FarmLinks at Pursell Farms in GSPro

Finding FarmLinks in GSPro

The course is in the directory as Farmlinks Golf Club, built by Tekbud. Unlike Augusta or Pebble Beach, it kept its real name, so searching “Farmlinks” in the GSPro course browser actually finds it. It's inspired by the Sylacauga original rather than a licensed recreation, but the routing across the ridges is recognizable.

It's free to download, with no Patreon subscription and no beta-server request. Open its page on The Course View to check the scorecard and tee yardages before you load it.

The YGT connection

FarmLinks hosted Stop #1 of Your Golf Tour, the YouTube golf tour that pulls together creators like Grant Horvat and the Bryan Bros. That's the reason a course most people outside Alabama had never heard of suddenly turned up in everyone's feed, and it's a fair argument for playing the sim version: you can watch the tour play a hole, then go play it yourself the same evening.

Watch the round first if you want a read on the elevation: YGT Stop #1 at FarmLinks on YouTube.

Recommended Settings

FarmLinks is a wide, rolling parkland course built across Appalachian foothills, so the defense is elevation and green complexes rather than rough or water. Keep the wind honest and the greens quick, and let the terrain do the rest:

The one thing worth doing here that you skip on flatter courses is trusting the elevation numbers. Several tee shots drop far enough that the plays-like yardage is two or three clubs different from the card, and the temptation is to disbelieve it and hit the club your eyes want. Don't. For the hardware that runs all of this, our launch monitor buyer's guide compares every unit that works with GSPro.

Holes to Know

• Hole 5. The signature. The tee sits almost 175 feet above the green, one of the steepest drops of any hole in the country. The ball hangs in the air long enough that the wind gets a real vote, and the yardage on the card is a suggestion at best.
• The ridge holes. Much of the routing runs along and across the ridgelines, so uphill and downhill lies are constant. A flat stance is the exception.
• The back tees. At 7,444 yards off a par 72, the tips are a real test rather than a novelty setting. Play them once you know where the elevation helps you.

About the Real FarmLinks

FarmLinks opened in 2003 on the Pursell family's 3,500-acre estate in Sylacauga, Alabama, designed by Dr. Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry. It plays 18 holes at par 72 and stretches to 7,444 yards.

It has spent most of its life at the top of Alabama's public rankings. GolfPass named it a Top 50 Public Golf Course in the U.S. in the Golfers' Choice 2026 awards with a 4.83 rating, and it has been the #1 ranked public course in Alabama in the Golfers' Choice awards across multiple years. Golfweek ranked it Alabama's #1 All-Access course in 2011 and every year from 2013 through 2023.

The course sits inside the Pursell Farms resort, which is now a full destination property with lodging and a clubhouse, so it draws visitors from well outside the Southeast.

More Real Courses in GSPro

FarmLinks is one of the rare ones that kept its name. Most famous courses are in the directory under an alias:

• Pebble Beach, the clifftop US Open venue (see our Pebble Beach guide)
• TPC Sawgrass, home of the island green (see our Sawgrass guide)
• Pinehurst No. 2, the permanent US Open anchor site (see our Pinehurst guide)

The full map of which real venues are playable and what they're called in the sim is in our best real courses guide, and every course we have in Alabama is on the Alabama course page.

Setting up at home

If a round at FarmLinks has you pricing out a sim room, start with the launch monitor buyer’s guide, which compares every unit that works with GSPro. A few other things earn their place:

• Hitting mats (Amazon): a good one takes the sting out of the volume of full swings a 7,400-yard course asks for.
• Impact screens (Amazon): the elevation changes read far better projected wall-size than on a monitor.
• Projectors (Amazon): a short-throw unit is what makes a downhill tee shot actually feel downhill.

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