Playing golf alone: does it work on the course, does the round count, and what an hour alone in a simulator gives you

Playing golf alone works in three ways, and the three are very different. On the course the club decides: whether you get a tee time as a single, and whether you then start alone or join a group. A round alone never counts for your handicap. In the simulator you really are alone: one bay, one hour, your own pace, but also the whole price. The driving range with ball tracking sits in between: real balls, numbers for every shot, no group.

Playing golf alone on the course: tee time, group, pace

The Rules of Golf do not forbid playing alone. Whether you may start alone is decided by your club's course rules. A tee time belongs to a group, not to a person. What a club does with a single name in it is its own business: one lets you start alone, another puts you into an open group, a third gives singles no tee time at certain hours. It is in the course rules or the booking system, and if not, the office knows. Ask before you go.

The etiquette of Golfclub Wylihof shows what a club expects: be at tee 1 ten minutes before your tee time, do not book tee times in reserve, cancel booked times early, agree on ready golf with your group before the start, and start from tee 10 only after checking with the office. For you alone that means: you book like everyone else, and who stands next to you on the first tee is the club's call, not the rulebook's. Whether you may play the course at all is another question: the course permit. What works without it is in Golf without a course permit and without a membership.

Alone, you are fast, and that is both the advantage and the problem. Rule 5.6 of the Rules of Golf recommends playing each stroke within 40 seconds once it is your turn, and it encourages players to let faster groups play through (R&A). You have no right to it, and behind a four-ball on a full course you wait anyway. Wylihof's etiquette puts it this way: if the group ahead is too slow, ask politely whether you may skip the hole, then play the next one briskly so the group you passed does not wait. If you want to play alone and in peace, take the quiet hours: early morning, evening, weekdays.

Does a round alone count for your handicap

No. In Switzerland a private round only counts for your handicap if you register it as General Play before the start, and General Play needs a marker. Swiss Golf leaves no room: the player must be accompanied by at least one other person, the marker. You set the round up in the Swiss Golf App before you tee off: choose the course and the tee, invite the marker. Afterwards is too late. General Play is free and possible as often as you like. A round over 9 holes has to be played to the end, and for a round over 18 holes at least 10 holes must be played. Location services must be on, and you need an internet connection at the start and the end of the round.

The ASGI describes the same procedure for golfers without a club: General Play is a handicap-relevant result played outside a tournament, you announce the round before the start, name your marker and hand in the card signed by both of you immediately after the round. Golfclub Wylihof puts it in one sentence in its 2021 text on the WHS: private rounds in Switzerland only count for the handicap if they were registered with the club office beforehand, at the time with an EDS card. Today that is called General Play and runs in the app, and the rule is the same. A round you play alone is therefore a round for yourself. It may be a good one, it just moves nothing. How the index is calculated and what lowers it is in The golf handicap explained.

Alone in the bay: the whole hour, the whole price

In the simulator there is no group, no tee time at dawn and nobody behind you. You book a bay for an hour, and the hour is yours. That has a price, and it is the whole one: of the 110 indoor venues in Switzerland, 80 publish an hourly rate, between CHF 25 and CHF 99, a median of CHF 50 (golfsimulators.ch). The price is per bay, not per person. For four people that is CHF 12.50 a head at the median, alone it is CHF 50. Whoever books alone pays as much for the hour as a whole group. The hourly rates by venue are in the price comparison.

In return you get something a group never has: every shot of the hour is yours. In a group of four each player hits for about a quarter of the time and watches the rest. Alone, you hit as soon as the ball is down, and you decide whether you take the same iron twenty times or play a round. The hour alone is therefore not an expensive round but a practice session with no waiting, if you use it that way.

What an hour alone gives you: measuring, not playing

An 18-hole round alone in the simulator is possible, but it makes poor use of the hour. The simulator is first of all a measuring device. Every shot gives you ball speed, launch angle, spin, carry and offline, and alone you have the time to read the numbers before the next ball is down. What they mean is in Understanding launch-monitor numbers. Three things you get done alone in an hour and never in a group:

• The distance of every club. Hit a series with each iron and write down the average carry, not the best shot. That is the table that makes the club choice for you on the course.
• Your dispersion. Ten balls with the same club at the same target, and you see how wide your corridor really is. That decides which flags you may go for on the course.
• A test with a target. The TrackMan Combine gives you a fixed task: set distances, a set number of shots, a score at the end. It suits the hour alone because the goal is fixed before you begin.

If you still want to play a round, give it a goal on paper first: no hole worse than double bogey, every par 3 on the green, or a score you want to beat. Without a goal the round alone is a pastime, and the score on its own says little, because it comes out lower indoors than outside. Which courses you can choose indoors is a topic of its own: playing courses in the golf simulator.

