Courses and Game Modes
Golf With Your Friends ships with 13 base courses of 18 holes each, plus four paid DLC courses, three of which are also 18 holes and one, Corrupted Forest, which is 9. Forest is the beginner course, while Space Station and Volcano hold the rarest par achievements. Four scoring modes change the goal of each hole: Classic putts into a cup, Dunk targets a raised basketball hoop, Hockey slides a puck past a goalie on a fixed track, and Speed Golf scores total time instead of strokes.
Golf With Your Friends ships with 13 base courses and has added four DLC courses since launch. The 13 base courses are 18 holes each, which is 234 holes in total. On top of the courses, four scoring modes change the objective of each hole. This guide covers every official course and mode in detail.
Game Modes
Four scoring rulesets change how you play every hole: Classic, Dunk, Hockey, and Speed Golf. On top of those sit Teams Mode, which overlays team scoring onto any of them, plus Couch Mode and Explore for local and untimed play. Note that the Steam store page still advertises "Three Game Modes", since it was never updated after Speed Golf shipped.
Classic Mode
Classic is standard mini-golf. Your ball spawns at the start of the hole. You putt it across the course. It drops into the hole at the flag. Your stroke count is your score. Lowest total strokes after 18 holes wins. This is the default mode and the one most achievements are tied to.
Dunk Mode
Dunk Mode replaces the ground-level hole with a raised basketball hoop. The flag and cup are gone. Instead, a hoop hovers above the green, and you must launch your ball upward into it. This fundamentally changes shot strategy because you need vertical lift, not just horizontal accuracy.
How to score in Dunk Mode:
- Navigate the hole as you would in Classic until you reach the area near the hoop.
- Position your ball below or near the hoop.
- Use a combination of a ramp, slope, or the jump ability to get your ball airborne.
- The ball must pass through the hoop from above to count as sunk.
The jump ability is essential in Dunk Mode. On many holes, the only way to reach the hoop is to roll toward it at moderate speed and jump at the right moment to arc into the basket. Practice the timing on Forest first, where the hoops are positioned above gentle inclines.
Dunk Mode scoring: Same as Classic. Strokes count. The hoop simply replaces the hole as the target. Achieving par or better in Dunk Mode is significantly harder than in Classic because the hoop demands precision in three dimensions instead of two.
Hockey Mode
Hockey Mode replaces the golf ball with a flat puck and the hole with a goal guarded by a goalie. Reviewers describe the goalie as a cardboard cutout sliding left and right, never anything that reacts to your shot, so treat it as a moving obstacle on a fixed track and not as an opponent reading your aim. The puck slides instead of rolling, which changes how it interacts with surfaces.
How to score in Hockey Mode:
- Navigate the puck through the course to reach the goal area.
- The goalie tracks back and forth across the goal mouth on a fixed pattern.
- Time your shot to slip the puck past it when the opening is clear.
- The puck must enter the goal to count as sunk.
The puck's flat shape makes it extremely sensitive to surface angles. A slight incline that barely affects a golf ball can send the puck careening sideways. Reduce your power on slopes and approach goals from as straight an angle as possible.
Hockey Mode scoring: Same stroke-based scoring as Classic. The goalie adds an extra layer of difficulty because even a perfectly aimed shot can bounce off the goalie and cost you additional strokes.
Speed Golf Mode
Speed Golf arrived on April 18, 2024 and plays completely differently from the other three modes. The traditional emphasis on stroke economy is gone. As the patch notes put it, you forget par and the number of shots, because only time matters.
Key Speed Golf mechanics:
- Turbo Charge Boosters: Environmental speed gates scattered across each hole that multiply your ball's velocity. Hitting these is essential for competitive times.
- Handbrake: A dedicated mechanic (activated mid-roll) that rapidly arrests your ball's momentum. After hitting a Turbo Charge Booster, you often need to brake hard to avoid flying out of bounds.
- Simultaneous play: Everyone is racing at the same time. Collision interactions at speed are chaotic and unpredictable.
