USGS (United States Geological Survey).
Building a virtual golf course requires a combination of art and science (plus a ton of attention to detail).
Comprehensive LiDAR data is a must, says Wells: “You really can’t build a solid course without it. The more accurate it is, the better the course will turn out.”
Once the terrain is in place, builders set out to overlay imagery. “I use a tool that’s kind of like Photoshop, and basically draw out what I see. Then, that data gets run through a 3D blender—basically an online system created by the sim software,” he adds. “It ends up spitting out a collection of 3D meshes.” The meshes fit together like puzzle pieces, accounting for greens that slope and undulate in unique patterns—bunkers carved in detail to include curling edges, sharp lips, or deep impact areas—patterns not unlike the ones Wells once sketched into the faint-blue grid lines of grade school graph paper.
With each area pieced together in a 3D rendering, Wells sets out to add detailed materials and textures like grass surfaces for rough and greens, water currents, trees, and buildings. Then, he creates golf-specific items like tees, pins, and shot points. This helps control functionality and physical elements—like which direction the ball is hit off the tee and where it travels. Considerations like the hole’s par, the location of hazards, and out-of-bounds areas are denoted. “You basically end up with a scorecard: This hole is, say, 440 yards from these four sets of tees,” he explains, giving a hypothetical example. “Here’s the handicap index, par, et cetera, for each hole, and the software essentially knows how to read and apply that data accordingly.”
Then it’s time for testing. The best builders are meticulous in playing through their courses, often numerous times, to ensure an accurate rendering. Ball physics are tested by hitting shots from different lies and conditions. Shots are scrutinized to ensure they feel natural and realistic across different surfaces, including fairways, rough, and bunkers, and are accurately responsive to elements like green speeds, breaks, and slopes. Bounce patterns and environmental reactions also matter. When a ball hits water, for example, the player wants to see it actually splash; when it strikes the trunk of a tree, it needs to ricochet accordingly. Designers also look for glitches, distance discrepancies, rendering issues, and misaligned objects.
Some requests for course builds are surprisingly exacting. “I built a course for a guy who actually lives on it—literally it’s his home course,” recalls Wells. “During the build, he had a whole group of buddies who would come over and play it every night—testing to get it as absolutely accurate as possible. He told me that they’d get into arguments about the exact size or location of a tree. They’d actually get in their carts and take off to whatever was in question to settle the disagreement.”
In Wells’ experience, it’s incredibly common that people prefer to play a local course on a sim. In fact, he’s more often commissioned for local builds than for the Augusta Nationals or St. Andrews Links of the world. “People usually want to play the really highly regarded tracks once or twice,” he adds, “but they don’t tend to come back and play them over and over.”
Back in the Golf Industry
Consumer demand for home golf sims skyrocketed during the pandemic, and manufacturers have moved quickly to swoop up the companies behind the software that powers them. Meanwhile, an online community of builders and golf sim enthusiasts has emerged. When Trackman acquired Jack Nicklaus Perfect Golf, one such enthusiast saw an opportunity to build an independent sim software, one that could run on just about any setup: GSPro.
Supporting a wide range of launch monitors from various manufacturers, GSPro officially integrates with devices from Uneekor, Foresight Sports, FlightScope, and Full Swing, and can be configured for other systems (including SkyTrak and Garmin) through its open API. The platform includes an extensive library of thousands of courses, many of which are user-created using the OPCD (Open Platform Course Designer).
The software provides a flexible framework for users with all types of professional backgrounds and skillsets to create, customize, and share their designs. And, the cohort of people that has cropped up around it is passionate about enjoying golf in a new way—at the intersection of technology and sport.
“There’s a really great community around GSPro,” says Wells, who officially launched Tekbud Designs in 2022 to house the growing collection of courses he builds primarily on OPCD. “You ask a question or need a hand, and people are very apt to help,” he adds, noting that they share a common passion. “They love golf,” he says. “A lot of them want to build a virtual version of their home course so they can play it in the off months, maybe beat their buddies come springtime. A lot of us have our friends over a couple nights a week to play throughout the whole off-season, when it’s difficult to get out on the course.”
