Should a simulator hole in one count as a ‘real’ ace? Our audience sounds OFF

You swing. You connect. 

A ball ascends. A ball descends. 

The ball drops. The ball hops. The ball rolls. 

It drops. It disappears. 

It’s a hole in one! It’s an ace! 

Right? After all, just yards in front of you, the screen you just hit at likely even tells you so. And then your simulator moves you to the next hole. All from the comfort of your home, office or sports bar.   

Which is not the great outdoors. Where golf, the non-sim kind, is played. With grass, not turf. With sun and wind and rain, not air-conditioning and heaters. 

But it seems so very real. The tech is so very great. The thrill is, too. Especially — especially — after 2,627 straight swings at it. By now, you’ve probably heard that one brave soul, Barstool Sports’ Jersey Jerry, hit that number this past week. He hit. He hit. He hit. He would not quit. Then he did it. Hundreds of thousands celebrated. Athletes and celebs and Joes and Janes. A hole in one! An ace!  

Or not?

Do sim aces count as holes in one?

Hmm. You may boo and curse. You may cheer and salute. But, in a nod to Barstool, it’s kinda the classic bar question. 

So we asked you, the GOLF.com reader, on our Instagram account. And you answered. And some of those responses are below. 

But first, it wouldn’t be right if the author here didn’t respond. So here goes:

Yeah, why not. Count it. Tell your family, friends and co-workers. 

Maybe just say where you did it, though. 

At Pebble. Or St. Andrews. 

From your favorite entertainment room. 

Here are some more (slightly edited) responses:

The yes crowd 

– “They absolutely count. It’s the same thing.”

– “I mean, if it makes you happy and you keep playing the game, celebrate the victory!”

– “Hot take: I think an ace on some of the higher-tech sims counts. That being said, taking 2,000-plus hits is not a hole in one. If it’s stroke play, etc. I would count it.”

The no crowd 

– “Lmfao absolutely not, but it still is an awesome feat.”

The no-but-sign-me-up-to-try crowd

– “They do not count. And especially if you’re playing the same par-3 over and over. But I would love to do this same type of challenge to see how many swings it would take me. Super fun.”

The yes-and-no crowd

– “Of course they count, until you get a real one.”

– “Personally I say no. I wouldn’t have made a huge deal out of it. But if it means something to him and his buddies, let it count. No reason to diminish what he did. He hit a good shot and it went in. But for me, I would say no, it doesn’t count.”

The why-are-you-even-asking-this crowd

– “I can’t believe this is even an article. Not a chance a sim hole in one counts as an actual hole in one. I mean, come on now, man.”

– “Simply no. Would it be great to do it in that setting? Yes. But too much hype just for extra content.”

The it’s-in-the-definition crowd

– “The word simulator answers the question without asking.”

The wait-a-minute crowd

– “Hold on a second. I’ve been hearing about this guy for days about this hole in one, and it was on a sim??”

The maybe-if-you-put-it-outside crowd 

– “Does a sim have different lies on every shot, different weather elements, wind, humidity, etc. ? It’s a NO from me, dawg”

The yes-in-VR crowd 

– “Yes, in the virtual world. Buy everyone in the virtual world a drink.”

– “It counts as a sim hole in one. Not a live golf-course hole in one.”

The video-game crowd 

– “I won a Super Bowl recently in Madden. So yeah, definitely!”

– “Do aces on Tiger Woods PGA count?”

– “Yes, absolutely. Take it from me since I just won the World Cup on FIFA 2023.”

– “I just won the Masters on PlayStation 5, waiting on my green jacket to come in the mail.”

– “If that’s the case, I have 12 aces on Wii Golf.”

– “Absolutely not. Do you know how many holes In one I have in Tiger Woods 2013 and Golden Tee.”

The I-didn’t-do-it-in-real-golf crowd

– As someone who has hit the pin on 11 at the Old Course and it didn’t go in, I say absolutely NO.”

– “I’ve slam-dunked and destroyed the hole on an actual course. It came out and no, it does not count. At all. How is this even a question?”

The I-did-it-and-I’m-bad crowd

– “I have two and I’m a terrible golfer. Thought I shanked each hit, to be honest.”

The flat-earth crowd 

– “The only people who would count this as a hole in one are people who believe the earth is flat.

The thoughtful-answer crowd 

– “The end game here was not the “ace,”but the expression of perseverance and unrelenting determination. @jerrythekid21 just demonstrated to the world how hard golf really is. It took an average Joe (no offense) more than 2,600 tries to execute one goal from a rather short distance. Additionally, this was at a rate of more than one swing per minute over 36 hours. The feat in itself is worth celebrating.”

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Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.