Speed Golf completely changes how you think about courses. Routes that are optimal in Classic (slow, precise, low-power) are terrible in Speed Golf. Look for lines that chain multiple Turbo Charge Boosters together and practice Handbrake timing to stop before kill volumes.
Couch Mode
Couch Mode arrived on November 28, 2022 and is designed for local, pass-the-controller sessions. It removes the lobby setup complexity and takes you to a random level with 9 holes to complete in a short session.
The same update introduced the Max Course Length option in Game Settings, which lets the host set a course anywhere from a single hole up to all 18. This makes quick sessions and sudden-death tournaments possible without committing to a full round.
Teams Mode
Teams Mode landed on December 7, 2023 and is an overlay you can switch on inside any existing game mode and not a fifth scoring ruleset, splitting the lobby into competing sides instead of scoring everyone individually.
Base Courses
The 13 base courses are listed here in approximate difficulty order, from most approachable to most challenging. No official difficulty ranking exists. This ordering reflects community consensus and the achievement unlock rates, and it will not match every player's experience.
Forest
Theme: Woodland clearing with wooden bridges, log cabins, and gentle hills.
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Forest is the tutorial course. Holes are short, sightlines are clear, and hazards are minimal. A few gentle slopes and one or two water features are the only challenges. The average par per hole is around 2-3 strokes. This is where you learn the game and where you come back to farm achievements that require par-or-better completion.
Tips:
- Most holes can be completed in 1-2 strokes with careful power control.
- The wooden bridges have no walls, so overshooting sends you into the water below. Use 40-60% power on bridge approaches.
- Hole 18 is the longest and most complex hole on Forest, but it is still simple compared to any hole on harder courses.
Oasis
Theme: Egyptian desert with sandstone temples, palm trees, and oasis pools.
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
Oasis introduces more vertical elevation changes and longer holes. Sand-colored surfaces can make it hard to judge slopes. Water hazards around the oasis pools are more punishing because the surrounding terrain funnels the ball toward them.
Tips:
- Nothing documents a sand-trap friction penalty on this course, and players do not treat the sand as slowing the ball. Judge power by slope, not by surface color.
- Several holes have ramps that launch the ball into the air. Control your speed before hitting these ramps or you will overshoot.
- Use free camera aggressively. The Egyptian temple interiors are dark and the flag can be hard to spot.
- Hole 4 is a par 4 that skilled players ace, which registers as an albatross. It is the standard farming spot for the albatross achievements.
The Deep
Theme: Underwater ocean floor with coral, shipwrecks, and sea creatures.
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
The Deep has a relaxed, visually distinct atmosphere. Holes feature gentle curves through coral tunnels and shipwreck interiors. Despite the underwater theme, the ball physics are identical to land courses. The main challenge is visibility in the darker sections.
Tips:
- Blue-tinted lighting can obscure the guideline. Zoom in closer to your ball for better aim visibility.
- Tube sections are common. Once your ball enters a tube, it follows the path automatically. Aim to enter tubes at moderate speed.
Candyland
Theme: A candy-themed wonderland of gumdrops, lollipops, chocolate rivers, and sugar-coated surfaces.
Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
Candyland is visually chaotic, which is its biggest challenge. The bright, saturated colors make it difficult to distinguish the playing surface from decorative elements. Some holes have deceptive slopes hidden under smooth candy textures.
Tips:
- Slow down. The bright environment encourages fast, aggressive play, but Candyland's later holes punish overshooting severely.
- Chocolate rivers behave like water. Falling in resets your ball and adds a penalty stroke.
- Holes 15-18 are the difficulty spike. They combine tight corridors, moving lollipop barriers, and elevated platforms.
Twilight
Theme: Nighttime cityscape with neon lights, rooftops, and urban structures.
Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
Twilight is set at night across city rooftops. The low-light environment and neon glow create atmosphere but reduce visibility. Holes feature long, narrow paths between buildings, tight turns around corners, and drops from rooftop to rooftop.
