{"id":108355,"date":"2025-08-31T07:58:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T07:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/108355\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T07:58:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T07:58:14","slug":"golf-takes-a-modern-turn-with-virtual-off-course-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/108355\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf takes a modern turn with virtual ‘off-course’ championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s golf, but just not as we know it.<\/p>\n

Nine teams from across Australia and New Zealand are gathering in Melbourne’s south-east this weekend to crown a virtual golf champion.<\/p>\n

The PGA has nothing on X-League, bringing together childhood friends, neighbours and families to compete for the Southern Hemisphere’s largest e-sports golf showdown.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Police urge Melbourne protesters to reconsider rallies in wake of deadly shooting<\/a><\/p>\n

\"GolfNine teams from across Australia and New Zealand are gathering in Melbourne’s south east this weekend to crown a virtual golf champion. (A Current Affair)<\/p>\n

“Off-course golf now is bigger than on-course golf,” former pro golfer and founder of X Golf, Ben Styles, told A Current Affair.<\/p>\n

According to Golf Australia, the sport is seeing a nine per cent increase in players year-on-year with X Golf giving players more opportunities to play.<\/p>\n

“You can play on golf courses from anywhere in the world. You chip, you putt, you can compete and just have a really fun time in a hospitality venue,” Styles said.<\/p>\n

Kade, Kurt and James are representing Victoria in the X Golf National Championships this weekend and they never thought they’d make it this far.<\/p>\n

\"GolfKade, Kurt and James are representing Victoria in the X Golf National Championships this weekend and they never thought they’d make it this far. (A Current Affair)<\/p>\n

“We just had a chat one day and decided to come down and have a hit for a bit of fun,” Kade said.<\/p>\n

Before the teammates knew it, they were taking home trophies.<\/p>\n

Today, there are 32 X-Golf locations around Australia with plenty more on the way.<\/p>\n

Watch the full video in the player above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s golf, but just not as we know it. Nine teams from across Australia and New Zealand are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-108355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}