Jakarta, Indonesia: The R&A is helping connect the digital and physical golf worlds though a new Active Play event on popular gaming platform Roblox, exclusively for Indonesian players.

Earlier this summer, The Gang, a full-service gaming studio building best-in-class branded immersive activations, partnered with The R&A to launch ‘Just Swing’, a virtual golf experience on Roblox designed to reach new, diverse audiences and drive engagement and participation in the sport.

The innovative project by The R&A and The Gang is a strategic move to introduce the sport to a broader audience through the engaging world of Roblox, leveraging the platform’s 80 million daily users to foster a new generation of golf fans.

Now the on-going collaboration with The Gang has seen golf become the first sport on Roblox to incorporate an Active Play initiative – core to the strategy of taking golf to other audiences.

Working with Topgolf, The R&A and The Gang are transferring players from in-game virtual play to real-world play at a new Topgolf facility recently opened in Jakarta, and the first one in Indonesia.

In ‘Just Swing’, Indonesian players can now participate in the Topgolf Challenge to earn a free one-hour play session at the new facility in Jakarta. This initiative bridges virtual and in-person play, offering a unique experience where players engage digitally with golf, then brings that excitement of striking a ball in a golf environment.

“It’s been great working with Topgolf Jakarta and has served as a valuable learning experience for us in terms of how Active Play can be delivered,” said Phil Anderton, Chief Development Officer at The R&A.

“The on-going collaboration with The Gang for the launch of the Active Play initiative incorporated in ‘Just Swing’ is a critical aspect for The R&A to inspire golf participation.

“We will be able to track the numbers of players participating in Indonesia and Topgolf will be able to provide us with the redemption rate once the initiative has finished,” added Anderton.

Players are introduced into the gaming experience of ‘Just Swing’ in Roblox via the Club Hub, a bright and interactive version of a traditional golf clubhouse, before competing in adventures featuring challenging holes, alongside more fantastical settings.

For the Active Play initiative, players from Indonesia will be presented with a quest when they enter the game, which is to complete three holes. On completion, a pop-up notification will appear telling the player that they have won a free voucher for them and their friends to play for an hour at Topgolf Jakarta free of charge.

The user simply takes a picture of their redemption code and shows this to the front desk at Topgolf.

The activation to the Roblox community in Indonesia is taking place over the next three weeks and Topgolf are also promoting on their social media channels. The vouchers will remain valid for three months.

Since ‘Just Swing’ was launched on Roblox, it has enjoyed more than 2.3 million visits and reached 174 countries where the game has been played. In total, 98,000 users have completed a survey where 77% said they wanted to play golf after playing ‘Just Swing’ on Roblox.