Tips:
- The narrow rooftop paths have low walls but no guardrails in some sections. Rolling off the edge resets your ball and costs a stroke.
- Neon boost pads appear on several holes. They accelerate your ball significantly. Approach them at low power or you will overshoot.
- Hole 12 features a multi-level drop through several building floors. Let gravity do the work and save your jump for the final landing.
Haunted
Theme: Gothic haunted mansion with ghosts, coffins, graveyards, and creaking corridors.
Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
Haunted relies heavily on moving obstacles. Swinging pendulums, sliding coffin lids, and rotating ghost barriers populate the course. The timing-based gameplay makes it frustrating for players who prefer pure aim-and-power challenges.
Tips:
- Watch every moving obstacle cycle at least twice before shooting. The patterns are fixed and predictable.
- Ghost barriers are semi-transparent but fully solid. Do not assume you can roll through them.
- Several holes have hidden shortcuts through walls that look decorative but actually have gaps. Scout with free camera.
Museum
Theme: Natural history museum with dinosaur skeletons, display cases, and marble halls.
Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
Museum features long, sweeping halls with polished surfaces that preserve ball speed. Dinosaur skeleton exhibits serve as complex obstacles requiring careful navigation. Some holes wind through display cases with tight gaps.
Tips:
- Marble floors preserve speed. Ease off the power compared to grass-surface courses.
- The dinosaur skeleton holes are the hardest on this course. Thread your ball through rib cages and between leg bones using gentle taps.
- The course uses disappearing and reappearing platforms. Watch a cycle before committing instead of shooting on arrival.
Pirate Cove
Theme: Caribbean pirate port with ships, docks, caves, and treasure.
Difficulty: ★★★★☆
Pirate Cove introduces significant water hazards. Docks, gangplanks, and ship decks are narrow surfaces surrounded by water on all sides. One mis-powered shot sends you into the ocean. The course also features cannons that launch your ball across gaps.
Tips:
- Cannons are real and are the course's signature gimmick. Roll your ball into one and it launches you across a gap. Coverage of the course also mentions a Kraken.
- Reviewers note the course offers multiple routes instead of one forced line, so if a cannon keeps failing you, look for the alternative path.
- Ship deck holes have curved surfaces that funnel toward the edges. Stay in the center groove.
- Treasure cave holes are dark. Use free camera to find the flag before committing to a direction.
Worms
Theme: A crossover course based on Team17's Worms franchise, rendering the series' classic 2D terrain look in 3D.
Difficulty: ★★★★☆
Worms is built around the franchise's signature terrain: rolling hills, weapon crates, and destructible-looking (but not actually destructible) environments. Holes feature steep elevation changes and unpredictable bounces off the cartoon-style terrain.
Tips:
- The exaggerated hill geometry creates blind spots. Free camera is not optional on this course.
- Several holes have Worms-themed gimmicks like worm characters that act as moving obstacles.
- The terrain surfaces have inconsistent friction. Test with gentle shots before committing to power.
The Escapists
Theme: A crossover course based on Team17's The Escapists franchise, set inside a prison complex.
Difficulty: ★★★★☆
The Escapists course threads holes through prison cells, guard towers, exercise yards, and ventilation shafts. Tight corridors and sharp 90-degree turns dominate the layout. Guard-themed moving obstacles patrol fixed paths.
Tips:
- The ventilation shaft holes are tubes with multiple branching paths. Only one path leads to the flag. Scout first.
- Guard obstacles move on linear patrol routes. They push your ball back if they contact it. Time your shots to pass behind them.
- Cell block holes have iron bar walls with narrow gaps. Thread the ball through the gaps instead of trying to go over the walls.
Ancient
Theme: Ancient Mayan or Aztec temple ruins with stone pathways, jungle overgrowth, and trap mechanisms.
Difficulty: ★★★★☆
Ancient features some of the most complex hole layouts in the base game. Multi-level stone temples require navigating spiral ramps and threading past moving obstacles.
