My neighbor — who is far more traveled, seasoned, and legitimately qualified to be on nice golf courses than I am — played Spyglass Hill with his buddies last week.  Naturally, we decided to fire up the simulator and play the front 9 so he could “analyze” what went wrong. For him it was a serious post-round study session. For me, it was my first time setting foot on the sacred grounds of Spyglass… in jeans… in my back yard.   I actually started out hot. Like, “I belong here” hot. Then I proceeded to absolutely detonate the last three holes and lost the 9-hole match by five strokes. Classic.

But here’s the problem: Spyglass got under my skin. The next few days I wasn’t living my normal life — I was watching flyovers, memorizing landing zones, mentally club-selecting on doglegs I may never see in person.    I became obsessed. Because when I do finally make it there in real life, I refuse to lose to a course I already lost to in my back yard.

One of the most exciting new features Garmin has added to the Approach R50 is On Course Practice, a mode that finally bridges the gap between simulator golf and real golf. This feature has been available on the more expensive GSPro software but GSPRO does not have as many courses as the Garmin has.  With  Garmins Stock software,  instead of standing on a generic driving range hitting into empty space, you can now place yourself anywhere on over 42,000 real golf courses and practice the exact shots you’d face in an actual round. Want to rehearse that 165-yard approach into a tucked pin at Pebble, or work on a tight tee shot at Santa Teresa Golf course? You can literally drop the ball on the virtual fairway, set the lie, and start hitting.

For me its a total Game Cjhanger.  What makes this feature so powerful is the context it adds to your practice. You’re no longer just chasing launch angle and spin numbers — you’re making real golf decisions. You see the hole layout, elevation changes, hazards, and green complexes, and you’re forced to think about club selection, shot shape, and course management, just like you would on the course. The R50 still gives you all the rich data Garmin is known for, but now it’s layered onto meaningful scenarios: uphill approaches, sidehill lies, forced carries, and those awkward in-between yardages that usually only show up on Saturday mornings.  And god knows I need practice on those in between yradages.

In a way, On Course Practice turns the R50 into a mental training tool as much as a swing tool. You’re not just building mechanics; you’re building confidence and familiarity with real situations. It’s the closest thing I’ve seen to being able to “pre-play” a round from your back yard, and it makes simulator time feel less like hitting balls and more like actually playing golf — which, for someone obsessed with dialing in both their swing and their course strategy, is kind of the holy grail.