Last updated on January 15th, 2026 at 03:35 pm
Desert Golfing – Casual Game Review
Desert Golfing is a Casual/Sports/Sports game from Captain Games Inc., first launched in 7th August 2014.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 643+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Desert Golfing Stand Out
To see a world in a bunker of sand
And a heaven in a wild cactus,
Hold infinity in the pocket of your shorts,
And eternity in Desert Golfing.
This Casual game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Desert Golfing is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 5th December 2017
Recent improvements include:
This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.
Tweaking the aimer widget
Menu bar hidden on iPhone X
App preview videos
Chinese localization
Download & Availability
Desert Golfing is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Desert Golfing on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Games on phones or tablets never play well, this is the exception.
No options, settings, or explanation, just the desert and a ball. We just completed the game and feel a sense of loss, its over? Make another.
The best mobile game ever made? Timeless and endless. We could keep playing forever.
Perfect game to keep your hands and eyes occupied while listening to podcasts on a plane/train/bus.
Brilliant, delectable, calming. Made it to hole 10,000 and not a single regret. Truly a masterpiece.
First off, this game rocks. Ive had it for years and we still come back to it regularly. Im at hole 3,437. But it, its great! On another note, this game is one reason we havent switched to the Pixel Fold Ive been eyeballing. We dont want to lose our progress! Can the devs offer any insight on how we might go about transferring the game data, even if hacky? Thanks for the great app.
Did you know that after the 10,000th hole, you can delete the app and download it again to go back to the beginning? This will be our fourth download. Desert golfing is a simple pleasure.
There is nothing but you, sand, and the ball. Was that a cloud.
After years of playing sporadically, sometimes even months in between; we've reached the end. Ihere are many reviews saying it ends at 10,000, yet for us, it ended unceremoniously at hole 11,318 after 34,600. Knowing it was the end made it hard to launch that final shot into the water. We keep closing the game and opening it again, but alas this is the end, beautiful friend.
Its golfing in a desert. Five stars.
Ever wanted to know what it is like to play golf in the desert in an alternate universe where you are the ball and a giant thumb god flicks you around and you take that life for granted and by the time its over you wish you were a ball again instead of a human.
Its simple, its well executed, its not overloaded with ads, and its fun. A great game to have on the phone.
We played all 10,000 holes!!! Ends with one last lake shot. Which is typically how our real game goes too! :).
This game flys in the face of modern mobile gaming. No gotcha mechanics, no ads, not pay to play more, and no time gating. Just come and play a fun mobile game with no interruptions that can be picked up and put down in an instant. Update: The game ends on the 10,000th hole. Very much so worth the money, but it has left a hole in our heart not being able to play it anymore.
We have played this game for a long time, and though Ill give it five stars because of that, we have to say that it is not, in fact, infinity in your pocket. The game ends at the 10,000th hole, after which there is only the sea. We knocked our ball into it and it disappeared without resettingperhaps thats infinity on its own way. Great game though. It was a great distraction without being too consuming.
It doesnt have a goal to complete. But you can find goal in real life u know.
Ive grown to love it, like someone you think is obnoxious who becomes a good friend.
It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop. – Confucius we can no longer tell where heaven stops and the desert begins.
Great game. Fun, but infuriating at times. It took us 26,386 strokes to get through all 10,000 holes.
We finally made it to the end. Just over 29k holes. Kept us entertained for quite some years.
This really needs a little direction. It took a long time for us to figure out that you can shoot from anywhere on the screen – you do not have to be to the left of the ball. It would be nice to have a reset button to start game again.
We have been playing this game at least once a week for the last 3 years and im still going! Im on level three thousand and something. It is so simple but so addictive.
…………………………………..O.
…we have to go to the can, she says have fun golfing.
This is the most relaxing game ever. We love that the graphics are simple, and the sounds minimal and soothing. That said, the challenge is real! You can play a hole more than once just by shooting your game off the screen. So if you think youve figured a better way to solve the hole, shoot your ball off-screen – the ball will reset on the tee and you can try again. We have one big wish – we wish the screen would show what the par for the hole is. It would be fun to try to make or beat par on each hole. But we love the game.
Is it procedurally generated? Anyway its the best golfer.
Very calming game. Enjoyed it so much we went all the way to the end of the course – 33025. We would love to reset and start over but we do not see an option to do that. If you could add that option, that would be great. UPDATE: we still want to reset progress so we can start the game over and get addicted all over again. Any possibilities of that happening.
32530 shots later we reached the end. 10000+ holes and Im bummed that it ended since we were enjoying it so much. Thank you.
This game has been our literal no-brainer game for several years. Its small and simple design has kept us coming back for more. The occasional changes in landscape, be it a cactus, a cloud, a color shift, brought an element of satisfaction simply because of their rarity. It was a joy to see something new. A reminder of how pleasant the simple things of life can be. However, upon reaching hole 10,000 today at 26,476 strokes, something new we did not expect occurred. Hole 10,001 did not generate. Instead we found ourselves on the shore of an endless ocean. Hmm, we thought. Perhaps its a fluke? So we rebooted the app and there was still no new hole. We hit the ball into the ocean, and the ball vanished beneath the water and did not regenerate again. We no longer have a ball to hit. Nor a hole to shoot for. The game promised infinity, but the game literally ending like this exactly at hole 10,000 seems like its an ending by design. If not, the game has broken at hole 10,001 and Id like to keep playing. As far as endings go, we will say this does seem like a very appropriate ending for this simple game.
This is just what we were looking for. A very simple golf game to pass time. The only thing we wish they would do differently is we wish that the aiming widget was focused on the ball and not your finger (but your finger could still be anywhere on the screen). It would make it easier to aim.
