DRAFT — Pending team review. Please send corrections, additions, and first-hand experience notes to Todd before end of week. Key areas flagged below with [TEAM NOTE]. Pricing should be verified against current vendor sites before publish.
Most buyers don't think about software until after the hardware decision is made. The launch monitor gets researched for weeks. The projector gets spec'd to the millimeter. The software gets treated as something you'll figure out once the box ships.
That's the wrong order. The software is where you spend every session. It determines what courses you can play, how realistic the ball flight feels, how stable a three-hour round with four players stays, and in some cases, how much you'll be paying every year just to keep the sim running. Getting it wrong costs real money and real frustration.
We've run all four of these platforms across our own facility and across client builds. Here is what we actually think of them.
On pricing: Software pricing in this category changes more frequently than hardware pricing. All figures quoted here reflect our best current information at time of writing. Verify pricing directly with each vendor before making a decision.
GSPro
GSPro is the dominant simulation software for serious residential builds in the US market right now. It is built specifically for the simulator use case — not ported from a console game, not adapted from a coaching tool. The ball physics engine is the best we have run, and the community course library, which runs into the thousands of available tracks, means you can almost always find what a client is looking for. Active development and a vocal user community mean issues get surfaced and fixed quickly.
Why We Recommend It
- Best ball flight physics of any platform we have run
- Largest active community course library — thousands of tracks
- Connects natively with ProTee VX, TrackMan, Foresight, and most other major monitors
- Rapid feature development — meaningfully better year over year
- Strong online and local multiplayer with a large player base
- Shot data overlay is clean and configurable without cluttering the screen
- [TEAM NOTE: Add any specific client wins or session stability observations here]
Where It Falls Short
- Windows PC only — no iPad or mobile option
- Annual subscription required — no lifetime purchase option currently
- Steeper setup than E6 for first-time users
- Course library is community-built, so quality varies — flagship real-world courses are not officially licensed
- [TEAM NOTE: Any connector issues or version update notes from recent builds?]
GSPro is what we install on the majority of our builds. The combination of physics quality, course availability, and ongoing development is the best available at its price point. For clients who care about how the ball moves — and most of them do — it's the right answer.
On the community library: The OpenCourse format used by GSPro allows anyone to design and publish courses. The quality floor has risen significantly over the past two years. Most major courses exist in the library. Some clients have requested specific home courses or private clubs that aren't there yet — in those cases the answer is usually to request it from the design community, and they often appear within weeks.
E6 Connect
E6 Connect has the most polished visual presentation of any platform we run. The licensed course rendering — Pebble Beach, Augusta, TPC Scottsdale — looks closer to broadcast television than any other sim software. It runs on iPad, which makes it the only major option for clients who want to avoid a dedicated PC. For clients who have a specific list of real-world courses they want to play in high fidelity, E6 is often the right answer.
Strengths
- Best visual presentation — licensed courses look exceptional
- Cross-platform: PC and iPad / iOS
- Free tier lets clients try before they commit
- Good for commercial venues that want a polished, recognizable look
- Straightforward setup — easier out of the box than GSPro
- [TEAM NOTE: Any commercial builds where E6 was the right call? Specific client use cases?]
Where It Falls Short
- Course library is much smaller than GSPro — 90+ vs thousands
- Ball physics are good but not at GSPro's level, per our experience and most community consensus
- Full-featured access requires a paid subscription — the free tier is limited
- Pricing tiers can be confusing — what's included at each level has changed over time
- [TEAM NOTE: Any stability issues or connector problems observed across E6 installs?]
E6 is our recommendation when a client specifically needs iPad compatibility, or when they have a short list of flagship licensed courses they care about playing and the visual quality of those courses matters to them. For most residential clients who want maximum flexibility and the largest possible course selection, GSPro wins that conversation.
ProTee Golf
ProTee Golf ships bundled with the ProTee VX at no additional cost. No subscription, no annual fee. For clients who want a complete simulator experience out of the box without any recurring software cost, this is where they start. The platform has a solid course library, clean interface, and good shot data integration with the VX. It is not as polished as GSPro or E6 visually, and the community around it is smaller, but it is a legitimate daily-driver for many of the clients we set up with the ProTee VX.
Strengths
- Zero cost beyond the hardware — no subscription, no tiers
- Seamless integration with the ProTee VX
- Ready to play out of the box with no additional setup
- Receives ongoing updates from ProTee's development team
- [TEAM NOTE: How many clients actually stay on ProTee Golf vs upgrading to GSPro? What do clients say about it?]