Eventually, after taking on as many commissioned course builds as he could, Wells started to make a name for himself in the space. He’d held onto his IT career, but was becoming increasingly frustrated with a combination of corporate politics and inconsistent post-COVID and return-to-office policies. Then it all came to a head.
“I actually left my job of 20 years,” he says. “I was done with all the corporate politics. I thought I would land another IT job, but I just got super busy building courses.”
Tekbud’s Brent Wells is one of the most well-known virtual course designers in indoor golf.
Super busy indeed. Wells built nearly 100 virtual golf courses in the year following his departure from corporate IT. The first couple courses he estimates at a couple hundred hours each in labor, but over time, he’s gotten better and faster. Today, he can have the bare bones of a course build up and running (although definitely in need of detail and refinement) in about a day.
As he’s grown and refined his course collection, he’s amassed a Patreon following of subscribers who pay monthly for priority access to download his latest builds.
The Next Level of Sim Golf
While the process of building a virtual course may seem highly technical and complex, it’s really just a matter of getting started. In fact, Wells insists his background in IT is a bonus, but certainly not required. “Anyone can learn to use these tools,” he explains. “It definitely takes time, and you have to be patient, but if you’re a serious golf lover and want to get into this, anyone can do it.”
With interest in his work growing, Wells picked up some contract work that eventually turned into a full-time gig building courses for Golf+, a virtual golf game for the Meta Quest. He admits he was skeptical of VR golf at first. These setups are more akin to a video-gaming experience. The player uses a VR headset and swings controllers; the system reads the data from the controller to account for things like speed, club face angle, and contact points, then translates that information to the game.
“To be honest,” says Wells, “I kind of thought the whole concept was a little goofy.” Then he gave it a try. “I was pretty quickly hooked on the experience. It’s not a one-to-one golf game, but it’s incredibly fun. And the short game experience is particularly good.”
Wells sees a future evolution of indoor golf that combines these modalities for something greater than the sum of their parts. “A sim experience where you’re wearing a headset and playing a 3D world, but using your clubs and still hitting a golf ball,” he explains. “It’s not the same as on-course golf, but it really does start to feel real. The first time I really caught myself immersed in the experience, I’d hit it into a bunker and I was looking up at the pin. There I was, standing on my tiptoes, trying to see over the edge of the bunker,” he laughs. “I was like: What the hell am I doing? But, in the headset, you can actually do that, and you can get a different angle based on where you’re standing and how you’re looking at the shot.”
While Golf+ keeps him busy, Wells continues to grow Tekbud Designs. “I’m still pumping out courses for GSPro,” he says, noting that he’s up to some 230 builds. “That’s my hobby and my love.” He also remains active in the OPCD community, where he’s affectionately known simply as Tekbud. It’s a uniquely diverse group of people, one he credits with much of his success over the last few years. “I’m so appreciative of the OPCD team and community,” he says, noting that in addition to sharing insights and advice, he’s called on a number of talented individuals for help with more complex 3D elements for projects and to collaborate on different builds. “The community as a whole has been critical to my success,” he adds. “I would still be in IT if it weren’t for them.”
Making Golf More Accessible
So, what’s next for Tekbud? He’s inclined to pass on what he’s learned. Wells has recently started an online training class for aspiring designers interested in getting started building their own virtual golf courses. More broadly, he’s excited for the future of indoor golf and to be doing something he truly loves.
Wells, like many, sees an extraordinary value in the convenience of having an accessible, available place to play and the ability to tailor the experience to his preference. “I have three kids,” says Wells, recalling times like high school, college, and his early 20s when it was easy to find time for golf. “With a family and career, the best you’re going to get is a round a week. Then it rains a day or two and you’re down to two rounds a month pretty quickly. It becomes really hard to keep your game up. Now, if I want to go play golf, I just walk downstairs. Simulator golf is not the same as an on-course round, but it’s a great outlet.”
As access to home sims becomes more and more common, he foresees growth across the virtual golf community as a whole. “These types of golf sim setups are only becoming more accessible. There’s a lot of exciting things to come for indoor golf and I want to be part of that future!”
Interested in learning more about Brent Wells and Tekbud Designs? Visit www.indoorgolfers.com.