The tracked range as the third way

Between the course and the bay sits the driving range with ball-flight tracking. 16 of the 126 venues in the directory are such ranges, with TrackMan Range, Toptracer or Inrange (golfsimulators.ch). You stand alone in your bay, hit real balls into the open and see the carry, height and offline of every shot on the screen. Nobody waits behind you, and nobody shares the time with you. You pay for what you hit: by the ball, and at some venues a range fee on top.

For singles the range has two advantages: the ball really flies, in wind and weather, and you need no bay for four. What is missing is the course: no rough, no green, no score. For the distance table and the dispersion it is enough.

Learning alone: how far you get

Alone, you get far if you know what you are practising. Your distances, your corridor, clean contact: you learn those with a screen that tells you after every shot whether it was one. You recognise a fat or thin shot from the carry and the launch angle before you feel it. Between the hours you keep practising at home, putting above all. None of that needs a pro, only a task and the patience to repeat the same drill.

What you do not see alone is the cause. The launch monitor shows that the ball goes right, but not whether it is the grip, the stance or the swing path. The numbers describe the fault, a pro finds it. 95 of the 126 venues in the directory offer coaching (golfsimulators.ch), with the same numbers you see alone. The order that gets you somewhere: one lesson with numbers, then several hours alone with a clear task, then another lesson. If you have never held a club, do not begin alone but with a taster course.

The next step depends on what you want. If you want a quiet round, book an off-peak time and ask the club whether you may start alone. If you want to measure your game, book an hour in a bay and bring a task: the distance table, the dispersion test or the Combine. All 110 indoor venues and 16 ranges with prices, systems and opening hours are in the directory, and how to build a practice hour is in the guide to indoor golf training.

Frequently asked questions

Can you play golf alone?

Yes, in all three ways. On the course it depends on the club: its course rules say whether you get a tee time as a single and whether you start alone or join a group. In the simulator and on the driving range you are always alone in your bay.

Does a round alone count for the handicap?

No. In Switzerland a private round only counts as General Play, which you set up in the Swiss Golf App before the start, and Swiss Golf requires at least one other person as marker for it. Without a marker the round is a round for yourself, not for your index.

What does an hour alone in a golf simulator cost?

The bay's full hourly rate. 80 of the 110 indoor venues in Switzerland publish an hourly rate between CHF 25 and CHF 99, a median of CHF 50. With four people you share it, alone you pay it and get every shot of the hour for yourself.

Can I book a tee time as a single player?

The Rules of Golf do not forbid playing alone; it is settled by the club's own playing regulations. A tee time belongs to a group, not a person: one club lets you go off alone, the next puts you in an open group, the third gives singles no time at certain hours. A call to the office settles it.

Is a tracked driving range worth it for a single player?

Yes, for two reasons: the ball really flies, with wind and weather, and you do not need a bay built for four. You pay by the ball. 16 of the 126 venues in the directory are ranges of this kind, with TrackMan Range, Toptracer or Inrange. What is missing is the course: no rough, no green, no score.

Sources

• Swiss Golf: General Play in der Swiss Golf App (Marker als mindestens eine weitere Person, Einrichten vor dem Spielbeginn, kostenlos, 9 Löcher zu Ende, 18 Löcher mit mindestens 10 gespielten, Ortungsdienste und Internet am Anfang und Ende)
• ASGI: Handicap (General Play als handicapwirksames Resultat ausserhalb eines Turniers, Ankündigung vor der Runde, Marker, Karte unmittelbar nach der Runde einreichen)
• Golfclub Wylihof: World Handicap System (Text vom 12. Januar 2021: private Runden nur handicapwirksam, wenn zuvor beim Sekretariat des Clubs angemeldet (EDS-Karten))
• Golfclub Wylihof: Regeln und Etikette (zehn Minuten vor der Abschlagszeit an Tee 1, keine Tee-Times auf Vorrat, Ready Golf im freien Spielbetrieb, Loch überspringen fragen, Start ab Tee 10 nur nach Rücksprache)
• R&A: Rules of Golf, Regel 5 (Regel 5.6: Schlag innerhalb von 40 Sekunden empfohlen, Ready Golf, schnellere Gruppen durchspielen lassen)
• golfsimulators.ch, Verzeichnis am 18. September 2026 (126 publizierte Anlagen: 110 Indoor-Anlagen, 16 Driving Ranges mit Tracking, 80 mit Stundenpreis von CHF 25 bis 99 (Median CHF 50), 95 mit Coaching; Ranges bepreist nach Bällen, teils mit Range-Gebühr)