Where It Falls Short
- Smaller course library than GSPro or TGC 2019
- Visual presentation not as polished as E6 or GSPro
- Primarily designed for the ProTee VX — limited compatibility with other launch monitors
- Smaller user community means slower course library growth
- [TEAM NOTE: Any quality-of-life issues? Things clients ask about that aren't supported?]
ProTee Golf occupies a distinct position: it is the only major platform with no ongoing cost. For clients who budget carefully, who are happy with 100+ courses and want zero subscription overhead, it delivers. Many ProTee VX clients play it exclusively and never feel the need to upgrade. Others add a GSPro subscription within a few months once they've worked through the included course library and want more.
TGC 2019 (The Golf Club)
TGC 2019, published by HB Studios, has one thing no other platform comes close to: a course library of over 100,000 community-designed tracks. If a course exists anywhere in the world, it is almost certainly in the TGC 2019 library. The game itself runs as a standalone title purchased through Steam for a one-time cost. Launch monitor integration requires a third-party connector bridge, which adds some setup complexity, but once it's running, the experience is stable.
Strengths
- 100,000+ courses — by far the largest library available
- One-time purchase, no subscription
- The go-to answer when a client needs a specific course not available elsewhere
- Good ball physics and course design tools
- [TEAM NOTE: How often does this come up? Any specific client requests that required TGC?]
Where It Falls Short
- Requires a third-party connector bridge for launch monitor integration — extra setup step
- Not actively receiving major feature updates — the platform has largely peaked
- Interface is designed for game play, not purpose-built for simulator use
- Community-built course quality varies more than GSPro's curated ecosystem
- [TEAM NOTE: Any connector reliability issues observed in practice?]
TGC 2019 is not our default recommendation, but it is the right answer to a specific question: what do you run when a client needs a course that does not exist anywhere else? At $40 to $60 one-time with no subscription, it costs almost nothing to add alongside GSPro, and having access to 100,000+ courses covers virtually any request a client will ever make.
How They Compare
| Software | Price | Subscription | Course Library | Platform | LM Compatibility | Ball Physics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GSPro | ~$250/yr | Required | Thousands (community) | Windows PC | Excellent | Best in class |
| E6 Connect | Free / ~$350/yr+ | Required for full access | 90+ (licensed) | PC + iPad | Good | Good |
| ProTee Golf | Free (bundled) | None | 100+ | Windows PC | ProTee VX native | Good |
| TGC 2019 | ~$40–60 one-time | None | 100,000+ (community) | Windows PC | Via connector | Good |
What We Actually Install
Our default is GSPro. The physics, the course library depth, and the pace of development make it the right answer for the majority of residential builds we complete. If a client sits down in the sim and expects it to feel like actual golf — which is most of them — GSPro is where that expectation gets met.
We recommend E6 Connect when a client specifically needs iPad compatibility or has a short list of flagship licensed courses they care about. A client who wants to play Pebble Beach in the best possible visual fidelity is an E6 client.
ProTee Golf ships on every ProTee VX build by default — it comes with the hardware, and it is a fully capable simulator experience from day one with zero additional cost. Clients who want to upgrade to GSPro at any point can do so; we just set up the connector. Many never feel the need to.
TGC 2019 is a $40 to $60 add-on we recommend whenever a client has requested a course that doesn't exist in GSPro's library yet. It's cheap enough that there's almost no reason not to have it available.
[TEAM NOTE — please fill in before publish:] What percentage of builds end up on GSPro vs staying with ProTee Golf? Any specific client feedback on why they chose one over the other? Are there commercial builds where E6 was the right fit — golf bars, commercial venues? Any connectors or update issues with any platform that are worth flagging for readers?
Bottom Line
The software decision comes down to two questions: how important is course library depth, and are you on a PC?
If you want the most courses, the most realistic ball flight, and you're running Windows, GSPro is the answer. Budget for the subscription and move on.
If you bought the ProTee VX and don't want to pay anything beyond the hardware, ProTee Golf handles daily use well. Add GSPro when the course library starts to feel limited.
If you need to run the sim from an iPad, or if specific licensed real-world courses are important to you, E6 Connect is the right call.
If a client needs a course that doesn't exist anywhere else, TGC 2019 has it. At $40 to $60 one-time, it costs almost nothing to add alongside whichever platform you're running.
Questions about which software fits your build? We set up all four of these and we're happy to walk through the options on a real install. Get in touch with our team.