Ive played through 4 times (40,000 holes). Quite meditative.
You cant make a better game than this. It isnt complex. It is easy and hard. We played this game for hours on end and never got bored. We just shot our last ball into the pond and was kinda disappointed when the ball didnt reload but wow this was a stunning game.
Ive played a lot of games throughout our life but this may be one of the best.
A few reviewers allude to an impossible hole in the 2800 realm, we found it on 2866. After carefully edging our way to the hole under the ledge by the water we realized we couldnt drop it in directly. So we gave it a full power whack from the start, bounced off the offscreen hill and swish. Im glad we didnt spend a week on that one.
Read the reviews and tried it out. It's about what you expect, you know, just golfing in the desert. Ive had the game for almost a year (maybe 10 months) and we finally made it to level 10,000. Then it ended. Didnt have a Congratulations! Message it anything. Just a giant lake where your ball will never return from. This was what we used to multitask and hold our ADD at bay during boring meetings / events. Totally worth it. Wish the levels lasted longer so now we have to go find a new time waster app. Previous review: So a month or two ago before we purchased, we read a review about a hole at 2800 that the reviewer couldn't get past because it's a hole covered by a plateau next to a body of water. We were worried about it and also thought we'd never make it that far. Well, we just ran into that hole. It's hole number 2866 and it's a doozy. However, there's a trick: you can't land it directly into the hole. There's actually a land mass to the right, just off the screen. We found it by accident. By sheer luck, on our second try, it bounced off of that land into the hole. As a tip, you can't bounce it off the side, you either have to hit it from the top or on the corner (which is what we think we did). Anyway, we plan to keep going until we get sick of it. Maybe we'll come update our review after we hit another significant landmark.
We play it on the bus, when Im bored, or if Im waiting in line at the bathroom its just that easy to pick up and play. Ive whiled away hours one hole at a time.
Im at 10,500 holes and still love it. There are times that you believe that theres just no way you can do this hole, but persevere, you can and you will. The number of strokes dont matter, its a Zen kind of thing, just you and the desert. Yes, the sand and sky will change their tint after awhile, just like the sky above you now changes. Not to worry, its not a glitch. Just keep playing. Mind-soothing; let your troubles just drift away… Just one more hole… Great game for when youre at a Drs office, or waiting while your partner is shopping. Minutes or an hour or two, doesnt matter. Just you and the desert… One of the best values in the App Store. Playing it for years and still doing demos of it for Apple User Group meetings! Very relaxing.
We just want to say thank you for this game! Desert Golfing has really helped us through some stressful times in our life. This game has been a much needed meditation. Has truly made our life better.
There are no achievements. The game doesnt care if you get a hole in one or take 100 strokes for a hole. There is no tutorial, and no need for one. The holes have not been designed for a single solution, or even multiple solutions. The holes do not get harder. They do not introduce new hazards. You cannot acquire new skills, gears, collectibles, or power-ups. There is no story. There is no end. It is a toy for you to play with, a physical thing that is not trying to reward or punish or incentivize or otherwise engineer you. Just play with it. Enjoy the little sand splash and the click of hitting the ball. Of course you might feel happy when the ball goes in the hole, but thats up to you and not the game. Have fun and enjoy being left in peace. We cant be harassed by other games after this.
We came across a cloud, and shot the ball at it. Nothing happened to the cloud. Im worried that we may have angered the gods and it may be another 700 holes before we see a cloud again. There really isnt any better mobile game than this. The simplicity provides replayability. It is zen, and we can play it for 20 seconds waiting for a conference call to start up, or for a few minutes before bed. Those decrying lack of options, replay button, stars, and congratulations make us laugh. The entitlement generation that needs to be told that they are doing such a great job for just existing. These children could not survive on older game systems where you didnt get an achievement popping up just for playing the first level of a game.
Its so great. But it really needs an instant reset button or a fast-forward feature. Watching the ball slowly roll down a hill is a bit grating by the 97th hole.
The game helps fill those few-minute voids with nothing to do. Its a wonderful distraction. We find ourselves playing it at the strangest of times. Developer is very responsive as well.
We love the near silence experience. So frustrating but rewarding as well. Thanks for this.
A brilliantly simple yet highly addictive game. No menu, music, character or shops. Just a golf ball in the desert with a cactus or two every so often. This may seem boring being read but trust us when we say that you have to play it to know that its like. We are on hole 200 and only bought the game about 4 days ago. Dont pass up on this gem.
Getting a hole in one on a long shot over a hill is the most satisfying thing Ive done with our life in months.
What's not to love? This game has it all: breathtaking vistas, infinite replayability, elegant mechanics which are simple to learn yet difficult to master. Would recommend to anyone regardless of their affinity for the game of golf.
This minimalist game is so well made and so easy to play, it will be your old stand by. Have 30 seconds to kill? Open it and play. No menus. No load time. The gameplay itself is very intuitive and the game is as basic as they come. If you liked old time computer games like artill and other artillery type games, this game is perfect. Other games will come and go on your phone, but this one will always be there. We would pay a lot more for this game.
We love this game and Ive played more than 3000 holes. We would love it if a running average of shots per hole or other stats could be displayed up top along with the total. How about a total for the last 18 holes? Thank you.
Until you learn to ignore the numbers you cant truly enjoy this game.
This is the best game on the App Store. We are more than 5000 levels into it. We wish the developer would add more past the first 1000-2000 levels. It would keep things interesting.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.22
- Size: 2.08 MB
- iOS: 9.0 or later
- Languages: EN, ZH
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: [Captain Games Inc.]()
Last updated: 5th December 2017 | Genre: Casual, Sports | Developer: Captain Games Inc.