Tips:
- The course's documented obstacles are swinging logs, obelisks, wooden posts, hieroglyphs, dinosaur bones, and tubes. Pressure plates and switch-operated stone doors are widely described online but appear in no source, so do not go hunting for a switch when a shot fails.
- Stone ramp spirals are tight. Use minimal power and let gravity pull your ball down the spiral. Overshooting launches you off the edge.
- Hole 16 involves a moving wooden block and precision bounce shots, so budget a stroke for reading its timing.
Space Station
Theme: Zero-gravity orbital station with metallic corridors, airlocks, and exterior space walks.
Difficulty: ★★★★★
Space Station is one of the hardest base courses. Its signature hazard is the Blackhole, which Team17 describes as altering the gravity around it and even shooting your ball off course. The course also uses clear tubes and vents that blow the ball off line.
Tips:
- Learn to spot Blackholes before your ball drifts into their pull radius. Their influence starts well before contact.
- Around altered-gravity areas, reduce your power. A normal-power shot can float the ball straight out of bounds.
- Vents push the ball sideways in flight, so aim off-center when crossing one instead of correcting after the fact.
- Scientific Precision, the par run here, is the rarest base game achievement at 0.4%. Budget extra strokes and expect several attempts.
Volcano
Theme: Active volcanic island with lava flows, erupting vents, and crumbling rock paths.
Difficulty: ★★★★★
Volcano has a reputation as the hardest course in the base game, though that is community opinion and not a settled ranking. Team17's own devlog reserves the "hardest course to date" label for the Corrupted Forest DLC. Lava, gravity walls, and teleporters are its documented hazards, paths are narrow, and surfaces are uneven.
Tips:
- Treat lava as a reset hazard and stay off it. There is no damage-over-time mechanic to survive.
- Narrow rock bridges over lava are the defining hazard. Use gentle putts on these sections, because speed is your enemy.
- Teleporters move your ball elsewhere on the hole. Find where each one leads before you rely on it as a route.
- The Highest Ground, the par run here, sits at 0.5%, behind Space Station's 0.4% and level with The Deep's.
DLC Courses
Four paid DLC courses exist. Everything else sold for the game is cosmetic packs or the soundtrack. Note that only three of the four are full 18-hole courses.
| Course | Released | Holes |
|---|---|---|
| Bouncy Castle | June 21, 2022 | 18 |
| Corrupted Forest | May 18, 2023 | 9 |
| Peaceful Pines | September 12, 2023 | 18 |
| Olympus Odyssey | September 5, 2024 | 18 |
Bouncy Castle
Theme: Inflatable bouncy castle with trampolines, ball pits, and soft foam obstacles.
Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
Notable Mechanic: Bouncy surfaces that launch the ball into the air on contact. Controlling your trajectory after a bounce is the core challenge. Team17 pitches it as bouncing and zooming around colorful hazards.
Corrupted Forest
Theme: A dark, corrupted version of the Forest course with twisted trees, glowing corruption, and altered terrain.
Difficulty: ★★★★☆
Notable Mechanic: Team17's own devlog says Corrupted Forest was designed to be the hardest course in the game to that point, which makes the 9-hole length less of a shortfall than it looks. Descriptions of specific physics-altering corruption zones circulate widely but appear in no official source.
Peaceful Pines
Theme: A serene mountainside retreat with cabins, rivers, and autumn foliage.
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
Notable Mechanic: The official description highlights natural bumps and slopes, rune stones, and hazards including crocodiles and snakes. The widely repeated claim that rivers carry your ball downstream instead of resetting it is not documented anywhere official, so do not count on it.
Olympus Odyssey
Theme: Ancient Greek mythology with marble temples, Mount Olympus, and mythological creatures.
Difficulty: ★★★★☆
Notable Mechanic: Bounce Clouds, Golden Roads, and Angel Wings, per the official patch notes. Claims about wind gusts pushing your ball trace only to low-quality aggregator pages and are not in any Team17 material.
