New Dell Golf App Lets You Tee Off in the Streets of Austin

The main character of South by Southwest has always been Austin itself, and attendees this year can see the city in a whole new way—by golfing through the streets of Austin with a new mobile app called “Dell Play Through,” from Dell and agency Y&R New York. The app is available here on the iTunes store.

Dell Play Through was created to kick off Dell’s sponsorship of the Match Play golf tournament, held March 23–27 in Austin. The game lets players explore the city through a nine-hole golf course, laid out to include some of its landmarks: the Paramount Theater, Franklin BBQ, and the Texas State Capitol. The first hole even winds up on the steps of the Driskill Hotel.

The game takes the player through the city with a virtual street view that includes not just the famous spots, but every building that lines the course. The course includes holes with names like “Stay Classy, Austin,” and “Keep Hole 5 Weird.” 

Dell Play Through lets players select angles and irons based on their lie and real-time wind speed, then shoot by swiping the screen or physically swinging the phone. They can even try to hit the ball over buildings to cut corners—but only if they want to risk a one-shot penalty for going out of bounds.  The app connects to Facebook so that users can share their scores and challenge friends to a match.

The app, powered by Dell and Intel, was created by Y&R New York, with technical assistance from sister agency VML and production by MediaMonks. The course itself was designed by Matt Ginella, travel and golf course expert for the Golf Channel. A Foursquare partnership provides details and ratings about some of the places the golfers pass along the way—monuments, restaurants and bars—and lets them save places as favorites.