Triple Bogey Golf tests PurePlay early access on a Spectrum Element and BenQ's AK900ST

PurePlay's early access opened on Nov. 6. Triple Bogey Golf spent launch day playing a single hole on it, and his takeaway is that the Unreal Engine newcomer plays about as well as it looks.

In a 16-minute video posted that day, the host runs PurePlay with Spectrum's Element launch monitor reading shots and BenQ's new AK900ST projector throwing the picture onto his impact screen. He skips the long technical breakdown. "Just real golf, real shots," he says.

Setup

Getting the Element talking to PurePlay took a few clicks. He opened the unit's local web page, went to the launch monitor tab in PurePlay's settings, picked Spectrum, and it was already connected. Spectrum sells the Element for $1,250 with no subscription for its core features. In the video he says a limited number of first-run units are left at that price and the price will go up to $1,400 after that.

The AK900ST is BenQ's 4K, 6,000-lumen short-throw laser projector, listed at $5,999 by golf sim retailers. He's clear that the footage shows the projected image, which looks different from what PurePlay shows on a PC monitor.

One hole at Ozarks National

He played the par-5 first at Ozarks National and spread his shots around to test as many surfaces as he could:

• Driver: a drive he thought was headed for a bunker bounced and rolled out fine.
• Hybrid from 233: he hooked it off a cart path and down a hill into deep rough. He liked that long grass turns see-through for a moment so you can find the ball. The game showed 50 percent power with a maximum of 84 percent from that lie.
• Recovery: from 112 yards, playing uphill, the ball came out of the rough losing 30 percent of its power and 40 percent of its spin, and it came up short.
• Finish: a 32-yard pitch to a tabletop green came up short, and his par putt, with no putting aid on, missed. He made bogey.

He then dropped balls around the green. A thin 42-yard wedge rolled out, and a cleaner one checked up. A chunked chip ran out the way a chunk should, a bump-and-run rolled like one, and a high flop dropped and stopped. "The putting feels really nice," he says.

Against GSPro

His comparison is careful. GSPro has a huge community, a big course library, leagues including the SGT, and years of development, he says. It also shipped its Unity 6 version 4.0 the day before. PurePlay is just getting started. "Is this fully polished? No," he says, and it isn't a replacement for GSPro either. He plans to own both so he can play with friends on either one.

Pricing in his video description puts Founders Early Access at $249 for the first year and renewals at $299, both subject to change. He points out that you can demo one course and a practice range on PurePlay before you buy.

If you're on GSPro and curious, the demo is a low-risk way to try it. Check whether your launch monitor has a PurePlay connection first.