Pull back like a slingshot and let go. Every course is built from a number, and every hole on it has been proven playable before you see it.
How the courses are made
A hole is a corridor of square rooms with walls around it: the tee is at the back of the first room and the cup somewhere in the last. Opening holes have two or three rooms, later holes up to six. The rooms in between carry the obstacles — posts, a central block, a fence with a gap, slopes running along, against or across the path, water crossed by a bridge with or without rails, and 45-degree banks on the corners. Around the cup there may be a bowl that helps the ball drop or a small hill that pushes it away.
Before a hole is shown, a solver plays it in the simulation and must hole out with shots that still work when the aim is a little off. Par is the number of strokes the solver needed plus one, between 2 and 5. A layout that cannot be proven is thrown away and built again.
Rules and controls
Fewest strokes wins. A ball in the water costs one penalty stroke and goes back to where it was played from. If a hole drags on, the ball is picked up at par plus four, with eight strokes at most. Against the computer or a friend, each player finishes the hole in turn.
Pull back from anywhere on the course and let go: the arrow shows the direction and its length the power. With a keyboard, the arrow keys aim and set the power and Space plays the shot. A fast ball can skip over the cup, so dying it in at the right pace matters as much as the line.
Reading a hole
Look for the bank before you look for the cup. Corner banks turn the ball through 90 degrees, so on a turning hole the shot is often at the bank rather than at the next room. On a slope, aim to the uphill side and let the slope bring the ball back; against a slope, add power rather than angle. Bridges without rails are narrow, so a slower, straighter line is safer than a long one that might fall off the side.
A bowl around the cup is your friend: a ball hit at a gentle pace will be drawn in from a wide area. A hill is the opposite — it throws slow balls away, so commit with a firm putt at the centre of the cup. When a hole looks hard, play it in two: the first stroke to a flat spot with an open line, the second to the cup.
Modes
Play solo for your own score, against the computer at four levels, or with a friend on one device. The computer aims at the cup, the room openings and the bridges, tries a ring of angles in the simulation and keeps the line that leaves the shortest way home; Hard and Expert re-test their best lines with their own error and avoid risky banks past water.
Questions and answers
What does the course number mean?
Every course is generated from its number, so course #708 is the same layout for everyone who opens it. Our numbered courses have their own pages with a map of every hole.
How is par decided?
A solver plays the hole in the simulation with a human-sized margin of error; par is its number of strokes plus one.
What happens in the water?
One penalty stroke, and the ball goes back to where you played from.
Why did my ball roll over the cup?
It was too fast. Like on a real green, a ball arriving at speed can lip out or skip across the hole.