Platform Golf exists to transform indoor golf as we know it.

Platform Golf is reimagining golf’s digital learning landscape. Here’s how the pioneering tech company is taking indoor golf closer to the course than ever before.

We’re rapidly approaching 2025. Golf’s digital revolution is in full swing.

The vision of recreating authentic off-course golfing experiences is being brought closer to life with every passing year.

Non-traditional formats of the game are booming, drawing new ‘players’ to the game that once believed golf simply wasn’t for them. And at the other end of golf’s experience continuum, exponential advances in technology are shaping the future of the sport as we know it.

Our first look at elite golf’s new world of competitive simulation is just around the corner, bringing the game’s top stars together under one roof for weekly tech-infused team battles.

Golf, but louder. Ah, wait…that one’s taken. Golf, but brighter?

Another incremental step in the journey to blurring the boundaries between virtual and reality, made possible due to the ever-improving capabilities of motion capture systems and computing power.

Pretty accurate doesn’t cut it anymore. “It has to feel real,” as Trackman’s Bernd Larsen Linde told me ahead of season three of the NEXT Golf Tour where players already compete in simulators for real-world tour starts with potentially life-changing consequences.

But short of integrating wind tunnels and shower heads, how many pieces of the true-to-life jigsaw are left to find? Well, this is where Rory Flanagan and his team have set out their stall…or platform to be more precise, with a mission to transform the game by creating ‘singularity’ between the on and off-course experience.

The experience gap

“You know, 96% of shots in golf are played off uneven lies, whereas 100% of shots in sim golf are played off even lies,” the Irish co-founder tells me.

It’s this discrepancy that is the driving force behind Platform Golf’s multi-million dollar rebrand, aiming to edge the simulated experience that touch closer to the real thing.

Be it for an NCAA Division One elite college program, a fitting facility, a private home studio or a ‘hit and giggle’ sports bar, Platform Golf’s fully patented tilting putting surface is designed to elevate that true-to-life experience, irrespective of whether you’re a tour pro or taking your first tentative swings in the game. And now, for the first time ever, many of those swings are more likely to be happening under a roof, than out on the fairways.

“I think the game of golf is moving that way. I mean, there were more rounds of golf off course than there were on course last year in America,” continues Flanagan.

“The data suggests that that’s the way it’s going. Grass isn’t growing, golf clubs aren’t appearing out of nowhere, memberships are getting more expensive, and waiting lists are getting longer, so people have to find an itch to scratch. And I think that’s why the sim world is becoming very viable, cost-effective, and much more ascertainable.”

The brand describes itself as ‘tech-agnostic’, striving to complement whatever existing technologies are in the room. This is not designed to be a standalone putting platform to solely improve stroke mechanics but instead enables the simulation loop to be closed by addressing one of the final frontiers in ‘gamifying’ the indoors.

“We want to be the platform that will enable and transform golf. We term it ‘singularity’. We want to be the platform enabling an off-course sim event, with the ability to qualify score, and actually crown a winner.

“The sim world is still very much auto-calculated when it comes to scoring. It’s a one or two-putt auto-calc and you move on. The experience hasn’t been closed yet. There’s still a big opportunity there to work on.”

The repeatability of indoor golf scoring remains a barrier that very few have been able to crack…perhaps until now. Flanagan explains how he believes their globally patented slope-measuring technology is making them increasingly attractive.

The platform’s built-in globally patented inclinometer automatically actuates to reflect the percentage slope on which the approach shot has come to rest, enabling players to play the putt they would ordinarily be faced with on the course. And unlike many rivals, the extruded aluminum construction consistently returns the surface to neutral without fail.

It speaks volumes that the first platform ever sold by the company in its previous guise as ‘Putting Perfection Platforms’ has never broken down. It’s still running on the same turf and actuators says Flanagan of the platform housed at the Flatstick Academy in Pine Needles where putting instruction godfather David Orr works his magic.

A journey from tour to tech

It wasn’t until the company dialed down the alliteration sandwich, however, that Flanagan – agent to some of golf’s biggest stars at the time – felt compelled to throw his legal and operational experience behind the venture.

“I was introduced to Thomas Hackett (Platform Golf co-founder) in late 2016 at Royal Dublin where we are both still members. He was talking about this great idea about how this product could change the industry. When you work with top talent, you get a lot of people knocking on your door, and not necessarily for you, but for access to the big people.

“It wasn’t until 2017 that we chatted about it properly and I became hooked immediately when I heard the premise behind it, primarily because the product was so reliable and repeatable and it had this evangelical level of support in the US.”

Flanagan, a corporate lawyer by trade, had been working for the distinguished golf management agency, Hambric Sports, working his way up the ranks from a glorified bag carrier to VP of Operations for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Their star-studded books at the time included the names Dustin Johnson, Tommy Fleetwood, Francesco Molinari, Adrian Meronk, the Hojgaard twins, and emerging champion-in-making Brooks Koepka, settling into professional life on the European Challenge Tour. It was a special time, and one that Flanagan reflects on fondly.

“It was a really proud time for me. I was very fortunate, he decided to come over to Europe, and I got the chance to work with him for those couple of years, and we’ve remained friendly ever since.

I’m not surprised he’s had success. When he was starting out, he had a mindset that he wanted to be world number one, and look at what he did, but it wasn’t by fluke. It’s because he worked harder than most people who play professional golf. He’s just a superstar.”

Given his envious contacts list, you would forgive Flanagan for calling in a few favors here and the company prepares to scale up.

Platform Golf is not about the pros though. The business model is centered on the ‘pros behind the pros’, that middle ground of industry professionals looking to leverage their networks and utilize their NIL in a way they haven’t been able to in the past. The response has been overwhelmingly positive.

“We have an amazing team of ambassadors really driving that. Top coaches like Brad Faxon and Stephen Sweeney – guys who don’t put their name to things unless they fully believe in it.

“We were in Florida last week opening Stephen Sweeney’s new Putting Ballistix studio, in Jupiter, Brad was there, and he thinks it’s the best surface he’s been on. So, it’s great, and just validates everything we’re doing.”

Platform Golf’s unveiling comes as the sim world and the game’s elite prepare to collide on prime-time TV when Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s tech-infused golf league tees off in 2025. From a product awareness perspective, the timing couldn’t be better admits Flanagan.

“Now is the time for a real viable alternative to the traditional outdoor game, and I think that will be copper-fastened by the fact indoor golf is becoming mainstream with TGL.

“Star power is everything in golf, and if you want to push the needle, you have to have to have those people backing it. I think it’s great and I’m really looking forward to seeing it as a fan.”

The Platform Golf journey, through its 10-year evolution has always had the end goal of closing the simulation loop, opening golf to its maximum addressable audience by striving to marry up feel and real.

Flanagan is right to point out that Platform Golf is playing an integral role in progressing this area of the industry, not just with putting, but for full swing opportunities too. More exciting developments are already in the pipeline.

“We’re working hard to present an integrated offering, which will create that singularity in golf. We will absolutely be at the forefront of this opportunity driving it forward.

“Platform Golf has arrived, and we’re ready to rock!”

Find out more at www.platformgolf.com

About the author

Ross Tugwood – Senior Digital Writer

Ross Tugwood is a Senior Digital Writer for todays-golfer.com, specializing in data, analytics, science, and innovation.

Ross is passionate about optimizing sports performance and has a decade of experience working with professional athletes and coaches for British Athletics, the UK Sports Institute, and Team GB.

He is an NCTJ-accredited journalist with post-graduate degrees in Performance Analysis and Sports Journalism, enabling him to critically analyze and review the latest golf equipment and technology to help you make better-informed buying decisions.