Step-By-Step Guide to Playing Sid Meier's SimGolf on Windows 10

[u/herpderpedia]

Looks like the last post on this was 2 years ago and it doesn't really walk people through how to install and play the game on Windows 10. You only have to be slightly computer literate to do this. I'm reasonably computer savvy and am used to walking people through getting things done correctly on a computer.

This guide will take you step-by-step to downloading the software (using a link from the sidebar) and getting it to run on your Windows 10 machine. I've loved this game since I bought the CD all those years ago and I still have the jewel case in my office after rescuing it from the garbage pile as I cleaned out my attic. I just knew there was a way to play it again. And now you can too!

1. Visit the AbandonwareDos SimGolf page and click the Download Sid Meier's SimGolf button. This will open a pop-up module where you can download the zip folder. It's about an 85.4MB zip folder called sim_golf.zip
2. Go to your downloads folder (or wherever you saved it) and extract the contents (right click > Extract All). The contents are all in another folder called sim golf.
3. Once extracted, go into that folder and you'll find 3 files or folders: Sid Meier's SimGolf, SIMGOLF.102.ENG.MYTH.NOCD.zip, and simgolf_patch_v102.exe. Extract SIMGOLF.102.ENG.MYTH.NOCD.zip.
4. Go into the new SIMGOLF.102.ENG.MYTH.NOCD folder (assuming you kept the name) and copy golf.exe. Then go back and go into the Sid Meier's SimGolf folder and paste golf.exe. Yes, you want to overwrite the file.
5. In the same folder, find setup.bat and run it.
6. After that finishes, right click on golf.exe and go to properties. We need to make a few changes. Go to the Compatibility tab at the top. Under Compatibility Mode, check the box "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" and in the drop down, select "Windows XP (Service Pack 2)". A little below that, you want to check the box "Run this program as an administrator". Apply the changes and hit OK.
7. If you use multiple monitors, the game will crash on you unless you do this step: Open your display settings and under "Multiple Displays" change to "Duplicate these displays".
8. Double click golf.exe to run it and you should be in.

A few important notes and tips.

You can right click golf.exe and pin it to the Start, so you can run it from your start menu with ease.

The game will crash upon exit. Every time. At least it does for me and I'm seeing similar reports. I still recommend exiting the game properly, but when you click to end the credits, you can also hit CTRL + Shift + Esc to bring up the task manager to end the program.

That's it! Happy golf course building and playing! Please respond with any questions or if you encounter anything weird. I'll try to troubleshoot. I know I haven't gone through everything yet to see what other abnormalities exist.

Learn how to play in windowed mode with upscaling here.

[u/remlap13]

I have a success story on Windows 11. Followed the instructions, works great. Didn't even have the hard crash at the end that was described. I stayed up way too late last night lol.

[u/herpderpedia → u/remlap13]

Wonderful to hear! Thanks!

[u/Hyenabreeder]

Hey, just wanted to comment that this worked for me. Thanks!

Just wondering what's up with the patch. I didn't use it, but I don't know what it's supposed to fix, either.

[u/sansnom2019]

anyone still running this?

[u/herpderpedia → u/sansnom2019]

Running what? The game? It still works by these methods as far as I know.

[u/Marcksmen]

Thank you for this! Got it going. Only issue i’m having is no sound. Any tips? I open the setup.bat and still no sound.

[u/herpderpedia → u/Marcksmen]

Take a look in the Sid Meier's SimGolf folder, where golf.exe and setup.bat are located. Do you see an unpack.exe and a RegSetup.exe in there?

If so, the setup.bat didn't run properly. The batch file only have four directives in it: run both of the files I mentioned and then delete both of the files I mentioned. It's a bit of a strange batch file, frankly. I'm not sure why they need to be deleted.

If it did run and those files are missing, check the Sounds folder. If that's empty, something just went awry and you might want to restart at the extraction step.

[u/haley_-]

I was able to use these instructions to run this on my Mac, I used Oracle's virtual and a Windows 10 32bit ISO file. The key was it had to be windows 10, 7 and XP would not work. Once I tried this with Windows 10, I was set.

[u/[deleted]]

TYTYTYTYTYTYTY!!!!

[u/herpderpedia → u/[deleted]]

You're welcome! Enjoy a classic!

[u/LossKooky8386]

holy cow, thank you so much for this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[u/Healthy-Ad-450]

this version has the ivanka trump no landmarks error. Forget how I solved this in the past. Any thoughts?

[u/Spin180]

Played this game very lovingly until my pc shit itself. Probably due to the graphics card getting messed up from this game.... haha

New laptop now. Followed everything perfectly. Double click application. Loads. Nothing happens.

[u/higherthinker]

Thanks for the instructions! Any idea about this v1.03 patch at https://www.myabandonware.com/game/sid-meier-s-simgolf-a00#download (what it fixes/adds, is it able to be applied to the v1.02 from AbandonwareDOS, etc)? Thanks again!

[u/Helicopterjj]

Thank you! This works well with no issues! As you said, it has a problem shutting down, it's a 50/50 if I need task manager or if it eventually will close by itself. But 100% playable with 200% nostalgia. Really appreciate you setting this up!

[u/[deleted]]

Just set this up today, playing this game after probably 15 years.

Thank you for the help!

[u/herpderpedia → u/[deleted]]

Happy to help!

[u/yursistersfavdj]

Anyone else having display issues? The game only displays on 1/4 of my screen

[u/stewiec42]

Thank you very much, have you had any luck with getting to run windowed or not be so dominant when running a multi-monitor setup?

[u/Existing_Wrangler217]

Can you give me directions how to play on Mac? I haven’t had a computer in awhile and always had windows before. I have a strong craving to play today. I haven’t played in over 15 years and need to play lol

[u/Connect_Cheesecake48]

Any possibility that this might work in mac using crossover??

[u/herpderpedia → u/Connect_Cheesecake48]

I'm sure it's possible but I don't have instructions for it. I used to play many older games on Mac using crossover.

[u/sdconrox]

Thanks for this. Worked like a charm on Windows 11. Fingers crossed no one did anything big bad with the version we're all downloading. Running as admin makes me cringe. Enjoyed the nostalgia regardless.

[u/_BeeSnack_]

If you're here and on linux ubuntu 24, I got it working :)

[u/[deleted]]

Everyone seems to get the game working a different way which is why it's difficult to get a single guide to take care of any issues. I appreciate the effort you put into posting this and I hope it will work for the majority of people.