Course Difficulty Ranking Summary
| Course | Difficulty | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Forest | ★☆☆☆☆ | Learning the game, farming par achievements |
| Oasis | ★★☆☆☆ | Practicing elevation changes |
| The Deep | ★★☆☆☆ | Relaxed visual experience |
| Peaceful Pines (DLC) | ★★☆☆☆ | Rune stones and animal hazards |
| Candyland | ★★★☆☆ | Visual chaos, patience training |
| Twilight | ★★★☆☆ | Night visibility, precision putting |
| Haunted | ★★★☆☆ | Timing-based obstacles |
| Museum | ★★★☆☆ | Speed control on smooth surfaces |
| Bouncy Castle (DLC) | ★★★☆☆ | Bounce physics mastery |
| Pirate Cove | ★★★★☆ | Water hazard management |
| Worms | ★★★★☆ | Terrain reading |
| The Escapists | ★★★★☆ | Tight corridor navigation |
| Ancient | ★★★★☆ | Multi-level temples and spiral ramps |
| Corrupted Forest (DLC) | ★★★★☆ | A short course built as the hardest one |
| Olympus Odyssey (DLC) | ★★★★☆ | Bounce Clouds and Angel Wings |
| Space Station | ★★★★★ | Variable gravity |
| Volcano | ★★★★★ | Lava hazards, narrow paths |
General Course Strategy
Regardless of which course you play, these principles apply universally:
Scout before you shoot. Use free camera on every new hole. Find the flag, identify hazards, and plan your route.
Control your power. Overshooting is more common than undershooting. When unsure, use 10-20% less power than you think you need.
Watch other players. In multiplayer, all players shoot simultaneously. Watch where others' balls go. Their successes show you the correct path. Their failures show you what to avoid.
Learn the par values. Each hole has a par. If you are consistently taking 3-4 strokes over par, you are probably missing a shortcut or using too much power.
Practice in Explore mode. You can play any course solo with no timer and no stroke limit using the Explore option. This is the best way to learn hole layouts without pressure.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the hardest course in Golf With Your Friends?
Community opinion favors Volcano among the base courses, and the achievement data backs it up, since its par run sits at 0.5 percent behind only Space Station's 0.4 percent. The Deep's par run is level with Volcano's at 0.5 percent. Team17 itself reserved the hardest-course label for the Corrupted Forest DLC, so there is no single settled answer.
Which course should a beginner start on?
Forest is the tutorial course. Holes are short, sightlines are clear, hazards are minimal, and the average par per hole is around 2 to 3 strokes. It is also where players return to farm the achievements that require finishing at or below par.
How does Dunk Mode work?
Dunk Mode removes the ground-level cup and flag and replaces them with a basketball hoop hovering above the green. Your ball has to pass through the hoop from above to count as sunk, so you need vertical lift from a ramp, a slope, or the jump ability. Strokes are counted exactly as in Classic.
What is Speed Golf mode?
Speed Golf arrived on April 18, 2024 and throws out par and shot count so that only time matters. Everyone races at once, Turbo Charge Boosters accelerate your ball, and a handbrake feature kills momentum mid-roll so you do not fly out of bounds.
How many DLC courses are there and how big are they?
Four: Bouncy Castle from June 2022, Corrupted Forest from May 2023, Peaceful Pines from September 2023, and Olympus Odyssey from September 2024. Three are full 18-hole courses, but Corrupted Forest is only 9 holes. Everything else sold for the game is cosmetics or the soundtrack.
Can I play a full course by myself to learn the layout?
Yes. The Explore option lets you play any course solo with no timer and no stroke limit. It is the best way to learn hole layouts and find shortcuts before you take them into a competitive lobby.
What to Read Next
- Getting Started. Controls, shot mechanics, jump timing, and your first game.
- Multiplayer, Power-Ups, and Workshop. Collision strategy, all four power-ups, custom lobbies, the Steam Workshop level editor, and community maps.
- Achievement Guide. All 83 Steam achievements with unlock conditions, global completion rates, and recommended strategies.
- Tips and Tricks. The goalie track, puck physics, and how Speed Golf inverts your routes.