When the clocks go back and the fairways turn to soup, Wednesdays and Thursdays at Outtabounds can only mean one thing: The PGB. It’s our very own winter indoor golf league – two nights a week of golf, chaos and carb-loading in the simulator while the actual golf course is busy being dark, wet and unplayable by 4pm.
Walk into Outtabounds in Beeston on a grim winter evening and it’s a different world. Outside: drizzle, mud and regret. Inside: the bay is glowing, the music’s on, perfect lies, and someone is already protesting about their handicap before they’ve even taken their coat off.
The PGB takes all the best bits of winter golf – the competition, the rivalry, the “I swear I used to be good at this” energy – and removes the bit where you can’t feel your hands.
The format is simple: 7-hole strokeplay, every league night across the winter. Just long enough for things to get interesting, just short enough that you can squeeze it in after work and still claim you’re being “sensible”.
One week you’re striping it and wondering if you’ve missed your calling; the next week you’re begging the staff to let you reload without anyone noticing. Every shot is tracked – distance, spin, face, path – so when somebody announces they “absolutely nutted that”, we can all check the numbers and see if that’s true or if their memory is on winter rules as well.
This being The PGB, there’s more than launch data flying around. Pizza becomes its own performance-enhancing substance. Boxes appear, slices vanish, someone always says they’ll “wait until after they’ve finished” and then caves on the 3rd hole.
And then there’s the banter – the real engine of The PGB. Late arrivals are greeted like returning villains. Chunked wedges get instant commentary. Questionable lines off the tee are replayed in forensic detail. There are nicknames, running jokes, imaginary swear jars and at least one story every winter that will be brought up for years. The only thing taken more seriously than the scores is making sure nobody escapes without at least one dig at their game.
Underneath all the nonsense, the golf is genuinely useful. Through the winter, when the course is shut, frozen or just too miserable to face, The PGB keeps swings sharp, rivalries alive and everyone’s game ticking over. Instead of hibernating until April, you’re still aiming at flags, rolling putts and trying to hold your nerve on the final hole with your mates watching and the leaderboard on the line.
We like to say that, in winter at least, we’re one step ahead of the PGA. They can have sunshine and TV towers; The PGB has something better from November to early spring: guaranteed tee times, no frost delays, no temporary greens and a bar and pizza just a few steps from the tee. When the real-world course is unplayable, The PGB is where the winter golf actually happens.
The PGB runs on Wednesdays and Thursdays through the winter, giving you two chances a week to play, moan, celebrate, collapse, recover and argue about whether that was definitely a lip-out. If your winter currently involves packing the clubs away, staring sadly at your bag and telling people you’ll “get back into it when the weather picks up”, it might be time for an upgrade.
Pick a night, grab a spot in The PGB, step into the indoor simulator and join the chaos. Just don’t be late, don’t blame the tech, and definitely don’t expect your bad shots to be forgotten – this is winter, and this is The PGB.
Fancy Joining the PGB?
Get in touch at pgb@outtabounds.co.uk